Olney

Stephanie Luna was last seen on Friday, June 24, 2022, at approximately 3 p.m., leaving her residence in the 3100 block of Benton Square Drive.

Luna is 5-feet, 2-inches tall and weighs approximately 135 pounds. She has shoulder length black hair with blond highlights and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black hoodie with the words “True Religion” written in white lettering on the back, black pants and white Nike sneakers. She also has a nose piercing.  Police and family are concerned for her welfare.


MoCo Government

The Education & Culture (E&C) Committee will meet on Monday, June 27 at 1:30 p.m. to discuss a $12 million supplemental appropriation and amendment to the FY23 Capital Budget and FY23-28 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) to MCPS for Major Capital Projects – Secondary. They will also discuss the Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) Report 2022-5, Community Use of Public Facilities and FY23 Community Use of Public Facilities (CUPF) Operating Budget follow-up.

The members of the E&C Committee include Chair Craig Rice and Councilmembers Will Jawando (Lead for Libraries) and Nancy Navarro.


East County

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) were called to the scene of a collision that caused a vehicle to roll over onto its roof a little before 9:45pm on Sunday night in the area of Stravinsky Terrace and Brahms Avenue in the Fairland area, according to MCFRS Chief Spokesperson Pete Piringer.

Units arrived to find one adult trapped inside the overturned vehicle and were able to extricate the person before transporting the adult to the hospital with Pri2 Trauma (serious, but non-life threatening injuries). Brahms Avenue and Mozart Drive were blocked in both directions for a couple hours Sunday night, but reopened by early Monday morning.


Beyond MoCo

With 84% of Americans planning to celebrate the 4th of July this year and collective food spending for the holiday to reach $7.7 billion, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2022’s Best & Worst Places for 4th of July Celebrations to go along with interesting stats about the holiday in its 4th of July Facts & Figures, infographic and 4th of July Survey. Washington D.C. came in as the 3rd best place to celebrate 4th of July on this list, ranking in the Top 10 in 3 different categories- Fourth of July Celebrations, Attractions & Activities, and Safety & Accessibility.  For those of you looking for celebrations right here in MoCo, here is a list of celebrations within the county.

To determine the best places to celebrate the most star-spangled occasion, WalletHub compared the 100 largest U.S. cities based on how well they balance holiday cost and fun. The data set of 21 key metrics ranges from average beer and wine prices to duration of fireworks shows to the Fourth of July weather forecast.


Business

The HealthWell Foundation®, an independent non-profit that provides a financial lifeline for inadequately insured Americans that’s based in Germantown, has enhanced its homocystinuria fund to also provide financial assistance to patients living with organic acidemia. Through the Homocystinuria and Organic Acidemias Fund, HealthWell will provide up to $5,000 in copayment or premium assistance to eligible patients with annual household incomes up to 500 percent of the federal poverty level to obtain prescription medications for the treatment and management of their condition.

Per the press release: Kathy Stagni, Executive Director, Organic Acidemia Association, said, “OAA is honored to provide a financial contribution to support broadening this fund to include organic acidemias. Those living with the condition can be faced with a multitude of symptoms including breathing difficulties, vomiting, slow growth, and lethargy. Organic acidemia may also lead to neurological and physiological harm resulting in toxicity to organs. If undiagnosed and left untreated, the condition can be fatal. Accessing proper care and the ability to afford continued treatment are obstacles that many patients face. We applaud the HealthWell Foundation for recognizing this unmet need and for providing the financial resources these patients need to access lifesaving treatments.”


Business

Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), announced on Thursday the sale of Gaitherstowne Plaza located in Gaithersburg. The 71,329-square-foot shopping center is 100% leased and sold for $24.45 million. Gaitherstowne Plaza also boasts an average tenant tenure of over 10 years and is home to IHOP, AutoZone and more.

Per the press release: Gaitherstowne Plaza is a 71,329-square-foot shopping center and is 100% leased. The average tenure of tenants at the property is over 10 years and the roster includes national brands Gabe’s, AutoZone, Sherwin Williams and IHOP on an outparcel. “This is a generational acquisition as there are a limited number of transactions in esteemed Montgomery County, which is ranked as the nation’s fifth-wealthiest county by Bloomberg,” noted Dean Zang, IPA executive managing director.


Olney

The housing market exploded last year and the trend has continued halfway through 2022. 18632 Woodgate Place, a 7 bedroom, 8 bathroom, 5,915 SF home in Olney, was listed at $2,499,000– and it ended up selling for $2,175,000, making it the highest priced residential listing in Olney history (photos below).

The home beat the previous Olney record of $2,066,986 for 16672 Bridle Ridge Lane, which sold in 2019. The Bridle Ridge house is a Toll Brothers home with 11,182 SF living space with 5 car garage on just over half an acre (0.55 acre), according to our real estate expert Nurit Coombe.


Beyond MoCo

Per the State of Maryland:

ANNAPOLIS, MD—As part of his economic development mission to Western Europe, Governor Larry Hogan visited the Guinness Enterprise Centre (GEC), which is the leading university-associated business incubator in the world, to announce a new partnership between the State of Maryland and the Republic of Ireland focused on soft landing spaces, academics, and networking opportunities between the two regions.


North Bethesda

Tropical Smoothie Cafe will continue opening new locations in Montgomery County with the upcoming addition of a location in White Flint Station– the shopping center, not to be confused with the Metro station that has recently changed its name to North Bethesda Metro Station.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe will be located at 11620 Rockville Pike, next to Pho Eatery and two stores down from Ize’s Deli and Bagelry. Tropical Smoothie’s most recent MoCo location opened in Germantown on December 26 and the company has additional locations in Aspen Hill , Bethesda, 2 in Gaithersburg, Travilah, and White Oak. Another new location is coming to the Woodmoor shopping center in Silver Spring.


Germantown

The number of vendors varies from 50 to 150 depending on the weather. Since the markets are outdoors, weather always plays a part in the activity, but the markets are only canceled for heavy steady rain or high winds. The markets are held on the first Saturday of the month – April though November – and the cold dark early mornings of the first and last months require heavy coats, gloves and flashlights. In the summer months a rogue thunderstorm can send vendors racing to cover their goods with tarps and to seek shelter in their cars, only to pop out again like prairie dogs from their holes when the sun comes out. But that isall part of the adventure.

Vendors are charged $25 for a 10’ x10’ space and must set up before 7am and pack up at 1pm. After the overhead of insurance, port-a-john, signage and security, all the proceeds go to three local non-profit organizations – the Germantown Historical Society, the Button Farm Living History Program, and a Boy Scout Troop. The Germantown Historical Society began the Flea Markets in 1993 to raise funds. There were only about two dozen vendors at that first market


MoCo Government

The sensors detect rising water levels and provide early warnings about high water or flooding.  They are being installed at flood prone sites across the County. Each sensor is solar powered and has an internal battery to maintain operations during inclement weather. The sensors use a tethered node that is placed underwater. The node detects the amount of pressure placed upon it by the water and calculates the depth of the water. Every five minutes, data is sent from the sensor by a cell phone card to a master display. A small color camera also sends images back to the main display. Every location has pre-determined thresholds for water depths for the sensor to alert that water levels are approaching or exceeding flood stage. If they are, a crew is sent to investigate the potential flooding and whether a low-lying road needs to be cleared, or if an Emergency Action Plan for a dam needs to be activated.

The Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) led the effort to get the sensors and the County’s Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (OEMHS) worked on a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with DHS and Intellisense Systems Inc., the company that makes the devices.  The County will share the data gathered by the sensors with the company and DHS to improve sensor design based on user feedback.