If you've ever taken an item that was given to you and put it in your "gift bin" to pass on to someone else, it's okay to admit it. In fact, this year, there's a day to celebrate such frugality. According to one web site, Dec. 20 is unofficially regifting day. Another has given prizes for the best regifting story and a third offers a “Gift Giver’s Guide to Gracious Regifting.” In the spirit of regifting, MoCo Mojo gives you some of the best of what Montgomery County had to offer last week, including a new face of the county council, a cutting-edge county web site and a veiled admission that…

  Montgomery County may have gotten a whole new political season for Christmas, considering what looked like an unofficial announcement last week. Below are the details, as well as the rest of the week's highlights in our continuing investigation into life in these 500 square miles.  You'd think we would have gotten a call back considering the newsworthiness of the information, but we'll stick with the evidence we did get. According to an email sent to supporters, former county executive Doug Duncan is set to vie for that office again, after a six-year hiatus.  “I am not seeking to return to …

  Here's to your recovery from Superstorm Sandy and to the continued relief efforts in the New York/New Jersey area. Look back at our coverage throughout Maryland here, and find ways to help your neighbors to the north here. We probably would have spent a lot of time talking about Halloween and the trauma of returning to standard time this week, but tomorrow is Election Day, so while you're trying to figure out how to vote on the Dream Act, same-sex marriage and/or your congressional representative, perhaps we can pretend for a day that life is normal in Montgomery County. First, take a look …

  We have a test for you. Do you call it Montgomery County? Or do you call it MoCo? The answer may tell us something about the different generations in our county. In Montgomery County, seniors are the fastest-growing age group, according to the county’s Division of Aging and Disability Services. The number of seniors in Montgomery County, the state’s largest, increased 130 percent from 1980 to 2010, the agency said. That number is expected to increase an additional 65 percent from 2000 to 2020. The way the blog just up the pike put it, Baby Boomers arrived and "found life so good here that …

  If you're still an undecided voter, don't worry. Just wait a decade or so, and we've got the candidate for you. Michaelina Panner—a fifth-grader at Somerset Elementary School—would have a lot of people's votes if she ever decides to run for public office. Michaelina was a semi-finalist in the statewide Maryland Municipal League's "If I Were Mayor" essay contest and her essay was selected by the Town of Somerset as the town's winning essay, which she read at the town's October council meeting. Temporarily taking over Mayor Jeffrey Slavin's seat, she talked of the need for a town's different …

  Are you partial to Chevy Chase or Bethesda? It's not like the border dispute between Gaithersburg and Rockville earlier this summer. But why not stir up a little trouble? "Exceptionally livable" is how website AreaVibes describes Chevy Chase, giving it the following marks: Amenities: A+ Crime: A+ Cost of living: F Education: C Employment: A+ Housing: A+ Weather: B That F might have something to do with the approximate median list price of Chevy Chase houses, which is $1.2 million. Even with that mark against it, AreaVibes gave Chevy Chase a "Livability Score" of 87, while Bethesda received …

  Thank goodness it's a holiday after that grueling first week of school. Can't remember back to last week? Take a look at the world's cutest kids in our giant back-to-school photo gallery, and a few terrified ones as well. Can you spot the picture of the Patch editor from the first day of school, 1983? Baton Twirling Anyone? One of the hottest events in county for today's celebration is the Labor Day Parade in Kensington. It has grown from a few Brownie troops and the slow-stepping town chess club to a full-blown county event in the last couple of decades, but it's still small enough that …

  It's the first day of classes Monday for Montgomery County schools. Even if you don't have kids in school, beware! Traffic will be a bear as school buses, parents and carpools hit the streets. And, if you're late and you think driving around that school bus is justified, think again. Starting today, a number of school buses will have cameras attached that can catch you in the act. The fine: $250. Unless a police officer witnesses it. Then, you can get a $1,000 ticket and three points on your driver's license. A Momentous Occasion Patch editors will be scouring the county and may show up at …

  With the Montgomery County Fair, Shark Week and tax-free shopping over, it can only mean one thing: It's the end of August in Montgomery County. But for those of us who are still in town, there's a lot to lord over our vacationing friends and coworkers. For example, did you know that Gov. Martin O'Malley got involved in a Montgomery County dispute last week? Or that police are looking for a serial hugger/groper in Bethesda? Also, school superintendent Dr. Joshua Starr is reportedly shaking things up in MCPS as we countdown to the start of school. Fried Green Patch Editor But first, a proper…

  There may be bigger news fish to fry but when what's hot and battered is a Twinkie or a funnel cake, we must start this week's column with a tribute to the one, the only, Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, which continues through Saturday, Aug. 18. Where else can you celebrate the fact that a third of the land in Montgomery County is designated for farming by participating in a toilet-decorating contest? In addition to fried food, there are carnival rides, live music, monster trucks, a children's theater and, of course, live animals, including racing pigs. More than 200,000 people are …

  Follow that iPhone Okay, it's not Montgomery County, but it's a fascinating story of lost and found that ended with nearby Prince George's County police proudly touting the recovery of New York Times technology guru David Pogue's missing iPhone. How did the gallivanting smart phone spend its time? So far, the secret stays with Siri. Fowl Politics Montgomery County residents flocked to Chick-fil-A Friday following CEO Dan Cathy’s controversial remarks about same-sex marriage. But "kiss day," as gay rights activists called it, wasn't the spectacle here that it was in some other areas, at …