Rowan Mailer Audit, Part 4: What Does “Community Partner” Mean?

Rowan's mailer displays 24 logos and separately claims financial support for 20 organizations. Logo placement does not establish funding, permission or endorsement.

Rowan Mailer Audit, Part 3: What Did Rowan's Community Projects Actually Provide?

Rowan's community relationships include grants, sponsorships, in-kind work and collaborations. Recipient-side evidence shows why those categories should remain distinct.

Rowan Mailer Audit, Part 2: Children Are Not Scenery

Rowan uses photographs of local children to support its community-benefit message. The images raise distinct questions about provenance, permission and promotional reuse.

Rowan Mailer Audit, Part 1: The Mailer And The Message

Rowan's 16-page Frederick County mailer combines documented projects, company claims, economic projections, photographs, testimonials and logos into one community-benefit story. This series separates what the document proves from what its design encourages readers to assume.

Quantum Wants At Least $500 Million But The Public Still Does Not Have The Full Record

Quantum’s lawsuit does not prove Frederick County owes it $500 million. It does show the cost of allowing consequential commitments to accumulate before residents can see and evaluate the complete bargain.

Frederick County Approved IW2: What Changed And What Comes Next

Frederick County narrowed the IW2 industrial maps, restored the changes two weeks later, rejected a planning-first motion, and then approved both the plan and rezonings. The maps moved. The infrastructure did not.

What the City of Frederick’s Proposed Data Center Moratorium Would Actually Pause

The draft would freeze land-use amendments for data centers in the City of Frederick while officials study their impacts. It would not create a permanent ban, prohibit all developer contact, or produce a vote at Thursday’s work session.

Before Tuesday’s Vote, Frederick’s Values Act Still Needs an Accountability Trail

Bill 26-11 would create real limits on county cooperation with immigration enforcement. A new amendment defines emergencies, but the bill still lacks a public way to test compliance.

Reminder: Final IW2 Industrial-Zoning Vote Tuesday, October 6

Frederick County’s October 6 agenda schedules decisions on the IW2 plan and its associated rezonings. Here is what the vote could change and how residents can participate.

Frederick’s Climate Dashboards Show the Work But They Don’t Enforce It

Frederick’s new city and county dashboards make climate work easier to see. Their real test is whether status labels lead to budgets, ordinances, enforceable standards, and public explanations when deadlines slip.

Breaking: Frederick County Revives Five Industrial Zoning Amendments One Week Before Final Vote

Five September 29 amendments did not restore longstanding industrial zoning. They revived a new Agricultural-to-LI conversion at Mount Zion and a GI concept near Mott Road similar to one rejected in 2012—while roads, utilities, and corridor planning remain unfinished.

The Risk Is Not Becoming Loudoun, It’s Getting a Worse Deal

Loudoun built an enormous data-center tax base after accepting enormous cumulative burdens. Frederick risks accepting many of the same categories of risk for smaller, later and less certain public returns.