Flag Day, the EPA and New Maps to Guide the Way

Happy Wednesday, Rockville! I sure hope you’re reading this outside somewhere. Today’s weather is about as good as it gets in the DC metro region.

The forecast calls for a stretch of quintessential (today’s SAT word of the day) June days for our region. Get out and enjoy them.

And now, here’s the “class outside” edition of “The Rundown”:

• Tomorrow is the last day of the school year for all county school students. Students will be dismissed after lunch and then … cue Alice Cooper.
• yesterday at . If you missed the chance to fly your flag, Independence Day is less than three weeks away. Comptroller Peter Franchot puts out an annual news release (though, curiously enough, this year’s is missing from the comptroller’d Web site—budget cuts?) reminding Marylanders that Maryland flags, POW/MIA flags and star-spangled banners are all exempt from the state’s 6 percent sales tax.
  "Patriotism is tax-free and so is the purchase of American, Maryland or POW/MIA flags," Franchot says in the statement. "Please remember that sales tax should not be charged on purchases of these flags now or at any other time of the year."
  For more information about Maryland sales tax exemptions call the Comptroller's Taxpayer Service Section at 410-260-7980, in Central Maryland, or 1-800-638-2937, toll-free from elsewhere, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• The Environmental Protection Agency recognized Rockville for its efforts to upgrade its water treatment plant. The plant, on the banks of the Potomac, received with the agency’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Award, which recognizes "innovative projects that further the goal of clean and safe water through exceptional planning, management and finance."
  Rockville 11 has video from a visit last week by EPA and Maryland Department of the Environment officials.
• Hey guys! Ladies, please skip this bullet point, we have some secret man talking to do—consider this disclaimer the “No Girls Allowed” sign on our tree house. Venture in at your own risk but there’s no guarantee that what you see will be pretty. As I was saying …Hey guys! Are you lost in the city? Don’t want to give the wife or girlfriend the satisfaction of seeing you stop to ask for directions? Do you own a smart phone? If so, the City of Rockville can help you out.
  The city unveiled its new Geographic Information System maps late last week. They’re pretty cool. They’re not just for directions (in addition to a street map there’s also a map of stormwater management utility fee estimates, a forest conservation easement map and an urban tree canopy map—which just sounds like a cool guy thing—grunt, grunt.) Check ‘em out.
• Don’t get lost in the woods. Follow our trail of digital bread crumbs on Twitter @RockvillePatch. Be our “friend” at Rockville Patch on Facebook.