Armed robbery in Aspen Hill

Montgomery County police responded to the report of an armed robbery in Aspen Hill last night. The robbery was reported in the 14100 block of Grand Pre Road around 8:30 PM. A firearm was the weapon used in the robbery, according to crime data.

Montgomery County Council using taxpayer funds to campaign against citizen ballot questions

October 13 email sent from Montgomery County Council
government email system urging recipients to vote against
citizen-proposed ballot questions

Montgomery County residents have been receiving frequent emails from County Council members in recent weeks urging them to vote against ballot questions proposed by County residents. Just one problem: these spam political campaign emails are paid for by you, the taxpayer. If a politician wishes to campaign against a ballot question, they can form a new campaign entity or use their own campaign funds, but they cannot use taxpayer funds. This use of taxpayer-funded government email systems for political campaigning should be reviewed by the Maryland Board of Elections, and the Inspector General's office.

I personally have received two of these emails in just the last two days from Councilmembers Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) and Hans Riemer (D - At-Large). I've previously received several emails from their same government accounts, which also urged me to vote against Questions B and D. The shady and illegal tactic is simply one more reason voters should vote FOR Questions B and D, and AGAINST Questions A and C.

The October 13 County government-sent email illegally urges
recipients to vote a certain way on ballot questions

The taxpayer-funded spam email blitz is only the newest unethical tactic the Council has deployed against citizen efforts to chip away at its authoritarian power. While the citizen-petitioned ballot questions each received the support of nearly 20,000 Montgomery County residents who signed the petitions, the Montgomery County Council placed its own deceptive ballot questions with no public, democratic process. 

Content in years past to wage expensive campaigns against citizen ballot questions, the Council upped the ante and the corruption this year. With no advance warning or public process, the Council simply gaveled two identically-worded poison pill questions onto the ballot at a virtual online meeting. The scheme is intended to fool voters into voting "Yes" on all four. Legal experts have advised that if all four ballot questions are approved, they will cancel each other out, and none of the changes citizens sought will take place.

Fine print at bottom of email confirms it
was sent "on behalf of Montgomery County, Maryland Government"

Question B would eliminate the Council's ability to override the existing property tax cap, as they did in 2016 to slam homeowners with a 9% property tax increase, to cover for their mismanagement of the County budget. Question D would eliminate the At-Large seats on the Council, and reorder the Council into 9 smaller districts. Questions A and C are the Council's poison pill questions that mimic the language of B and D. 

Fine print also declares the email "is part of
the Council's newsletter software," a taxpayer-funded
government communications platform

Making taxpayers fund their corrupt schemes is nothing new for the Montgomery County Council. My investigation in 2018 found that Councilmember Hans Riemer was charging taxpayers to fund both a political website (even though each councilmember already gets a free, taxpayer-funded website on the Council's website), and to pay for his gas when he traveled to private meetings with his campaign donors.

Attempted carjacking in downtown Silver Spring

Montgomery County police are searching for three male suspects in an assault and attempted carjacking in downtown Silver Spring on October 7, 2020. Detectives say a 28-year-old man parked his car in the 8700 block of Cameron Street around 8:49 PM. When he exited the vehicle, he was approached by three males.

One of the suspects assaulted the man and robbed him of property, including his car keys. The three men then got into the victim's vehicle and attempted to steal it. Unable to operate the car's manual transmission, the men got out and fled on foot. 

Anyone with information regarding the suspects or this attempted armed carjacking is asked to call the Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5100. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or submit a Crime Solvers tip online or via the app.  Crime Solvers may pay a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest in this case.

Car stolen in Aspen Hill, kidnapping/assault reported at Silver Spring gas station

A vehicle was reported stolen to the Montgomery County police in Aspen Hill Sunday. The vehicle was taken from a residential parking lot in the 14100 block of Whispering Pines Court sometime between Saturday night at 9:00 PM and Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM.

In addition, a kidnapping and assault were reported at a gas station in the 700 block of University Boulevard East in Silver Spring. The report was made around 9:45 PM on Saturday night, October 10, 2020, according to crime data.

Carmen's Italian Ice temporarily closes Olney and Rockville locations after employee tests positive for coronavirus

Two Montgomery County businesses announced they were temporarily closing yesterday due to employees testing positive for Covid-19. Patisserie Manuel announced it would close its Westfield Montgomery Mall location until further notice, after one of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus. Its Silver Spring location remains open at this time.

Carmen's Italian Ice also said it would temporarily close both of its locations after one of its employees tested positive. Because some employees work at both locations, Carmen's is closing both the Rockville and Olney locations.

Both businesses have received positive feedback on their decisions from customers, a number of whom said they appreciated the honesty and openness about the situation.

Some Montgomery County voters haven't received their mail-in ballots

Some Montgomery County voters are hitting the panic button as the mail-in ballots they requested weeks or months ago have not yet arrived. The panic is not only due to the high anxiety about election fraud this year, but more so because these voters have seen friends' and family members' ballots arrive, while theirs haven't - even though in many cases the requests were mailed the same day, or even together.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections told one voter who requested his ballot over a month ago that, if he doesn't receive it by the end of this week, to request a "second-issue ballot." This can be done by visiting the Board of Elections in person (Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm) at 18753 N. Frederick Avenue., Suite 210, in Gaithersburg; emailing your name, date-of-birth, address, mailing address (if needed), and second ballot issue request to absentee@montgomerycountymd.gov; or by reapplying online by texting VBM to 77788 or using this form.

Another big question for some voters is why their ballot isn't shown as received days after mailing it back, or placing it into a dropbox. BOE says that it can take up to two weeks for a ballot to be collected and processed.

Voters are correct to be concerned. I lost my voting rights in the primary earlier this year when my completed ballot was "lost in the mail" on its way back to the BOE, making it the first election I ever missed participating in since I was old enough to register. I personally have received my mail-in ballot. But I will be using a dropbox to return it this time.

New York & Company closes in Silver Spring

New York & Company has permanently closed at 937 Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring. The merchandise has all been cleared out, leaving bare racks and mannequins behind. Despite high profile clothing lines featuring partnerships with celebrities like Eva Mendes and Gabrielle Union, New York & Company filed for bankruptcy this summer.