Per Montgomery County: “Yesterday, the Montgomery County Council’s Public Safety (PS) Committee held a meeting on juvenile justice, sparked by an increase in some types of juvenile crimes and the identification of a 12-year-old as responsible for multiple bomb threats to Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).

All panelists present suggested that connecting youth to appropriate services and interventions as early as possible should be the primary goal. Yet Councilmember Kristin Mink’s (District 5) questions to police, the State’s Attorney, and the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) revealed that diversion opportunities, both pre-arrest and post-arrest, have been significantly under-utilized in Montgomery County.


Per Montgomery County: “

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) will begin its annual leaf vacuuming program on Monday, Nov. 6, and will continue collections through December in specified areas. There will be two collections on each collection district street.


Per WSSC: “WSSC Water today lifted the recreational water contact health advisory for the Triadelphia Reservoir, which was issued earlier this summer due to high levels of blue-green algae. The end of the health advisory follows two consecutive weeks of extensive monitoring and testing showing algal concentrations and potential toxins well below advisory thresholds.

A recreational water contact health advisory for the T. Howard Duckett Reservoir was lifted earlier this month. Visitors can now safely resume recreational activities at both reservoirs.  To learn about blue-green algae and algal blooms, visit WSSC Water’s Algal Blooms page. 


Montgomery Parks Open Parkways schedule will adjust starting on November 3, 2023, to reflect changes due to the start of standard time and the end of daylight saving time on November 5, resulting in fewer hours of daylight. Open Parkways Fall/Winter Schedule – beginning November 3, 2023:

Extended Open Parkways hours for November holidays:


Per Montgomery County: “The newly-established Airpark Community Advisory Committee (ACAC) is now accepting applications to serve. The ACAC, established earlier this year after the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed Bill 24-23, will serve as a forum for neighbors of the Montgomery County Airpark (MCA), airpark users and other key stakeholders to address facility operations as well as noise and safety impacts.

The MCA, a public general aviation airport in Gaithersburg, is home to approximately 67,195 flight operations each year. In 2019, the MCA partnered with the Federal Aviation Administration to set up an online portal for residents to submit aircraft noise complaints, similar to what’s offered in other communities near airports. In 2019, there were 27 complaints, in 2020 there were 191 complaints made from 11 unique households, and in 2021 there were 2,835 complaints made from 35 unique households, according to a 2022 report from the Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight.


Trip Advisor is a popular American online travel company that offers ratings of restaurants primarily from those who have traveled to the area, rather than locals. If you’re interested in seeing the opinions of those who have traveled to the area, you’re in luck, as today we’ll be sharing the top 10 restaurants according to Trip Advisor as of October 31, 2023.

10. Copper Canyon (928 Ellsworth Dr, Silver Spring): With a 4 out of 5 rating after 471 reviews, Copper Canyon’s Silver Spring location comes in at #10 overall in the county and #2 in Silver Spring. The restaurant has an additional MoCo location at Gaithersburg’s Rio.


Below you will see a list of 16 Montgomery County Public Schools that were closed by the school system at one point in time, but have since reopened. Schools on this list were either reopened or built new on the site of a former school. In some cases the school was renamed. Full list below, with some additional information about/from the schools:

Arcola Elementary School (1820 Franwall Avenue, Silver Spring): Arcola Elementary School opened its doors again in August 2007. The original Arcola Elementary was opened in the 1950’s and closed in the 1980’s. Even though the “new” Arcola is twice the size of the original building with state-of-the-art technology and a diverse student population of over 600 students, the neighborhood is very happy to have the beloved school open again.


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.


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. 


Per Montgomery County: “As Veterans Day approaches on Saturday, Nov. 11, Montgomery County has joined the national “Operation Green Light” salute to veterans and the County’s Commission on Veterans Affairs is seeking additions to its virtual tribute to County veterans. For those who want to attend ceremonies on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, several will be held around the County.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich and the County Council are supporting Operation Green Light, a program sponsored by the National Association of Counties to honor those who have made immeasurable sacrifices to preserve freedom. The program asks for displays of a green light, from Nov. 6-12, in a window of businesses or residences to honor veterans.


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