Rockville Rewind: Feb. 14-18

A work week that began with love (Valentine's Day) and ended with folks in love with the weather (temperatures in the 70s on Friday!) also included news on a new home for the Rockville City Police and on the prospects of same-sex marriage in Maryland and more fallout from the Jan. 26 snow storm that left many powerless and unable to reach emergency services.

The Rockville Police Department got a step closer to moving to a new home on Monday. The City Council voted unanimously to award a $6.4 million construction contract to Costello Construction of Maryland to convert the old post office in Town Center into a new police station. The total cost of the project, including design, equipment and moving police operations from their current home in the bottom floor of City Hall, is about $8.6 million.

The county school board approved a $2.2 billion operating budget on Monday and called on the County Council to front $82 million in order to keep up with enrollment growth of more than 3,300 students this school year. Board President making the school system's case for its budget request.

Also making a case this week was Rockville City Councilman John Britton, who wrote a defense of the city's new "Get Into It" tagline and logo, which the City Council adopted last month.

Frustrated by repeated and persistent power outages, including multi-day outages after the Jan. 26 snowstorm, members of the County Council sent a letter on Monday asking a county attorney what the county would have to do to set up a public utility separate from Pepco.

Wednesday brought news that the  in White Flint Mall is  after the bookstore chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Montgomery County officials and health care providers came to the Rockville Memorial Library on Wednesday to unveil a new online source for information about the health of county residents. The Healthy Montgomery Web site offers a look at how socioeconomic and environmental factors, such as income level or air pollution, impact health.

Eyes turned toward Annapolis on Thursday as a Maryland Senate committee passed a bill to change the definition of marriage, moving Maryland a step closer toward becoming the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage and prompting many to predict that the issue could go to voters in a referendum.

There was more fallout from the Jan. 26 snowstorm on Thursday as , asking why roughly 10,000 calls to 911 were dropped as the ice and snow brought down trees and power lines across the region.

The week closed out with Rockville High's boys basketball team closing out its home schedule with a 59-47 loss to Gaithersburg.