Drybar posts "coming soon" signage in Rockville

Blowout salon chain Drybar has posted Coming Soon signage at its future Pike & Rose storefront.  The 1705 SF salon will open at 11861 Grand Park Avenue this coming spring.

Kabuto Hibachi Grill & Sushi opens in Rockville

The long-awaited Kabuto Hibachi Grill & Sushi restaurant at 1 Choice Hotels Circle in Rockville is now open. Try something raw from the fresh sushi menu, or something hot made at your hibachi table - or both. As Rick Perry said, "Why not?!"

Parking is free for four hours in the Rockville Metro Plaza parking garage, with validation from the restaurant. Call (301) 978-7923 to make a reservation.

Choice Hotels in expansion mode in the Mid-Atlantic

A hotel converted to a Clarion Pointe
property in South Boston, Virginia by
Choice Hotels International

Rockville-based Choice Hotels International is expanding its brand in the Mid-Atlantic region, the company reports. It has opened its 40th Cambria Hotel-branded property in Hanover, Maryland. That hotel is targeting travelers using nearby BWI Airport, patrons of the Maryland Live! casino at Arundel Mills, and business travelers heading to Fort Meade. Choice has further plans for Cambria hotels in Ocean City, Baltimore, Capitol Heights and Southwest Washington, D.C.

In addition, Choice has snapped up eight existing Mid-Atlantic hotels, and will convert them to Choice brands between now and early 2019. The hotels are located in Lancaster, Levittown and Lebanon, Pennsylvania; South Boston, Virginia; and Seaside Heights and Wildwood, New Jersey. They will be converted to Choice's Clarion, Clarion Pointe, Quality Inn and Rodeway brands.

Rockville Library child sex assault suspect arrested

The suspect sought in the sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl at the Rockville Memorial Library is now in custody. Montgomery County police have arrested and charged Keelan M. Sternklar, 26, of an unconfirmed address, for committing a third-degree sexual offense and second-degree assault in the December 15 incident.

Sternklar was located by City of Rockville police in an unspecified coffee shop "approximately one block" from the library on Thursday around the same hour he had been spotted in the library days earlier. County police arrested him later at a homeless shelter on Crabbs Branch Way. Detectives report Sternklar has admitted he was in the library at the time of the alleged December 15 assault.

Police release photos of suspect in Rockville Library child sexual assault

Montgomery County police have released surveillance photographs of the man they say is a "person of interest" in the alleged sexual assault of a five-year-old girl at the Rockville Memorial Library on December 15 around 6:00 PM.  Anyone with information about this crime or information about the male in the photographs is asked to call detectives at 240-773-5448.

Rockville biotech firm partners with Chinese firm on cancer drugs

Rockville's Ascentage Pharma has entered into a partnership with Chinese firm Genor Biopharma to research if combinations of their cancer inhibitor drugs would be more effective than as standalone products. The proposed research and therapies would target solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Ascentage itself is a Chinese firm with its U.S. office in Rockville, and is a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.

Child sexually assaulted at Rockville library

Montgomery County police detectives with the Special Victims Investigations Division have said that a 5-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a man at the Rockville Memorial Library at 21 Maryland Avenue on Saturday, December 15 around 6:00 PM. A suspect in the case has been identified in surveillance camera footage lingering in the childrens' section of the library for thirty minutes prior to the attack.

When he did attack, police say, the suspect allegedly approached the victim, pulled down her pants, and touched her inappropriately. The victim screamed and told her parents what had happened. Detectives describe the suspect as a white male, with a possible thin goatee and a medium build.

Anyone who was in the library on the date this incident occurred and observed any part of this incident or believes he/she may have information pertinent to this investigation is asked to call detectives at 240-773-5448.