Maryland

“Community Safety Works is an important component of our our Re-fund The Police Initiative, providing resources to local business owners and community organizations for crime prevention efforts in neighborhoods across the state,” said Governor Hogan. “This additional $10 million in funding will help residents and other stakeholders who are actively trying to make their communities safer and more secure.”

Improvements include:


Maryland

Per The Office of the Attorney General’s Securities Division: The Attorney General Securities Division announced it was announced that it has filed a Cease and Desist against a cryptocurrency interest account provider, Nexo Group and its co-founder Antoni Trenchev (collectively, “Nexo”), ordering them to cease and desist violating Maryland law in connection with the offer and sale of Nexo’s Earn Interest Product (EIP) accounts. The Securities Division alleges that Nexo, operating as an unregistered broker-dealer, offered and sold unregistered securities in the form of its EIP accounts. In the course of offering these accounts, the Securities Division also alleges that Nexo misrepresented and omitted material facts such as its regulatory compliance and information related to interest generation.

Maryland has been participating in a working group of state securities regulators focused on interest-bearing cryptocurrency accounts. Through this coordinated effort, Maryland participated in the investigation of Nexo. The Nexo Order follows a string of similar state actions filed against BlockFi, Celsius, and Voyager. Celsius and Voyager are currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a sharp decline in the cryptocurrency market over the summer.


Events

Dunkin’ is celebrating National Coffee Day in a big way by sharing the loyalty love with a special coffee offer. All day on National Coffee Day, Thursday, September 29, DD Perks® members can get a FREE medium hot or iced coffee with any purchase*.

The free medium hot or iced coffee includes Dunkin’s Original Blend or Dunkin’s Limited Batch Series coffees, 100% Guatemalan Hot Coffee or Dunkin’ Midnight Hot Coffee. Dunkin’ loyalty members can pair their free coffee perk with a purchase of one of the latest fall favorites, including a Pumpkin Donut or MUNCHKINS®Donut Hole Treats, a Pumpkin Muffin or an Apple Cider Donut, as well as the rest of the Dunkin’ beverage and menu items available.


Education

Poolesville High School, the only whole school magnet in Montgomery County, was ranked as the “Best Public High School in Maryland” by Niche– a rankings and review resource that provides information on K-12 schools, colleges, cities, neighborhoods, and companies across the United States.

The core of the school building was built in 1911 as an elementary school, and as of 1912 the school was the only consolidated (middle and high school) in Montgomery County. The current school building dates back to 1953 but has had over 22 additions made since then, with the last major revision happening in 1978. John Pool Middle School was built in 1997, separating the two schools that were together for nearly a century.


Maryland

Per the Office of the U.S. Attotney, District of Maryland: United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced today that Maryland-based developer Stavrou Associates, Inc. and related entities have agreed to pay $185,000 to settle claims that they violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to build 11 multi-family housing complexes in Maryland with required accessible features for people with disabilities.  As part of the settlement, the defendants also agreed to make extensive retrofits to remove accessibility barriers at the complexes.

The government’s lawsuit, filed today, raises similar allegations against a second Maryland-based developer, Humphrey Stavrou Associates, Inc., and related entities, which were involved in building six other multi-family housing complexes in Maryland.  The lawsuit involving those properties is unaffected by today’s settlement.


Education

The Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, in partnership with the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) has selected Montgomery College as one of two winners of the Delphi Award for 2022. The other winner is Dominican University (CA). Montgomery College and Dominican will each receive $15,000 cash awards to continue their work to support adjunct, contingent, and/or non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) in promoting student success.

“From a competitive pool of applicants, we chose this year’s winners for their significant work ensuring that contingent faculty are supported,” stated Professor Adrianna Kezar, Director of the Pullias Center and primary investigator on the Delphi Project. “The two organizations selected have instituted scalable and innovative institutional policies that remove equity barriers for non-tenure-track faculty and are prime examples of the exemplary work occurring across the country.”


Events

The City of Gaithersburg, in association with the Kentlands Community Foundation, presents the 20thannual Young Artist Award, a juried competition culminating in a concert for the top prize winners. The goal of the Young Artist Award is to provide musicians ages 12 – 18 with an enriching artistic experience & encourage them in their love of music.

The 2023 Young Artist Award Competition includes the 3rd annual awarding of the Carrie McMahon Dietz Award for Excellence. This award is presented to a City of Gaithersburg resident who participates in the competition & has the highest score of all City residents. The award is given in honor of Carrie McMahon Dietz, longtime Executive Director of the Kentlands Community Foundation & one of the founders of the Young Artist Award Competition. Online application here.


Montgomery College

The Montgomery College (MC) Tech Metro Area Pathways (TechMAP) Program, which aims to serve 1,000 students over a four-year funding period, will be fully funded by the SSC2 grant to provide career pathways training in Information Technology (IT). The MC TechMAP Program will improve the retention, completion, and employment rates of individuals historically underrepresented in IT, including people of color, women, and disconnected youth/young adults. Additionally, individuals who are un- or underemployed, including as a result of COVID-19-related layoffs, will be invited to apply to upskill and/or reskill. To this end, the MC TechMAP Program will increase personalized navigation to help students understand their career options, enroll in a program of study and connect to the wrap around supports needed to stay on track for completion. The navigators will move with students as they progress from non-credit to for-credit degrees or as they lattice together various credentials.

The system of navigation is designed to be scalable to other programs or other community colleges and to interface with the workforce system and employers to help participants find on-the-job training and careers. TechMAP is expected to increase retention and completion rates for underrepresented students, leading to higher numbers of participants who earn professional credentials and who find quality work with higher wages. MC will partner with workforce development system partners, employer partners, and social resource partners to support the educational, employment, and wraparound service needs of participants.


Beyond MoCo

In March, Great Cats keepers noticed that Naba was chewing in an exaggerated manner and not consuming all of her diet. Naba was trained to voluntarily participate in awake health exams and blood draws. When keepers gave Naba the cue to open her mouth, they observed some dental issues, and blood tests showed chronic renal disease, both of which can be common in older lions. Zoo veterinarians prescribed pain medications to ease Naba’s discomfort, and keepers presented her diet in a variety of ways to encourage her to eat. Zoo veterinarians and an outside veterinary dental specialist treated Naba’s dental disease over the next few months, but despite intermittent improvements in her behavior and appetite, she continued to decline.

During a complete veterinary exam last Friday to identify the cause of her ongoing decline, a new dental concern was addressed, and Naba’s team of keepers and veterinarians were cautiously optimistic she could recover. However, she did not eat well, was not defecating throughout the weekend and her discomfort was noticeable to the team. Concluding that further attempts to investigate Naba’s illness would be invasive and difficult on her, the team made the hard decision to euthanize Naba. Initial necropsy findings showed a large mass in her small intestine and a cystic lesion in her brain. A final pathology report will provide more information in the coming weeks.


Calverton

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services responded to a fire at the Kohl’s department store at 12024 Cherry Hill Rd in Calverton on Tuesday afternoon. According to Chief Spokesperson for MCFRS Pete Piringer, the fire began as a brush fire that then extended to the façade of the building.  The cause of the fire was likely improperly discarded smoking materials (cigarette butt) and damages are estimated to be around $50,000.   The building was evacuated and there were no injuries reported.

Per @mcfrsPIO on twitter: “Update – Cherry Hill Rd, Orchard Center, Kohl’s Store, exterior façade fire, fire extinguished, checking for extension, no injuries. Kohl’s Store, 12,000 Cherry Hill Road, near Plum Orchard Dr, bldg fire, brush fire extending to building, @mcfrs PE715, T715 on scene & PE841, E724, PE716, T715, AT724, RS715, M715, BC701, BC704, E831 responding”