Glen Echo pharmacy burglarized

One or more thieves broke into a drugstore in Glen Echo early Sunday morning, March 27, 2022. Montgomery County police responded to a forced entry at a pharmacy in the 7300 block of MacArthur Boulevard at 4:15 AM yesterday, according to crime data. The Glen Echo Pharmacy is located in the shopping center on that block.

Chevy Chase, Spring Valley, Cabin John on Le Pain Quotidien's closure wish list

Bethesda Row, Wildwood not on list

The future of Le Pain Quotidien as a whole is murky indeed, but a court filing in its bankruptcy case is giving us our first hint as to the future of some of its area locations. It contained a list of Le Pain locations where a rejection of unexpired leases and abandonment of property would be undertaken by the firm, if approved in the proceedings.

Notably, Bethesda Row and Wildwood Shopping Center were not on the list. Unlucky locations that made the list included  Wisconsin Place in Friendship Heights, Spring Valley in Northwest Washington, Cabin John Shopping Center, Union Station, F Street NW, and K Street NW.

Montgomery County to enter Phase 1 reopening Monday, June 1 at 6 AM

Elrich shouted down by

protesters at press conference

Several weeks after much of Maryland entered Phase 1 of a reopening from the coronavirus lockdown, Montgomery County will join those jurisdictions this coming Monday, June 1, at 6:00 AM, County Executive Marc Elrich announced at a boisterous press conference this afternoon in Gaithersburg. Protesters frustrated over the continued closure of businesses and places of worship shouted over Elrich's remarks throughout much of the event, sometimes hurling expletives. "Recall, recall!" some chanted as Elrich concluded a Question-and-Answer session.

What will be allowed starting Monday:

• Retail - curbside only
• Restaurants - outdoor seating/curbside pickup/takeout only
• State-approved emergency childcare programs for dependents of essential and Phase 1 workers only
• "Personal services," hair salons and barber shops "for hair only appointments"
• Car washes; exterior only
• Manufacturing with precautions and guidance
• Outdoor day camps & outdoor youth sports, following state guidelines
• horseback riding
• tennis courts
• golf courses
• archery ranges
• campgrounds

What is still NOT allowed to open:

• Movie theaters
• gyms
• swimming pools
• senior centers
• nail salons
• enclosed malls
• places of worship

HISPANIC ENGINEERING GROUP HONORS 3 LOCKHEED MARTIN ENGINEERS WITH AWARDS

The Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC) recognized 3 Latino engineers from Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin at its annual event in New Orleans on October 3. One of the world's largest defense firms, Lockheed is also one of the few Fortune 500 companies left in Montgomery County and the state of Maryland.

The 2014 HENAAC Scientist of the Year award went to Sergio Torres, Ph.D., a Lockheed Martin Fellow with Information Systems and Global Solutions (IS&GS). Most Promising Engineer or Scientist – Advanced Degree Award went to Edward Jimenez, Ph.D., senior member, Software Systems Research and Development at Sandia National Laboratories. And the Information Technology Award was bestowed upon Ruben Herrera, operations and maintenance development lead at IS&GS.

Lockheed supports HENAAC's program called VIVA Technology, to promote careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) among inner-city and rural students from kindergarten through high school. Lockheed Martin Chairman, CEO and President Marillyn Hewson spoke of that challenge at the conference, noting that "the United States is facing a serious shortage of STEM talent. Recent projections estimate a potential shortfall of one million STEM professionals in the next 10 years. If we as a nation are to maintain our position as a global leader in innovation and discovery, we must face this challenge head on." Lockheed was a founding sponsor of HENAAC.

Montgomery County has its own STEM challenges, with six of the county's high schools not even offering computer science courses. Out of 45,132 high school students in MoCo, only 2,746 were enrolled in computer science courses, according to MCPS data in 2014.

The HENAAC awards not only recognized the engineers' work and achievements, but also their contributions to the Latino community. Last week's conference took place during Hispanic Heritage Month, which ends on October 15.

BETHESDA TECH FIRM COBRAIN WANTS TO HELP YOU FIND WHAT YOU CRAVE

NEW APP

PROMISES TO

MAKE YOU A

SMARTER

SHOPPER

You may be used to large companies like Facebook and Google wanting to know everything about you to help boost advertising revenue. Their argument is that such data will improve your online experience, and create products and services tailored to your needs and interests.

Now a Bethesda-based startup, Cobrain, is betting consumers would like to turn the tables on Big Data, and use it to their own benefit. Cobrain is a new app for internet, iPad, iPhone and - in January - Android, that promises to use shopping data from you, and others who share your tastes, to steer you to the products you actually want.

Cobrain founder Rob McGovern was the man behind the successful employment site Careerbuilder, and now wants to create a "co-brain" of artificial intelligence based on consumer preferences. Drawing on multiple, like-minded shoppers at once will not be unlike the efficiency of the Quad Core Processor in today's iPhone, McGovern argues.

How does it work?

Once you download the app, Cobrain will use your email shipping notifications and e-receipts to analyze what you buy, where, and at what price. Then it will direct you to what it believes the best matches are for that next sweater or pair of jeans you are shopping for. But beyond that, it will also compare your preferences to other Cobrain users. By identifying others with similar preferences, Cobrain will draw on that data in the belief that if they like something, you probably will like it, too.

Now wait just a minute, you say. Won't the app just steer me to products merchants want to sell? And will merchants have my personal shopping data?

No, and no, say Cobrain. The firm is promising that merchants have no influence over product recommendations, and that your data will be encrypted, and never shared or sold to others. Of course, other private tech companies are already scanning your email, just without having made the promises Cobrain is.

Cobrain currently has 300+ merchants participating, and you've likely heard of them: Free People, Macy's and Nordstrom are on the list (and all 3 just happen to have stores at Bethesda's Westfield Montgomery Mall). But while Cobrain is entirely free to use, it will be the cost-free middleman in the electronic transaction through the app.

Cobrain concludes you'll crave
this Free People dress - and
knows you have a "super fancy
flower pattern" dress from Macy's
in your closet

You'll search for jeans, and Cobrain will steer you to 5 pairs it concludes you will crave the most. Then you order directly from Free People or Macy's, via Cobrain.

Cobrain can let you know when the
apparel you want is on sale

Right now the emphasis is on apparel and fashion. Merchants can be large department stores, or small boutiques. But as the platform and data grow, the formula could work for any type of consumer goods.

What do you think about this app, how it will utilize your information, and the potential benefits or drawbacks?

Cobrain is a company to watch, not only to see if the app catches on, but because it is based right here, at a time when large firms are declining to move to Montgomery County. Until the county addresses that reality, our economic fortunes rest on startup ventures and entrepreneurs like Cobrain and McGovern.

Images: Cobrain

MoCo COUNCILMEMBER THREATENS BUSINESSES: BUILD MY BRT SYSTEM, OR FACE YOUR "WORST NIGHTMARE"

Yes, Montgomery County is indeed "open for business."

Well, I can't wait to hear what Gigi Godwin and Ginanne Italiano have to say about this:

Montgomery County Councilmember Marc Elrich was quoted threatening county business owners with "their worst nightmare," if they refuse to "step up" and fund his pet Bus Rapid Transit project.

Wow.  I mean, don't let it be said this county isn't business-friendly, right?

This meltdown by Councilmember Elrich came after champagne wishes and BRT dreams were burst last Thursday evening, by citizens condemning his fiscally-irresponsible BRT Tax plan at a public hearing.

With Elrich, Ike Leggett and the other less-than-20 people ramming BRT through the process unable to sell their busway-robbery tax scheme, they are now scrambling to salvage the BRT project.

The new trial balloon being floated, is to fund the BRT system through a tax on businesses.

Do you notice something really strange about the BRT money panic?

What are the targets they are aiming at?

First, they aimed at your wallet/purse, for $1000+ per year, in the case of many Bethesda residents.

Now county business owners are in their crosshairs.

But have you noticed what group is not being targeted for BRT taxes?

Developers.  Yes, developers - the ones who are actually going to profit from the BRT scheme!

Is this a surprise?  No.  Not even in the case of Marc "No Developer Influence" Elrich.  Of whom one developer admiringly said, "He's come a long way, baby."

BRT was just one of the reasons developers, and the county establishment they fund, threw their John Candy-meets-Fat Albert weight behind Elrich in 2010.  The others being his sudden support for tax cuts for developers (including one $72 million tax cut for White Flint developers), and his enthusiastic "YES!" votes for the massively-oversized White Flint and Science City sector plans.

If developers want the BRT boondoggle, they should pay for it.

Instead, Elrich is turning yet again to struggling citizens and business owners, and demanding "more!"

This after slamming poor and middle class residents with a massive energy tax since 2010, the same tax that bodyslammed business owners.

And making the county's bloated, profligate budget bigger this past May, and boosting taxes even further.

Elrich is not even engaging in negotiations.  He is demanding and threatening.  Is this Steve Hendrix's "Man for All Seasons?"

"If the business community is not willing to step up...then they will get their worst nightmare."

 - Marc Elrich, Examiner, July 15, 2012

Unfortunately, Elrich did not explain what "nightmare" businessmen and women in the county will experience, if they decline to bow to his demands.

This coming from the same council whose energy tax had Target, Magruder's and other stores turning off lights, even during business hours.  And boosted your water bill just so utility employees could get a raise, even while you are getting furloughed or fired.

Is this how we attract companies, and recover from the lowest job creation numbers in the DC region?

It's certainly a novel approach.

You can be sure Bob McDonnell and Gerald Connolly are having another hearty chuckle at our expense.

Can I help you out with some new economic development marketing lines, Steve Silverman?

"Come to Montgomery County, where the taxes are high, the jobs and parking spaces are few, and our councilmembers promise your worst nightmare if you won't pay up!"

They're lining up at the border already, folks.