The Montgomery County Board of Education has unanimously adopted a $3.165 billion operating budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, an increase of $245 million or 8.4 percent over the prior year. The adopted budget will allow MCPS to make investments to support enrollment growth and student academic needs, while providing staff wage increases to competitively hire and retain highly qualified teachers, administrators and support service workers.
Chicken Basket at 30 N. Summit Ave. in Olde Towne Gaithersburg has reopened. The restaurant, which first opened in 1978, closed in April 2019 after a fire. Chicken Basket’s menu consist of fried chicken, wings, subs, gyros, salads, wraps, burgers, and seafood. The restaurant is open Mon – Thurs 11am to 8pm, Fri – Sat 11am to 9pm and closed on Sunday. Full menu can be seen below, as well as photos from Chicken Basket’s original 1978 menu.
The anonymous winner selected the nickname “Lucky Woman” to tell the story of her good fortune. “Lucky Woman” plays Lottery games weekly with her husband. “Playing the Lottery is fun,” she said. “I love playing scratch-offs.”
Her current go-to-games are the Hot family of scratch-offs and the $30 Cash is King instant ticket. “Lucky Woman” is no stranger to winning. “I always finds myself winning and I consider myself lucky.” She’s won small amounts before but never anything close to $50,000.
Summer fun starts at Good Counsel! Our Summer Camps are packed with exciting activities, sports, creativity, adventure, and unforgettable memories for campers of all ages. From the field to the classroom and everywhere in between, there’s something for everyone at Good Counsel’s Summer Camps!
Spend your summer learning, laughing, and making new friends with the Good Counsel community. Spots are filling fast so be sure to register today!
Register at: www.olgchs.org/camps
El Papi Real Street Tacos is coming to Rockville’s Pike Kitchen (1066 Rockville Pike). The restaurant, which currently has a location in Camp Springs (Prince George’s County), hopes to open its Pike Kitchen location in July.
According to the Washington Post, which named “Most of the tacos at El Papi are wrapped in two warm, corn-scented tortillas and garnished with cilantro and onions. The onions are usually diced into uniform squares, though occasionally they’re cut into thin strips, as if the kitchen peeled each layer of the bulb and softened them into almost translucent slivers. These are the standard garnishes at El Papi, the sign will inform you. Don’t bother to ask for sour cream, lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese or even pico de gallo. You won’t find them here.”
Beautiful venue; great art, gifts and hand-crafted items; refreshments; and meet the award-winning painters, photographers, mixed media artists, ceramicists, fiber artists, and more – some 40 artists in all. It’s an extraordinary array of framed wall works, 3-d media including sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, and fiber pieces, and unframed prints.
Among them, you’ll see:
KEEN Greater D.C., a nonprofit volunteer organization that provides free on-to-one recreational actvities to children and adults with disabilities, celebrated 31 years last Sunday, June 4 at Timberlawn Local Park in Rockville. This was the 20th annual KEEN Sports Festival where volunteers teamed up with athletes or instructor-led activities including fitness, Zumba, taekwondo and individualized play.
The 20th Annual KEEN Sports Festival celebrated 31 successful years of FREE, one-to-one recreational and exercise activities for children and young adults with significant physical and developmental disabilities. Volunteers teamed up with KEEN’s athletes for instructor-led activities, including Fitness, Zumba and Tae Kwon Do, and individualized play.
Per MCDOT: Below is the transportation-related holiday schedule for the Juneteenth holiday on Monday, June 19:
View more schedule changes here. For information on MCDOT programs and services visit montgomerycountymd.gov/mcdot, follow @MCDOTNow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to MCDOT’s “Go Montgomery!” newsletter.
New Grand Mart, a Korean grocery chain with locations across Maryland and Virginia, is now open at 13069 Wisteria Drive in the Germantown Plaza shopping center. It is located in the space previously occupied by Lotte Plaza, which closed in November. According to its website, “New Grand Mart carries a variety of fresh produce, fish, meats, and ethnic specialty items that is hard for other markets to match.”
In addition to the grocery store, New Grand Mart will also feature a food court. Vendors announced include Gogi Friends (Korean BBQ), Noodles & Friends (Korean-Chinese fusion), Tous les Jours (bakery), Sushi Friends, and Fortune Cha (bubble tea and dessert.) According to a representative at Grand Mart, the food court is scheduled to open in next month.
Due to the smoke coming from wildfires in Canada, the air quality in Montgomery County is now Code Purple (very unhealthy), according to www.airnow.gov. The Montgomery County MD Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security (OEMHS) tweeted following recommendations Thursday morning:
“The air quality in our area is currently poor and poses a health risk to all individuals.
The Maryland beer scene recently received big news when Flying Dog announced it was sold and will be moving production Frederick to New York. DuClaw Brewing Company has made a joint announcement with River Horse Brewing Company that it has been acquired by the New Jersey brewer. The full joint statement can be seen below:
“Attention NJ & MD craft beer lovers- we have an announcement! New Jersey’s River Horse Brewing Company, in Ewing, NJ has acquired DuClaw Brewing Company of Baltimore, MD. The powerful combination of two beloved brands that each boast a legacy of over 25 years of great beer will ensure the continued success of these products.
The City of Gaithersburg is in the process of developing a 9.54-acre park with parking, community gardens, a bicycle skills course (pump track), open space, pavilions, a playground, fitness pods, and a welcome plaza. Originally scheduled to be completed February 2023, there have been some delays. While a new completion date is not yet available, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it completed this summer (video and photos of the progress available below, courtesy of the City of Gaithersburg).
A new parking lot will be constructed at the park’s west boundary. Vehicular access to the park will be through the drive that extends from Darnestown Road. Pedestrians will be able to access the site from Darnestown Road via a path that will be located parallel to the access drive into the park. Pedestrians will also be able to access the park from Marsh Lane. A Ride-On bus stop is located on Darnestown Road at the park entrance.
Millard House II, formerly Superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, will take the helm of Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) on July 1. Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks announced his appointment Wednesday during a news conference at the Wayne K. Curry Administration Building.
House led Houston ISD for two years, ending his tenure in the nation’s eighth-largest district earlier this month. He previously served as director of schools for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) in Tennessee, chief operating officer of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina and deputy superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma. House founded and led a college preparatory middle school in one of Tulsa’s most economically underserved neighborhoods and served as executive consultant and executive director of New Leaders for New Schools.