Around Maryland

Next school year Anne Arundel County Public Schools will switch to later start times for high schools and earlier start times for elementary schools, a change pediatricians say is good for the health of growing students. For many county parents, getting students to school at all is still a challenge as bus contractors deal with a shortage of drivers resulting in missed or late rides. On Thursday more than 40 bus routes out of about 600 didn’t have service at least part of the day.

After a failed motion and more than an hour of discussion during Wednesday’s meeting, the Carroll County Board of Education opted to table a vote on the Family Life Advisory Committee’s recommended changes to the state’s mandated health curriculum framework. The recommendations were on the meeting agenda as an action item, but some school board members were confused about the approval process while others wanted to further review the former curriculum framework and the intended changes. The issues were significant enough for board members to delay their vote.

The latest deadly shooting in Brooklyn unfolded April 29 outside a boarded-up vacant rowhouse on Fifth Street — where candles, flowers and empty liquor bottles memorialize the young father gunned down that night. Around the corner on Cambria Street, another blighted property has prompted complaints from residents about people trespassing, gaining access to the building through a second-floor window and leaving disabled vehicles in an adjacent lot. Across the street, an unsecured alley provides easy access and potential hiding spots.

Baltimore City leaders on Thursday promoted the launch of the B’More Summer Information Hub, a resource for opportunities for young people over the summer. The goal of the website is to provide a destination for families seeking information on summer camps through Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, the Enoch Pratt Free Library and nonprofits, summer learning activities and job opportunities.

After Baltimore firefighters entered what they thought was a vacant Southwest Baltimore rowhouse and found a man dead with gunshot wounds while flames tore through the structure, residents of Carrollton Ridge said the unexpected discovery illustrates two huge problems facing their neighborhood: a staggering concentration of blighted properties and rampant gun violence. The fire was reported around 7:20 p.m. Sunday in the 300 block of Furrow Street, which contains a handful of occupied houses and about two dozen vacant structures.