Police to discuss illegal drug use and vaping – Montgomery County police leaders are scheduled to meet with the County Council’s Public Safety Committee Monday for a discussion about the growing use of vaporizers to ingest illegal drugs. Vaporizers are often used to ingest drugs and can tend to produce a limited odor, making their use hard to detect by police, according to an informational packet provided to council members. Police say the use of vaporizers while driving is a concern. Police are also scheduled to discuss 2015 year-to-date crime statistics with the committee. This year’s statistics showed an increase in some serious crimes, such as murders and rapes.
North Potomac man scheduled to be sentenced for July 4, 2014, Gaithersburg murder – Pavel Ivanov, 25, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville for the July 4, 2014, murder of 22-year-old Gaithersburg man Bryan Robert Hall . Ivanov, of North Potomac, was convicted in the killing in June. Prosecutors said Ivanov stabbed Hall multiple times at a park on Curry Ford Lane in Gaithersburg after a text message disagreement over a woman spun into deadly violence.
County employee salary schedule bill to be introduced – County Council member George Leventhal plans to introduce a bill at Tuesday’s County Council meeting that would require the county executive to create a salary schedule for the county’s senior employees and department heads. The county has not had a salary schedule for high-ranking employees since 1997, according to the bill’s background. The legislation comes after an Office of Legislative Oversight report found that salaries for senior-level county employees were the highest in the Washington-Baltimore region. County Executive Ike Leggett contested the findings of that report, saying the county may pay its department heads more, but it employs less of them to do the same jobs as in neighboring jurisdictions, thus creating savings for the county.
School board to decide on closing schools for Muslim holiday – The Montgomery County Board of Education is scheduled to vote on a proposal Tuesday that would close schools for students Sept. 12 and make that day a professional day for teachers. The date is when the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha is expected to fall next year. In a memo to the board, interim MCPS Superintendent Larry Bowers recommended that the board approve the proposed 2016-2017 school year calendar, which would include closing schools for students Sept. 12. The board is also scheduled to discuss progress on school construction projects and review data surrounding the school system’s literacy plan.
Mild temperatures expected again this week – It may be December, but the 50-degree high temperatures are expected to continue. The National Weather Service predicts clear, sunny days through Friday with highs reaching into the mid-50s and the possibility of a 60-degree day Friday. Nighttime lows are expected to drop into the upper-30s.
