Business

Per Westat: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has awarded Rockville’s Westat (1600 Research Blvd) over a dozen tasks in 2022, including literature reviews, focus groups, cognitive interviews, pretesting, and experimental studies. This work is aimed at providing insight on consumer and health care professionals’ perceptions of, motivations toward, and attitudes about products under FDA’s oversight, and will help FDA move forward with more accurate and informative messaging.

“Westat is a natural fit for this work. We have strong, established expertise in message testing and a team that specializes in qualitative analysis and reporting,” notes Kerry Levin, PhD, a Vice President of Public Health and Epidemiology. “Our goal on these important tasks is to maintain a collaborative, collegial, client-centered relationship and to successfully execute each project to meet the needs of FDA.”


Beyond MoCo

View the full list of Rural Maryland Economic Development Fund projects.

“Back in 2014, when I was first running for governor, I said that if I was elected the war on Rural Maryland would be over, and that communities that had been ignored and neglected would no longer be forgotten,” said Governor Hogan. “We have made good on that promise, delivering unprecedented investments to our rural communities. These grants and the dozens of projects they support will have a lasting and transformative impact, helping to make these areas more attractive for tourism, jobs, and economic development. This is another shining example of how we are truly changing Rural Maryland for the better.”


Downtown Silver Spring

The outdoor ice skating rink at Veterans Plaza is open daily, including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Skating sessions are for one hour.  Reservations are available up to two weeks in advance. To purchase tickets, visit https://www.silverspringiceskating.com/. The rink has more than 400 pairs of skates available to rent, sized from toddler to adult.


Beyond MoCo

Many of us likely grew up with a Sears department store somewhere nearby, but lately you may have noticed that you haven’t seen much from the brand that has been a household name for decades. Sears has been rapidly closing locations since 2018, when it filed for bankruptcy in October of that year. According to a report from the Frederick News Post, the Sears department store at Frederick’s Francis Scott Key Mall is set to close on January 15th. Note: There is still a Sears Hometown Store listed as open in Chestertown, MD, but it is not a traditional Sears department store and focuses on selling appliances, tools, hardware and lawn and garden equipment.

Sears at Frederick’s Francis Scott Key Mall — one of the final remnants of a once great department store empire — is going out of business.The last day customers can shop at the store will be Jan. 15, a manager, who declined to provide her name, told a Frederick News-Post reporter on Tuesday afternoon. Bright yellow signs advertising the store’s impending closure in red block letters are plastered on the store’s windows. More hang around the building’s interior.


Event

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:


Beyond MoCo

At the beginning of the year we let you know of Raising Cane’s planned expansion into the D.C. metropolitan region, with the first restaurant planned for Sterling, VA at 45545 Dulles Eastern Plaza. Raising Cane’s officially opened its first Metro area restaurant on Tuesday, December 13th. Raising Cane’s aims to open 14 stores in the next year, stretching from suburban Baltimore to the Richmond area, with more to on tap for 2023 including Bowie, Dumfries, Manassas and Springfield. No Montgomery County locations have been announced yet.

Founded by Todd Graves in 1996 in Baton Rouge, La., Raising Cane’s has more than 460 restaurants in 27 states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with multiple new restaurants under construction. The international expansion began in 2015. The menu is simple and focuses on chicken finger combos , chicken finger sandwiches, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, sweet/iced tea, and Cane’s sauce. The menu can be seen below:


Uncategorized

Montgomery County Police responded to Brewster Ave near Colesville Rd in Silver Spring at approximately 7:25am on Wednesday for the report of an overturned vehicle. Upon arrival, officers determined that the driver stuck a parked vehicle. The male driver was transported with minor injuries and all roads have been opened at this time.

Montgomery County Council President Evan Glass shared photos of the collision this morning on social media. Glass tweeted, “SLOW DOWN. This morning a person was speeding through my neighborhood and flipped their vehicle after hitting a parked car. The police on scene told me no one was injured, including the driver. But it could have been worse. Much worse. Please slow down.”


MCDOT

The event will be held at the County’s Gaithersburg Salt Barn, which is located at 17000 Crabbs Branch Way in Gaithersburg.


MCDOT

Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is recruiting community members for focus groups. Both riders and non-riders are welcome to participate. Each focus group will be based on one of five areas across the County. Meetings will be held in public spaces such as Regional Service Centers or local libraries. The small group format will encourage active discussion. All locations are accessible via bus. Participants will be asked to attend two (2), two-hour-long local focus group sessions held from 6 – 8 p.m. on weeknights.


Education

The Montgomery County Board of Education (Board) held a business meeting on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. During the meeting, the Board elected new officers, adopted the 2023-2024 school year calendar, and discussed an overview of the superintendent’s recommended fiscal year 2024 operating budget. The agenda for the meeting, with related links, can be viewed on the Board website. Watch the meeting recording.

Election of Board Officers: Karla Silvestre was selected by her colleagues to serve as president of the Board. Shebra L. Evans was selected vice president. Both officers will serve a one-year term.


Gaithersburg

Recycling will take place as scheduled on December 26, 2022 & January 2, 2023. Loose leaf collectionconcludes on December 30. Recycling includes newspaper, mixed paper, corrugated cardboard & commingled materials (which should be separated from brush, branches, grass clippings, leaves & other yard trimmings) picked up by the City’s contractor.

On-demand bulk pick up for residents whose regular recycling days are December 26 & January 2 will be unavailable. Appointments can be made for the following week using the online form, by e-mailing [email protected], or by calling 301-258-6370.


MoCoSnow

In the images below, courtesy of Fox 5 and NBC 4, you’ll see that icing in in the central and northern part of the county  (Gaithersburg is specifically marked both maps) is more significant than the lower part of the county. This means that the morning commute could wait her be pretty bad or not so bad, depending on your location. Last night’s pencil prediction can be seen here, with an updated pencil prediction and more details on timing and what to expect coming tonight.