Shortly before 1pm, a driver crashed through the storefront of Big Greek Cafe at 3200blk Bennett Creek Ave in Urbana (Frederick County).
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and 11 other state attorneys general issued a joint statement opposing President Trump’s executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) policies, arguing that these initiatives promote fairness, opportunity, and respect while rejecting claims that they contribute to discrimination or undermine merit-based practices. (more…)
Talent is one of the most important factors influencing where companies choose to invest, expand, and grow. As competition for skilled workers intensifies, employers are embracing a broader talent strategy: one that leverages partnerships. Last week, almost 120 business leaders, elected officials, and members of Montgomery County’s business community attended the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation’s (MCEDC) panel, “The Talent Advantage: A Growth Strategy for Companies in Montgomery County, Maryland,” to hear how local businesses are capitalizing on the County’s world-class academic institutions, innovation ecosystem, quality of life, and economic development resources to attract and retain top talent.
Moderated by Dr. Anne Khademian, Executive Director at The Universities at Shady Grove (USG), the panel included executives from businesses and institutions across industries, including Lockheed Martin, TrilliumBIO, Thales Defense & Security, Johns Hopkins, Montgomery College, and AstraZeneca, who discussed their companies’ strategies for developing their workforce.
Talent as a Business Strategy
For companies competing in highly specialized industries like the defense industry, access to talent directly influences where they choose to locate and grow. For Lockheed Martin, which employs nearly 1,000 people in Montgomery County, talent is one of the primary reasons the company chose to be headquartered here.
“Talent is in the top one or two reasons why we are in the County,” said Todd Cohen, Senior Lead of Strategic Workforce Development, Lockheed Martin.
According to Cohen, Lockheed Martin begins working with partners to develop their talent pipeline well before students enter the workforce, including partnering with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) on programs such as coding challenges. Lockheed Martin also maintains close relationships with local higher education institutions, including the Universities at Shady Grove (USG).
That local talent pipeline is also an important factor for AstraZeneca, which employs more than 5,000 employees and contractors in Montgomery County. According to Tiffany Lukis, Director of STEM and Community Engagement at AstraZeneca, the company often taps into its alumni base from Montgomery College (ranked #26 nationally among community colleges) and USG (which offers nine different public universities onto one campus), and other local institutions to fill highly technical roles.
Local Companies Are Developing Talent and Not Just Finding It
According to the panelists, investing in existing employees is just as important as recruiting new ones.
At Suburban Hospital, workforce development is closely tied to talent retention. The hospital partners with local educational institutions to provide employees with opportunities to gain new skills and advance their careers. Programs include a Certified Nursing Assistant program through Montgomery College and English as a Second Language classes.
“A huge part of our talent strategy is to prioritize holding on to our top tier talent,” said Corey Lewson, MSW, Program Manager, Workforce Development, John Hopkins Medicine.
For smaller companies, developing talent internally can be especially valuable. Lane Edwards, Vice President of Operations, TrilliumBIO, a biomarker discovery company with fewer than 20 employees based in Rockville, described the challenge of balancing the need for highly specialized expertise with the realities of building a team at an early-stage company.
“When it comes to hiring, we have to be very strategic,” Lane said. “Do we have someone who has the expertise or someone that we can build on?”
Maryland Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman and the Office of the Comptroller are celebrating National Unclaimed Property Day on February 1, 2025, highlighting the state’s free unclaimed property service, which reunited Marylanders with $60 million in lost assets in FY 2024, while also introducing modernization efforts and legislative updates to improve the claims process. (more…)
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Elmer Lopez-Cortez, 26, of Silver Spring, and Junior Del-Cid, 21, of Takoma Park, were each sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus three consecutive life sentences and 105 years, for the 2022 MS-13 gang-related murder of 19-year-old Willians Anderson Alberto Cruz and the attempted murder of three others in Montgomery County. (more…)
When I moved back to Northern Virginia after several years in New York, most of my old friends had moved away. I found myself rebuilding a social circle from scratch.
I had plenty of people I could connect with online, but that wasn’t translating into anyone to grab a beer with after work, play trivia with, or text when I wanted to get out of the house. Making new friends as an adult required far more deliberate effort than I remembered.
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We ❤️ Teachers 5K celebrates educators through movement. On race day, runners and walkers across the country will participate in host city races, school celebrations, and virtual events — all in support of teachers and educator wellness. We'll be in beautiful Wheaton Regional Park, Join Us!
Walk it. Run it. Move for the teacher who moved you.
Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris took out a full page ad in Thursday’s Washington Post newspaper, sharing a letter to the fans. It can be seen in full below:
A Maryland woman was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to Medicaid fraud for falsely claiming to be a registered nurse, fraudulently obtaining employment at Denton Nursing and Rehab, and causing Maryland Medicaid to pay $3,576.20 for unqualified nursing services. (more…)
On Tuesday, February 4, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) will offer free fares on all County buses to mark Transit Equity Day, which commemorates Rosa Parks’ birthday and highlights access to public transportation.
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The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) is investigating a shooting that occurred in Silver Spring on Friday morning.
MCDOT has shared that due to maintenance work, Metrorail service will be impacted from Saturday, February 1 from 7 a.m. – 1 a.m. and Sunday, February 2 from 7 a.m. – Midnight. On the Red Line, Metro will replace switches at Friendship Heights interlocking, perform rail and fastener renewal and third rail maintenance, and conduct grout pad repair and leak mitigation. Bethesda, Friendship Heights, and Tenleytown stations will be closed. Below are the anticipated service impacts:
Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – 2nd District Investigation Section are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing 82-year-old Bethesda man. (more…)