Bethesda news, restaurants, nightlife, events and openings, real estate, crime reports and more - the way only a lifelong Bethesda resident like Robert Dyer can bring it to you. Everything you want and need to know about Bethesda, plus special investigative reports you won't find anywhere else. The must-read blog for breaking Bethesda news, when you want to be the first to know.
Construction on the interior fit-out Visual Comfort & Co. at 7316 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda is nearing completion. Here's a sneak peek inside the high-ceilinged showroom, which is in the ground floor of the new Hampden House apartment tower. The Houston-based firm, founded in 1987, specializes in designer light fixtures. Outside, the sign is up and already lit.
Something else catching attention out there is the protective scaffolding over the sidewalk. Ubiquitous in cities like New York, it's rarely employed in Montgomery County, where officials allow sidewalks to instead close for years at a time despite laws on the books that were supposed to prevent such pedestrian obstacles. Visual Comfort is using scaffolding from a company called Urban Umbrella.
After major renovations, the Chick-Fil-A at 12001 Rockville Pike at Montrose Crossing will reopen on March 5, 2026. The restaurant will hold a grand reopening event that day to celebrate. It will open at 6:30 AM, and the first 100 customers will receive a gift bag and a chance to win a year of free Chick-Fil-A. From 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, customers who have downloaded the Chick-Fil-A app will be given the opportunity to spin a prize wheel to possibly win free food and merchandise. Customers dressed as cows between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM will get a free Chick-Fil-A "BOG Card" while supplies last. Everyone will have a chance to take a selfie with the Chick-Fil-A Cow all day long.
Anine Bing has closed at 7243 Woodmont Avenue at Bethesda Row. The windows have been covered with brown paper. Anine Bing is the latest victim of the moribund Montgomery County economy, the flight of the rich from MoCo, and the anti-business policies of the Montgomery County Council. This is the only Anine Bing boutique closing in America. In fact, the brand is currently expanding, with new locations opening soon on Long Island and at the Ala Moana Center in Hawaii, as well as two boutiques in China.
The Bethesda location was already showing some signs of struggling by 2023. That July, the boutique reduced its operating hours. It had only been open for a few months at that point.
Federal Realty already has a solid replacement lined up for Anine Bing's space, however. Southern California lifestyle brand Johnnie-O will open there this spring. Johnnie-O is considered a premium apparel brand, but its prices are typically half or a third of Anine Bing's, and therefore may be a better fit for the changing demographics of Montgomery County.
Another major gas leak has been detected in Bethesda, this time in a residential neighborhood bordering downtown Bethesda. The Sacks subdivision on Leland Street has been entirely sealed off between Woodmont Avenue and Bradley Boulevard. A Washington Gas crew is on-site digging under the street to locate and repair the leak. There is a strong odor of natural gas in the air in that vicinity.
The windows are still covered at the future Char'd at 11881 Grand Park Avenue at Pike & Rose. But there's another "sign" of progress outside the highly-anticipated burger restaurant. A new pedestrian-facing blade sign has been installed under the storefront canopy. It joins that tiny logo sign above the storefront. The burgers may literally be bigger than the signs at Char'd!
Moribund Maryland and Montgomery County have an unexpected opportunity to make up lost ground against dominant rival Virginia. Elected officials should seize it, and cut income, property, and corporate taxes across the board. New Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger had been expected to govern as a pro-business moderate in the mold of her Democratic predecessors Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam, who were generally as successful as their Republican counterparts in sustaining the state's strong economic development record. But once sworn in, Spanberger has taken an unexpected radical left turn, and Virginia is suddenly spiraling for the moment.
Spanberger is not discouraging the Democrat controlled Virginia legislature from sending over a dozen tax increases to her desk. She is raising the minimum wage to meet Maryland's $15 mandate (it will still be lower than Montgomery County's, alas). And she is reducing prison sentences for violent felons. Is axing Right-to-Work next?
Boeing has now announced it is relocating its Virginia operations to Missouri. That move was probably in the works for some time, as it was obvious three years ago that Spanberger would win against a weak GOP candidate, but Boeing apparently knew Spanberger's ideological bent better than most political observers.
What better way for Maryland Governor Wes Moore to juice the state's moribund economy, and his re-election campaign, than to call a special session to reduce taxes across the board? The Montgomery County Council will be setting the FY-2027 budget at the same time, and should cut taxes and spending at the County level simultaneously. We could lure the millionaires and billionaires of Great Falls, McLean, Leesburg, and Middleburg to Montgomery County. Remember Council staff member Jacob Sesker's eye-opening presentation that showed what a huge revenue windfall is delivered by just a couple dozen millionaires and billionaires, what a significant percentage of the total annual haul they can account for. And a high-profile tax reform will alert relocating corporations that Maryland is open for business.
Gov. Moore needs to let the education Blueprint go. Tear it up and throw it away. Same with the Red Line project in Baltimore. We don't have the money. But Virginia is giving us a rare chance to get some. Take it!
The latest illegal road diet implemented by Montgomery County on Little Falls Parkway was the scene of a car crash last night in Bethesda. Two vehicles somehow wound up in the median of the shrunken roadway. Some of the flex poles that create a visual cacophony that distracts and blocks drivers' views of cyclists and pedestrians were dislodged. The road diet between Dorset Avenue and Arlington Road was implemented by the Marxist totalitarian County government, despite opposition by 73% of nearby residents, and of all the neighborhoods that border the impacted stretch of the parkway. So much for "democracy!" Now we see the results. And with the County reducing the road to only one lane in each direction, the accident response and towing operation shut down the parkway in the southbound direction. Let's congratulate our genius County officials for steamrolling over the expressed wishes of their constituents, for destroying a road taxpayers paid for decades ago, and for making us less safe. Heckuva job, Brownie!
A big win for burger lovers in downtown Bethesda: Shake Shack will be opening a new location at 7535 Old Georgetown Road in the ground floor of the Element 28 apartment tower later this year. Signage with the New York-based burger emporium's now-familar logo has been posted in the windows of their future storefront. Imagine having a Shake Shack downstairs in your building. Element 28 residents won't have to imagine much longer, as construction on the interior fit-out appears to be underway inside the space. What an upgrade from SunTrust bank!
Montgomery County police are seeking the public's help in identifying and locating multiple suspects who damaged two County police cruisers during what police call a "street takeover" at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and East-West Highway Sunday morning, February 22, 2026, sometime after 12:39 AM. According to police, the suspects were part of a large group engaging in illegal motor vehicle activity in Prince George's County, and were proceeding into Montgomery County with the alleged intent of doing the same in downtown Silver Spring. Angry that County police had blocked their entry into Silver Spring, the suspects attempted - successfully - to carry out their car show in Chevy Chase. When County police arrived at the intersection of Connecticut and East-West, the suspects proceeded to attack their cruisers.
In a press release, County police say Maryland State Police eventually arrived to assist in "clearing the area." The statement makes no mention of arrests. It states that no County officers were injured, but that the front and rear windows of a police cruiser were broken while an officer sat inside, and that unspecified damage was inflicted on at least one other police cruiser.
Anyone with information regarding identities of the individuals involved is asked to visit the Crime Solvers of Montgomery County, MD website at www.crimesolversmcmd.org and click on the “Submit a Tip” link at the top of the page or call 1-866-411-8477. Tips leading to an arrest may be eligible for a reward ranging from $250 up to $10,000. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
Few details about this apparently powerful group have been provided to the public by police. A number of things are quite obvious, however.
First and foremost, most of us would call this a riot, not a "street takeover." The police statement acknowledges that the participants in these intersection riots are known to carry firearms - you know, the same firearms that law-abiding citizens in Montgomery County are not allowed to carry. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Second, in the video, there's a guy with an exposed face literally holding a sign advertising an organization that is part of this Montgomery County Council-endorsed enterprise.
Third, this is another direct result of the radical Marxist Montgomery County Council's pro-criminal, anti-police, defund-the-police actions and rhetoric since 2002 and specifically over the last six years. It's a nationwide problem to an extent, where police in many jurisdictions with similar "leadership" to MoCo are uncertain if they will have the support of elected officials - or even end up in prison - if they employ the level of force required by a given situation. But it should never have become a problem here, and that is squarely the fault of the County Council, which has made abundantly clear that it does not support our police officers.
The end result is the lawless environment Montgomery County residents have experienced over the last six years. That criminals are allowed to "take over" an intersection in view of the Columbia Country Club is rich with symbolism of just how far MoCo has fallen since the turn of the century. The Councilmembers who sit on the Public Safety Committee should probably step down, just for starters. Taxpayers, who will pay to repair the damaged police cruisers, and who are paying obscene auto insurance rates thanks to our pro-criminal elected officials, demand and deserve answers about what happened Sunday, who was behind it, what's going to prevent it from happening again, what's going to change - right now - about the way the law is enforced in Montgomery County, when criminals will get the same third-degree treatment as law-abiding taxpayers, and what the County Council is going to do - right now - to regain the confidence of the rank-and-file police officers of the Montgomery County Police Department.
If you think the local media is going to ask those questions, well, I've got an unbuilt Potomac River bridge to sell you. The press is as pro-criminal and anti-police as their fellow travelers on the County Council. Together they are a proud Fifth Column. Only the voters can likely bring change this November, and they've so far shown no indication they will do so. Is a "street takeover" in Chevy Chase (Chevy Chase!!) a smelling salts moment?
"I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any potential threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." - Gen. Douglas MacArthur, 1957
A powerful Nor'easter that is smashing states north of here has had only mild impacts on Bethesda so far. Roads never did get much of a coating, as pavement and even many sidewalks appeared to retain heat from the temperate and sunny weather prior to the storm. Safety concerns on roads around town are limited to the slickness of water, and the occasional slush patch. The storm has proved stubborn in continuing to generate snow flurries all morning, even if they failed to stick on the streets.
There could be danger in the hours ahead and overnight. Winds are forecast to pick up through the afternoon. Combined with heavy snow on limbs, this could lead to fallen trees and power lines. With temperatures dropping, and a low of 25° expected over the night, anything not melted - as well as the water from what has melted - will present a road hazard through Tuesday morning.
Power outages are scattered across Bethesda. Two significant outages in the Bannockburn area, and in the area of the Josiah Henson Parkway, have persisted into this morning from over the night. Now there are additional outages in the vicinity of Somerset, at four locations along Bradley Boulevard between Goldsboro Road and the Capital Beltway, in Chevy Chase near Meadowbrook Local Park, along Sangamore Road near the intelligence campus, in the Glen Echo Heights/Mohican Hills area, near Fenway Road, and near the intersection of River Road and Western Avenue.
Maryland McDonald's customers ordering medium and large french fries are finding out Ronald has a brand new bag. Instead of the iconic red cardboard medium and large fry containers, those orders are now being handed out in paper bags, at least at some Golden Arches locations in Montgomery County. Some customers say the weight and portion size of the bagged fries are less than those served in the cardboard containers. But it's not simply a shrinkflation attempt alone by McDonald's. It turns out that Maryland passed a law in 2024 that mandated the retirement of cardboard fry sleeves forever.
The George "Walter" Taylor act was presented to the public as a bill almost no one would oppose. It would ban the sale and use of firefighting foam that contained "forever chemicals." This would reduce health risks and impacts for firefighters, and who could disagree with that? Well, it turns out another provision was hidden in the bill, one that applied a similar restriction to food packaging. Cardboard fry containers often are lined with a chemical coating that resists grease, and that supposedly contained a forever chemical. Cardboard was out, and the bill was signed into law by former Governor Larry Hogan.
I found the fry transition has been underway in a few other nanny states for at least a couple of years. Like so many nutty laws paased by the Maryland legislature and Montgomery County Council, this was yet another plagiarized from the great state of California. Now, thanks to both local legislative bodies, we not only have paper straws that melt and ruin the taste of your drink, but potentially smaller fry portions for the same high price.
McDonald's swears that the portion size is the same. Fast food packaging experts have noted that the shape difference, and dimensions of the opening of the new bag, together make it more difficult to stuff the same amount of fries into the bag as filled the cardboard. The jury is out. Your mileage may vary. And it will be something to watch in the coming weeks and months - please share your experience in the comments below.
Montgomery County police responded to a report of a strong-arm robbery in downtown Bethesda early yesterday morning, February 21, 2026. The assault and robbery were reported in the 4900 block of Cordell Avenue at 1:13 AM Saturday. They took place at a bar on that block.
