Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana celebrates 100 years at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

This year marks the 100th year of business for Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. The chain's pizza parlor at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda has only been open for a small fraction of that time, but it will be celebrating the milestone as much as the original New Haven, Connecticut restaurant. Through the end of this month, June 2025, dine-in guests can get a large, 18-inch pizza (16 slices) for $19.25. The offer is available exclusively for dine-in guests from Monday through Friday until June 30. It is limited to one redemption per table, and cannot be combined with any other offer or discount. Look for Frank Pepe on Level 1, in the Old Navy/Cheesecake Factory wing of the mall.

Photo by Foodies of 617

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton pilgrimage to make several stops in Montgomery County

This year marks a half-century since Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized by the Catholic Church. A two-week walking pilgrimage will travel from Point Lookout in Southern Maryland all the way to The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, starting this Monday, June 9, 2025. Along the way, pilgrims will stop at several waypoints in Montgomery County, overnight in some cases. These include Our Lady, Queen of Poland Church at 9700 Rosensteel Avenue in Silver Spring; The Avalon School at St. Catherine Laboure Church at 11801 Claridge Road in Wheaton; the Shrine of St. Jude at 12701 Veirs Mill Road and St. Mary's Catholic Church at 520 Veirs Mill Road in Rockville; St. Martin of Tours Church at 201 S. Frederick Avenue and St. Rose of Lima Church at 11701 Clopper Road in Gaithersburg; and St. Mary’s Catholic Church and Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima at 18230 Barnesville Road in Barnesville.

For options on how you can participate by walking, or virtually from home, or to register, visit the website of The Camino of Maryland.

Image via The Camino of Maryland

Club Studio opening in Rockville

Club Studio is coming soon to 11416-A Rockville Pike. The gym will take over the vacant second floor space that previously belonged to L.A. Fitness in the NoBe Market apartment tower. Like L.A. Fitness, Club Studio is a national chain of fitness centers. It offers Reformer Pilates, CS4 cardio and strength workouts, spin classes, a boxing studio, traditional and hot yoga, and low-impact 45-minute cardio trampoline classes. A wait list for the Rockville location is now accepting online registration.

Assault at 7-Eleven in Rockville

Montgomery County police are seeking the public's help in identifying and locating the suspect in the May 7, 2025 aggravated assault at the 7-Eleven store at 11530-G Rockville Pike. Shortly before 7:30 PM that evening, police say, the suspect entered the store and dispensed a soft drink for himself at the soda fountain. When he allegedly began to drink the soda without paying for it, an employee confronted him to state that the beverages are not free. The suspect responded by striking the employee, police allege, and then began throwing merchandise at store employees. He proceeded to flee the store.

However, police say he then attempted to reenter the convenience store. Employees held the doors shut so that he could not. The suspect then pulled out a firearm and threatened to shoot them. But he instead ran toward the White Flint Metro station.

Police describe the suspect as a Black male, approximately 6'3" in height, with black hair and a beard. He was wearing black pants, a green shirt, a gray jacket, and a black Washington Commanders sweatshirt. The suspect was also carrying a pink shoulder bag and a black backpack.

Anyone with information regarding this suspect or this crime is asked to visit the Crime Solvers of Montgomery County, MD website at www.crimesolversmcmd.org (http://www.crimesolversmcmd.org/) and click on the “www.p3tips.com (http://www.p3tips.com/)” link at the top of the page or call 1-866-411-8477. A reward of up to $10,000 is offered for information leading to the suspects’ arrest. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

New 6th District Montgomery County police station officially opens in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to formally open the new 6th District County police station in Gaithersburg this week. County Executive Marc Elrich and County Council President Kate Stewart were among the dignitaries to christen the new station, which is located at 222 Paramount Park Drive in the Watkins Mill Town Center area. 

Developers never delivered the promised movie theater, upscale restaurant, or even the actual "town center" of Watkins Mill Town Center, but did rake in all the profits from the residential housing portion of the development. Heckuva job, Brownie! New residents did get a Royal Farms gas station, a Starbucks, and now the police station, however. They'll likely welcome the latter, given the ongoing crime wave that has bedeviled the county since the summer of 2020.

“The new 6th District Police Station is an important project for the County that will strengthen critical emergency services to our residents in an area that has seen tremendous growth,” Elrich said in a statement this morning. “The Gaithersburg area has seen a great deal of development over the years, and as the community changes, the demand changes. We recognized the importance of adapting to the needs of a growing community, and this station is a testament to our ability to meet those needs. The new station will help to improve the safety and security of residents and businesses and address our current and future needs for the decades to come.” 

Almost 200 department staff and volunteers may be on-site at any given time. The station will serve as the base for investigative units, as well as the Central Traffic Unit, which was established in July 2021. It also features a public space "designed to foster engagement, collaboration and dialogue within the community." 

Burglars target Rockville's newest neighborhood

Burglars gave themselves a private tour of several homes at Rockville's newest neighborhood, the Farmstead District, located at 2590 Farmstead Drive, last week. The development is adjacent to King Farm, and is just south of Shady Grove Road. Rockville City police say that one or more burglars entered at least five homes that are under construction in the 2500 block of Farmstead Drive, and stole unspecified property from the interiors. The burglaries are believed to have taken place between 9:00 PM on May 28, 2025, and 9:00 AM on May 29. 

Police do not have any suspect descriptions. If you have any information that can assist detectives in identifying these suspects, call police at 240-314-8900.

Montgomery County Council "caught off guard" by incinerator they oversee

The Montgomery County Council was "caught off guard" by a trash incinerator in Dickerson it has total oversight authority over, The Washington Post reported on Monday. Councilmembers attempted to pin the blame for the facility's continued operation on the Montgomery County cartel's bête noire, County Executive Marc Elrich, feigning surprise that the immolator is still operating and would require funding to maintain safety and the physical plant at the complex. The tab for that in Elrich's FY-2026 budget was $57 million. Elrich had sought to shut the plant down permanently when he first ran for County Executive eight years ago, but once taking office in December 2018, he found that his predecessor had extended the incinerator contract for an additional five years. He told reporter Dana Munro that once the pandemic hit, a project to replace the facility "wasn't financially viable anymore."

There's a separate argument to be had about whether the incinerator should be, or should have already been, shut down. Surprisingly, the article did not mention that the incineration facility turns the trash into energy. Enough energy to power 27,000 houses, in fact, while getting rid of 600 tons of Montgomery County garbage each day. That's a valuable asset.

The converse argument is that the facility releases some degree of pollution into the air. Not discussed is whether or not there are further measures that could be taken to filter or capture this air before it escapes the facility. The article cites rates of respiratory illness, and colon, rectal, and prostate cancer in the Dickerson area that exceeded the overall countywide rate between 2014 and 2022.

But the point I want to focus on is the County Council again trying to pass the buck to Marc Elrich. Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe, who represents Dickerson on the Council, told the Post that she and her colleagues were "caught off guard" by the fact that Elrich had not shut the incinerator down, and by the "hefty maintenance expenses." Why weren't Balcombe and the Council following this issue over the last seven years? Apparently, banning gas stoves, gas leaf blowers, plastic straws, plastic bags, and gender-reveal balloon releases(!!) took up all their time.

Now that the incinerator chickens are coming home to roost and the Council has been caught asleep at the switch yet again, they turn to the cartel's old punching bag Marc Elrich. Why haven't Balcombe and other councilmembers introduced legislation with their superior solutions to the problem? If they were closely monitoring the incinerator, they would have already known about the maintenance coming due, which likely was deferred to fund other capital projects closer to the Council's actual voter base inside the Beltway. Instead, the Council was careless, ignored the incinerator problem for seven years, and failed to exercise their oversight duties in relation to the facility. Heckuva job, Brownie!