Squishable opening at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda (Photos)

Squishable is opening a seasonal store at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda for the holidays. The squishable stuffed toy brand was founded a decade before Squishmallows arrived on the scene. They have specialty lines including squishables that resemble food, disguised "undercover" squishables, and mystery squishables. 

Shelves were being stocked last evening. When they open, pick up a Plague Doctor squishable for the Dr. Fauci fan in your life. Look for Squishable on Level 1, next to Bath & Body Works.

"The World's Finest Cutlery" arrives at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

The world's finest cutlery has arrived in Bethesda, according to a sign inside Montgomery Mall. Cutco has opened a kiosk at the mall for the holidays. Their cutlery is made in the USA, and has a "Forever Guarantee." If your Ginsu blade has dulled, visit Cutco on Level 2.

Hangry Joe's Hot Chicken opening today in Rockville

Well, I said it looked ready to open, and now it is. Hangry Joe's Hot Chicken will open today at 718-B Rockville Pike, right next to Roy Rogers across from Marlo Furniture. The chain wouldn't answer queries, but then posted the announcement on its social media accounts yesterday. Now you can find out if this beats the other chicken sandwiches on the Pike.

Hangry Joe's Hot Chicken Rockville Pike update (Photos)

Here is a look at the latest progress inside the future Hangry Joe's Hot Chicken at 718-B Rockville Pike. They still look very close to opening. Hangry Joe's is tight-lipped about an opening date, however, and is so far not responding to messages on that topic. A sign in the window indicates they are still hiring staff for this location.

Rockville 7-Eleven robbed during Sunday's plane crash blackout

A 7-Eleven store in Rockville was robbed Sunday evening, while much of Montgomery County was in the dark due to a mass power outage caused by a plane crashing into a Pepco tower in Gaithersburg. At 8:39 PM, an "older male" suspect smashed a window at the 7-Eleven at 13000 Atlantic Avenue in the Twinbrook area. He grabbed a drawer out of a cash register, and fled on foot as Rockville City police cruisers pulled up outside the store. The suspect was last seen in the residential neighborhood adjacent to the store.

King Buick GMC closes in Rockville (Photos)

It's the end of an era at King Buick GMC at 16200 Frederick Road in Rockville. The dealership has closed permanently, although some vehicle inventory remains on the property. King Motor Company was born in 1928, but it was in the 1950s that King family scion Conrad V. Aschenbach opened his first dealership in Olde Towne Gaithersburg. His son, Bill Aschenbach, said the family was forced to sell the dealership because it could not find another location in the area. The dealership's property will become an EYA townhome development, and be annexed into the City of Rockville.

Bill Aschenbach says that he will join a new dealership group founded by his son, Conrad. That group expects to have nine dealerships by December 31 of this year. The existing King franchise is being acquired by Criswell Automotive at its Gaithersburg Chevrolet Buick GMC dealership. But many of the King employees from this location will be moving to the Ideal Hyundai Buick GMC dealership in Frederick, Maryland, Aschenbach said.  

This is the second venerable car dealership to be lost along this stretch of MD 355 in the last decade. Reed Brothers Dodge at 15955 Frederick Road was the first Dodge dealer in Montgomery County. Today, the Bainbridge Shady Grove apartments stand on its former site.

Massive power outage across Montgomery County - UPDATE: Gaithersburg plane crash victims rescued

UPDATE - 12:48 AM, November 28: Both occupants of the plane have been successfully rescued, and are on the ground, Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard said. They are being transported to local hospitals with serious injuries, Fire Chief Goldstein announced, a change from earlier announcements that there were no injuries. 

UPDATE - 12:25 AM, November 28: Pepco reports tremendous progress in power restoration, with only 1,297 customers remaining without power at this moment. Utility workers are using a bucket truck to ground the Pepco tower and transmission lines so that the rescue effort can finally get underway sometime this morning.

UPDATE - 11:50 PM: Pepco claims to have restored power to over 60% of customers affected by the power outage over the last hour. It reports there are now 34,688 customers still without electricity.

UPDATE - 11:30 PM: Montgomery County Public Schools will be closed Monday, November 28, 2022, due to the power outage. MCPS offices will also be closed Monday.

UPDATE - 10:01 PM: Maryland State police have identified the pilot of the plane as Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, D.C., and the passenger as Jan Williams, 66, of Louisiana. Both are still on-board awaiting rescue, and are reportedly not injured.  Their aircraft is a Mooney Mike 20P single engine plane. Pepco reports more customers are without power than ever tonight, with 113,081 now in the dark at this hour. Montgomery County Public Schools says it will make an announcement about potential school closures later tonight.

UPDATE - 9:05 PM: Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein reports that Pepco crews have to manually climb up to ensure the tower is grounded. The plane must then be secured to the tower. A large crane from Digging and Rigging in Clarksburg has been brought in. Additional personnel resources are due to arrive on-scene at 9:30 PM. "One of our concerns is the safety of the occupants in the airplane, the safety of our fire and rescue personnel," Goldstein said. Goldstein confirmed there are two occupants in the plane. "I have no information, I'm not here to talk about power outages," he said. 

UPDATE - 8:55 PM: A Rockville resident near the Rockville Civic Center park reports their power has just been restored. However, the total number of Pepco customers without power has now climbed back to 76,160.

UPDATE - 8:34 PM: Occupants of the plane that crashed into the Pepco tower have not yet been rescued. The number of Pepco customers without power in Montgomery County has dropped from 80,922 to 75,672.

UPDATE - 6:03 PM: Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Pete Piringer reports that the power outage has been caused by a plane crash in the Montgomery Village/Gaithersburg area. The plane is stuck in a Pepco tower and power lines, Piringer said. Passengers on board are so far reported to be uninjured.

Pepco customers across Montgomery County are in the dark, after what appears to be a massive system failure. 78,944 customers are currently without power, according to the utility's outage map. In fact, over 20,000 more customers lost power just since I began typing this article. There is no violent weather in the area. 

Virtually all of the outages are in the central and eastern part of the county, but residents in several areas of Bethesda report that their lights flashed multiple times, power fluctuations that can damage appliances and devices. Few of the outages are west of I-270, in Rockville and Germantown. Some of the biggest outages are in Derwood, Aspen Hill, Olney and Wheaton. There are currently a couple of smaller outages in Bethesda - one in the Woodmont Triangle area, and another near the D.C.-Maryland border.

The outage follows a Thanksgiving on which power outages also occurred across the D.C. area. Stay tuned for further updates on the cause of the power outages.