Per the State of Maryland: “Governor Wes Moore today announced that the Maryland Department of Labor received an additional $2 million in grants to expand the Employment Advancement Right Now Maryland program. The 13 new awards announced today will allow more than 700 Marylanders to receive industry-driven occupational training and meaningful connections to employment opportunities offered by more than 200 participating employers and industry partners.

“Maryland’s economy thrives when there is more access to job opportunities across all sectors,” said Gov. Moore. “Expanding the EARN program provides yet another opportunity to help businesses cultivate a skilled and competitive ​workforce and to connect Marylanders to good jobs in vital industries.”

EARN Maryland awards funding to strategic industry partnerships that comprise employers, non-profits, higher education institutions, local workforce development boards, and local governments. Based upon employer-identified training needs, partnerships provide education and skills training to unemployed and underemployed Marylanders. The program also includes career advancement strategies for incumbent workers, leading to a more highly skilled workforce in the state.

“EARN has been a highly successful program for almost 15 years,” said Maryland Department of Labor Secretary Portia Wu. “These grants will provide substantial investments that will prepare Maryland’s workforce for careers in emerging and high impact industries such as healthcare, cybersecurity and hospitality.”

A 2022 study on the economic impact of EARN determined that for every dollar Maryland invests into the program, an additional $17.34 created positive economic activity for the state. Compared to Maryland’s national and regional counterparts, this positive activity exceeded the national average by almost $14.

Since the start of the EARN program in 2013, nearly 9,000 individuals trained through EARN have obtained employment, and over 11,000 incumbent workers have participated in training for in-demand careers and employment opportunities. For more information on EARN Maryland, please visit labor.maryland.gov/earn.”

Maryland High School Football State Tournament Schedule, per MPSSAA.org  can be seen below (pinch and expand to increase photo size):

Featured photo by Syl Sobel

Per Montgomery County: “Montgomery County is a finalist in the 2023 U.S. Broadband Awards in the “Best Municipal Connectivity Program.” The County, which was recognized for having one of the best broadband infrastructure efforts in the nation, was the only local jurisdiction in the nation (county or city) to be a finalist. The winners will be announced at the Awards Gala Dinner during the inaugural U.S. Broadband Summit on Nov. 16 in Washington, D.C.
TEBS AWARD

Upgrades made by the Montgomery County Department of Technology & Enterprise Business Solutions (TEBS) have enabled departments and agencies, including Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), to benefit from faster bandwidth speeds, reduced latency and increased network performance. This has been particularly critical as students returned to school and County staff returned to physical work locations during and after the COVID-19 health crisis. Beyond these improvements for residents and County employees, the data center migration and consolidation resulted in an estimated power savings of 88 percent and 74 tons of carbon dioxide saved monthly.

Expansion of broadband service and other digital equity initiatives are a priority for Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. The entry submission by TEBS detailed efforts to upgrade the County’s technical infrastructure including FiberNet, network migration and migration of its data center to Equinix, a Tier IV data center. These upgrades provide greater performance, security, resiliency, efficiency and sustainability to County, and affiliates’, operations. They also support Next Gen Communications, Digital Equity and more efficient access to Internet and cloud services.

“Being noted as one of the best municipal connectivity programs by tech industry leaders and innovators is an honor for the Montgomery County and a recognition of the hard work of TEBS,” said County Executive Elrich. “Creating a strong technical infrastructure is not only critical to the quality of life of our residents, but important to our businesses and economic developments efforts. We have been committed and deliberate in our actions to ensure that our County’s technical infrastructure is world-class. Most importantly, our focus to ensure equity to our 1.1 million residents, one of this nation’s most diverse jurisdictions, has been guiding our success.”

FiberNet is 650 route miles of fiber network that provide carrier-class voice, video, data, Internet access, WiFi, Digital Equity and cable broadband services for 558 County, State, municipal, educational and regional sites. These include:

• 240 County Government sites
• 213 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) sites
• 8 Montgomery College locations
• 30 Housing Opportunities Commission sites
• 24 Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) sites
• 22 WSSC Water facilities
• 4 Digital Equity sites
• 235 qualified Digital Equity customers

The upgrades and migration enabled the County to reduce vulnerabilities and improve its disaster recovery and backup plan through increased security, resiliency and compliance of its systems and data. Additionally, the County was able to enhance its digital equity efforts by providing free internet access to more than 230 qualified Digital Equity customers.

“This multi-disciplined effort required careful coordination of numerous departments, agencies, contractors, vendors and systems throughout the County,” said Joseph Webster, the chief broadband officer for TEBS.

The inaugural U.S. Broadband Summit will take place on Nov. 15-17 at the Westin Washington, D.C Downtown. The conference will bring together Federal funding leaders and state representatives with the wider broadband industry, including fiber operators, MSO’s, WISP’s and wireless carriers to discuss the future of broadband in the United States. As attention focuses on bridging the growing digital divide and the need to bring connectivity to the under- and un-served, the U.S. Broadband Summit aims to bring everyone together to discuss how collaboration will lead to a more connected and vibrant society, in benefit of individuals and communities.

The mission of TEBS is to be responsive, collaborative and innovative in providing technology solutions and services to facilitate the delivery of a wide range of services in all branches of government. The department strives to provide its solutions and consultative services in a cost-effective, timely and high-quality fashion to reduce service times, avoid inflated costs, reduce information security risk and improve the quality of County services through automation-assisted process improvement.

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Per the City of Rockville: “Native trees are beautiful, provide important habitat for birds and other wildlife, and help absorb stormwater runoff and pollutants. Rockville residents can receive a $150 rebate per tree from the city for planting native trees and up to a maximum of $5,000 in rebates across all rebate options. Eligible properties include single-family and townhome residences, homeowners associations, condominium associations, religious institutions, private schools and other nonprofits. Learn more at www.rockvillemd.gov/rainscapes.

Rebates are also available for permeable paver retrofits, rain barrels, native-planting projects and pavement removal.
Need ideas for trees to plant? You can usually find these native trees at local nurseries or online:
Fruit Trees

• Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.).
• American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana).
• American plum (Prunus americana).

Small Trees

• White fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus).
• Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida).
• Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis)

Shade Trees

• Red oak (Quercus rubra).
• River birch (Betula nigra).
• Black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica).

A Montgomery County resident is $50,000 richer after claiming a winning Bonus Match 5 lottery ticket that she purchased last month at the Citgo located at 8333 Fenton St in Silver Spring. Full story below courtesy of the Maryland Lottery:
“She almost never buys tickets, a Silver Spring resident told Lottery officials when asked about the events that led to her $50,000 Bonus Match 5 top-prize win last month. “I just never think to get them, even when I’m in stores that sell lottery.” That dynamic is a constant in her life unless, she added, something jogs her memory. Happily, “something” did just that.

“I was visiting my parents and when I left their house, I noticed the store where my dad buys his tickets. That’s all it took.” With the Lottery suddenly and unexpectedly on her mind, she kept an eye out for another Lottery retailer as she drove home. This brought her to Fenton Citgo in Silver Spring.

The Montgomery County woman chose Bonus Match 5 as her game that day. “I don’t know why I chose it to play,” the human resources specialist said. “It just felt right.”

Later that night, with the Lottery still very much on her mind, our winner looked up the winning Bonus Match 5 numbers in the Sept. 19 drawing on the Lottery website. “I stared at the numbers and then my ticket – back and forth – for several minutes. ‘Oh my goodness,’ I thought. ‘I’m a winner!’”  When she knocked on her parents’ front door the next day, her dad knew that something was up. “It was all over her face. She just looked so excited,” he said.
Taking care of debt, helping her family and making investments are the plan for the $50,000 prize. “This is such a blessing for me, for us.”

A $1 Bonus Match 5 ticket buys you one line of numbers. For a second dollar, you get two more lines of numbers, three in total. It was the third quick-pick line on our winner’s $2 Bonus Match 5 ticket that delivered this $50,000 win. For selling the top-prize winning ticket, Fenton Citgo at 8333 Fenton Street in Silver Spring received a $500 bonus from the Lottery.”

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), in partnership with the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), will host a Student Environment Volunteer Day from 9:30 a.m.–2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at Gaithersburg High School. Students will learn about sustainability and help beautify the community. They also will work to enhance the health of the environment by planting native plants and trees in the stormwater management gardens around the school.

The student environment volunteer day is part of the Out-of-School Time (OST) program offered by Montgomery County Recreation, in partnership with MCPS. The OST days are designed with free out-of-school programming for students throughout the 2023-2024 school year. 

“We are excited to offer students activities outside the school day that are engaging and foster leadership skills,” said MCPS Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight. “This day will benefit the environment, teach students about environmental stewardship, beautify the school grounds and help open doors to possible green careers in the future. Together, we will address climate preparedness, mitigate stormwater runoff and nurture the next generation of environmental stewards.”

OST provides students and families with engaging options on days when school is not in session for students.

“We know that addressing and combating climate change is the top priority issue for young people,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “Our students care and are worried about climate change because it will detrimentally impact their health and welfare for their entire life. I am glad that our Department of Environment has partnered with MCPS to create this volunteer opportunity at Gaithersburg High School. When young people are empowered to feel that they are contributing to improving the environment, they will be encouraged to do more.”

The event is being coordinated by the MCPS Office of Facilities Management, Division of Sustainability and Compliance in support of the Board of Education’s Policy ECA, Sustainability, which includes the adoption of “measures to address resiliency and awareness, such as increasing the tree canopy and outdoor educational spaces on MCPS properties and mitigating stormwater runoff.” This event will also provide an opportunity for students to plant more than 2,000 local species.

“This partnership between DEP and MCPS has created an opportunity for Montgomery County students to learn about teamwork, climate goals and action plans,” said DEP Director Jon Monger. “It is a great opportunity for students to get their hands dirty while learning environmental stewardship.”

WHAT: Student Environment Volunteer Day

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, 9:30 a.m.–2 p.m.

WHERE: Gaithersburg High School, 101 Education Blvd., Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Featuree photo courtesy of HESS Construction

Dan Cox, a Republican politician who recently represented district 4 in the Maryland House of Delegates and won the Republican nomination for Maryland Governor before losing to Governor Wes Moore in the general election, has announced his candidacy for Maryland’s 6th district.The district encompasses all of Garrett, Allegany, Frederick, and Washington counties as well as a portion of Montgomery County. David Trone is its current representative. Fox made his announcement via a video on social media.

Cox has stated he has been active in politics since 1980, when he campaigned with his parents for Ronald Reagan. He also worked on the 1996 presidential campaign of Alan Keyes and as an aide to former U.S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett. From 2007 to 2009, he was the President of the Town Commission of Secretary, Maryland, located in Dorchester County. He was the Republican nominee for Dorchester County Circuit Court Clerk in 2006, losing the race to Democratic nominee Michael L. Baker. Cox was also the Republican nominee for Maryland’s 8th congressional district in 2016, losing the race to Democratic nominee and state senator Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County.

Cox made waves in 2021 when he referred to former Vice President Mike Pence as a “traitor” during the United States Capitol Attack. In June 2022, Cox stated that his tweet was “his way of expressing his disappointment and not a personal attack on the vice president”.

Eight student teams on a mission to make a positive impact on society presented their startup ideas to a panel of expert judges during the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize “Bark Tank” Pitch Competition on Thursday, October 26, 2023, at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, taking home $125,000 in prizes.

During the event, Georgetown Entrepreneurship also announced a transformational $5 million gift from Ted Leonsis (C’77, P’14,’15), founder, chairman, principal partner, and chief executive officer of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and his family, to provide permanent support for the Bark Tank Pitch Competition, so that it exists at Georgetown in perpetuity. The gift also will establish the Leonsis Family Venture Development Program to support student startups, incubator programs, and other entrepreneurial programming across the university. Since Bark Tank’s inception, $975,000 in prizes have been awarded to 60 different ventures, and those ventures have gone on to raise more than $295 million and create over 1,000 jobs.

“Ted’s generosity has not only transformed lives but has also inspired us all to be better, to do more, and to give back to the world in whatever ways we can,” said Paul Almeida, dean and William R. Berkley Chair of the McDonough School of Business, during the official announcement. “We are so grateful for his continued leadership, for his dedication to our school, and most importantly, for his support of our students. His commitment will leave an indelible mark on our ‘Hoyapreneurs’ for years to come.”

The 2023 Bark Tank finalists and attendees had the opportunity to hear directly from Leonsis, as well as from Panos Kostopoulos (G’22), co-founder of Proxy Foods and last year’s recipient of the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize.

“Bark Tank is not just a competition; it’s the profound beginning of a remarkable journey that can transform lives,” Panos said.

Reservoir won the grand prize of $30,000. Reservoir is a credentialing and identity management SaaS platform offering businesses an efficient network to manage and validate digital credentials. It is led by James Azar (MBA’23).

Orbit won the second place $25,000 prize, as well as the $5,000 People’s Choice Award. Led by Steven Pang (C’26), Orbit makes immersive neurotech for gaming, movies, and virtual reality.

Georgetown REUSE tied for third place, receiving $15,000. Georgetown REUSE works to increase accessibility, reduce waste, and promote a circular system of consumption by way of providing affordable and pre-loved clothing, school supplies, and dorm materials to students and community members. It is led by Rita Alan (SFS’24), Molly Austin (SFS’25).

Shanda also won the third place $15,000 prize. Shanda is a simplified audio editing solution for people with interview-based podcasts. It is led by Dumi Mabhena (MBA’24).

Selleb earned third place, $15,000 honors. Selleb is a receipts-powered social platform where users can see, share, search, save, and shop products recommended by friends. It is led by Claire Lee (B’24).

SoleStep won the fourth place $10,000 prize. SoleStep is a health technology company dedicated to improving musculoskeletal health, fitness, and overall societal well-being through smart sole technology. It is led by James Hart (EMBA’24), Shawn Karawa (EMBA’24), Mika Rhabb (EMBA’24), and Omar Wilson (EMBA’24).

Additionally, Open Grid Technologies, led by Nanbo Liu (MBA’24), Theo Hebblethwaite (MBA’24), and Mike Wen (MBA’23), won $5,000 at the competition. OpenGrid provides tailor-made electricity packages to power the daily needs of electric vehicle commuters living in urban settings through subscription-based plans and innovative fast-charging technology.

Lastly, Enna Health, led by Nirmal Maitra (B’17, M’25), also received $5,000. Enna Health enables cancer patients to effortlessly log cancer and treatment-related symptoms in less than 60 seconds an entry, shares summarized data with care teams for optimal symptom management, and provides essential resources like nonprofit support and reading materials for added assistance.

The Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize is supported by longtime entrepreneur Ted Leonsis; his wife, Lynn; his son, Zach (MBA’15); and his daughter, Elle (C’14).

Aligning with the Jesuit values of Georgetown University, the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize honors and supports Georgetown students who have launched or are preparing to launch new business ventures that will address problems in the world around them. Ultimately, the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize builds awareness around the innovation and accomplishments of Georgetown’s entrepreneurs and strengthens the university’s reputation as a place where ambitious students can turn their passions into entrepreneurial ventures.

For more information about the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize, visit this website or watch this year’s livestream.

After a string of 80° degrees, temperatures today have reached the 70s for most of the area (some have made it to the 80s while others are in the mid to upper 60s) with rain possible later this evening. With Halloween will come more seasonable temperatures that may feel even cooler since we’ve been nearly 30° warmer for almost a week.

Temperatures will start off in the low 40s when we wake up on Halloween and will move up to the 50s by about noon before high temperatures in the mid to upper 50s in the afternoon. Temperatures should remain in the 50s by 5pm and could start to dip a few degrees each hour after that on the way to 40° by 10pm on Halloween night. The slightly chilly temperatures may call for a jacket over the costumes.

Wednesday will bring an even colder day with some areas not even making it to the 50s before making it back to the low/mid 50s on Thursday and a warmer Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with temperatures in the 60s for November’s first weekend.