Agents Raid Former National Archives Department Head Home

Our good friends at TBD.com are reporting that National Archives agents have raided the Rockville home of a former Archives department head and have seized a large amount of material.

The former department head, Leslie Waffen, had worked at the Archives for 40 years and was most recently in charge of the agency’s Motion Picture, Sound, and Video unit. This department worked on preserving the only known audio recording of the John F. Kennedy assassination, as well as the Zapruder film. Waffen retired in June.

The Archives Inspector General confirmed to TBD.com that Archives agents had searched a home in Rockville, and a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshall’s Service confirmed that the Marshalls had helped Archives agents search Waffen’s home on Saddle Ridge Lane (in King Farm).

Waffen was not arrested and was not charged with a crime.

According to the TBD.com article:

A law enforcement official familiar with the details of the search said agents arrived with a moving truck and an extensive list of items they were seeking. Archives investigators located boxes of materials and “identified [the items] right away as theirs” in a basement room and, after securing the contents, removed the boxes from the house and loaded them onto the truck.

We know our readers must surely be curious as to what was in the boxes, but we don’t know. When and if we find out, we will pass it on.

School Tour Bus Crash On I-270

TBD has up-to-the-minute updates on the bus crash on the I-270 spur. Here’s what they know so far:

The bus was traveling on the HOV sky ramp from I-495 westbound to I-270 northbound when it drove off the ramp and landed on the I-270 spur.

Fire officials say one person is dead, two patients are critical condition, two patients are in serious condition, and numerous other patients suffered minor injuries.

ABC 7′s Brad Bell is reporting it was a school bus trip from Carlisle, PA. The tour bus appears to belong to Wolf Bus Lines out of York Springs, PA.

At 5:06 PM Northbound and southbound lanes of I-270 are closed.

See the scene through a live traffic camera.

Updates and more information can be found at this post on TBD.com.

District 17 Senate Primary Debate Video From TBD.com

On Wednesday, the two Democratic candidates for the District 17 Senate seat squared off for a brief televised debate on TBD.com’s NewsTalk with Brian DePuyt.

Incumbent Senator Jennie Forehand and challenger former delegate Cheryl Kagan answered a handful of well-placed questions. Their exchange, it is fair to say, was at times a little heated.

Thanks to our friends at TBD.com, we have the full video:

On August 31, the District 17 Democratic Club is sponsporing another Forehand-Kagan debate:

What: Candidates’ Forum with the Two Democratic Candidates for Maryland Legislative District 17, Senator Jennie Forehand and Cheryl Kagan

When: Tuesday, August 31. Doors open 7 pm, program starts promptly at 7:30 pm.

Where: Rockville Library, First Floor Meeting Room. The library is on the Town Square in downtown Rockville (21 Maryland Avenue). The event is free and open to the public.

Rockville Central plans to be there to cover the event.

TBD.com Prepping For Launch Next Week

As Rockville Central readers know, we were delighted recently to be asked to join the newly-forming TBD.com community. TBD.com is a new startup local news venture from Allbritton Communications, which owns WJLA, Politico, and News Channel 8. (Here’s a nice description of the new enterprise.)

This afternoon Rockville Central was among a small handful of blogs asked to participate in a media preview of the new site. Many national reporters (including from the New York Times) took part. At the press conference, TBD.com general manager Jim Brady broke the news that the site would be launching sometime next week (wouldn’t specify the day) and that, upon launch, News Channel 8 would be rebranded as “TBD” and would merge. This underscores the strong video component of TBD.

TBD.com will also be launching with ready-to-go mobile apps (Android and iPhone) which won’t just be mobile versions of their website, but will offer mobile-friendly utility like Metro ride calculators and weather.

In terms of Rockville, what you’ll see if you visit TBD.com is that Rockville Central stories will be highlighted when there’s Rockville news. You’ll be able to plug in your zip code (up to five, actually), and the site will tailor the news for you. In the next few days, you’ll see a TBD.com logo go up on our site, and that will be your indicator that things are live.

DCist has a great in-depth piece on the launch here.

Following are some mockups of what you can expect the site to look like (click to make them full-size):

‘We Love DC’ Loves Rockville

We Love DC

Here’s a nice little note. Fellow TBD Network blog We Love DC has posted an ode to Rockville, with a n in-depth discussion including things to do. Isn’t that nice!

My favorite passage:

Rockville isn’t just a neighborhood, it’s a growing urban center with several different neighborhoods. The area is home to both more urban areas like Rockville Town Square as well as smaller, quiet residential neighborhoods. Rockville is 13 square miles, and includes a lot of residential areas, some shops along Rockville Pike and the Town Center, and county offices downtown, and some office parks along I-270. Many of the residential neighborhoods have grown into attractive suburbs, with tree-lined streets and sidewalks, and more people are choosing to live downtown close to the Metro.

Follow this link to read the whole post.