Silver Spring

Silver Spring is getting a new live music venue this Fall, and Mary J. Blige has been tapped for the opening ceremony. The Fillmore Silver Spring, part of a Live Nation-owned chain of venues that also includes locations in Miami Beach and San Francisco, has been in the works for a while. It's finally scheduled to open to the public in September. Above is a rendering of what it'll look like. With a capacity of 2,000 people, the venue will host, mainly, concerts. And already, one big act has been booked: Black Star is scheduled to perform there September 18. Blige is the second marquee name to be added to the Fillmore's upcoming line-up.

While some of the examples given by Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. may be debatable, certainly there should be no argument about the foreign policy of the administration is now in tatters ("Obama foreign policy follies befuddle both right and left," June 9). In Egypt, we intervened to allow the overthrow of the existing government for one that represents an Islamic authoritarian regime. In Syria, we have refused to intervene, allowing Iran and Russia to control the destiny of the uprising with both sides now antagonistic to democratic ideals.

Two people are dead after a car collided with a tow truck in Silver Spring, authorities said. Thursday's crash left 26-year-old Olin Dale Soreson and an unidentified 23-year-old woman dead. Soreson was driving a Toyota Corolla and the woman was a passenger, according to Montgomery County Police. The driver of the tow truck, 51-year-old Melesio J. Monterroza Cartagena, was taken to a hospital for treatment for injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said. Police said they are unsure why the car Soreson was driving crossed the center of the roadway and collided with the tow truck, which was headed in the opposite direction.

Transparency and accountability are not hallmarks of the Obama administration. When a government operation calls for the distribution of thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels and results in the death of a U.S. border patrol agent and at least 200 Mexican citizens, someone better start explaining. Unfortunately, U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder has skirted responsibility in revealing what he knows about a government sting operation gone tragically wrong. When the nation's highest law enforcement official perverts his public duty by deceiving the American people instead of protecting them, he must go. In addition Mr. Holder should be investigated as to whether he committed perjury and for whether he was involved in approving search warrants for the e-mail and phone records of Fox News reporter James Rosen.

State Treasurer Lucille Maurer entered the intensive care unit of a Silver Spring hospital yesterday after suffering from a bad cold, according to her top aide, Christine Kempf. The treasurer was in stable condition with a mild fever and was expected to recover soon, the aide said."As far as we understand, she's going to be out from work for a few more days," Ms. Kempf said.Mrs. Maurer, 72, caught the cold recently and suffered sneezing fits while at work Monday afternoon, the aide said. During the night, she said, Mrs. Maurer's condition worsened and she apparently developed an upper respiratory infection.

WASHINGTON -- The federal government plans to ask the Navy for a site in Silver Spring to build a new headquarters for the Food and Drug Administration, bringing about 5,000 jobs to the area.The site -- now occupied by a Naval facility scheduled to be closed -- is the second considered for the FDA in Montgomery County. Plans to bring the agency to a larger site in Clarksburg were killed in Congress, but start-up money for a smaller project in Montgomery County was approved Tuesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee, at the behest of Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat.

Discovery Communications Inc. said yesterday that it will build a $150 million headquarters in Silver Spring, relocating about 800 jobs from Bethesda.The international multimedia company could receive more than $7.2 million in economic incentives, said James D. Fielder, acting secretary of the state Department of Business and Economic Development.Because the company's four-acre site in downtown Silver Spring will be located in an enterprise zone, it is eligible for about $6.7 million in assistance, he said.

Police arrested a man Saturday and charged him with shoplifting clothes from two Annapolis area shopping centers.Gary Dunn, an employee of the Eastern Mountain Sports store in the 2500 block of Solomons Island Road in Annapolis, told police a man took three jackets worth more than $800 and escaped in a burgundy Volvo station wagon about 3:30 p.m.Police radioed a description of the car and the license number, and Officer John E. Brown stopped a car fitting...

MITCHELLVILLE -- Jason Cage, 17, from Silver Spring, fired a 3-under-par 36-33--69 yesterday to win the annual Junior vTC championship of the Middle Atlantic Golf Association at the Country Club at Woodmore.The event, which drew a field of 100 boys and girls ages 10 to 17, was called because of a late-afternoon thunderstorm, with final places in the girls division and boys 10-13 class determined by nine-hole scores.For the first time in tournament history, the girls overall champion came from the 10-13 division.

On a quiet, tree-lined street in Silver Spring, shaken neighbors were still struggling yesterday to understand the deaths of Dorothy and George Bechtold, whose bodies were found after their son walked into a Florida police station and confessed he had killed them.The youngest of the couple's five children, 23-year-old Brian Antonio Bechtold brought his Rottweiler dog named Ox when he walked into the police station in Port St. Joe, a town about 30 miles east of Panama City, and told Sgt. Timothy Hightower he wanted to turn himself in for murder.

Is the Internal Revenue Service really doing its job when the only organizations subject to delay and refusal of tax exempt status are ones that are opposed to current administration policies? For the IRS there appears to have been a very definite bias, at least at the lower levels ("At hearing, IRS official mum," May 23). The only question that remains is whether this was a decision by the individual employee of the IRS or whether the effort to hinder the granting of tax exempt status originated at the very top, including even the White House.

Et cetera AACS' Murray chosen to U-16 national hoops team Taylor Murray (Annapolis Area Christian School) was named to the 12-player USA Basketball women's under-16 national team after four days of trials that began with 124 players on the court at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. DeJanae Boykin , a Springdale native who attends Charles H. Flowers High in Prince George's County, also made the squad. The team will reassemble for training camp June 10-16 at the USOTC before departing for the FIBA Americas U16 Championship, which will be played June 19-23 in Cancun, Mexico.

One lane and one shoulder of westbound Route 100 in Anne Arundel County are closed at WB&A Road due to a crash that happened at 8:46 a.m., according to the State Highway Administration. A four-car crash on the outer loop of the Baltimore Beltway at Providence Road closed the left shoulder and left lane at 8:13 a.m., according to the State Highway Administration. Route 7B at Maryland Avenue in Cecil County remains closed in both directions due to a utility problem. The Maryland Transit Administration reported that Train 894 (7:10 a.m. Frederick departure)

While Joe Biden may benefit from the less than diplomatic handling of the Benghazi tragedy by Hillary Clinton, possibly making him the front runner for the Democratic nominee for president in 2016 ("Could Biden benefit from Clinton's handling of Benghazi?" May 14), the main winner is the Republican Party. The Benghazi gaffe by all concerned, including President Barack Obama, Ms. Clinton and Susan Rice, has scandalized the American public. At the same time, further evidence of incompetence at many levels of the Obama administration has become obvious with the effort, purportedly unknown to the administration, to deny tax-exempt status to organizations that are critical of the administration.

I harbor high hopes that Columbia can blossom to the next level in creating a "go to" environment that supports and nurtures art and artists. Recently the Columbia Association has stepped up offering public forums on this and Jane Dembner of the Association has been doing a wonderful job. But Columbia needs just a little bit more than just the enthusiasm. We need more residents to spread the support around. Redevelopment is helping this with new residences downtown. I have sat in Barbara Kellner's "Columbia Archives" and watched old grainy films of James Rouse lecturing a group of urban architects at a conference in the '70s - saying he full well expected Columbia's population to be around 300,000 residents by the late 1990s.

Et cetera Annapolis women lose in finals at USTA League 6.0 Super Senior National Championships A women's team from Annapolis represented the Mid-Atlantic Section at the USTA League 6.0 Super Senior National Championships on Sunday and placed second. The Annapolis women defeated a team from Yakima, Wash., in the semifinals, 2-1, before losing to a team from York, Pa., in the championship match, 2-1. The team consists of Eileen Gilkey Covert , Linda Daniels , captain Judy Harrison , Tori Matton , Heidi Salvesen , Sue Sherrill , Margaret Singh , and Susan Thompson . College track and field: Navy junior Teronda Brown was honored as the Patriot League Field Athlete of the Week, while Mids senior Brigid Byrne was the Track Athlete of the Week.

A Silver Spring man was seriously injured when his car struck a utility pole in western Howard County Wednesday night, police said.Jason Alcoba, 19, was listed in critical but stable condition at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.Mr. Alcoba was driving a 1983 Mazda north on Hall Shop Road south of Route 32 about 11 p.m. when the car went out of control, skidded off the roadway and struck a utility pole. The car then caught on fire.Police -- who are attributing the accident to excessive speed and alcohol -- are investigating.

The man charged in the killing of an undercover Maryland State Police trooper during an October drug investigation in Washington was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury. Kofi Apea Orleans-Lindsay of Silver Spring was indicted on one count of killing a person aiding a federal investigation in the death of Cpl. Edward M. Toatley on Oct. 30. Prosecutors did not rule out yesterday other possible charges. Orleans-Lindsay is being held without bond awaiting arraignment.

A Montgomery County elementary school teacher was charged Thursday in Baltimore County for possession of child pornography, police said. Lawrence Joynes, 54, of Dundalk, teaches music at New Hampshire Estates Elementary school in Silver Spring, according to the school's website. Montgomery police will be investigating whether Joynes committed any offenses in that county. A spokesman from the school system did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday morning.

Gary Rand II has been named principal of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School in Hampden, the Archdiocese of Baltimore confirmed Tuesday. His predecessor at St. Thomas Aquinas, Sister Marie Rose Gustatus, was principal for 32 years and has been a School Sister of Notre Dame for 50 years. She retired earlier this month. Rand, 37, of Frederick, is already at St. Thomas, where school starts Aug. 27. He previously served as principal of St. Andrew's Catholic School in Silver Spring for one year and as principal of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer School in Rosedale for two years.