The first full week of fall brought remembrances of a Rockville institution’s patriarch, a withdrawal from the Rockville City Council race and ruminations on city government.  The Rockville City Council held a hearing on a proposed historic designation for Glenview Mansion on Monday. @RockvillePatch tweeted the testimony (read the tweets from Sept. 26). The Gazette had a roundup of the hearing on Wednesday. A discussion of the proposed annexation of the former Reed Brothers Dodge property on Frederick Avenue was tabled until at least Oct. 10. Developers are proposing a mixed-use project …

Rockville moved into fall this week as City Hall was rocked by a resignation, rivals squared off over cupcakes and a family remembered a fallen police officer. The City of Rockville awoke Monday to news that City Clerk Glenda Evans had resigned after 13 months on the job. Evans said that she felt her management style rather than her job performance was the focus of a recent evaluation. On Monday, we featured young musicians competing for a chance to win $25,000 first prize and priceless exposure in Guitar Center’s 23rd annual Drum-Off. Magruder’s boys soccer team fell 3-2 on Monday in a …

A busy week bookended by a house fire and a vehicle crash also included big news for Rockville Town Square, city and county councils back at work and signs of the approaching official start of fall, including talk about football and the flu. Early in the week, Rockville Patch took a look back at a weekend of remembrances and reflection as the city marked 10 years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 with a memorial ceremony at the Executive Office Building and an interfaith prayer service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville. A fire in a home in Lincoln Park on Monday …

A workweek of rain, hazardous road conditions and cooler temperatures marked the unofficial transition from summer to fall in Rockville. The holiday weekend marked the unofficial end of summer as the region got back to work and prepared to remember as we approached 10 years since the Sept. 11 attacks. Labor Day brought closings and a day of rest for many on Monday. Falls Church (Va.) Patch reported on a fatal car crash in which police said Felipe Ananibar Rocha, 41, of Rockville, was driving a pickup truck that struck and killed Harry Emlet, 83, and his wife Elinor, 85, of Falls Church, on …

Students headed back to school and residents bounced back from Hurricane Irene as Rockville began the transition from summer to fall. Irene’s winds brought down trees and left thousands without power throughout the region, leaving Monday’s opening of county schools in doubt for some. While the start of the school year brought the traditional first day photos for students at College Gardens Elementary, it brought something more at Robert Frost Middle School where anti-abortion demonstrators greeted students with signs. County schools opened to nearly 147,000 students, the largest enrollment …

It was a week of fun at the county fair and a good bit of Rockville City Council news for mid-August. Just up the road in Gaithersburg, the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair revved up. Michael Buscemi, 17, of Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville was named the fair king. On Monday, we featured an exhibit at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery that encourages visitors to touch the artwork. The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a plan to lease the parking garages in Rockville Town Square to Federal Realty Investment Trust. The new arrangement will mean a new parking system with …

Like much of America this week, Rockville took a look at its finances and its government’s future. Rockville Patch reported the latest city election news and focused on the aftermath of the debt debate and what it all means for Rockville. With fallout from the debt debate roiling financial markets, on Monday we brought you the story of how a Rockville magazine delivered a lesson from some of American’s most prominent historians to the nation’s elected leaders. Also Monday, we featured a Rockville artist-in-residence at Strathmore whose work brings new life to a relic of the arts center’s past…

Like many Americans, Rockville residents entered August with eyes on the debt debate in Washington. But as the so-called dog days of summer brought slightly cooler temperatures to town, residents also seized the opportunity to spend a night out with neighbors, Metro made news and a sewer backup closed roads—and a courthouse—in Town Center.  On Monday, we brought you video of a recent competition between aspiring engineers at a summer program at the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County campus in Shady Grove. County high school students were among the participants in a culminating …

Rites of summer—with a look toward the fall—made news in and around Rockville this week as Patch featured the arts and outdoor activities, another candidate filed for a run at the City Council and students and teachers stocked up on donated school supplies.  Meanwhile, county leaders traveled to El Salvador to sign an agreement with a sister city and the County Council heard testimony on a proposed curfew. Tom Moore, chairman of the city’s Compensation Commission and a candidate for City Council in 2009, announced in a news release on Monday that he had been certified as a candidate for the …

Efforts to bring a proposed grocery store to Rockville Town Square, a bid to block it and extreme heat made news as Rockville sweated through the hottest part of the year this week.  The work week got off to a fiery start as a school bus burst into flames on southbound Interstate 270 during Monday morning’s rush hour, sending thick black smoke into the sky, closing several lanes and backing up traffic. No one was injured in the incident. Also Monday, a state panel charged with recommending a plan for redrawing lines of congressional and state legislative districts announced that it would hold…

Crime and courts and business news figured prominently in Rockville this week as a high-profile trial was delayed, a resident pleaded guilty to bank robbery, a hotel company made their move to Town Center official and an NBA star appeared not on a Rockville court but on a Rockville court docket. On Monday, Patch reported that the trial of the driver in a fatal crash that killed a Col. Zadok Magruder High School student and two graduates has been delayed until Dec. 12. Kevin Coffay of Rockville is charged with multiple counts, including failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving …

A surprisingly busy holiday week began with fireworks and Fourth of July festivities and included the retirement announcement of the city manager, positive news for a prospective grocery store in Rockville Town Square and more evidence that Pepco customers aren’t happy with the utility. The week got started with music, fireworks and lots of red, white and blue throughout the national capital region, including a fireworks display and festivities at Montgomery College-Rockville. Scott Ullery, Rockville’s city manager, announced in a letter to city staff on Tuesday that he would retire on Dec. 2…

Police announced an arrest in a child sex abuse case and searched for suspects in two other crimes, the county’s latest farmers market opened for business and Jerry D. Weast let go of the reins of the county school system, this week in Rockville. Politicos don’t rest on the weekend. Rockville Planning Commissioner Dion Trahan announced on Sunday afternoon that he is running for the City Council. The workweek’s news cycle revved up on Monday with word of a $1,000 reward for information about the robbery of a woman at the Americana Centre in Town Center on May 25. Two suspects used a stun gun …

The first week of summer brought little slowdown to the news cycle as Rockville residents enjoyed summer concerts and other outdoor activities around the city, saving on prescription drugs and spending on city programs got attention from county and city officials, respectively, and a local-boy-made-good called it quits as manager of Washington’s big league ball club. Montgomery County leads the nation in savings through a national discount prescription drug program, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and National Association of Counties Larry Naake said at a news conference on Monday in …

Transit issues filled the news week in Rockville as a security scare left commuters reeling on Metro’s Red Line on Monday, the county juggled shuttle bus service to the U.S. Open Championship in Bethesda throughout the week and Friday brought news of a new transportation advocacy organization and a survey in which experts ranked Metro improvements at the top of the region’s priorities. The Rockville Metro station was evacuated, a train traveling between the Rockville and Twinbrook stations was stopped and passengers exited on to the track bed on Monday morning after a 51-year-old woman …

With the school year winding down this week it seemed like everyone, from the city and county governments to community organizations, tried to fit in one last meeting or event before summer vacation. Graduation season was in full swing and Rockville Patch was there for commencement ceremonies at city schools. Meanwhile, candidates for city elections in November staged announcement events around Rockville. The 2011 city election season kicked off on Sunday as John Hall, a former city councilman, announced his bid to return to the council. Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio formally announced her …

A holiday-shortened work week brought big news nonetheless as Rockville reveled and remembered at Hometown Holidays festivities and the Memorial Day ceremony and parade, bioscience got a boost and a series of incidents kept emergency responders busy. On Sunday, Hometown Holidays wound down with a concert by a last-minute headliner as Taj Mahal played in place of a laid-up George Clinton. Despite the change, the 23rd edition of the annual street festival still proved popular, with the city reporting that 60,000 to 70,000 people flocked to Town Center for the two days of music, food and fun. …

Final decisions on the city and county budgets and last minute changes to the Hometown Holidays concert lineup kept Rockville busy this week as residents raced toward Memorial Day weekend. The week began with good news for residents pining for a grocery store in Rockville Town Square as city manager Scott Ullery announced on Monday that Federal Realty is closing in on a final lease agreement with Richmond, VA-based Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market. Also on Monday, the City Council approved a $107.2 million fiscal 2012 operating budget and a five-year, $72.3 million capital plan. While the …

Rockville awoke Sunday to news that a car crash had claimed the lives of three members of the Col. Zadok Magruder High School community. The news gripped friends, family and neighbors in and around Derwood and beyond and cast a shadow over one of the last weeks of the school year. As funerals and an attempt at healing began, Patch reported on signs of spring, from an interview with the hometown big league team’s manager to details of the homestretch for the county budget season. The week’s news cycle began early, and tragically, as three young people, including a Magruder High School senior …

It was a week to highlight the people in the neighborhoods in and around Rockville, from creature creators to cross-country climate change-cautioning cyclists. Meanwhile, lawmakers considered budgets, the governor signed controversial new legislation and the county welcomed a new schools chief. The week opened in a weird—yet arguably cuddly—way as Patch introduced Puppy Cow, the animal combination creation of Rockville resident Jamie Noguchi. Noguchi, a Web site creator and anime artist, turned to the Web for the start-up capital needed to put his Puppy Cow drawings in plush form. On Tuesday…