Elkridge High School #14 Advances

Monday morning: mostly sunny then chance showers and thunderstorms, high near 87 degrees.

Morning, Howard County. It's Monday, July 27th. Coming up: Calvin Ball says High School number fourteen in Elkridge is officially moving forward. Ellicott City's flood tunnel breaks ground this summer. The Wine Bin's owner is opening a new restaurant and cocktail bar on Main Street. And Columbia Association just hit a million dollar milestone for local families. Let's get into it.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced this week that High School number fourteen in Elkridge is officially moving forward, after years of planning. The advancement clears the way for the county's next public high school. Ball's office has not released a construction timeline or cost estimate. The project now heads toward further review by the county council and the Board of Education.

Seven Howard County Public Schools buildings now have hydroponic gardens, teaching students science and nutrition hands-on. The gardens let students grow produce indoors and tie the lessons directly into classroom science units. HCPSS says the program spans buildings across the district, from elementary through high school.

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Columbia Association is marking 25 years of its CA Points program, which rewards student academic achievement and attendance with free memberships. This year CA awarded 712 students and their families complimentary Play or Fit and Play memberships, plus free programming like tennis lessons through the year. Over the life of the program, CA says it has given more than a million dollars in memberships and programs to low-income families.

The owner of Ellicott City's Wine Bin is opening a new restaurant and cocktail bar on Main Street, according to the Baltimore Banner. It adds a sit-down dining option to the block alongside the existing wine shop. No opening date has been announced yet.

Every one of Columbia Association's outdoor pools has earned Certified Autism Center designation. CA lifeguards go through specialized autism-awareness training each Memorial Day weekend, part of the effort to make the pools more welcoming for guests on the spectrum.

Tuesday night, Merriweather Post Pavilion hosts Muse on the Wow Signal tour, with Bloc Party and The Temper Trap opening. Gates open at five thirty. If you want a voice in county curriculum decisions, HCPSS is taking applications for its Curriculum Advisory Committees through August first. The district is also filling a new Standing Policy Advisory Committee, a two-year commitment, with applications due August twenty-first.

In Laurel, 19 people were hospitalized Sunday after a suspected food-related illness at a youth academy just over the Anne Arundel County line. At Centennial High School, five tenth-graders earned national recognition in C-SPAN's StudentCam documentary competition. HCPSS honored 29 parents who completed the Hispanic Achievement Program's Spring Parent Academy, taught entirely in Spanish. HCPSS is hiring, open roles are posted now at hcpss.org slash employment. The HCPSS Community Advisory Council posted new meeting minutes on BoardDocs for parents tracking district decisions. At the Elkridge library branch, a certified peer recovery specialist from the county health department is in today from 11:30 to 5. At the Savage library branch, families can join a watercolor paint night tonight from 6 to 7. At the Glenwood library branch, bilingual story time for ages zero to four runs this morning from 10:30 to 11. Also at Glenwood, an all-ages program called All Together Now runs from 2 to 2:30 this afternoon. In Symphony Woods, Columbia Association runs free outdoor yoga at the Chrysalis every Monday at 6pm this summer.

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That's the brief for Monday, July 27th. Full stories and sources at hocobrief.com, sign up for the newsletter there too, and send me tips. I'm your Howard County host. Back tomorrow morning.