Gov. Larry Hogan extended the closure of public schools due to the COVID-19 emergency, and Montgomery County Public Schools began distributing laptops to students needing them for distance learning. The closures are in effect until at least April 24 and all extracurricular programs, athletic programs are cancelled.
The County Council yesterday introduced emergency legislation and special appropriations to assist small businesses and nonprofit organizations affected by the COVID-19 emergency. The actions would allow the county executive to provide grants of up to $75,000 to organizations “with 100 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees that can demonstrate financial losses caused by the public health emergency.”
Local nonprofit Silver Spring Cares has teamed up with a group of Silver Spring/Takoma Park restaurants to provide meals to needy area residents. To fund the effort and help to support the restaurants’ employees, SSC last week launched a Community Connection Go Fund Me page, according to Heather Foley, SSC’s executive director.
Residents of the Seven Oaks/Evanswood neighborhood this week crowd sourced a list of local restaurants still serving customers during the COVID-19 emergency. The Google Docs spreadsheet is online for reference and open to edits and additions from others, who have since expanded the original list.
The county’s Department of Transportation has designated six temporary “No Parking” zones in downtown Silver Spring to make curbside pickup of takeout orders easier for local residents. In addition, the county has temporarily established free parking for residents in the Bonifant/Dixon garage at 1101 Bonifant St.
A crowd of Montgomery County residents voiced their opposition to proposed Metrobus route cuts Monday night, as the County Council’s Transportation Committee hosted a town hall in downtown Silver Spring to hear public comments on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s planned operating budget for fiscal 2021.
The county’s Department of Transportation—Transit Services Division will hold a public workshop tonight (March 3) to present the latest proposed revisions to 10 Ride On bus routes. The workshop will be held at Montgomery Blair High School, 51 University Blvd. East, at 6:30 p.m.
Activists scored a victory earlier this month when the Montgomery County Council discussed an amendment to a proposed community policing bill that would, among other things, remove language calling for an expansion of the county’s school resource officer program.
The last two months have been a whirlwind for retired Army Brig. Gen. Charles E. McGee of Bethesda, who turned 100 in December, participated in the coin toss at Super Bowl LIV in Miami, received an official promotion to general and was honored by President Donald Trump—along with his great-grandson Iain Lanphier—during the State of the Union address.