Spirit Halloween haunting scary-early in Wheaton for 2026

Spirit Halloween fans are getting a thrill out of the freakishly early appearance of signage for the chain's 2026 Wheaton location. Those with season and holiday boundary issues may be getting a chill, by contrast. People not ready to face Back-to-School shopping sales yet, much less All Hallows Eve, likely don't want to hear that everyone's favorite costume, accessory, decoration and animatronic destination will be at 11006-L20 Veirs Mill Road at Wheaton Plaza. Or that it will be "opening soon." But for those of us counting down to Halloween season on September 1, this is a welcome "sign" that it is rapidly approaching.

Maryland has 2nd-worst economy in America, CNBC finds

Maryland has the second-worst economy in the U.S., CNBC found in its 2026 Worst State Economies in America survey, the results of which were released today. "Economic growth and job growth nearly flatlined in Maryland over the past year," the cable TV business channel noted in its analysis. "[H]igh costs, unpredictable taxes, and growing regulatory burdens," are each a drag on the state's economy, as is an over-reliance on government jobs and federal funds. A new IT services tax walloped businesses, sending many firms packing for greener pastures in other states. Especially hard hit by the IT tax were government contractors, a painful irony in a state where little beyond government has been growing this century.

Some factors in CNBC's criteria certainly hit Maryland where it hurts. These included job growth, economic growth, and the number of major companies headquartered in the state. The first two "flatlined" over the last 12 months, in CNBC's own word, and Maryland hasn't attracted a single new major corporate headquarters this century. In fact, the story has been the number of companies leaving the state. "Budget situation" isn't a category any Maryland elected official would want to delve into publicly. Debt? Maryland and Montgomery County are both in deadly serious trouble on that front, as well.

"Small business survival rates?" Ho ho. The ubiquitous "Going Out of Business" and "Everything must go!!!" signs in Montgomery County storefront windows tell a most tragic story indeed.

"Maryland finds itself in a deep hole in 2026, with no easy way out of it," CNBC concluded. But the picture is even bleaker than the one painted by the already-stinging rebuke of a friendly, liberal news outlet. They didn't even mention the budget apocalypse currently forecast for the state in 2030. 

Can we continue to whistle past the graveyard, raising taxes and instituting new ones? Refusing for radical ideological reasons to construct the long-delayed new Potomac River crossing to the Dulles area? Continuing to block completion of our master plan highway system? Keep on losing, and often hardly trying, in the corporate HQ relocation sweepstakes?

We could. And we just might end up topping CNBC's worst list in the future. It's one of the few things within easy reach for the buffoonish incompetents currently running Montgomery County and Maryland. After all, "We're number two - we try harder."

MoCo Crust pizzeria coming soon to Silver Spring

MoCo Crust, a pizzeria offering "crafted cocktails," is coming soon to the Montgomery Hills area of Silver Spring. It will be at 1907 Seminary Road, the previous home of Meleket Ethiopian Restaurant, which closed earlier this year. One permanent sign has been installed above the storefront. A message posted in the window says that MoCo Crust is being opened by the same team behind neighboring restaurant Lime & Cilantro.

Montgomery County homeowners slammed as property tax bills arrive

Montgomery County homeowners are receiving their property tax bills in the mail, and jaws are crashing to the floor countywide. A super double-whammy budget by the County Council in May not only hiked property taxes yet again, but also eliminated the Income Tax Offset Credit that a vast majority of homeowners were previously eligible for. The end result has been, among homeowners I've spoken to around the county, property tax bills anywhere from 17% to 25% higher than last year. Be sure to thank your representative comrades on the Montgomery Commie Council.

Predictably, the hardest-hit areas are downcounty, in Bethesda, Rockville, and Silver Spring. Many Rockville residents are looking at $12,000 tax bills. "It was about $12,000 last year," lamented a Bethesda homeowner holding a tax bill for more than $15,000. As I have noted for many years now, Montgomery County property taxes have increasingly become a second mortgage for homeowners. It's simply incredible that the Council would slam homeowners with tax increases this high in the middle of an affordability crisis. Most of this money ends up in the pockets of the Montgomery County cartel, the puppeteers behind our Marxist County Council.

Don't forget, in May the Council also added a new wealth tax on the "rich," whom our stuck-in-the-1960s Council defines as (in Dr. Evil "one million dollars" voice) anyone making over $150,000. That's only $18,000 higher than the median income of $132,450 in Montgomery County! $150,000 is just squeaking by and surviving, especially with a County Council of overpaid, underworked oligarchs who draw an annual salary of $167,172 from you, the taxpayer, for a few hours of "work" per week. One of the best kept secrets of the Council is that many members over the years have used the lax Council schedule, and their overinflated salaries, to put themselves through graduate or law school at your expense. If only you were as criminally street smart as the County Council, you might throw the bums out on Election Day!

Silver Spring church burglarized

Montgomery County criminals will sometimes stoop to a low level even for them, one of which is preying upon houses of worship in MoCo. Such a low was again allegedly reached as June turned to July in the White Oak area of Silver Spring, according to Montgomery County police. Sometime between 3:03 PM on June 30 and 10:40 AM on July 1, one or more suspects entered St. Stephen Lutheran Church at 11612 New Hampshire Avenue and stole unspecified property from inside. Officers responding to the scene found no evidence of forced entry. No description of the suspect(s) has been released.

Armed hit-and-run carjacking in Olney

Montgomery County police responded to a report of an armed carjacking in Olney Thursday night, July 9, 2026. According to police, a woman was sitting in her vehicle in the 17800 block of Georgia Avenue at 8:11 PM, when a man suddenly opened a door of the car and displayed "an edged weapon." He ordered her out of the vehicle, and drove off in it, striking the woman with her own car. Police have not released a description of the suspect or stolen vehicle, and have not commented on the victim's condition.

Maryland could face blackouts in 2027, utility CEO warns

The CEO of Exelon, parent company of Pepco and BGE, is warning that Maryland and other Northeast U.S. customers may be facing blackouts next year "due to a shortage of power plants," the Financial Times reports. "We came very close this past winter to having to curtail power for about 400,000 customers on some of the coldest days of the year," Calvin Butler told the FT. "And it's only getting worse." 

Electrical grid operator PJM, which supplies power to Pepco and BGE customers, reported a 6.5 gigawatt deficit last December. That deficit is anticipated to increase tenfold over the next decade, if more generation capacity is not added to the system.

Among the obvious causes of the failure to generate adequate power was Maryland elected officials' radical forced shutdown of 8 power plants statewide. But Butler brought up another devastating critique of Maryland legislators in his interview with the FT. It turns out that Exelon actually wants to construct new power plants in Maryland, but is being actively blocked from doing so by the state's limits on power plant ownership by utilities. In fact, legislators allowed two bills that would have allowed Exelon to move forward on new plants to die in committee.

Butler told the FT that legislators seem to be living in a different reality from the energy crisis Maryland is experiencing right now. "[R]ight now they don't perceive it as a crisis," Butler lamented. He said he is more optimistic that Delaware and New Jersey will update their rules on power plant ownership.