Several of the stories I wrote about Gaithersburg last week made it to the Gazette’s top 10 most-read stories list. Here’s what our web audience is reading:
New Kentlands restaurant opens in ‘cursed’ space
Local residents told the new owner the space was “cursed,” he said, but he’s hoping the overhaul will make it a popular spot.
Developers sketch new $50 million arena for Montgomery County
The developer envisions a space where indoor lacrosse championships could take place simultaneously with antique roadshows. A Taylor Swift concert could dominate the space one night, he said, and a Disney show could take center stage the next night.
Real estate developer buys Montgomery Village golf course
Monument Realty will keep the course open, but has long-term plans to transform the 147-acre space. Longtime Montgomery Village golf course owner Jack Doser has decided he will retire.
Gaithersburg city manager reviewing employee contracts
Since each department’s director serves the mayor and council at will, he or she “may be terminated with or without cause” and notice may not be given, according to their contracts.
This morning, the Gazette published a story I’ve been working on for a long time about a family of undocumented immigrants. They live in Gaithersburg,Md., the anchor of my beat, and they’re business owners. In itself, a family of five entrepreneurs is a community reporter’s story, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to share a little bit more about how they’re achieving the American dream.
Read the story at Gazette.net:
Family of undocumented immigrants become entrepreneurs in Gaithersburg
For the last few months, I’ve been covering Gaithersburg, Md. and surrounding areas for The Gazette, a weekly newspaper. I’ve been able to cover a pretty diverse range of stories, from development to human interest to local government. Here are a few recent examples:
Wells-Robertson residents reflect on how far they’ve come
When he was 19 years old, Julio fell in love with marijuana.
Bumper to Bumper blog: Police on ICC issue hundreds of citations, warnings
Police officers on the Intercounty Connector issued about 10 speeding citations and warnings per day during the past three months, according to data from the Maryland Transportation Authority.
Gaithersburg welcomes fortunetellers
The crystal ball has cleared for fortunetellers in Gaithersburg.
Ever since my freshman year at AU, our school diner (the Terrace Dining Room) has had a fork problem. Sometimes it’s spoons, sometimes it’s dishes, but most often, there are no forks. It’s gotten so bad this year, AU’s activist spirit has spawned a group who wants to change how we eat.
And by that, I mean these three guys want to bring the forks back. Here’s an excerpt from the story I wrote for The Eagle:
Joseph said they do it because TDR just falls short.
“We pay over $50,000 [for tuition],” Joseph said. “And that’s all I’m asking, just for a fork. The food’s not bad; it’s OK. I can put up with that. But I just need something to eat the food with.”
“Yeah,” Gaines agreed, “because using your hands or your face, that doesn’t—that’s unsanitary.”
On the other hand, Tibbetts said, “there will be random times when you go to TDR and there will be forks out. So they definitely have a supply. At times.”
Read the whole story, just published today, on The Eagle’s website.
Today’s live blog event is one of the National Press Club’s “Newsmaker” presentations. The subject is the status and impact of new state voter identification laws, many of which have recently changed.
I’ll be most interested in how these new laws affect first-time voters, but the speakers also plan to talk about a potentially diminished voter turnout due to the laws.
The talk starts at 10 a.m. EST, just click on the link below to join in.
Tonight I’ll be at a meetup hosted by the Online News Association, where the makers of LegiStorm Pro plan to talk about the new features of their product. It’s an extensive who’s who of the legislative branch of U.S. government, intended for use by journalists, academics, lobbyists, activists and more.
I’ll get started at 7 p.m. EST.
UPDATE: Well, so much for that. A lack of wi-fi is a considerable enemy of live-blogging. But here’s a quick summary:
LegiStorm is an incredibly deep resource for things like congressmembers’ expenses, changes in salary, what sports they played in college, what jobs their kids have on Capitol Hill (and K Street), how many go through the revolving door annually, and of course, when their birthdays are.
Founder Jock Friedly said one of their biggest issues has been just getting their information published. Though they’ll have great nuggets of information, sometimes they aren’t enough for a story, or they’re not quite current enough. Now they have the “Caught Our Eye” feature for LegiStorm Pro subscribers which is basically like a newsletter of interesting things they’ve found in the data.
As for free users, there’s still a ton of info to comb through, including most of the things I’ve already mentioned. From my perspective, it looks like a great place to find a juicy story about your local congressman.
A brief aside: frequent visitors to this site may notice changes to its appearance. Annoyingly frequent changes. We’re back to the old theme now–for good!
Anyway.
Some interesting local stories can turn up in press releases, especially on the crime beat. I’ve been working on these particularly interesting stories the past couple of weeks.
The first is a 20-year-old homicide case in an unusual setting: a park near the Tidal Basin. In 1992, park officials said it was the first in recent memory. Now, a suspect has been arrested, but the family of the victim seeks something more.
After 20 years, an arrest in Hains Point Park murder
After arrest in 1992, homicide victim’s family still searching
This second story is about a long string of eyewear store robberies dating back to last July. The suspects targeted expensive glasses: Gucci, to be exact. Two people have been arrested in association with the robberies, but police are still searching for a third.
Third suspect identified in eyewear store robberies
As always, you can check out everything else I’ve ever written for the Post, here.
I’ve been doing a bit of local news blogging for the Post’s website. Check out some of my work on the Buzz blog:
Rock Creek Park officials consider lethal deer control
The National Park Service is considering sharpshooting and euthanasia to reduce Rock Creek Park’s growing deer population.
Ward 5 seeks new rep, Md. legislates fantasy football, green card law breeds conflict (A.M. Buzz)
Wednesday’s edition of our daily morning roundup, usually located on the Post homepage.
A guide to the D.C. Council (with Katie Rogers)
It was a year of scandals and stumbles for some members of the D.C. Council, capped by the theft charge filed Thursday against council member Harry Thomas Jr.
As always, you can read the rest of my Post bylines here.
