New fish passage planned under Piney Branch Road in Long Branch

Purple Line contractors will begin work on the Long Branch stream where it passes under Piney Branch Road in Silver Spring on or about January 9, 2023. Workers will set up new erosion and sediment control measures, and install stormwater drainage structures. A new fish passage will be constructed. The project is expected to take six months to complete. Pedestrian access to the Long Branch Community Center will remain open throughout the work, which will take place between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM on weekdays and weekends as needed.

Takoma Park police investigate sound of gunfire

911 callers in the vicinity of the 8300 block of Roanoke Avenue in Takoma Park reported hearing a gunshot around 10:30 PM last night. Takoma Park police responded to the scene. After a thorough canvassing of the area, officers said they could find no shell casing or other evidence a gun had been fired there. Anyone with further information about the incident is asked to please call police at 301-270-1100.

Car stolen in Takoma Park

Takoma Park police are investigating the theft of a vehicle on December 26, 2022. A 1995 black Honda Civic, MD Tag #926Z72, was reported stolen from Grant Avenue at 1:00 PM Monday afternoon. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to please call Takoma Park police at 301-270-1100. Refer to case number 220057289.

Signage installed, lit at Black Lion Cafe in Silver Spring (Photos)

Signage has been installed at Black Lion Cafe at 8240-A Fenton Street in downtown Silver Spring, ahead of next week's opening. This was one of the final finishing touches on the construction of the coffee shop, which is in the ground floor of the Fenton Silver Spring apartments. As you can see, the signs are already lit up. Black Lion Cafe opens January 2, 2023.

The Breakfast Club opens in Silver Spring

The Breakfast Club has opened at 8240 Fenton Street in downtown Silver Spring. An all-day breakfast and brunch restaurant concept, The Breakfast Club draws on an art deco, 1920s aesthetic. Dinner is also served, with entree selections including Lamb Chops & Eggs, Island Branzino over fried rice, and a Cajun lobster roll on a brioche bun. The menu features cocktails inspired by the 1920s such as The Great Gatsby, but also includes one named for the owners' inspiration for The Breakfast Club, Papa Sherman.

Frosty Siberian winds lead to falling trees, power outages across Montgomery County and D.C. area

Darkened apartments along
Georgia Avenue near Wheaton Friday night

It's been a "wild and wooly" day across the Washington, D.C. region and much of the nation, to use the words of the telephone meteorologist of old. Gusty winds that have blown from Siberia and down through Canada joined with a bomb cyclone winter weather event to start Friday with a blast of ice. The winds have stuck around through the evening, leading to many falling limbs and trees, and the resulting power outages.

There are currently 8,459 Pepco customers without power in the D.C. Metro area. Outages are widespread over the entire map of Montgomery County. The most concentrated outages are in the Silver Spring, Wheaton, Calverton, Gaithersburg and Germantown areas. In Rockville, there are significant outages in the King Farm, Twinbrook, West End and College Gardens neighborhoods. Bethesda residents are in the dark in a couple of spots along the Bradley Boulevard corridor, and in Westgate near the D.C. line. Over the border, there are outages in the Palisades and Wesley Heights in Northwest Washington.

The current temperature is 11 degrees. Winds are gusting at 18 MPH, and a wind chill advisory is in effect until 10:00 AM Saturday morning. Be sure to fully cover up if you have to go outside to avoid frostbite. Remember that dark intersections during power outages are to be treated as a four-way stop - but proceed with caution, as many drivers ignore this and will steam through the intersection anyway, or rear-end you if you conscientiously try to stop as the law requires. The best advice is to stay off the roads if you can.

Van Hollen secures funding for NIST, NIH in U.S. Senate omnibus spending package

A massive $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill for FY-2023 passed by the United States Senate yesterday will include substantial funding for two major federal employers in Montgomery County, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen pressed for those and other Maryland priorities in the controversial and complicated negotiations and agreement. The deal found some Republican senators joining with the Democratic majority in an attempt to lock in spending before the GOP gains control of the House of Representatives in January.

The Senate deal includes $48 billion for NIH, and $1.7 billion for NIST. It also includes renovation funds for a failing bridge over the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to Goddard Flight Center. Van Hollen and other Democrats lamented they could not get other priorities filled in the agreement, but considered the end run around potential GOP cuts in next year's session to be a success worth compromising for. "While I was deeply disappointed that Republicans refused to support a number of key priorities, it was vital that we pass a new government funding bill instead of kicking the can down the road," Van Hollen said in a statement late yesterday afternoon. "On balance, this package will meaningfully invest in the critical priorities of our state and nation.”

Senate Republicans who voted for the bill were Roy Blunt (Missouri), John Boozman (Arkansas), Shelley Capito (West Virginia), Susan Collins (Maine), John Cornyn (Texas), Tom Cotton (Arkansas), Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma), Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Jerry Moran (Kansas), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Mitt Romney (Utah), Mike Rounds (South Dakota), Richard Shelby (Alabama), John Thune (South Dakota), Roger Wicker (Mississippi) and Todd Young (Indiana). The majority of them have already publicly distanced themselves from President Donald Trump in varying degrees.