Arundel

Maryland State Police say an officer with the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of a Lansdowne man after an alleged road rage incident Saturday night in Anne Arundel County. Police say Joseph Walker, 40, of East Ampton, N.J. is being held at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center on a $1 million bond after the shooting, which took place along Interstate 97. Shortly after 8:30 p.m., troopers were called for the report of a shooting along the shoulder of the ramp from northbound Route 3 to I-97.

An on-duty Howard County police officer attempting to make an illegal U-turn in a police vehicle struck another car, injuring two children Saturday, Anne Arundel County police said. Symchay Kon Bendu, a four-year veteran with the Howard County police, was attempting a U-turn onto Route 100 west, near Route 10 south, when the police vehicle struck a 2005 Honda Civic, driven by Jamie Marie Butler, 31, of Brooklyn, police said. The officer slowed down and made an illegal U-turn directly into the path of the Honda, which was traveling in the fast lane of Route 10 south at about 4:15 p.m., police said.

Bates Middle gets grant The College Board has awarded Wiley H. Bates Middle School in Annapolis a $5,000 Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts. Bates became the county's first fully arts-integrated school, as well as a magnet school for the visual and performing arts, five years ago. The school's specific approach is designed to involve all students in the arts. The grant money will be used toward growth and continuation of the arts program, according to Anne Arundel County Public Schools officials.

As hundreds of people prepare to participate in the annual Great Chesapeake Bay Swim on Sunday, Anne Arundel County health officials have issued an advisory warning people of potentially dangerous levels of bacteria in the water because of storm runoff. With rain all day Friday, the Health Department issued a pre-emptive advisory through Sunday and urged race participants to take precautions. Public health officials say people with compromised immune systems or certain conditions, including ear infections, perforated eardrums, open cuts, scratches or skin lesions, should not swim in county waters through Sunday.

A career Anne Arundel prosecutor was chosen Thursday as the county's new state's attorney, making her the first woman to hold the position as the top prosecutor in the county. Anne Colt Leitess, 49, will complete the 18 months remaining in the term of longtime State's Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee, 69, who retires Tuesday to accept a gubernatorial appointment to the state Parole Commission. The position has an annual salary of $160,730. Leitess, of Crownsville, said she plans to seek election to the post in 2014.

The Anne Arundel County Council vote this week to trim $5 million from the school's capital budget has led school officials to allege that the cut was retaliation for a squabble last year. On Wednesday, after the school board reviewed more than three dozen projects in jeopardy because of the cuts, Superintendent Kevin Maxwell said the board now has "the most contentious relationship we've had with the council. " "How we're going to work together going forward is as much a question as where we are now," Maxwell said.

Anne Arundel County police say a prank that turned serious on Thursday resulted in one man being sent to the hospital for a gunshot wound - and another charged with second-degree assault. Police said they were called around 3:50 a.m. to a home in the 1300 block of Burton River Road in the Lothian area, where they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound to the lower torso. He did not have life-threatening injuries and was taken to Prince George's Hospital, police said. Police said that after collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses they determined that several people at the house all knew each other, and the victim, a 21-year-old man from Edgewater, was asleep when another man, apparently attempting to pull a prank, grabbed a .40 caliber handgun, which police said he believed to be a BB gun, and fired one round at the victim while he slept, striking him in the buttocks area.