Strong-arm robbery in Rockville

Montgomery County police were called to investigate a strong-arm robbery in the Haiti area of Rockville early yesterday morning, July 31, 2023. The robbery was reported in the 500 block of Bickford Avenue at 12:26 AM Monday.

Marissa Valeri running for Rockville City Council

Montgomery County native and Rockville community leader Marissa Valeri is running for a seat on the Rockville City Council in this November's election. Valeri's campaign said in a statement that she is the only Council candidate from the east side of Rockville Pike to declare their candidacy so far. The filing deadline for submitting a nominating petition is September 8, 2023.

Valeri is a resident of Twinbrook, which hasn't had a representative on the Council in 16 years. She has served as the president of the Twinbrook Community Association in the past. Valeri highlighted that and other service positions on her resume to several dozen supporters at a campaign launch event. In addition to working in the nonprofit sector for over 25 years, she has served on the most recent City of Rockville Charter Review Commission, and is a co-founder of the Rockville Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

This will be the second City election in which you will have the option to vote by mail. Ballots will be mailed to every registered voter in the City of Rockville on or before October 13, 2023. Return your postage-paid ballot by mail by 8:00 PM on November 7, 2023. You can also drop your ballot off in the dropboxes located in the parking lot of City Hall or Montrose Community Center. And there will be two places to vote in-person on Election Day, November 7, 2023: Rockville City Hall and the Thomas Farm Community Center.

Photo courtesy Marissa Valeri for Rockville City Council

Rockville Wegmans opening delayed to 2025 (Photos)

With construction of the Phase 1 building of Twinbrook Quarter rounding into the home stretch at Rockville Pike and Halpine Road, many including me assumed interior fit-out of the Wegmans grocery store in the ground floor would begin before the end of the year, and that the Wegmans would open in 2024. But the Rockville Wegmans is now anticipated to open in 2025. Here's a look at the latest stage of construction at the site:

Car stolen from home in Derwood

Montgomery County police are investigating the theft of a vehicle from a home in Derwood. The vehicle was parked along the street in the 7000 block of Horizon Terrace. Property was also stolen from another vehicle on that block. It is believed the car was stolen sometime between 9:30 PM on July 27, 2023, and 7:17 AM July 28.

Thousands still reporting power outages in Montgomery County the day after thunderstorm hits area

Pepco crews staging at a 7-Eleven store
in Montgomery County this morning

Over 10,000 Pepco customers remain without power this morning in Montgomery County, but that number is down about 60,000 from the height of last evening's thunderstorm damage. The weather event, and resulting tree and power line damage, has been one of the few significant tests for Pepco since the electric utility was acquired by Exelon in 2016. Yesterday's storm appeared deceptively routine for late summer, but spawned straight line winds in areas like North Bethesda and Rockville, and had some in Northwest Washington, D.C. reporting a tornado in their community.

Southwest Bethesda neighborhoods like Springfield, Sumner, Wood Acres, Bannockburn and Spring Hill are still experiencing significant power outages. Grid resiliency issues reared their head again in the Westbard area long after skies had cleared Saturday night. Residents there who were fortunate enough to retain power after the storm last night report experiencing brownouts at 2:12 AM and 4:32 AM. The 4:32 AM brownout was an extended one, as after a split-second blackout that ravaged appliance motors, light fixtures were shimmering and flickering until all power was lost around 4:45 AM. Power was then restored around 4:48 AM. Interestingly, both brownout episodes reported seem to coincide with brand new power outages in the Westbard and Wood Acres/Searl Terrace areas, which the Pepco outage map indicates were reported at 2:15 AM (Searl Terrace) and 4:53 AM (Westbard Avenue). This morning's brownouts follow three sunny day brownouts in the Westbard area two weeks ago.

In North Bethesda, apartment building residents reported being in the dark Saturday night, and outages persist around Grosvenor, Garrett Park, Tilden Lane, Randolph Hills and the Randolph Road corridor this morning. Things aren't looking much better in the Twinbrook and Rollins Park areas of Rockville.

Aspen Hill is still smarting today with many outages. Fortunately for those without air conditioning, today's high will "only" be 85 degrees, instead of the 99 degree peak experienced last Friday. Outages also persist around Leisure World, Bel Pre Road, Wheaton, Kensington, Kemp Mill, Takoma Park, Hillandale, Colesville and Fairland. 

The storm appears to have cut a straight path across Montgomery Village, Goshen, and Laytonsville, judging from the large number of outages there. Outages remain in the Kentlands, Montgomery College-Germantown campus, Olney and Sandy Spring areas. 

Police called after assault at Rockville apartment complex

Rockville City police were called to an apartment complex in the Twinbrook area after someone reported having been the victim of a 2nd degree assault there. The assault was reported in a residential parking lot in the 13000 block of Twinbrook Parkway at 11:15 PM on July 27, 2023.

Two cars stolen from same garage in Derwood

Montgomery County police are investigating the thefts of two vehicles in Derwood early yesterday morning, July 27, 2023. The vehicles were taken from a residential parking garage in the 16000 block of Redland Road. It is believed that the vehicles were stolen sometime between 12:30 AM and 6:50 AM Thursday morning.