Barbara Escobar, principal at Neelsville Middle School, received the Hispanic Educator of the Year award at the Hispanic Leadership Awards Gala. The award was presented by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County (HCCMC). Escobar was appointed as principal of Neelsville in June 2022.
Last month, during Hispanic Heritage Month, MCPS recognized Escobar with the following tweet, “Barbara Escobar is the Principal of Neelsville Middle School. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She believes education is important because it serves as the instrument that ignites curiosity, reinforces determination and unlocks limitless opportunities.” which shared the following quote from Escobar, “I take immense pride in my role of serving the wonderful Neelsville Middle School “comunidad” and setting an example of Latina leadership for my students“.
HCCMC provides a forum for matters affecting Hispanics in business. “We advocate on behalf of the organization’s membership to achieve economic, educational, and social equality under the law, ensuring a positive and inclusive public image of Hispanic-owned businesses.”
Featured photo courtesy of HCCMC
MCPS is hosting a series of forums to learn more about the process for the 2024–2025 operating budget. Join us for a discussion with MCPS leadership and an opportunity to engage in breakout sessions.
In June, 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 Montgomery County Public Schools (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. Events for the 2024-2025 operating budge will be held on the following dates:
- Thursday, Oct. 19, 6:30–8 p.m., virtual forum. Click here to attend. This event will be livestreamed on the MCPS homepage. RSVP.
- Wednesday, Oct. 25, 6:30–8 p.m., Damascus High School, 25921 Ridge Road in Damascus. RSVP.
- Tuesday, Nov. 14, time to be determined, Walter Johnson High School, 6400 Rock Spring Drive in Bethesda. RSVP.
Per Montgomery County: “Maryland’s Opioid Operational Command Center (OOCC), in partnership with Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), will host a town hall on Thursday, Nov. 2, to hear ideas from residents on how Maryland can address the opioid crisis. The event will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. in the third floor hearing room of Montgomery County Council Office Building, which is located at 100 Maryland Ave in Rockville.
The town hall will also be livestreamed on County Cable Montgomery and on several Facebook accounts, including Maryland’s Before Its Too Late and DHHS.
Emily Keller, Maryland’s special secretary of opioid response, and the Maryland Opioid Operational Command Center have hosted town halls throughout the State for the past several months to hear about the impact opioids are having on communities. Joining Secretary Keller will be County and State officials including Alyssa Lord, deputy secretary for behavioral health with the Maryland Department of Health and Montgomery County Health Officer Kisha Davis.
“Like many communities across Maryland, Montgomery County has been impacted by the opioid crisis,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “We appreciate the sense of urgency that Secretary Keller and the Moore-Miller administration have and their desire to hear about the challenges facing communities. We have been working hard on addressing the issue here, but we cannot do it alone and we welcome the partnership with the State. I encourage residents to attend.”
Information about County programs and services will be available at resource tables from 6-6:30 p.m. On-the-spot training also will be offered on how to use Naloxone, the nasal spray used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The listening session will be held from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Attendees of the town hall will have an opportunity to speak and share their ideas on supporting people with substance use disorders, and for preventing overdoses in Montgomery County.
The event is open to the public but advanced registration is highly recommended. The registration form includes information on signing up to make public comments. Registered speakers will have two minutes and will be called on to provide their comments.
Anyone needing a sign language interpreter or services to participate is asked to make those requests with as much advance notice as possible. Organizers would like to have at least three full business days in advance of the meeting to plan. Requests can be made by contacting Stella Sharif at 240-777-1603 or by sending an email to [email protected]. Last minute requests will be accepted but may not be possible to fulfill.
The OOCC is Maryland’s principal coordinating office for addressing the opioid and overdose crisis. The OOCC works to increase collaboration at the State and local level to promote access to compassionate, person-centered care by supporting substance-use programming across five pillars: prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and public safety.
For more information about how Montgomery County is addressing the opioid epidemic, visit KnowTheRisksMC.org.
Visit BeforeItsTooLate.Maryland.org for information on the State’s strategy for reducing overdose deaths.”
Per the State of Maryland: “Governor Wes Moore today announced that the Maryland Department of Commerce has received a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to broaden the state’s international reach and help companies create jobs and access new foreign markets. The funding is the highest single award that the department has ever received through the State Trade Expansion Program, which supports participation in overseas trade shows in targeted industry sectors and funds the state’s ExportMD program.
“Maryland’s economy will grow and thrive when our small businesses have more opportunities to succeed,” said Gov. Moore. “We thank the U.S. Small Business Administration for their support in expanding Maryland’s global economic reach. This record funding represents boundless possibilities.”
During the first half of the year, the Department of Commerce assisted four dozen businesses across the state through the ExportMD program, which provides matching grants of up to $5,000 to help local companies market their goods and services to global customers. The program’s success is greatly attributed to the Small Business Administration program, allowing the department to quadruple the number of companies it has funded annually over the past decade.
The next application deadline for the ExportMD program is November 1. Eligibility requirements are available on the Maryland Department of Commerce website.
“The U.S. Small Business Administration continues to be a strong advocate for Maryland’s international efforts, having awarded this funding to our agency for over a decade,” said Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary Kevin Anderson. “Our team is hitting the road with the Maryland Partners in International Trade alliance to provide in-person outreach on available exporting programs—this will ensure our programs are reaching businesses in every region of Maryland and make sure everyone knows that opportunities for global expansion exist.”
Maryland’s Office of International Investment and Trade stimulates foreign direct investment in the state, offers export assistance, and coordinates international trade and investment missions and trade show opportunities for Maryland companies. The state has 19 foreign trade offices, including in Durban, South Africa; Singapore, Malaysia; Sydney, Australia; São Paulo, Brazil; Montreal, Canada; Santiago, Chile; Shanghai, China; Bogot, Colombia; Delhi, India; Tel Aviv, Israel; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Mexico City, Mexico, Liima, Peru; Taipei, Taiwan; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Manchester, England; Heidelberg, Germany; and Paris, France.
ExportMD grant recipients for 2023 to date include:
Anne Arundel County
Atomic Biometrics
Contiem Inc.
Patriot Group LLC
Pugh and Tiller LLC
Baltimore City
BrickRose Exchange
Icosa Apparel LLC
North American Wave Engine Corporation
SEW BROMO
Sisu Global Health
Stellar Scientific LLC
True Chesapeake Oyster Co.
Baltimore County
AirPhoton, Inc.
BCR Cyber
HurleyIR Inc.
Longeviti Neuro Solutions
New Horizons Diagnostics
Restorative Therapies
Sun Automation Group
Carroll County
LAI International
Charles County
Day and Night Labor Services
Howard County
Ardent Security LLC
Shea Radiance
Montgomery County
AboutWeb LLC
AMTeal LLC
DSFederal Inc.
Heritage Series, LLC
ICON Scientific Inc.
KoolSpan
Lumo Imaging
Machfu Inc.
Maven Engineering
N5 Sensors
OfficePro Inc.
Perform-Link
SeeTrue Technology
Societas Analytics
Torpedo Line Consulting
Zena Ziora LLC
Prince George’s County
Airgility Inc.
Broadband Connect LLC
Dynamic Green Radiance
Era Wine Bar
Kinetic Solutions LLC
Upliftology
St. Mary’s County
Decorelle LLC
NEANY Inc.
Platform Aerospace
Wicomico County
Arcon Training
Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Cesar Urial Gomez Valasquez. Gomez Valasquez was last seen on Monday, October 16, 2023, at approximately 8 a.m. in the 300 block of University Boulevard East in Silver Spring. He is 5’6″, 130 lbs., with black hair, brown eyes, and was last seen wearing black sweatpants with white stripe, black shirt with rose design and a black sweatshirt.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Cesar Urial Gomez Valasquez is asked to call Montgomery County Police Non-Emergency (301) 279-8000 (24-hour line).
Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public's assistance in locating Cesar Urial Gomez Valasquez.https://t.co/wUBXDRTMcc#MCPNews #MCPD #missingperson pic.twitter.com/tyLnJh1WZR
— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) October 18, 2023
Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Xavier Beltran. Beltran was last seen on Monday, October 16, 2023, at approximately 1 a.m., in the 200 block of Poplar Spring Road in Rockville. He is 5’6″, 120 Ibs., with black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a black hat, black hoodie and black sweatpants.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Xavier Beltran is asked to call Montgomery County Police Non-Emergency (301) 279-8000 (24-hour line).
Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public's assistance in locating Xavier Beltran.https://t.co/6EwmfWgre5#MCPNews #MCPD #missingperson pic.twitter.com/MyOXSfHyo5
— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) October 18, 2023
Per MCPD: The Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigation Division has determined the report of a kidnapping involving a 13-year-old girl to be unfounded. On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, the girl reported that she was kidnapped by two suspects, described as Hispanic and Black males, between 3 – 3:15 p.m. She alleged that the suspects approached her in a dark sedan in Germantown, and forced her into the car. The girl reported that at some point, she was able to get out of the vehicle, where she was located by a resident and transported to an area hospital by Montgomery County Fire Rescue personnel for evaluation.
Through the course of the investigation, detectives determined that the report was unfounded and there is no threat to the community or to the safety of children.
Montgomery County Police held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to give an update on an incident that occurred early this morning on I-270 north that involved an officer being struck by a driver. The injured officer has been identified as Patrick Kepp, 36, who currently serves on the Alcohol Initiatives Unit. According to Police Chief Marcus Jones, Kepp has lost the use of both of his legs and remains in critical conditions.
The suspect has been identified as Frederick Raphael Mayorga, 19, of Frederick, MD. Mayorga is said to be well known to Montgomery County Police due to several prior incidents, and has a reputation for attempting to provoke officers into high speed chases. Prior to the incident, officers were monitoring Mayorga, who was seen driving a green Dodge Challenger recklessly at the Clarksburg Outlets and on I-270. Jones said officers did not pursue Mayorga.
A decision was made to deploy “stop sticks”, used to deflate tires of suspect vehicles on the roadway, after a citizen was almost run off the road by Mayorga. While Kepp got out of his vehicle to deploy the stop sticks near the Watkins Mill Rd exit on northbound I-270, Mayorga intentionally struck officer Kepp with his vehicle. A second officer successfully deployed stop sticks near Clarksburg Rd, eventually bringing the vehicle to a stop. Mayorga was apprehended and is now facing attempted first-degree murder charges. There was a second person in the vehicle with Mayorga who is not being charged and is being treated as a witness.
Kepp previously arrested Mayorga on May 26 for driving 136mph back in May.
Update: In a message sent to the Watkins Mill community principal Vilma Najera at 7:41pm Wednesday evening, the threat was deemed not credible by Montgomery County Police. The full message can be seen below:
“Good evening Watkins Mill families and staff,
I am providing our final update for the day. Today’s social media posts were deemed non creditable by the police. We will be running on a normal school schedule tomorrow. Thank you for your understanding and patience and thank you for all you do for our students and our Watkins Mill community.
Sincerely,
Vilma Najera
Principal”
Watkins Mill High School
Original report; : Watkins Mill High School (10301 Apple Ridge Rd, Gaithersburg) enacted a Shelter in Place on Wednesday, October 18, due to an online threat made against the school on social media. According to a representative from MCPS, the school will be completing their day under the Shelter in Place and dismissal will occur on time.
Watkins Mill Principal Vilma Najera sent the following message at 2pm: “Good afternoon Watkins Mill Community, All afterschool activities and Sports, are canceled out of an abundance of caution. I will continue to provide updates as they are received.”
We will provide an update when additional information is made available.
