Sunday, May 19, 2013
What advice did the first lady give graduates? Will electricity rates go up - again? Get all the Maryland news with one click on Patch.
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By Patch Staff It was a big news week in Maryland last week, with a visit by the first lady, a commuter nightmare in Montgomery and a heads up for a sixth casino in the state. All the headlines from 48 Patch sites across Maryland: Berliner Calls for Better Electricity Service with 'Utility 2.0' Montgomery County Council Member Roger Berliner asked the Maryland Public Service Commission to require that substantial changes be made to electricity services in the state. Meanwhile, Pepco is asking for permission to raise rates. Michelle Obama to Bowie State Grads: It's Time to Feel Hungry Again In a speech rich with historical references, the first lady reminded the BSU class of 2013 why education is important. Report: Quince Orchard Students…
Maryland looks to buses to loosen traffic-tied I-270.
By Nicole Macon, Capital News Service When Margie Weaver accepted a job in North Bethesda, she didn’t think much about driving 42 miles from her home in Unionville to her workplace—until a trip she thought would take her about 45 minutes took up to two and a half hours in traffic on Interstate 270. “When you add that [commute] on to an eight-, nine-hour day, you’re 14 hours away from home,” Weaver said. Because she needed her car for work, Weaver had no choice but to drive each day. She tried to change her schedule to avoid peak travel times, but eventually quit her job after about a year to work closer to home. Now Weaver helps link Frederick drivers with others who share similar commutes and helps residents plan routes that reduce the …
Superintendent Joshua Starr cautioned the school board against jumping to conclusions about numbers that show most high school students flunked their math finals last semester.
The majority of high school math students failed their final exams last semester, several news outlets reported earlier this month, but at Tuesday's meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Education, Superintendent Joshua Starr cautioned against jumping to conclusions, The Washington Post reported. "Our kids do very, very well. So the idea that somehow it’s like this beautiful house that exists and you open the door and it’s termite-ridden ... the exams don’t tell us that," Starr said. "It doesn’t mean you don’t have to fix a couple of broken pipes, but I don’t want people to get the idea that all of a sudden we’ve got this massive, widespread issue that no one has acknowledged or recognized before." Math final exam passage rates were …
Potentially more fees in store at BWI, Reagan National and Dulles airports for summer travel.
In 2012, airlines raked in more than $6 billion in baggage and change fees, solely accounting for a 3.7 percent profit margin, according to WTOP. The practice of collecting additional fees for the once-free baggage began in 2008, when prices for jet fuel rose nearly 50 percent as oil hit an all-time high. Since then, the fees have increased and are typically in the range of $25 for the first checked bag and $35 for the second. These baggage fees added $3.5 billion to airline coffers in 2012, 3.8 percent more than in 2011. While some commercials make light of the anger and frustration caused by the additional fees, a J.D. Power & Associates survey cited by the Los Angeles Times shows that a greater percentage of passengers who pay to check …
Advocates for free school breakfast programs say student achievement is linked to the availability of breakfast in schools.
More schools in Montgomery County are participating in free breakfast programs, a reality that may result in increased student achievement, advocates for school breakfast said. "Expanding participation in breakfast is one of the best ways to ensure that Maryland’s children are healthy and ready to learn," Cathy Demeroto, director of Maryland Hunger Solutions, said. "Efforts to expand school breakfast in Maryland are making a difference, and we’re pleased to see that the state is moving in the right direction. Still, we can build on this progress and reach even more children, especially in urban areas." During the 2011-2012 school year, 49.3 percent of low-income children attending Montgomery County Public Schools participated in the …
Catch up on headlines you might've missed in Montgomery County.
Patch brings you news from across Montgomery County. Catch up on the headlines from this past week, including a fire underneath a Metro rail car in Silver Spring, a Twitter video that jeopardized AP test scores at a Gaithersburg high school and a Rockville evacuation spurred by an odd smell. Track Fire Leads to Evacuation of Silver Spring Metro Station SILVER SPRING—A fire underneath a Metrorail car sent billowing smoke over downtown Silver Spring and forced the evacuation of the Silver Spring Metro station at the peak of Tuesday evening’s rush hour. Read more on Silver Spring Patch. Van Strikes Woman Walking in Median in Wheaton WHEATON—When two cars collided near the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Georgia Avenue Thursday morning, …
Links to obituaries as listed by several funeral homes in Montgomery County.
Click on the name of the deceased to read the full obituary or to submit online condolences. Robert A. Pumphrey Funeral Home Location: 7557 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda Phone: 301-652-2200 Location: 300 W. Montgomery Ave., Rockville Phone: 301-762-3939 Chiyoko Ichiye of Chevy Chase died May 11. She was 83. John Michael Smalley of Brookville died May 12. He was 55. Constance Fischer McCaffery of Wheaton died May 10. She was 81. William Roger East of Germantown died May 8. He was 58. Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home Location: 11800 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring Phone: 301-622-2290 Mildred Greenbaum Gromfine of Chevy Chase died May 12. She was 94. Leroy Vernon Leon of Ashton died May 13. He was 90. Ruth A. Fidelman of Silver Spring died May …
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Patch brings you some of the week's more unusual headlines from around Maryland.
Naked Shooting Suspect on PCP Climbs Fire Truck (Graphic Video) After he finally came down from the truck, police used a Taser on the man, who is suspected of shooting someone earlier in the day. Burglar Hides in Target until after Closing, Smashes Displays A masked man stole electronics and wheeled them out the back door of the Pikesville store on Reisterstown Road. Student Robbed of Marijuana in Franklin High Bathroom A student told police he was robbed of his marijuana after an uninvolved student witnessed the incident. Man Pleads Guilty to Depraved Heart Murder in Gaithersburg Hit-and-Run Death Police said the Damascus resident ran one man down with his car, targeted another. Report: Quince Orchard Students Won't Lose AP Exam Credit …
Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, finished fourth.
Oxbow, a 15-1 longshot, went nearly wire-to-wire to win the 138th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday giving trainer D. Wayne Lukas the all-time lead in Triple Crown race victories with 14. The bay colt, ridden by 50-year old Gary Stevens and owned by Calumet Farm, took the lead early from Goldencents and won the $1 million Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown by 1 ¾ lengths holding off Itsmyluckyday and Mylute in 1:57.54. Oxbow also ended hopes for a Triple Crown winner for another year. Orb, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, never got started from his No. 1 post position and finished a disappointing fourth. "I get paid to spoil dreams," Lukas said after the race. "You can’t mail it in, it’s a different surface, a different …
Forty-two percent of people asked have an unfavorable view of the very hip, according to a new poll.
A poll released by Public Policy Polling shows that a large percentage of Americans (42 percent) have an unfavorable opinion of “hipsters,” a group of men and women “unusually aware of and interested in new and unconventional patterns,” according to Merriam Webster. The Urban Dictionary says that members of this subculture are “typically in their 20s and 30s” and “value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, indie-rock” and “witty banter.” Locally, data from the 2010 Census shows that only 19 percent of Montgomery County’s population is between the ages of 20 and 34. In Silver Spring though, nearly half of the residents in some parts of downtown—near the Metro (52 percent), between East-West Highway and Fenton Street…
