Schools may have just ended, but anyone looking to put the finishing touches on their summer plans may be interested in knowing about the Back-to-School Fair scheduled for Saturday, August 26th.
Per Montgomery County Public Schools: All MCPS students and families are invited to kick off the 2023-2024 school year at the MCPS Back-to-School Fair on Saturday, Aug. 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Westfield Wheaton mall.
Per Montgomery County: The Wheaton and White Oak libraries of Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL) will offer several free animation, graphic novel and mini comic book programs for ages 10 to 50-and-over in July and August. The animation workshops explore the history, science and creative possibilities of animation. Participants will create three optical toys: a thaumatrope, a zoetrope strip and a flip-book.
The graphic novel classes teach participants to create a graphic novel page using all the conventions of graphic novel storytelling: narration, dialogue, character design, dynamic page layouts and cinematic techniques. The mini comic book workshops teach participants to write and illustrate a brief fictional, factual or a combination of both that will become six-to-eight-page narratives using one folded sheet of paper.
Per Montgomery County: The poster for the seventh annual Wheaton Arts Parade & Festival will be based on a design submitted by Fernando Santiago, a Silver Spring artist and resident. As the winner of poster contest, he will receive a cash prize of $500 donated by IHOP Wheaton. The poster contest was open to all residents of Montgomery County. After Mr. Santiago’s artwork was selected, Wheaton Arts Parade designer Josue Martinez of Corinto Gallery incorporated it into the design for the poster and T-shirt. It will be featured in all promotional materials leading up to the parade.
More than 50 festival tents are available in the 2023 festival for artists to rent to exhibit and sell their original artwork and for arts organizations and community organizations to promote their work. The day is inspired by the parade and the closure of roads so that people can pull giant floats and show off their art, play music and dance,
Mi Mariachi Bar & Grill will take over the space that was recently home to Nava Thai and previously home to Sir Walter Raleigh at 11301 Fern St in Wheaton. Nava Thai closed in February after approximately 16 years at the location.
It is unclear at this time if this version of Mi Mariachi is related to the Mi Mariachi that was previously in Wheaton at 2715 University Blvd W. This version of the restaurant incorporated in April 2023 and has an Alcoholic Beverage Services (ABS) hearing for its alcohol and liquor license on Thursday, June 15th at 1pm. We’ll have additional information as it becomes available. Featured photo courtesy of Google Maps.
Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland: Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced El Salvadoran national Jose Lopez Rivera, age 27, of Elmont, New York, formerly residing in Maryland, to 26 years in federal prison for a racketeering conspiracy involving a violent murder connected to his participation in La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise also known as MS-13, and for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm and ammunition by an illegal alien, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
MS-13 is a national and international gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador and other central American countries. Branches or “cliques” of MS-13, one of the largest street gangs in the United States, operate throughout Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County, Maryland. Since at least 2015, Lopez Rivera was a member of the Fulton Locos Salvatruchas (“FLS”) MS-13 clique.
Per MCPD: Kevin Vargas Gomez, age 20, Jose Ingles Mendez, age 30, and Heidy Gomez Rodriguez, age 36, all of Silver Spring have been arrested in connection with the Sunday, August 21, 2022, stabbing that occurred near the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Reedie Drive in Wheaton.
Montgomery County Police – 4th District Patrol Investigations Unit (PIU) learned that Vargas Gomez and Mendez approached the victim in the 2400 block of Reedie Drive and began to punch him repeatedly before hitting him with a bottle causing it to break. They then used the broken bottle to stab the victim repeatedly. The victim was able to get away and ran towards Georgia Avenue. Vargas Gomez and Mendez chased after the victim and continued to punch and kick him in the street. Gomez Rodriguez picked up both Mendez and Vargas Gomez in a vehicle and drove away from the scene of the assault.
Last year PNC Bank announced it would be closing “about 127 in-store branches at Giant Food and Stop & Shop supermarkets in Maryland, Virginia and the District as well as in New Jersey and Delaware.” The Pittsburgh-based bank has been closing many of these branches in waves throughout 2023, but at the time did not mention which specific branches would be closing. Today it was reported by the Washington Business Journal that 26 branches in Maryland and Northern Virginia would be closing, including three in Montgomery County (listed below).
Let year, PNC began the conversion of what will be 1,000 branches to an automated model. The conversion of all of these branches is expected to be completed by 2026. In September 2020, PNC Chairman and CEO William Demchak announced the bank was on track to close nearly 160 branches that year and another 120 in 2021 (109 ended up closing), as part of the bank’s strategy to lean harder on more prosperous digital sales. The three Montgomery County locations that will be closing are listed below:
Per MCPD: Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Patrol Investigations Unit (PIU) are investigating a theft that occurred in the 11300 block of Georgia Avenue on Thursday, May 25, 2023. Detectives have released surveillance video of the suspect and are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying him.
The preliminary investigation by detectives has determined that the suspect entered the store at approximately 1 p.m., walked to the back of the store and entered the manager’s office. The suspect searched the office until he located an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect stole the cash and exited the store. The suspect is described as a Black male, tall, with a thin build. He was wearing a black shirt and dark jeans.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has maintained its deleveraging progress with US and European asset sales with the announcement of the sale of Westfield Brandon Shopping Center (located in Brandon, Florida) in the US for $220 million and “V” office building in France for €95 million, bringing total sale proceeds to €4.7 billion. It was reported in 2021 that Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) planned to sell all of it’s US holdings in 2022. Last year, then-Chief Executive Jean-Marie Tritant told investors that Unibail wants to shed most of its U.S. properties by the end of 2023, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which pushed things back about a year. Montgomery Mall and Wheaton Mall (Westfield Montgomery and Westfield Wheaton), both located in Montgomery County, are owned by URW.
URW operates over 75 shopping centers in 12 countries, including over 40 which carry the Westfield brand. These centers attract over 900 million visits annually. Fabrice Mouchel, Chief Financial Officer of URW, said: “URW continues to achieve deleveraging progress, even in a more challenging financing environment. With these two transactions, we have now generated €4.7 Bn in disposal proceeds since 2021 and consistently improving credit metrics. The Group’s robust operational performance and strong liquidity position will allow us to complete our deleveraging programme, including a radical reduction of our US financial exposure, in a timely and disciplined manner.”
Per MCPD: Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Anthony Amaya Ramos, a missing 16-year-old from Wheaton. Anthony was last seen on Thursday, May 25, 2023, at approximately 7:15 a.m., in the 2300 block of Blueridge Avenue. Anthony is approximately 5-feet, 5-inches tall and weighs 125 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a long sleeve gray shirt, gray pants and black sneakers.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Anthony Amaya Ramos is asked to call the police non-emergency number at (301) 279-8000 (24-hour line) or the Special Victims Investigations Division at (240) 773-5400. Callers may remain anonymous.
Per MCPS: Wheaton High School held its first Unified Field Day on May 23 in honor of Sarah Gilbert, a former Learning for Independence (LFI) student who unexpectedly passed away last summer. The event was named Gilbert Games in her honor. The event was planned and executed by Wheaton High School staff members in conjunction with Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy and Springbrook and Wheaton high schools. More than 100 students from all four schools attended (video below).
Leadership students coached students from the LFI program, which is designed for students with complex learning and cognitive needs, including mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, and the School Community-based (SCB) programs, which includes students with severe or profound intellectual disabilities and/or multiple disabilities. Students from the extensions program, which is a program that includes students with the same disabilities in need of additional behavioral support, also participated.