Montgomery County

Jack Diamond, a fixture on Washington's radio airwaves for more than two decades, may have broadcast his last program on WRQX-FM, the station known as Mix 107.3. Diamond was scrubbed from the station's Web site after his broadcast Friday morning. Station Manager Mark O'Brien said in an e-mail that an announcement about Diamond's replacement would be made Monday. "The Jack Diamond Morning Show" has been Mix 107.3's marquee attraction for 24 years. It predates the station's changeover in 1990 from a Top 40 station...

A former Montgomery County school employee was sentenced to five years of supervised probation Wednesday for grabbing the buttocks of two teenage students and exposing his buttocks to a third. Aaron LaMere, 41, also was ordered to complete at least 18 months of "psychosexual" therapy as part of his sentence. LaMere worked as a media-services technician at Northwood High School in Silver Spring. He resigned in 2012, a short time before he was arrested in the case, according to court records.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY'S government unions, which for decades amassed powers unique even in the pro-labor state of Maryland , had their wings clipped when the recession forced local officials to roll back privileges — and blatant abuses — that bilked taxpayers and tied the hands of public agencies . Now, in a fit of petulance, the unions are striking back at their paymasters — elected officeholders — by boycotting and picketing the...

THU 16 The Walkaways The D.C. alt-country band performs as part of the weekly summer concert series in downtown Bethesda. 7:30 p.m. Veterans Park, Woodmont and Norfolk avenues, Bethesda. 301-215-6660. www.bethesda.org . Free. Fishtank Ensemble The California quartet performs Gypsy jazz and was hailed by LA Weekly as "one of the most thrilling live acts on the planet. " 8 p.m. Cultural Arts Center at Silver Spring, 7995 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. 240-567-5775.

After years of pay freezes and unpaid furloughs, physical education teacher Steven Lightman received a roughly $8,000 annual salary bump this school year. But it wasn't because Lightman's school system decided to give the veteran teacher a raise. He made it happen himself by switching Washington area school districts. Lightman, a Prince George's County teacher for 11 years, started working in Montgomery County last fall. He is one of many teachers reaping the benefits of living in a region where a dramatic boost in...

The inspection and materials testing firm that worked on the Silver Spring Transit Center says a consultant's report holding it partly responsible for construction flaws was based on "insufficient information, inappropriate speculation and a lack of understanding" of the firm's role. The Robert B. Balter Co. made its first public comments on the troubled $120 million Montgomery County project in a lengthy rebuttal posted Friday on the Web site of the county's Department of General Services.

The initial news was bad enough. A music teacher at their children's elementary school in Montgomery County was in jail, accused of keeping child pornography on his laptop computer. Then details began to emerge. There were other images, described by police as inappropriate, with at least some taken inside the school. It prompted the most obvious question, one that has worried parents for nearly two months. "We don't know if this man has pictures of our children," Angelica Nava said...

A Potomac group home for elderly adults has been shut down after the state began investigating reports that residents were being mistreated. In one instance, an employee of AAA Warmcare taped shut the mouth of a woman in her 80s with end-stage Alzheimer's disease, according a report by Maryland's Office of Health Care Quality . A witness, who is not identified in public documents, provided investigators with photographs, one showing the...

Montgomery County was one of the few places in the region where housing prices last year kept up with inflation. The median sales price for single-family houses and townhouses rose 4.2 percent, or $20,000, to $495,000, according to a Washington Post analysis of state records. Condominiums were not included in the analysis. In the Washington area, only the District had a sharper gain. In 2007, inflation was 4.1 percent. Montgomery County's gain was less than half the 9 percent increase of the previous year.

This was among cases received recently by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5054. That number provides recorded information on topics such as the Montgomery County Animal Shelter hours and location, adoption and licensing procedures, rabies clinics and low-cost neutering. Dog abuse reported but case dismissed : Montgomery Village, Pier Point Pl., 18600 block, May 1. An anonymous resident reported a neglected dog was kept continuously in a crate and beaten often.

Andrew Zuckerman will serve as Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr's new chief of staff starting June 17. Zuckerman is an associate superintendent in Prince George's County public schools and will replace Brian Edwards. Edwards has been chief of staff since October 2007, but added duties overseeing the school system's communications department when the chief communications person left in 2010. Starr said having a chief of staff dedicated solely to overseeing the...

Montgomery County police have arrested a District man they say was behind a slew of burglaries in Rockville and Bethesda this year. Andre Antonio Henry, 29, of 50th Street NE faces dozens of charges of burglary, attempted burglary, and theft-related crimes, police said. Captain David Falcinelli told Bethesda residents in an e-mail that Henry was allegedly responsible for a "huge spike" of commercial burglaries that occurred there earlier this year. "Because of this spike, we...

Prince George's County is poised to give raises of as much as 22 percent to unionized firefighters, who have not received pay increases in at least three years, according to documents and interviews. The raises could cost the county at least $9 million over two years, depending on the current pay levels of the 768 unionized firefighters. To get a raise, they must receive a positive performance evaluation and be eligible for the increases. The package, which also calls for firefighters to...

A pair of developers have unveiled plans for nearly 450,000 square feet of outlet shopping off of Route 270 in Clarksburg, a project on par with the Leesburg outlet plaza that could derail a competing outlet plan for Ten Mile Creek . Bethesda-based Streetscape Partners and New England Development, a Massachusetts firm, have signed a contract with Adventist HealthCare to buy 47 acres on the west side of I-270 just south of Clarksburg Road....

Maryland held a statewide gun turn-in for the first time Saturday, and in Montgomery County people dropped off rifles, handguns and shotguns as well as a hand grenade and a sword, authorities said. On average, about 100 rounds of ammunition was turned in for each of the 69 handguns, 27 rifles and 15 shotguns accepted in Montgomery. "Our goal is to provide a simple means for families to make their homes and communities safer," state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said in a statement.