Isaac’s Poultry Market at 12167 Darnestown Rd in Gaithersburg, which officially opened on Thursday, February 23, has announced it will be closed today, February 24, after an overwhelming first day of business. The restaurant posted the following message on its Instagram page:

“Wow! Thanks to the hundreds of people that came out to opening day for Isaac’s Poultry Market! Your love was so strong that we went through 3 days of food in just 1, so we are not able to open today. We are working closely with our great local vendors to restock, prepare for the weekend, and plan to reopen tomorrow Saturday 2/25 at 10:45am.”


Muddy Branch Investments, LLC, has submitted Sketch Plan application SK-9497-2023, proposing to construct 380 multifamily residential units in four buildings up to five stories in height, all located on approximately 14 acres at the former Nike Missile site at 770 Muddy Branch Rd, which was sold last year for over $12 million. The sketch plan includes surface parking, open space, pedestrian connections, and amenities for the multifamily units.  The sole vehicular access to the proposed development will be along a private street coming off Muddy Branch Road.

The subject property is located west of Muddy Branch Road, north of the Lakelands Ridge community and the Muddy Branch Square shopping center, east of the Lakelands Ridge community and Great Seneca Highway, and south of the Timberbrook community, Lakelands Ridge conservation area, and City-owned land.


Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of MarylandU.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has sentenced Luis Flores-Reyes, a/k/a “Maloso,” “Lobo,”’ and “Viejo Lovvon,” age 42, of Arlington, Virginia and Jairo Jacome, a/k/a “Abuelo,” age 40, of Langley Park, Maryland, to life in federal prison, for charges related to a racketeering enterprise known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or “MS-13.”  Jacome and Flores-Reyes were convicted by a federal jury on September 29, 2022, of a racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, and an extortion conspiracy.  The jury also found Flores-Reyes guilty of a drug distribution conspiracy.  Flores-Reyes was sentenced yesterday and Jacome was sentenced today. The defendants and co-defendants were also involved in murders that took place in Gaithersburg and Germantown.

On January 12, 2023, Judge Xinis also sentenced co-defendant Brayan Contreras-Avalos, a/k/a “Anonimo” and “Humilde,” age 28, of Langley Park, Maryland, to life in federal prison for his participation in the same racketeering conspiracy.


Update: Chipotle at Rio Has Reopened After a Temporary Closure

Chipotle Mexican Grill at 205 Boardwalk Pl in Gaithersburg has temporarily closed. A sign on the front door reads, “Due to construction, we are currently close. We apologize for the inconvenience and will reopen as soon as possible.” A representative from Chipotle was not able to provide an estimate on when the restaurant would reopen. There are nearby Chipotle locations at Gaithersburg Square and the Kentlands. We will post an update when additional information is available.


Potomac Cookie Co is coming to 109A Market St in the Kentlands Square shopping center in Gaithersburg, near Moby Dick and the upcoming Poke Bros. Potomac Cookie is known for its “giant size” 4oz cookies.  Flavors include Choco-delight, Da Fudge, Dorothy’s Slippers, Double Dutch,  Peebee ‘n’ Yay!, and S’more Love. No opening date for Potomac Cookie Co has been announced. Feature photo courtesy of @potomaccookie on Instagram.

In other Kentlands news, construction recently began at both Brio’s Chicken and Neal’s Bagels in Gaithersburg. Both restaurants will be  located in the Kentlands paseo, next to Burtons and across from RanKen Noodle House and My Big Finds. Signage for Brio’s Chicken first went up at the location back in 2020 but the restaurant was delayed several years due to issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. No opening date for the Peruvian chicken restaurant has been announced. Brio’s Chicken previously had a location in Aspen Hill in the Aspen Manor shopping center, where Outback is located, but that location is under new ownership and is now known as Gio’s Chicken.


Earlier this year, three Girl Scout Cadettes from Troop 2219 in Damascus—Sarah Cohen, Kaylie Eising and Jadyn New—painted a series of positive messages in bathrooms at South Lake Elementary School in Gaithersburg.

This Silver Award project was motivated by the girls’ concern about students’ mental health, as well as their desire to spread kindness and promote school community well-being. The girls planned the project, shopped for supplies and brainstormed positive images and encouraging words.


The Gaithersburg Parks, Arts & Recreation Corporation (G-PARC) Arts & Culture Alliance, in conjunction with the City’s Stormwater Management Program & Cultural Events & Services Division, are pleased to announce the 2023 Storm Drain Art Contest, designed to bring attention to the importance of protecting our Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Artists of all ages are invited to submit designs either online or through the mail. Details & specifications for this year’s contest, as well as the online submission form can be found in the Documents section of this page.


Per the City of Gaithersburg: WalletHub recently compared more than 500 of the largest cities in the U.S. and ranked them based on three key indicators of ethnic diversity, including ethnicity & race, language, and birthplace. Gaithersburg ranked as the third Most Culturally Diverse City amongst all communities in the United States with an ethnic diversity score of 72.59. The City was ranked #2 in the Small City Category for communities with populations under 100,000.

“Gaithersburg is a wonderfully diverse community, and we’re proud to foster an atmosphere of inclusion that welcomes all,” said Mayor Jud Ashman. “It is a great honor to once again rank highly on this list, and it reinforces that we must continue to offer educational, economic, social, recreational, and cultural opportunities for all.”


The Board of Education business meeting on Thursday, Feb. 23, will cover key items of public interest, including discussions and Board decisions on Future School Boundary Analyses (Agenda Item 7.1).

Future openings of two new high schools will require boundary studies in multiple areas throughout the county. The new Charles W. Woodward High School is scheduled to reopen in 2026 and will impact current school boundaries. The clusters included in the superintendent’s recommendation for the boundary scope include Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein, Walter Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton and Walt Whitman high schools. Additional future boundary studies will address midcounty overutilization with the opening of Crown High School (2027) and upcounty with the expansion of Damascus High School (2026).


Per MCPD: Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police- Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing 13-year-old from Gaithersburg. Kiesha Vogelsang was last seen on Monday, February 20, 2023, at approximately 10 a.m., in the 900 block of Clopper Road.

Kiesha is 5-feet, 9-inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. She has dark brown curly hair and brown eyes. She was last seen carrying a gray backpack and wearing blue jeans, a black zip up jacket and black Crocs. She has a birth mark on her nose and wears glasses that have a pink frame.


Personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2023’s Most & Least Ethnically Diverse Cities, and four of the top ten spots were taken by places in Montgomery County. To identify the most ethnically diverse places in America, WalletHub compared more than 500 of the largest U.S. cities across three key metrics: ethno-racial diversity, linguistic diversity and birthplace diversity.

Germantown was ranked as the most diverse in the country, coming in at #1 overall and #1 for ethnoracial diversity. Gaithersburg came in #3 overall, Silver Spring was ranked #4 overall, and Rockville came in ranked #8 overall. For the full report, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-with-the-most-and-least-ethno-racial-and-linguistic-diversity/10264


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