This Week in Local Voices: Sumo Wrestling, Butterfly Gardens

Each week, community bloggers contribute to Patch sites across Montgomery County and Maryland through our Local Voices section. Non-profit groups, students, residents, and government agencies and officials are among those that weigh in with their viewpoints and help contribute to the dialogue in our communities. Check out a few of the blogs we featured on Patch sites this week.

Japanese brush painting, sumo wrestling, origami and haiku workshops -- students at created their own version of the famous Cherry Blossom Festival earlier this month. See the wonderful (and funny!) photos posted by the school's IB coordinator.

Montgomery Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr held another book club this week, and Frances Frost reviewed the book in her blog post this week. Get a deeper understanding of "The Global Achievement Gap," by Tony Wagner.

A Chinese educational consultant recently visited Evergreen School, and Principal John De Marchi gives Patch readers the inside look at how Montessori ideas could influence educational reform in China.

Ed Murtagh, a GreenWheaton board member, has written about invasive plant species and how you can help to eradicate them. This week, he writes about the native plant species that you should encourage in your gardens. An added bonus: attracting beautiful Monarch butterflies!

Andrea Capron is a local artist who just wrote her first blog post on Patch this week. Congratulations, Andrea!

This week, Patch’s own political blogger Bryan Sears brought us a post about the  that have not been taxed in Maryland. Comptroller Peter Franchot is asking residents to keep an eye out for anyone who may be carrying an unusually large amount of cigarettes. “If you happen to look in someone's car and you see 6,000 packs of cigarettes in the back seat, could you call my office?" Franchot said. "We would like to ask those people what the story is."

Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Marcus L. Brown weighed in this week on the debate over whether police officers should be allowed to take DNA samples from a defendant charged with a crime. The appropriate use of DNA can make Maryland safer, Brown argued.

This week on Local Voices, Morris Panner, running for at-large seat on the Montgomery County Board of Education, lauded Maryland State Sen. Brian Frosh (D-Dist. 16) for blocking a measure that would grant full voting rights to the Student Member of the Board of Education. The post generated a great debate in the comments section, so be sure to weigh in if you haven’t yet.

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