In: BOE, Community Feedback, County Council, Education & Culture, Government, Local Government, MCPS, Montgomery County Police Department, Policing, Public Funding, Public Safety, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, Transportation

April 8th, 2024 – This testimony was given to the County Council on the FY2025 operating budget Hello my name is Jason Makstein and I run the blog Moderately MOCO but today I am testifying as a community advocate about various items in the operating budgets. My focus will beContinue Reading

In: County Council, District Court, Lawsuits, Local Government, Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Parks and Planning, Planning Board

March 13, 2024 In September 2023, the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found misconduct of one of the County Council employees. The letter from the OIG stated that $11,490 of reservation fees were obtained and never paid for: “The investigation revealed that in 2022 and 2023, theContinue Reading

In: County Council, County Executive, Demographics, Government, Hate / Bias Incidents, Hate / Bias Incidents, Incident Response, Local Government, MCPS, Montgomery County Police Department, Population, Safety

Updated and edited January 21, 2024. Posted January 16, 2024. Background We’ve been working on this report on hate and bias incidents in Montgomery County Maryland for the last few years. This report is based on data from July 2022 through October 31, 2023. It is important to note thatContinue Reading

In: County Council, Government, Interviews, Local Government, Moderately MOCO Interns, Student Interviews

August 6, 2023 – By Adriana Ferrufino Gomez  Full video interview coming soon on YouTube! Natali Fani-Gonzalez, a council member serving members of District 6, spoke about the way her life experiences impacted her in choosing the field of politics.  Fani-Gonzalez came to America with her mom during her adolescentContinue Reading

In: Community Feedback, Community Reports, County Council, Government, Local Government, Policing, Public Safety

June 13 Meeting At the June 13 County Council hearing regarding Bill 27-23, repeal of the Policing Advisory Commission, much of the public testimony was false, inaccurate or misleading. Here is the bill memorandum. The video starting at this section of the meeting can be seen here. The chair ofContinue Reading

In: Colleges, County Council, Dual Enrollment, Education & Culture, Events, Local Government, MCPS, Montgomery College, School, Superintendent

ROCKVILLE, MD, May 16, 2023 Students from high schools county-wide were honored tonight at the Montgomery County Public Schools and Montgomery College 2023 Dual Enrollment Recognition Ceremony, held at the Universities at Shady Grove. The ceremony paid tribute to more than 270 high school seniors who will graduate with AssociateContinue Reading

In: Construction, County Council, Development, Environment, Farming, Government, Information, Interviews, Local Government, Maryland, Parks and Planning, Planning Board, Population

Below is a detailed Summary for the first group of planning board commissioner finalists (including direct links to each answer by each person). It is from the May 2, 2023 – Council Session (pm) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_4i_6_gbEg) You can take a look at our previous piece summarizing the finalists resumes andContinue Reading