Royal Farms to host soft opening event with free meals ahead of opening in Silver Spring

It's deja vu all over again as Royal Farms will try for a second time to open its new convenience store and mega gas station in the Montgomery Hills area of Silver Spring. As it did before its scuppered May opening, Royal Farms will host a soft opening prior to the June 1 grand opening of the store at 9475 Georgia Avenue. What's in it for you? A free meal! 

Just sign up for a timeslot during the soft opening on May 27 and 28, 2026. Then go to the Silver Spring Royal Farms and arrive 5 minutes before your scheduled time. Have your ticket printed out, or ready to show on your phone screen. When it is your scheduled time, go into the vestibule of the store entrance, or to the tent at the side of the store, and a Royal Farms "ambassador" will guide you to receiving your free meal. Let's hope that free meal includes their famous fried chicken!

Shoplifting leads to drug bust in Wheaton

Montgomery County police responded to a report of shoplifting at a grocery store in Wheaton late Monday morning, May 18, 2026. The theft was reported at 11:49 AM at a supermarket in the 12000 block of Georgia Avenue. That is at the Wheaton Park Shopping Center, where H Mart is anchor tenant. Upon searching the suspect, narcotics equipment was allegedly found.

Warning shot fired on residential street in Silver Spring

A driver threatened occupants of a vehicle on a residential street in Silver Spring with a firearm early Sunday morning, May 17, 2026. According to police, the armed suspect pulled their vehicle alongside another in the 4100 block of Colie Drive at 1:05 AM Sunday. Producing a handgun, they allegedly proceeded to fire a single round toward the ground. The suspect then pointed the gun at the occupants of the other vehicle, before driving away. Police have not released a description of the suspect.

Man pistol-whipped and kidnapped outside Costco in Wheaton

A man was pistol-whipped and then kidnapped after getting into a vehicle parked outside of Costco at Wheaton Plaza last Friday night, May 15, 2026. According to Montgomery County police, who did not clarify whether the kidnapper was posing as a ride-sharing or taxi driver, once the victim got into the vehicle he was shown a handgun. The suspect proceeded to pistol-whip the victim and took unspecified personal property. He then kidnapped the victim, drove to the victim's home, and forced him to retrieve additional property that was also then taken by the suspect. 

After the suspect drove off, the victim dialed 911, and was treated for his injuries at a local hospital. Police say the entire ordeal transpired between 8:30 and 11:45 PM Friday night. They have not released a description of the suspect. Police did not specify the reason the victim got into the vehicle outside of Costco, or what assumption he was under when he did so.

Armed robbery in Wheaton

Montgomery County police responded to a report of an armed robbery in Wheaton late Friday night, May 15, 2026. The robbery was reported in a commercial parking lot in the 11100 block of Veirs Mill Road at 11:44 PM. A firearm was the weapon employed in the robbery.

Montgomery County Council raising taxes on the middle class, cutting taxes for cartel oligarchs

The Montgomery County Council is dropping the hammer on middle class residents in its massive $7.9 billion tax-and-fee-hike FY-2027 budget, which was approved in a 9-2 vote yesterday. Councilmembers Andrew Friedson and Dawn Luedtke were the only two opposed. Facing an ongoing structural budget deficit of its own design, the Council did what it always does - reward its cartel political patrons with taxpayer largesse, protect and preserve reckless spending, raise fees, and deliver a property tax hike. But they weren't done yet! The Council added a massive income tax increase for "rich" residents making...$1 million? $2 million? Billions? No! The new wealth tax will be paid by every County resident making (in Dr. Evil voice) $150,000 or more.

If you are making $150,000 and live in Montgomery County in the year 2026, you are squarely middle class. If you are making $75,000 (the Council's laughably-outdated measure of a Joe Six Pack), you're effectively poor, and maybe getting by paycheck-to-paycheck - if you're lucky. Interestingly, no one in the local press besides me is pointing this reality out. But that's par for the course for our media Fifth Column of fellow travelers.

Affordability? Hah! The Council, which draws itself a $168,000 salary at taxpayer expense each year for their part-time Council "jobs," is once again laughing at you. Yes, this is the same Council who insiders say refer to you, the taxpayers, behind closed doors as "losers" and "suckers." Well, you lost again yesterday, your bank account will lose even more, and you'll be a sucker for sure if you vote to re-elect these incompetent criminals this November.

You're paying double what you were for groceries just six years ago, gas prices are skyrocketing, cars are priced as luxury items now, utility bills are crushing you monthly, and insurance companies are price-gouging you with impunity. What does the Council do to address the affordability crisis? Raise your income tax, raise your property tax, raise the fees you pay, and - get this - eliminate the Income Tax Offset Credit that homeowners were eligible for. That makes two property tax hikes in one budget!

Now, the Council provided its farcical definition of "rich" as those of you making $150,000 and up. Do you know what they consider a lavish mansion? Homes worth $800,000 and up. It's not just their policies that are stuck in the Woodstock era, but their entire grasp on economics. Then again, nobody on the Council went to Yale or Harvard exactly. $800,000 and up? That's basically any home inside the Beltway that's not an as-is fixer-upper, and a huge percentage of homes outside the Beltway.

Think about the federal government workers the Council claimed they were so worried about. A large percentage of those workers are making $150,000 and up. Now they're getting slammed with a double property tax increase, and an income tax hike. You can see that the Council doesn't give a damn about you or your struggles, or about the rest of us private sector taxpayers.

Who does the Council give a damn about?

The Montgomery County cartel that gets them elected, and from whom they take their marching orders. That's the real estate developer oligarchs, the Council-connected "non-profits" who funnel taxpayer funding they receive back to the campaign accounts of councilmembers, and certain labor unions. All got fully funded in this budget. Montgomery County Public Schools got a massive increase in funding, while their enrollment of actual students is dwindling by the year. Make it make sense.

When you think of these synthetic-left councilmembers raising taxes on hardworking middle class residents at a time of financial struggle, think of the oligarchy. Think of the 20-year property tax exemption that the Council provided for their millionaire and billionaire oligarch developer sugar daddies just months ago. It applies to nearly every apartment development, and therefore is robbing the County coffers of billions in revenue. That fiscal impact was already felt this year. Billions going into the pockets of billionaires, instead of schools, police officer hiring, infrastructure, libraries and parks, for at least the next twenty years.

Who will make up for all that lost revenue, and the structural budget deficit the Council itself created earlier this century? Once again, the Council made clear: You, the taxpayer. You, the homeowner. You, the small business owner. You are the loser they mock. And the cartel oligarchs are once again the winners they reward - with your hard-earned income, and your equity and security in the home that was the biggest investment of your life. It turns out the government owned it all along!

Taxes going up, government and elected official salaries going up, traffic camera ticketing going up, and friends of the Council getting rich at the expense of taxpayers - all this happened in Bell, California, and elected officials there went to prison. All this is happening in Montgomery County right now. The County where oligarchs get richer, and their puppets on the Council drop an anvil on the middle class to make sure the numbers work out.

Armed robbery at gas station in Silver Spring

Montgomery County police responded to a report of an armed robbery at a gas station in the White Oak area of Silver Spring early Wednesday morning, May 13, 2026. The robbery was reported at a gas station in the 11100 block of New Hampshire Avenue at 4:33 AM Wednesday. Police have not identified which of the two 24-hour gas stations on that block was victimized - there is a Shell station with a Dash In convenience store, and an Exxon station.

7-Eleven closes in downtown Silver Spring

A 7-Eleven store has closed in downtown Silver Spring. The convenience store was located at 8484 Georgia Avenue. Signage has been stripped from the building, and the storefront windows have been covered. It looks like 24-hour convenience store Hakim 1-Stop Shop arrived just in time at 8433 Georgia Avenue!

Dor-Ne Corset Shop relocates in Silver Spring

One of Silver Spring's oldest businesses is still going strong, but now in a new location. Dor-Ne Corset shop has cleared out of its storefront at 8126 Georgia Avenue. It can now be found at 12840 New Hampshire Avenue. This isn't the first move the shop has made, as it was originally located in Washington, D.C. when it was founded nearly a century ago in 1932.

Shocking armed robbery, stabbing at bus stop in Glenmont

Montgomery County police responded to the latest shocking broad-daylight crime in the County yesterday in Glenmont. According to police, the adult male victim was waiting for a bus in the 12300 block of Georgia Avenue around 6:00 PM Monday. He was approached by a male suspect, who allegedly proceeded to stab the victim in his upper left arm. The suspect grabbed unspecified "personal property" from the victim and fled on foot, police say. He remains at large.

The victim was transported to a local hospital with what police call non-life-threatening injuries. Strangely, police have not released a physical description of the suspect. A truly horrifying incident, and one that again reflects the disturbing trend of violent crimes being committed during daylight hours in Montgomery County.

Hakim 1 Stop Shop reopens in Silver Spring, but inspection records vanish

Hakim 1 Stop Shop has reopened at 8433 Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring. The convenience store was temporarily shut down by Montgomery County health inspectors for unspecified code violations. These violations had to be corrected, and the premises reinspected by the County, for the business to reopen. 

Intriguingly, neither the original violations nor the successful reinspection can be found in the Montgomery County Food Inspection database. The terms "Hakim" and "8433 Georgia" return zero search results. I then performed an excruciating manual search of the database for all of April and May, and found no trace of either inspection, or even of the required pre-opening inspection from months earlier.

Lucy Ethiopian Restaurant closed in Silver Spring

Lucy Ethiopian Restaurant has closed at 8301 Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring. The windows are papered over, but there is no message posted for customers. Google states that the restaurant is "temporarily closed." The restaurant's website is currently down, however.

Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Cemetery remembered in Silver Spring

A banner has been placed at a former car wash site to remind the public that there was a church at this location in the Montgomery Hills area of Silver Spring - and that many of its members remain interred beneath more recent buildings and asphalt today. Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church was a landmark at Georgia Avenue and Seminary Road from 1825 to 1964. The church was sold in 1964, but the burial ground associated with it was somehow allowed to be built over by Montgomery County. This was hardly an unusual abomination in the County during the 1960s, tragically.

The good news is that the descendants of some of those buried here are on the case now. Ground penetrating radar has identified over 100 confirmed or potential graves. Some may even be beneath Georgia Avenue itself. The descendants are asking the Maryland State Highway Administration to exhume remains from graves under Georgia Avenue, and reinter them within the burial ground, and return the properties associated with the cemetery to a memorial park use.

It's heartening to see the tragedy of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda lead to a reexamination of similar travesties countywide. The fascinating part is that the political cartel that runs the County behind the curtain loudly declares its purported belief that "Black Lives Matter," but pushes back with every ounce of strength against actual Black people advocating for the poor souls whose eternal rest has been - and still is - threatened by the rapacious real estate development that is The Only Thing That Matters to the Montgomery County cartel.

Monarch butterfly tagged in Sandy Spring arrives in Mexico

A migrating monarch butterfly tagged in Sandy Spring last September was found in Mexico earlier this year. The monarch successfully traveled 1,934 miles from Maryland to the El Rosario butterfly sanctuary in Michoacán, Mexico. It was among the monarchs tagged by residents of Friends House, a retirement community on Quaker Lane in Sandy Spring, last fall. Less than one-half of a percent of tagged monarchs are recaptured at the end of their journey south of the border.

The tiny tag on the Sandy Spring monarch indicated it had been tagged in the Friends House flower garden on September 27. Researchers at El Rosario recaptured and identified the butterfly on February 4. The tagging program is a volunteer effort coordinated by Monarch Watch to map the annual migration and population of the species.

Purple Line catenary poles popping up all over Silver Spring

Green poles for the Purple Line light rail system are popping up all along its route through Silver Spring. The catenary poles can be seen downtown, where the trains will run along the street, at the Silver Spring Transit Center where there will be a Purple Line station, and in the Long Branch area, among others. These poles are part of the overhead wiring that will power the trains. The Purple Line will run from Bethesda to New Carrollton. As of today, it is scheduled to begin operation in late 2027 or early 2028.

Auto thieves return to Bel Pre Road in Aspen Hill

Lock those vehicles on Bel Pre Road! Auto thieves are returning yet again to one of their favorite haunts in Montgomery County. Montgomery County police report that a vehicle was reported stolen yesterday in the 3800 block of Bel Pre at 5:04 AM. It was taken from a residential parking lot.

Montgomery County government vehicle stolen in Silver Spring

Even the government of Montgomery County is not immune from being victimized by the County's six-year crime wave. A County government vehicle is among the latest stolen by auto thieves. County police report that a Montgomery County Fire Marshal vehicle was stolen from a parking lot in the 3300 block of Gateshead Manor Way in the Fairland area of Silver Spring. 

The theft was discovered yesterday afternoon, and police believe the vehicle was stolen sometime between 2:30 PM on April 29, 2026 and 3:12 PM Monday. Police did not identify the specific address of the parking lot, but the East County Community Center is located at 3310 Gateshead Manor Way.

Royal Farms postpones opening in Silver Spring

UPDATE - May 5, 2026, 5:18 PM: Royal Farms has postponed the opening to June 1. 

The Force is with Royal Farms. Maryland's homegrown mega gas station and convenience store chain opened its newest location this morning at 9475 Georgia Avenue, in the Montgomery Hills area of Silver Spring. It's just south of the interchange with the Capital Beltway. Open 24 hours a day, the station boasts 8 gas pumps and the store serves the chain's famous fried chicken. Now you can stock up on both before you hit the highway to Ocean City this summer.

"Royal Farms has been a Maryland staple since 1959, and opening this Silver Spring location allows us to deepen our connection to our home state," Royal Farms District Leader Steve Rymer said in a statement. "We take great pride in serving our neighbors, and we’re eager to bring our signature fresh-food experience to the Georgia Avenue corridor."

Silver Spring church lists property for sale

A Silver Spring church has listed its entire property for sale. First Faith Church is located at 12323 Bluhill Road, but has prime frontage along heavily-traveled Randolph Road. The property includes not only the three-level church itself, but also a classroom building, a parsonage residence, and a 40-space parking lot. It's also within walking distance of the Glenmont Metro, if you're in good health and have high-quality walking shoes. Or you could take the M42 or M44 Metrobus from Glenmont Metro, and get off at the Randolph-Bluhill bus stop for Sunday services. 

This church is notable for several reasons, including its architecture. I do not know the name of the architect, but it clearly was designed to fit in seamlessly among the homes around it, using an identical color scheme and materials. The original church structure was built in 1962. You rarely see this level of sensitivity and community spirit in Montgomery County today. 

But, then again, this was happening amid the early years of the golden age of Wheaton and Glenmont. That vaunted era delivered countless architectural gems that today's developers don't often have the time or financial generosity to provide. We continue to admire those that remain standing, like the fine and sturdy midcentury modern brick homes, or the Aspen Hill Library. And mourn the loss of those that have been mindlessly demolished, such as the Wheaton Youth Center. Yes, Led Zeppelin did play there.

Real estate broker NAIknlb is marketing the property as a turnkey church opportunity. One imagines that the increasingly-bonkers zoning guidelines of Montgomery County may also permit all kinds of lucrative redevelopment options, as well. Cue the rubbing hands of developers. The asking price is $3,200,000, according to the online listing.

Update on Round1 Bowling & Arcade in Wheaton (Photos)

Construction walls continue to block the view of most of the work being done at the future Round1 Bowling & Arcade entertainment center at Westfield's Wheaton Plaza mall. You can see a little bit of what's being done on the outdoor-facing side of the space, which is on Level 1 next to the venerable JCPenney. But the main thing we can see right now are new signs giving mall patrons an idea of what to expect when it opens. And they are also hiring staff for all positions. 

Student arrested, charged in Blake High School shooting in Silver Spring

Montgomery County police have arrested a James Hubert Blake High School student in connection to the shooting that took place on Wednesday in the school's parking lot at 300 Norwood Road in Silver Spring. Taric Wilson, 17, of Silver Spring has been charged with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, carrying a loaded handgun, and felony use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. Ironically, police also confirmed that Wilson was the individual wounded during the parking lot skirmish, when his own gun discharged amidst the struggle, hitting him in the knee and foot. Wilson was arrested in Washington, D.C., and is now awaiting extradition to Montgomery County.

In another irony, the adult "outside intruder" that Montgomery County Public Schools officials tried to blame the incident on, was not the person who was carrying the firearm onto the campus. However, Djibia Gombo, 19, of Silver Spring did allegedly pick up the gun after Wilson dropped it. Police also allege that Gombo briefly pointed the gun at a "Montgomery County Public Schools security officer" before placing on the pavement.

Gombo was arrested at the scene. He has been charged with 1st-degree assault. Police say they are continuing their investigation of the incident. No mugshots of Wilson or Gombo were released by police with their statement this afternoon.