Silver Spring already sustained one of the biggest body blows to the Montgomery County economy in history, when one of the County's few remaining Fortune 500 companies, Discovery Communications, moved its headquarters to dual facilities in New York City and Tennessee. Infamously, Discovery's suitors quietly closed the deal while the Montgomery County Council was debating a ban on circus animals. The ban passed, but so did the opportunity to retain Discovery.
Once again, Montgomery County's highest-in-the-region tax and fee burden has bitten the County in the [pocketbook]. Another recent and devastating blow is the new Maryland "tech tax," a 3% levy on all IT services in the state that was championed to passage by Governor Wes Moore, before he left for an Italian vacation at the lake villa of George Clooney. Imagine what that tax would add up to annually for a tech firm like Rocket Money! And that's on top of that already biggest tax burden, courtesy of the County Council and Maryland General Assembly. What company in their right mind would not move if they could? Heckuva job, Brownie!
“When Cailabs first decided to open a U.S. office, they chose Washington. Two years later, when they decided to stay in the US, they chose Virginia. That decision speaks volumes,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Juan Pablo Segura. “Logistically, economically, and strategically, Virginia remains the ideal location for tech companies looking to push boundaries and build a thriving business.”
MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor wrote a response to the OIG report's conclusions in which he accepted responsibility for the security failures, but also cast blame on the OIG for slowing the school system's response to the lapses, and for not recognizing the cost of implementing the report's recommendations, which Taylor estimated would be $2 million. Limarzi called Taylor's accusations "perplexing," and said she and her staff are disappointed "by the apparent attempts to transfer blame to this office" for "serious issues that have been well known at MCPS for years and yet have gone unaddressed."
"We appreciate the work of Inspector General Megan Limarzi and her team for bringing this important issue to light and providing the public with an impartial evaluation of the MCPS Background Screening Office," County Council President Kate Stewart and Vice-President Will Jawando said in a joint statement yesterday. They wrote that the Council's Audit Committee will conduct oversight hearings on the matter beginning September 26, 2025. Additional meetings will be held by two other Council committees later in the fall. "[T]he urgency with which these issues must be corrected cannot be overstated," Stewart and Jawando wrote.
This is only the latest revelation about lax security measures at MCPS. Previously, a lack of security cameras - and staff to actively monitor the ones that exist - came to light after violent crime and hate graffiti incidents inside MCPS schools. And a 2016 State of Maryland audit of MCPS uncovered lax cybersecurity protocols that did not adequately shield private student information from those accessing MCPS computer systems from inside - and outside - the organization.
Police said nothing appeared to have been stolen from inside the facility. However, this is an event that draws scrutiny from law enforcement, as the U.S. Department of Energy reports that there were 175 attacks, or threats of attacks, on electrical infrastructure in the United States in 2023 alone. If you have any information about this incident, call police at (301) 279-8000.
AstraZeneca's announcement is the latest victory for President Donald Trump's trade strategy, which is in part designed to bring jobs back to America. GE Appliances recently announced it would relocate some of its China manufacturing footprint to the massive factory complex at Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky. AstraZeneca's move is to avoid high tariffs Trump proposed for drug imports.
Montgomery County isn't a total loser in the $50 billion investment AstraZeneca plans to make in the U.S. over the next five years: the company said it also plans to expand its Gaithersburg manufacturing facility, and to add a cell therapy manufacturing facility in Rockville. But it's simply cheaper to do business in Virginia, and the Commonwealth is quickly catching up in the regional biotech race, which has been the sole bright spot in Montgomery County's otherwise-moribund economy.
“I want to thank AstraZeneca for choosing Virginia as the cornerstone for this transformational investment in the United States,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “This project will set the standard for the latest technological advancements in pharmaceutical manufacturing, creating hundreds of highly skilled jobs and helping further strengthen the nation's domestic supply chain. Advanced manufacturing is at the heart of Virginia's dynamic economy, so I am thrilled that AstraZeneca, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, plans to make their largest global manufacturing investment here in the Commonwealth.”
“Today’s announcement underpins our belief in America’s innovation in biopharmaceuticals and our commitment to the millions of patients who need our medicines in America and globally,” AstraZeneca Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said. “It will also support our ambition to reach $80 billion in revenue by 2030. I look forward to partnering with Governor Youngkin and his team to work on our largest single manufacturing investment ever. It reflects the Commonwealth of Virginia’s desire to create highly skilled jobs in science and technology, and will strengthen the country’s domestic supply chain for medicines.”
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| Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley |
"Maryland is failing to maintain accurate and up-to-date voter rolls, in clear violation of federal law," Whatley said in a statement. "Citizens deserve to know their vote isn't being canceled out by duplicate or ineligible voters."
No Republican has won any office in Montgomery County since Maryland switched from punch card voting to electronic voting in 2006. Only four years earlier, County Republicans held at least two seats on the Montgomery County Council, several seats in the state legislature, and at least one Congressional seat.
"Virginia is proud to welcome ORBCOMM’s global headquarters to Virginia," Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. "This decision highlights our commitment to innovation, workforce development, and creating an environment where advanced industries can thrive. We look forward to the economic opportunities and technological leadership ORBCOMM will bring to the Commonwealth."
"As we welcome ORBCOMM's headquarters to Sterling, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for the significant economic impact this expansion brings to Loudoun County and the Commonwealth," Virginia State Delegate Atoosa R. Reaser said. "The creation of new jobs is a welcome development and will undoubtedly contribute to the prosperity of our community," said Delegate Atoosa R. Reaser.
Montgomery County has failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over 25 years. The County, and Maryland as a whole, have forgone massive amounts of potential tax revenue rather than adopt more competitive, business-friendly policies and tax rates. They have also refused to construct a new Potomac River crossing to the Dulles area that has been on the books for decades, which would provide direct access to the only local airport with the frequency of flights and variety of international business destinations that corporate executives demand. Once an economic engine of the Washington, D.C. region, Montgomery County's economy today is moribund, and the County has become a bedroom community for booming job centers elsewhere in the region.
The alleged victim told officers that the unknown suspect was "Chinese law enforcement, who threatened action against the victim for defrauding others with fake investments." American officials have accused China of sending police officers to the U.S. to intimidate or harass Chinese dissidents, or to persuade Chinese expats who have committed crimes to return home to face charges.
China has strongly denied engaging in such activity, and has said facilities U.S. officials have referred to as "police stations" in American cities with large Chinese populations are nothing more than volunteer-staffed service centers, which assist Chinese citizens or tourists overseas with basic matters like renewing driver's licenses. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. told Newsweek in 2023 that the accusations by U.S. officials have been "sheer political manipulation, and the purpose is to smear China's image."
Amrize now represents the largest cement business operating within the natural boundaries of North America, and the second-largest supplier of commercial roofing materials, according to Semafor. The company has operations in 43 U.S. states, and employs 7000 people. Its new headquarters is in Chicago.
Blasting, crushing, and screening are among the operations that take place at the Rockville site. Beyond the mining and processing of stone, there are concrete and asphalt plants on-site.
The company utilizes several methods to reduce the impact of the quarry on neighbors, such as locating the primary rock crusher over 20 stories underground, and employing a wet supression system to reduce particulate release at key transfer points in the process. A sitewide pneumatic dust collection system will be fully installed by the end of this year. Two sweepers clean Piney Meetinghouse Road and Shady Grove Road near the facility on a daily basis.
Images courtesy Amrize
Contrary to government declarations, the vaccine did not prevent the recipient from contracting the virus. And reports of vaccine injuries, increasing vaccine skepticism, and the Biden administration's 2022 declaration that "COVID is over" proved to be the final nails in the vaccine coffin.
The failure of one of BioNTech's new cancer treatments in testing earlier this year was apparently the last straw, as the company has now chosen to not pursue that product line any further. BioNTech's announcement was a body blow to Montgomery County and Maryland elected officials. Biotech is the only real bright spot in the otherwise-moribund Montgomery County economy, which has failed to attract a major corporate headquarters in over 25 years, and is at, or near, rock-bottom in the region by every relevant metric of job creation, new business starts, and business growth, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Moore's move to join fellow White House aspirants Jared Polis, Ritchie Torres, and Ro Khanna in the abundance lane for 2028 is a remarkable gamble. With that being only a partial list of corporate-backed Democrats who will be crowding into that niche during the primary season, there will be much more competition for staff and donors. Recent polling has shown that "abundance" policies are not popular among Democratic and independent voters. And many prominent progressives in the party have come out strongly against the astroturfed abundance campaign.
This only complicates Moore's task in 2028. Maryland's finances have tanked during his first term, as Moore squandered a budget surplus he inherited from former Gov. Larry Hogan, and is facing a $6 billion deficit by 2030. Despite a much-trumpeted career on Wall Street, and big ticket fundraisers among late-stage capitalist titans on Martha's Vineyard and in the Hamptons, Moore has been unable to attract any major corporations to Maryland. And he has no major policy victories, even as he gears up to run for reelection next year.
That last fact makes running on the abundance agenda even more daunting for Moore. It is progressives who have the momentum and the crowds in the Democratic party right now. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have had no trouble drawing mobs of progressives to their Fight Oligarchy tour stops, at which Sanders appears to be symbolically passing the torch to AOC. She, in turn, is clearly testing the waters for a potential 2028 presidential run. AOC's agenda may be controversial in many quarters, but she has a concrete set of policies she would seek to implement, including Medicare-for-All, repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, a federal jobs guarantee, and free college. Even failed vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz has a record of major progressive legislative wins as governor in Minnesota.
Moore, by contrast, is fighting to...become president? He has no signature suite of policies, much less ones that have been signed into law. What legislation has passed during his term has only benefitted small identity groups, leaving out the majority of voters, or raised fees on everyone. Hogan was able to do very little with a hostile, Democrat-controlled legislature - but what little he did usually applied to everyone in the state, like blocking tax hikes and lowering bridge tolls.
That blank slate agenda, combined with abundance bro status, tags Moore as a corporate shill - an identity easy for his rivals to reinforce by emphasizing his Wall Street past, celebrity backers and tycoon associates, and his proposed giveaway of taxpayer money and prime public land to Baltimore developers. Moore would essentially be replicating the Kamala Harris "joy and excitement" campaign of late summer 2024. That didn't work out very well.
Harris had celebrities (check), billionaire friends like Mark Cuban and Michael Bloomberg [a major financial backer of the abundance movement, coincidentally] (check), and some vague promises (check) about "not going back." Not going back to what? Low inflation? Low gas prices? World peace?
Ironically, Harris and Walz had their greatest success right at the start of their brief campaign, when her selection of the Minnesota governor as running mate suggested she would be more progressive than Joe Biden, and she rolled out a short list of specific socialist promises like price fixing and giving everyone $25,000 to buy a home. The abundance neoliberals in the press and corporate boardrooms predictably lost their minds, and Harris quickly dropped the concrete policy goals, falling back on a vacuous campaign of "joy," twerking rappers, and the daughter of Uber Villain and war criminal bogeyman Dick Cheney. Progressives and the working class quickly fell off the bandwagon.
Even Moore's pal Oprah couldn't save Harris. Will appearing on Radio Abundance save a foundering Moore? Not likely. For Radio Abundance is the latest example of "every accusation is a confession." Corporations setting our regulations, and seizing power over local decisions away from citizens, is indeed "fascism coming to America."
