Assault in Rockville parking garage

Rockville City police responded to a report of a 2nd-degree assault inside a parking garage in the Rockville Town Center area Thursday night, August 11, 2022. The assault was reported inside a garage in the unit block of Helen Heneghan Way at 10:30 PM Thursday.

Kids2Teen Bedrooms store closing in Rockville (Photos)

You might save a few bucks on back-to-school bedroom makeovers at Kids2Teen Bedrooms at 1052 Rockville Pike, in the Edmonston Crossing shopping center. Unfortunately, it is because the store is closing. A closing sale is now underway. The sale includes mattresses, platform beds, futons, sofa convertibles, and Murphy cabinets. Everything must go!!

Rock Grove shopping center gets new sign, art installation in Rockville (Photos)

A permanent tenant sign has been erected at the new Rock Grove shopping center at 16220 Frederick Road in Rockville. It lists the Comfort Inn hotel, interestingly, along with shopping center tenants Minerva Indian Cuisine, Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins, Luxury Nails and Atlas Pharmacy. Strangely, Qdoba Mexican Eats is not yet on the sign. The property also includes an office building.

Also new at the property is an art installation. It features a tree and soaring eagle, surrounded at the base by real landscaping. 

Lotus of Washington DC auto dealership opens in Rockville

Lotus of Washington DC, a new dealership selling the British luxury performance vehicles, has taken over the former Rockmont Chevrolet property under the giant American flag at 15301 N. Frederick Road in Rockville. The brand hasn't had a stand-alone dealership of its own in Montgomery County since a Bethesda location closed in 2016. Lotus of Washington DC is carrying the Evora, Emira, Evija and Eletre models. The showroom is open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Car stolen from Rockville townhome

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle in the King Farm neighborhood of Rockville yesterday morning. The vehicle was parked on the street outside a townhome in the 500 block of Shorthorn Way, the newest section of King Farm recently constructed off of Piccard Drive. It is believed that the vehicle was stolen sometime between 8:30 PM Wednesday night and 9:00 AM Thursday morning.

Montgomery County Board of Elections finds 102 more ballots

The already drama-filled Montgomery County primary election just took another bizarre twist. Montgomery County Acting Election Director Alysoun McLaughlin issued a statement late last night on Board of Elections letterhead announcing that election staff has found 102 missing ballots. As a result, McLaughlin said, the Board will be unable to certify the election results today as scheduled. The Board will meet at 3:30 PM this afternoon to figure out how to proceed.

The ballots were found Thursday during a "precertification audit," McLaughlin wrote. “Today, we pulled our random sample of empty provisional ballot envelopes for audit and were unable to locate one of the randomly selected envelopes where it should have been," she explained. "In addition, we were unable to resolve a discrepancy between the number of provisional ballots that our staff had recommended that the Board accept, and the number of ballots scanned. Together, these two pieces of information prompted a visual search of folders where provisional ballots had been stored prior to the canvass. Those folders contained 102 unopened, sealed ballot envelopes that were never removed from their folders and presented to the canvass from the following precincts:

• Precinct 06-10 – 1 ballot

• Precinct 06-11 – 1 ballot

• Precinct 06-13 – 14 ballots

• Precinct 06-14 – 7 ballots

• Precinct 06-15 – 15 ballots

• Precinct 13-56 – 12 ballots

• Precinct 13-57 – 10 ballots

• Precinct 13-58 – 30 ballots

• Precinct 13-59 – 12 ballots

Intriguingly, McLaughlin personally apologized in the statement for not locating the missing ballots until yesterday, thereby delaying a certification of the results. The delayed certification has all kinds of implications for the photo finish of Democrats David Blair and Marc Elrich in the County Executive race. Elrich declared victory in the race last week. But if the 102 ballots found yesterday were to split Blair's way, that could flip the current results and Elrich would then have the option to ask for a recount. If Elrich retains his lead after the 102 new ballots are tallied, the recount Blair has said he will request following certification will be further delayed.

"I want to emphasize that Maryland’s comprehensive precertification audit was designed to identify issues like this before an election is certified to ensure theaccuracy of the results," McLaughlin wrote. "It worked as intended.”

“I will finish reviewing the rest of the audit to ensure that there are no further discrepancies before I ask the Board of Elections to certify the results of the election. The Board will meet at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, August 12, and we will discuss the findings of our audit and the schedule for canvass and certification.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan samples Iowa State Fair pork chops, unveils "refund the police" plan in Nebraska

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's potential quest to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024 led him to the Iowa State Fair today, a required stop for any candidate on the road to the White House. Hogan joined Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) at the grill to prepare the fair's famous pork chops. Sampling the finished product, Hogan assured his Twitter followers that the juicy slab on a stick "lives up to the hype!"

Hogan joined Iowa
Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) at the
Iowa State Fair

Hogan's presidential snack came with a side dish of policy, as the two-term governor unveiled a "Plan of Action for Safer Communities" during an earlier stop in Nebraska. Referring to the calls of two summers ago to "defund the police" as "crazy," Hogan proposed a "refund the police" policy to fight rising crime. The plan also includes new proposals to crack down on violent criminals, address the opioid crisis, and secure the border. Hogan was hosted by GOP Congressman Don Bacon in Omaha, and also appeared as a guest on the Hugh Hewitt Show.

Photos via @LarryHogan on Twitter