Ashton

El Andariego (5 Olney Sandy Spring Rd), a staple of the Ashton community for over 20 years, has announced that it will close from Monday, August 8th until Sunday, August 14th to provide its staff with a full week of vacation. In announcement made via social media, the restaurant states the following:

“Dear customers of El Andariego Restaurant, we want to notify you that after a long season of hard work of more than 2 years and during a pandemic, we have deemed it good to give a full week of vacation to our respectable staff, who deserve this time off for their unconditional support and honorable service. Due to the lack of more workers, El Andariego Restaurant will be closed from monday, august 8 to sunday, august 14, 2022. Thank you very much for your understanding always. -Consuelo, Jaime, Cristina & Staff.”


Health

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan and Maryland’s Opioid Operational Command Center (OOCC) today announced $10 million in block and competitive grant awards to help support programs around the state to address the opioid crisis. The grant funding, which will be distributed between July 2022 and June 2023, will be used to support the Hogan-Rutherford administration’s policy priorities of Prevention & EducationEnforcement & Public Safety, and Treatment & Recovery.

“Our administration has made it a top priority to put the resources and support systems in place at every level to expand access to treatment, and combat the heroin and opioid crisis,” said Governor Hogan. “These grants play a critical role in supporting the local and grassroots work taking place in our communities and health care systems to save lives and promote healing.”


Cloverly

Potomac Foods Group has leased the part of the parking lot from the property owner, Safeway, at 15411 New Hampshire Ave to build a new Burger King restaurant (with drive-thru). Demolition of the previous bank building occurred a couple months back and below grade construction started weeks ago. The construction of the upcoming Burger King is expected to take a few months and is likely to open in the first half of 2023.

The process included Safeway applying for a reduction in the number of parking spaces required for the Safeway store. A parking waiver is needed because removing the parking spaces necessary to build the new Burger King will reduce the number of parking spaces for Safeway below the minimum required by the Zoning Ordinance. Safeway filed the amendment requesting to remove the parking easement on the Burger King site and was eventually approved after the initial application was filed a couple years back.


Silver Spring

Mervain Lance Cutler III was last seen on Monday, July 25, 2022, in the 14100 block of Yorkshire Woods Dr.

Cutler III is approximately 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. He has brown hair, styled in an afro, and brown eyes. He also has braces. He was last seen wearing a dark hoodie, blue jeans and white Nike Air Force 1 sneakers.


Maryland

Pursuant to the recent Supreme Court ruling, on July 5, 2022 Governor Larry Hogan directed the Maryland State Police to suspend the ‘good and substantial reason’ standard to wear, carry or transport a regulated firearm on your person. Before you may legally wear and carry a regulated firearm, you must possess, and maintain on your person at all times, the Maryland State Police issued Handgun Wear and Carry Permit. Submission of the application does not authorize you to wear, carry, or transport a handgun.  Maryland law does not recognize handgun carry permits issued by any other state.  Further, Maryland law does not authorize the State to enter into reciprocity agreements with any other states concerning the recognition of out-of-state handgun carry permits.

Many things have changed regarding documentation requirements to complete the application process. In Maryland, wear and carry permit applicants are still required to meet the training and fingerprinting requirements for approval of their application.  The suspension of the “Good and Substantial Reason” requirement does not change any other aspect in the review of applications for the issuance of a Maryland Wear and Carry Permit.


MoCo Government

The Montgomery County Council is currently reviewing the Thrive Montgomery 2050 Draft Plan. Following the guidance of the Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO), the Council has begun a comprehensive racial equity and social justice review of the Plan.

Please consider responding to the Thrive 2050 community survey. The survey will be used to inform a racial equity and social justice review of Thrive 2050 and the development of a new racial equity and social justice chapter for the plan.


Silver Spring

Back in June, Silver Spring Wings announced it will be opening up a new location this year in the Wheaton Urban District. The restaurant tells us that they are now in the final inspection/licensing stages and are hoping to open in the first week of September. The menu will feature chicken wings, chicken tenders, boneless wings, fried rice, potato wedges, coleslaw, fresh lemonade, strawberry shortcake, double fudge brownies.

According to owner Evan Walton, Silver Spring Wings will also be sharing a space with its sister brand, District Teriyaki. He plans to announce more information, including the exact location and opening date, in the the next couple of weeks. Walton tells us, “I’m super excited to serve Moco again. It’s been a long stressful year and a half but I’m committed to my work and this community.”


Cloverly

Dunkin’ has made significant progress at its latest upcoming location in Cloverly. The store, which is expected to open later this summer, is located at 15509 New Hampshire Ave in the spot that was formerly home to BB&T Bank. This new location will include a drive-thru, which has seemed to be the aim for a lot of the new Dunkin’ locations in the area that are taking over former bank locations. While the outside seems to be nearly complete, there is work left to do inside (photos below).

In late 2020, Inspire Brands announced the completion of its $11.3 billion acquisition of Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins. With the addition of both brands, Inspire encompasses nearly 32,000 restaurants across more than 60 countries generating $26 billion in annual system sales, making it the second-largest restaurant company in the U.S. by both system sales and locations (behind McDonald’s).  Inspire’s family of brands includes Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, Rusty Taco, and SONIC.


Silver Spring

Carnival Nation, an Afro Latino festival, returns to Downtown Silver Spring at the Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza (One Veterans Place) from 1-9pm on Sunday, July 31. The free event includes live music, salsa and samba dance lessons, and food vendors. Musicians performing include Zenisa AllStars, Gabbadon, and Jace.

The Afro Latino Festival is this Sunday, July 31st at Veterans Plaza! Featuring authentic foods, music, arts, performances, salsa lessons, and more. 1PM – 9PM https://t.co/pK6CMUkuvP pic.twitter.com/U9PqchnmKs


Gaithersburg

The Montgomery County man killed in a crash after a Lyft driver terminated the ride and stopped in the middle of the southbound lane on Coastal Highway following a disagreement, demanding all passengers exit the vehicle, has been identified by police as 43-year old Sidney Wolf. A GoFundMe has been set up to support the man’s family as they try to move ahead during difficult circumstances.

Wolf, who was initially reported by Delaware State Police as being from Clarksburg, lived in Gaithersburg with his wife and two children. He was also the campaign manager for Montgomery County Councilmember Sidney Katz’ re-election campaign. In an interview with Fox 5, Katz remembered Wolf as “such a nice young man. He was a family guy, somebody who had a good sense of humor, and fun to be around.”  A longtime friend referred to him as selfless and “the nicest guy you’d ever meet…just a good guy.” Wolf’s family also released a statement. “This is an extremely difficult time for our family. The level of shock and pain we feel right now cannot be measured as we continue to grieve. We truly appreciate the outpouring of love and support we’ve received and kindly request that the family’s privacy is respected as we move through this process.” -Wolf/Greenbaum Family


MoCo Government

As mail-In/provisional ballots are counted in the Democratic primary for Montgomery County Executive, David Blair has taken the lead over incumbent Marc Elrich by just 134 votes after trailing by 141 votes on Sunday morning, according to the latest update by the Maryland State Board of Elections at 9:16pm on Monday night. David Blair (42,705, 39.33%) holds a lead of 134 votes over Marc Elrich (42,571, 39.20%). David Blair led by 1,191 votes when early voting and Election Day votes were tallied, and has received 13,351 mail-in/provisional ballot votes compared to 14,543 for Marc Elrich. Marc Elrich defeated David Blair by just 77 votes in 2018.

In a presser, @DrZ_ElectionNut
provided some numbers on the count… keep in mind these are all ballots, not just Democratic…
1) 30,218 ballots have been canvassed and sent to state board to post vote results
2) 32,312 mail-in ballots through USPS (more on that in a bit) 🧵