According to Maryland court records, Dyson is currently being held without bond. A preliminary hearing in the case has been scheduled for August 23, 2024 in District Court in Rockville.
Records also indicate that Circuit Court Judge Eric Johnson reopened an existing 2021 drug conviction case, after ruling that the alleged assaults were a violation of Dyson's probation in that matter. Johnson issued a bench warrant for Dyson's arrest on July 25, and it was served today along with the warrants issued for the alleged stabbings.
Photo courtesy Rockville City Police Department
If you have any information about this incident, or can identify any suspects involved, you are asked to call police at (301) 279-8000.
If it were up to the Council alone, the site adjacent to the Metro station would have been yet another residential housing development. Elrich was the rare County elected official to acknowledge that MoCo needs more high-wage jobs as much as it does new housing, when he proposed the biotech use for this site several years ago. Yet the Council attempted to take all the credit for itself in its Monday video, similar to Congresspeople who vote against infrastructure projects in their districts, only to later claim credit for them once they come to fruition.
The attempt to cut Elrich out of the launch announcement was only the latest cheap shot by the Council at the Executive. Some on the Council resorted to subterfuge and outright deception in their successful effort to deep-six Elrich's proposal to restore funding for the Office of the People's Counsel. Councilmembers are still pondering whether to create a competing ballot question for the one that will give voters the option to oust Elrich with a two-term limit in the November election. Perhaps they are weighing the possibility of opening the executive seat to one of the ambitious Councilmembers, versus reducing their own future executive terms by one.
Maryland's unemployment rate rose to 2.8% in June, while Virginia's dropped to 2.7%. The biggest area of job growth in Maryland was in the government sector. In contrast, Virginia's largest job growth was in the private sector, in Professional and Business Services. While Maryland has only added 27,800 jobs total since January 1, Virginia was able to add more than half of that in the last month alone.
Montgomery County used to be a major engine of economic growth not only in Maryland, but in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. It has now ceded that role to Northern Virginia, as MoCo increasingly becomes the bedroom community for workers who are employed elsewhere in the region. In fact, a new Bethesda-to-Tysons express bus has just been proposed to serve those workers commuting to Virginia in the morning. Tysons - and Northern Virginia as a whole - continue to add major corporate headquarters, while Montgomery County hasn't added a single one in over a quarter century.
It's that high-wage job growth that allowed Virginia’s general fund revenues to end fiscal year 2024 $1.2 billion over the official revenue forecast. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin cited "robust job growth" as the driver of that better-than-expected revenue.
In contrast, Montgomery County remains focused on the revenue-sapping activity of adding bedrooms, instead of boardrooms. Aside from presiding over a strong biotech sector that was created by wiser leaders years before they ever took office, MoCo's elected officials continue to put all of their economic development eggs into the residential housing construction basket.
Instead of building a new Potomac River crossing to Dulles International Airport, completing our master plan highway system, creating shovel-ready job sites, and focusing on attracting Fortune 500 companies and aerospace and defense firms to vacant office parks from Clarksburg to Bethesda to White Oak, our County Council is focused on building more luxury apartments and townhomes.
Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson told an audience of real estate developers hosted by Bisnow on July 18 that “[i]n Montgomery County, we’re really trying to change the narrative. We have to view housing as the economic infrastructure that we have to build communities.” That's definitely not the narrative guiding Northern Virginia, Texas, or California. We're in real trouble, folks.
I broke the story about Amazon's plans way back in September of 2020. More than two years passed before a potential opening date was even hinted at, as Amazon itself kept total secrecy about its plans, even as it completed the interior fit-out of the store. The only public confirmation of the store came when signage was installed on the storefront. Yet, with all shelving in place but empty of merchandise, the company then announced it would be postponing the opening until 2023.
That never happened.
Just two months later, Amazon ordered its expensive lighted signage to be removed from the building at 270 Center. It had hung on the unopened store so long that it had already been vandalized. The store was now officially canceled.
Amazon continued to hold its cards close to its vest, even as pundits declared the firm's venture into physical supermarkets a flop, and even began predicting that the existing Amazon Fresh stores might all close. Was it going to wave the white flag, and stick to online grocery delivery? The company was silent.
But the epic story of Amazon Fresh in Gaithersburg wasn't over yet!
Three weeks later, Amazon confirmed it indeed had changed its mind yet again. The company posted a "coming soon" banner on the otherwise blank storefront. A few days later, the lighted logo signage - either repaired or replaced - was installed on the building. Last night, the opening date banner was in place, the logo sign was lit up, and the lights were on inside the store.
You can't completely divest Amazon from its penchant for secrecy, though: paper now covers the windows to block the public's view of the long-completed interior, and the status of possible inventory being placed onto those long-empty shelves. No more "spy photos" like those I was able to post a few weeks ago.
The lights are on...and somebody is finally home at Amazon Fresh in Gaithersburg.
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| Robin Ficker |
Councilmembers who voted against the CRC proposal were Marilyn Balcombe, Andrew Friedson, Natalie Fani-Gonzalez, Evan Glass, Sidney Katz, and Dawn Luedtke. The Councilmembers who voted for the proposal to remove the unanimous vote requirement were Gabe Albornoz, Will Jawando, Kristin Mink, Laurie-Ann Sayles, and Kate Stewart.
Montgomery County's high property taxes are one of several highly-regressive tax burdens on working families and residents who are on fixed incomes. Along with high property assessments, the annual payments have essentially become a second mortgage for many cash-strapped residents. The Ficker Amendment has provided relief from even-more-nightmarish tax bills since it was passed. That's because, as it is, the Council has raised property taxes on residents every year except for FY-2015.
“We are honored to welcome Nancy as our new Board Chair and look forward to benefiting from her continued vision and expertise,” REDI CEO, Cindy Rivarde said in a statement yesterday. “I have long considered Rockville as my adopted hometown and am honored to have the opportunity to serve to support economic development efforts so all of Rockville can prosper,” Regelin said.
Regelin has been a member of REDI’s Board since 2010, has served as Vice Chair since 2020, and is the Chair of the Maryland Women’s Business Center Advisory Board. She is also the co-founder of The Power Conference, a women’s business development event.
"We are united in condemning all political violence," Raskin said in his opening remarks, after U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R - KY 1st District) began the hearing by declaring bipartisan concern about the tragic events. Raskin pledged to seek explanations of the "shocking security failures" at the Trump rally, but - in terms of speaking time - his remarks placed greater emphasis on mass shootings in general, and the availability of AR-15 semi-automatic rifles in America. Before concluding his opening statement, Raskin called for a ban on the AR-15, "and other assault weapons."
Raskin recited the media narrative that has developed in the days since the assassination attempt, in regard to the shooter having been identified as a suspicious person long before the start of the rally. "Why was [Trump] allowed to take the stage with a suspicious person having been identified in the crowd?" Raskin asked.
Cheatle responded that a suspicious person is not the same as a threatening person in the view of the Secret Service. If Secret Service agents had been advised that the shooter had been deemed a threat, she said, Trump would not have been allowed to take the stage.
Raskin asked if the Secret Service had denied any requests by the Trump campaign for additional security resources for the July 13 rally. "There were no assets denied for that event in Butler," Cheatle said. She confirmed to Raskin that the serial number on the shooter's weapon was the key to identifying him, as he was carrying no identification.
But the bulk of the answers sought by Raskin and other committee members were not provided by Cheatle. She repeatedly referred to being only "nine days out" from the incident, and being unable to answer critical questions until the completion of a Inspector General investigation, as well as an internal Secret Service investigation she confirmed is also taking place. It is not currently clear when either investigation will be complete, raising the possibility that existing security weak spots and lapses might not be identified even by the time a new president is elected, much less to protect candidates before Election Day.
Raskin asked Cheatle what her response would be to an American citizen who asked her, "What went wrong?" on the day of the rally. Cheatle again avoided answering the question with her "nine days out" excuse. Under questioning from Rep. Jim Jordan (R - OH 4th District), she also claimed to be unprepared to answer many obvious questions that she could have expected to be asked at today's hearing, including the type and number of requests for additional resources made by the Trump campaign. Exasperated as his initial question time expired, Jordan noted that Cheatle hadn't answered any of the pertinent questions asked by himself or Raskin.
Former president Barack Obama, to whom Moore is often compared when future Democratic presidential nominees are discussed, also declined to immediately back Harris yesterday. Moore has been one of the leaders to appear on the short list of possible candidates to replace Biden in a "mini-primary" ahead of next month's Democratic National Convention in Chicago. His name has been less-often mentioned as a potential running mate for Harris since Biden dropped out yesterday. Leading candidates to be Harris' running mate are Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, North Carolina Gov. Roy Moore, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Moore and the many other Democrats who had been expected to run for the White House in 2028 will have to weigh their options in deciding whether to accept a VP slot in 2024, or to wait another four years. Endorsing Harris would allow Moore to leave all options open aside from running as Biden's replacement this year. The Democratic National Committee is expected to announce more details on its plan for the nomination process in the coming days.
However, a short time later, four victims suffering from stab wounds arrived in the Emergency Department at a local hospital. Police say none of the wounds were life-threatening. Detectives have identified a person of interest in the assault, and are attempting to locate that person for questioning.
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact Cpl. Kelly Reidy at 240-314-8973 or at KReidy@RockvilleMD.Gov. Those providing information may remain anonymous.
