I was hoping we’d have had more intervening entries between yesterday’s roundup and today’s, but that’s just not how things worked out today. We’re going to be announcing an open call for writers in the next week or so, but if you want to get a head start on that, feel free to email me at tom at metroblogging dot com and we’ll get the ball rolling. But, in the meantime, here’s some news.

DC’s Schools rank 51st in Nation, VA, MD have strong showing

The Post has a piece up today on the rankings from Editorial Projects in Education (publisher of Education Week, one of the big rags in the Edu-industry) that place the District dead last among the states based on a formula that makes the BCS look like something you learned in Grade School. Yeah, DC got a D-. Virginia got a B- and Maryland brought home a B. Maryland was actually #3 in the poll, which is pretty impressive. Looks like DC’s got work to do.

Speaking of the Schoools…

The City Council has approved the plan that gives Chancellor Rhee the ability to fire non-union employees in the central office without cause. The plan reclassifies 70% of the Central Office employees into the kind that Rhee can send packing. Maybe this’ll help?

25 Years for Tonya Bell

Monday’s News update spoke of the victims testifying at Tonya Bell’s sentencing hearing. It worked. She’s spending 25 years behind bars. Bell “apologized” to the victims, but I think her apology can’t cover the damage she brought to so many lives.

Lyme Disease on the rise in MD

As I know someone who caught Lyme Disease in 2007, this one hits close to home. Lyme Disease cases doubled in Maryland last year to over 2,200. So, watch yourself when the weather warms up. If you’re spending time out and about in the world, watch it, and spend some time learning about what causes it.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs