END IN SIGHT Silver Spring Transit Center expected to open in spring. A-4
A&E: Rockville Musical Theatre takes on popular show “Next to Normal.” B-4
The Gazette
SPORTS: Seniors lead Paint Branch track team that has embraced underdog role. B-1
SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | WHEATON | BURTONSVILLE DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
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Leggett, County Council at odds over Pepco deal n
Legislators urge state regulators to require more from utilities KATE S. ALEXANDER
BY
STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County’s settlement with Pepco and Exelon in a proposed utility takeover does not do enough for the public, the County Council said last week. The council unanimously approved a resolution asking state regulators for more from the deal, arguing that County
Executive Isiah Leggett’s agreement with the companies fell short. “Not that the deal the county executive struck is a bad deal, but it was the wrong deal,” Councilman Roger Berliner said Monday. “For this settlement, this deal, to be in the public interest, we will need to see, oh, so much more than we have seen yet from Exelon and Pepco.” Exelon Corp. of Chicago, parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric, plans to acquire Pepco Holdings for $6.83 billion in cash. The sale would bring to-
See PEPCO, Page A-11
Takoma Park has Dual-language program is bueno plans for tax hike DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
(From left) Daniela Argueta Bonilla and Kimberly Cruz read a Spanish-language book at Kemp Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring. The girls are part of the school’s dual-language program.
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Kemp Mill Elementary students learn in Spanish, English
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
At Kemp Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring, a group of kindergartners recently watched a fellow student lift a small weight with one hand and a heavier weight with the other. Speaking animatedly, their two teachers delivered a lesson with a bilingual twist. In fluid Spanish, teacher
Lindsay Walberg explained that using the larger weight better builds muscles — “mas musculo” — just as taking on challenging tasks helps a person’s brain develop. Principal Floyd Starnes provided a summary of the lesson in English for a reporter afterward. During the breaks of Walberg’s instruction, teacher Nakeya Stephens-Chukwudebe added comments in English for the young class. The students are among more than 300 from kindergarten through fifth grade taught in Spanish and English — usu-
ally in separate sessions — in Kemp Mill’s dual language program. It’s the only program of its kind in the county. “I think it is an underground success story,” Starnes said. “I don’t think many people know about it.” The dual-language program, started by a small group of staff in 2001, involves classes of students whose first language is Spanish and others whose first language is English. Children who live in the school’s boundary area can enter a lottery to join. “The central goal is really
that your second-language learners, your Spanish-speaking students end up with stronger English skills than they would have had had they been instructed in English the whole time,” Starnes said. Most of the program’s students spend half of their day learning in English with one teacher, then switch over to Spanish instruction with a second teacher. Kindergarten involves more movement between languages during a class day.
See SUCCESS, Page A-11
Ruling is latest in battle over 2012 referendum BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County did not act illegally by spending money to campaign for votes on a 2012 ballot question, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals has ruled. At issue in the case was $122,315 of public money, plus paid staff time, that the county spent. The money paid for everything from bus ads and bumper stickers to poll workers
INDEX A&E Automotive Business Calendar Classified Opinion Sports
and consultants, urging a “yes” vote on Question B in the 2012 general election. Question B asked voters whether to uphold a 2011 county law that repealed a longstanding bargaining right for the police union. The law removed the right of the union, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35, to bargain the effects of management decisions — such as how and when the video captured by police car cameras is reviewed or how clothing allowances for plainclothes officers are paid. Voters upheld the law. The union sued in Novem-
ber 2012, asking the circuit court to declare the county’s actions illegal. It called for County Executive Isiah Leggett and spokesman Patrick Lacefield to repay taxpayers for the campaign and reimburse the union for court costs. In March 2014, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Ronald B. Rubin ruled that Montgomery County did illegally spend taxpayer money to campaign for votes on the ballot question, but he did not order repayment of the funds. Both parties appealed the deci-
See QUESTION B, Page A-11
CHEEP CARE Service lets families borrow baby birds, then send them back.
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KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Takoma Park’s property-tax rate could go up 2 cents in fiscal 2016 under a budget proposal City Manager Suzanne Ludlow released Monday. The proposed increase from 57 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 59 cents, if approved by the City Council, would be the first tax-rate in-
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Entrepreneur starts website that tells treasures’ tales
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Paulette Lee, who started “Artifacts Without Borders,” talks about some of the international artifacts that she offers online.
NEWS B-5 B-13 A-13 A-2 B-9 A-14 B-1
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crease since 2002, Ludlow told council members. It would cost the owner of a home worth $500,000 about $100 per year and add about $389,000 to next year’s budget, she said. Most of the tax increase would go to a phased-in wage hike for employees, running through fiscal 2017, Ludlow said. Since the net assessed property tax base is expected to decline slightly, some of the increase would make up for that, she said.
See HIKE, Page A-11
Marketing stories
Md. appeals court sides with Montgomery on Question B n
Rate boost to help fund salary increases would be first since 2002 n
Volume 28, No. 10, Two sections, 32 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette
Through her work and pleasure, Paulette Lee has traveled through 46 countries and collected a number of items she treasures. But after her husband died a few years ago, the Silver Spring resident went through a period of downsizing and had to find a way to let some of the items go. She got the idea to start an online marketplace unlike any she has seen, in which owners of collectibles tell the story of how
they came to own the pieces and their significance. “People who travel always have great stories,” Lee said. “I want this site to be more than just an online marketplace.” Lee — who has worked in Africa for the U.S. Agency for International Development as a communications consultant/ manager and development outreach and communications officer — started Artifacts Without Borders in January. The website, built through e-commerce company Volusion, allows Lee to sell her own goods. Other people can sell through the site by consignment, as well. The items don’t have to be antique or one-of-a-kind, she
See STORIES, Page A-11
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