Potomac Almanac

04/23/2021

Happy Earth Day! #EarthDay2021 #cleanwater #WaterIsLife #potomacriver #trashfreepotomac #swimdrinkfish

04/23/2021

Read this week's Potomac Almanac.http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2021/042121/Potomac.pdf

Read this week's Potomac Almanac.http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2021/042121/Potomac.pdf

04/22/2021

Our longest in-shelter resident right now is the handsome Leo, who is STILL looking for a forever home!

Leo is a friendly, playful young dog who loves toys, attention, and having the zoomies. He sprints around the yard with his tongue flapping in the wind and without a care in the world! He has everybody at MCASAC wrapped around his paw-- he's just so charming and adorable! Leo could live with another dog who matches his play and energy level (or tolerates his!) Leo would also make a great family dog for an appropriately matched home.

If you think Leo would be the perfect fit for your house, please submit a completed Adoption Questionnaire! Link to all relevant information and important applications can be found at our "How to Adopt" link below!
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/animalservices/adoption/covidadoption.html

04/16/2021

Very cool! I saw one surface near Mt Vernon a few years ago. Sturgeon are returning to the Potomac River! #cleanwater #swimdrinkfish #waterislife #potomacriver

04/12/2021

04/09/2021

The off duty Pentagon officer who shot and killed two people yesterday in Takoma Park has been arrested and charged with two counts of second degree murder; two counts of use of a handgun in commission of felony and reckless endangerment and attempted second degree murder.

04/09/2021

Got Cicadas? Take a Picture and Help Entomologists Map Their Arrival

Got Cicadas? Take a Picture and Help Entomologists Map Their Arrival

A citizen-science effort powered by a mobile app aims to generate the biggest-ever observation data set in the history of periodical cicada research.

04/08/2021

Photos from Maryland Department of Natural Resources's post

04/08/2021

Click to read this week's Potomac Almanac
http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2021/040721/Potomac.pdf

Click to read this week's Potomac Almanac
http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2021/040721/Potomac.pdf

03/24/2021

Montgomery Countryside Alliance

This evening! Join MCA and a matched farmer and landowner from our Land Link program to hear more about how your property can be leased to a small scale farmer. Benefits abound for you and our community - RSVP for the link and join us at 7:30 on zoom. https://bit.ly/LinkLandowner

03/24/2021

Sharing the commitment.

One week has passed since a killing spree in Atlanta took the lives of eight people, six of whom were Asian women.

We must not let this violence fade from memory. We must not allow the continuing onslaught of more recent massacres and other acts of hate numb us into forgetting or stun us into passivity.

One week after the Atlanta murders, our community at Glenstone Museum pauses to remember. As we do so, we reaffirm our commitment to stand for humanity and against all forms of misogyny, xenophobia, and racism, including anti-Asian hate.

We will insist on remembering, and on raising our voices, until the values inherent in our organization, and in our hearts, are recognized everywhere.

03/23/2021

Potomac Almanac

03/14/2021

Montgomery & Wheaton Mall Owner Looking to Sell Properties - The MoCo Show

Montgomery & Wheaton Mall Owner Looking to Sell Properties - The MoCo Show

Montgomery & Wheaton Mall Owner Looking to Sell Properties The Los Angeles Business Journal is reporting that Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) plans to sell all of it’s...

03/14/2021

Opinion: Finding Collaborative Solutions to Local and Global Challenges – Maryland Matters

Consider this.

We face tremendous challenges, locally and globally, with the climate crisis posing the existential threat of our time. This reality must be met collaboratively, creatively, and aggressively. There is not a minute to waste to get it together… to get all of us together. Voice was given to this impe...

03/07/2021

REPORT: Increase in Death Rate in 2020 Highest One-Year Spike in Almost a Century

From Scott A. Surovell
50 years of declines since 1970 and now a 20% increase in deaths - 6,000 more Americans dying every year - since 2014. Something is very wrong on America's roads. It sure seems to correlate with mobile phones.

DRIVE SMART Virginia Jeff Bourne Delegate Mike Mullin

Total annual mileage dropped about 13 percent during the pandemic, meaning that the one-year increase in the death rate was the highest since 1924.

03/05/2021

Maryland Farm & Harvest | Season 8 | Episode 812

Do you have some land that could be farmed? Browse the listings. Some are looking former as little as half an acre.

From Montgomery Countryside Alliance
Love to see this coverage of Dodo Farms and how our Land Link program helped get them growing. There are so many experienced farmers just like the Baloguns that are seeking a small amount of land to get started. Join us for a Landowner info session on March 24th to learn more -> http://bit.ly/LinkLandowner

Nigerian farmer, starting a family farm, and Highland cattle.

03/03/2021

Citizens Against Beltway Expansion

Check it out -- MDOT has issued a report that concludes a monorail connecting Frederick to Montgomery County is:

1. Feasible.
2. Would take at least 10,000 vehicles a day off of the region's roads
3. Draw anywhere from 34,800 to 47,800 riders a day.

The other upsides, according to advocates, is the monorail is a less physically demanding project than expanding I-270 with four tollways. It could be built in the existing right-of-way.

MDOT's report also says the traffic reduction would only amount of one percent of the trips expected in 2045 and that much of the ridership would likely come from MARC's Brunswick Line, commuter bus lines and Montgomery County's Ride On bus network.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/study-finds-frederick-montgomery-monorail-050100887.html

02/27/2021

Transportation Authority Gets First Look at Potential I-495/I-270 Tolls – Maryland Matters

From Citizens Against Beltway Expansion

Per the Maryland Matters article below, MDOT released its maximum and expected average tolls this morning at the Maryland Department of Transportation Authority board meeting.

Here's the bottom line: Not only are the projected tolls really high, unlike most paychecks, they are wired to rise faster than inflation.

Here are the details.

MDOT's preliminary estimate for cars is a maximum per-mile toll on I-270 of $3.76 (when paid with a transponder).

Let's assume the max is what gets charged at the height of rush-hour. Now let's do some math.

The distance from I-370 to the GW Parkway is 13.4 miles. That means a one way trip from Shady Grove over the American Legion Bridge would run $50.38 in 2021 dollars.

Whats more, the tolls would rise every year at the rate of inflation (Washington CPI) plus 2.1% according to the formula on page 356 of MDOT's supporting materials.

So by the time the road opens, in say 2028, the inaugural maximum toll will be $58 one-way. (The good news is the the toll would only be about $24 per trip in average traffic.)

One more point: the toll rate for trucks would range from $28.22 to $35.28 per mile, depending on whether a transponder is used. Obviously, this is meant to keep trucks off of the toll roads and keep congestion revved up on the few remaining I-270 free lanes.

Motorists who use Maryland’s new High-Occupancy Toll lanes along Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway (I-495) can expect to pay — on average — about $1 per mile during the morning commute and approximately $1.50 per mile to get home, according to a preliminary set of toll ranges released by ...

02/26/2021

This week's Potomac Almanac,
http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2021/022421/Potomac.pdf

02/26/2021

SRO Program: ‘Fundamentally Mismatched for Schools’ in Montgomery County

SRO Program: ‘Fundamentally Mismatched for Schools’ in Montgomery County

Kyson Taylor told Montgomery County Council that every school day before the pandemic he would dread the walk to portable classrooms at Richard Montgomery High School.

02/21/2021

Will Jawando

Today, I witnessed Mr. Harvey Zeigler receive his #COVIDVaccine one week shy of his 101st birthday! He joined hundreds of other residents in the Briggs Chaney community, home to the highest % of Black residents in the county & one of hardest hit by #COVID19 in the entire state of #Maryland. #Equity

02/10/2021

Montgomery County Animal Services & Adoption Center

Early yesterday morning, Montgomery County firefighters responded to a terrifying house fire in the 2800 block of Woodstock Avenue in Silver Spring.

In addition to three human residents (two adults and one child), two dogs, a cat, and a large boa constrictor were in the home as the fire raged on.

Montgomery County (MD) Fire & Rescue worked tirelessly to rescue the two Great Danes, Skittles and Da Vinci, and 5-foot boa constrictor, Bucky, from the flames with the help of our Animal Services Officers. The family's beloved cat, Meow Meow, who was initially missing, was found terrified and cowering, but safe and alive, under the living room couch by A*O Ogrin and A*O Gonzalez who re-entered the home to find her.

Thanks to the amazing work of fire and rescue crews, ALL of the home’s human and animal residents escaped to safety without serious injury.

All four animals have all been transported safely to MCASAC where they are being evaluated and monitored by the veterinary staff for possible smoke inhalation. They will be housed and cared for at the Adoption Center until the family is able to make other arrangements.

Investigators blamed the fire on an electric space heater positioned too close to dog bedding in the home’s basement. The home did not have a working smoke detector. Damage is estimated at $155,000, including the building and personal belongings. It took 50 firefighters to put the fire out.

01/31/2021

Thanks, Montgomery Countryside Alliance
February is a great time to plan your gardens...

February is a great time to plan your gardens...

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/AttractingPollinatorsEasternUS_V1.pdf

01/31/2021

Elie McConihe Cain Dies at 83

We're going to miss Elie ...

Eleanor (Elie) McConihe Cain, known to many long-time residents as the mayor of Potomac, died on Tuesday, Jan. 19 of complications relating to Covid-19.

01/27/2021

Good news for farmers and those of us who eat.

When siting solar in an Ag Zone - soils matter. Thanks to Andrew M. Friedson Councilmember Nancy Navarro Councilmember Gabe Albornoz Sidney Katz and @Craig Rice for protecting prime and productive soils 1 and 2 in the Ag Reserve in ZTA 20-01. Clean Water Action Maryland

01/22/2021

Opinion: MoCo Council Should Vote No on Industrial Solar in the Agricultural Reserve – Maryland Matters

Take action! Takes 2 min.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/responsibly-siting-solar-in-the-ag-reserve/

The following is an open letter to the Montgomery County Council. Dear Councilmembers, One of the primary functions of our county council is its right to set land use policy. The word right is significant. In the French language, the word for right is the same word for duty. (French 101 students wil...

01/20/2021

Protect the Agricultural Reserve, be Smart on Solar

Protect the Agricultural Reserve, be Smart on Solar

Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve is a planning marvel, but a zoning amendment before the County Council right now could needlessly destroy it. Take action today.

01/19/2021

Potomac-based Dr. Mark E. Klein, author of the new book Franklin Rock, will hold a (virtual) book event on January 21, 2021 at 11 a.m. with the Potomac Library. Dr Klein is a radiologist in D.C. He’s treated more than 100,000 patients as a physician and The doctor his colleagues call when they have a patient who needs an ear or shoulder to help calm down and cope with what’s ahead.

01/17/2021

Recycling/trash collection in Montgomery County is on holiday schedule. Transfer Station recycling/trash drop-offs are closed 1/18/21.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HOLIDAY: Monday, January 18, 2021: No County-provided recycling or trash collections on Monday, Jan. 18; After the holiday, pickups slide one day with last pickup Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. Transfer Station closed Jan. 18.

01/16/2021

Potomac Almanac

01/15/2021

http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2021/011321/Potomac.pdf

01/15/2021

Alexandria Sportsman’s Club to Host Nats’ Mark Scialabba

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2021/jan/14/alexandria-sportsmans-club-host-nats-mark-scialabb/

Mark Scialabba, Assistant General Manager, Player Development for the Washington Nationals, will be the featured speaker during a webinar presentation for the Jan. 20 Alexandria Sportsman’s Club meeting.

01/08/2021

ArPets: Meet King

"...I felt the emptiness when he was no longer at my side... "

We could all use a little company these days. Maybe King is right for your household. Homeward Trails Animal Rescue Connection Newspapers

I remember it was gloomy that day.

01/05/2021

Delegate Marc Korman

This is 8:30am on the first regular work day of the year on I-270 and I-495, largely in the areas Governor Hogan wants to add two new private mega toll lanes in each direction. For the last week of data available, Maryland roadway traffic was down 25% from the prior year.

A side effect of the pandemic has been a real world traffic experiment. It turns out that a shift of a relatively small amount of people means a lack of congestion based traffic. Will we learn from this as we plan our future or just assume roadway conditions in January of 2022 have to look like they did back in January of 2020?

01/01/2021

Potomac Pizza

You can still get all of your delicious favorites to go or for FREE delivery! Please be sure to shop local and support small businesses like us! We've been around since 1978 and we want to be around for another 40 years!

Since 1978, Potomac Pizza has been one of Maryland’s most delicious and beloved family restaurant favorites! We use the freshest ingredients to create both our traditional and specialty pizzas and we offer a fun and memorable atmosphere that local residents have come to depend on. After taking ove...