Children

During the Tower Federal Credit Union's annual Have A Heart fundraiser in February, employees and members raised $32,000 to help care for critically ill children receiving treatment at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, in Baltimore. TFCU members and employees also held raffles and sales to add to the fundraising effort. Since 1998, Tower, which is headquartered in Laurel, has raised more than $475,000 for the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, which is a member hospital of the Children's Miracle Network, an organization dedicated to helping raise fund for 170 children's hospital throughout North America.

A turbulent spring among a family of immigrants nine years ago led to a plot to slash the throats of three young children, prosecutors said Thursday in closing arguments in the murder trial of Policarpio Espinoza Perez. "There was something terribly wrong in that family dynamic," Assistant State's Attorney Nicole Lomartire said. Prosecutors told a story about the days and hours before the killings, pointing to romantic tensions among members of the large Espinoza Perez family of illegal immigrants from Mexico, but stopped short of spelling out a conclusive motive for the May 2004 killings.

The families of nearly 400 children in Baltimore Head Start classes received boxes packed with healthy food items Thursday from Feed the Children and the United Way of Central Maryland. Another 400 boxes will be distributed to low-income families this week. "Food insecurity is a profound problem in our community," said Molly Shattuck, healthy food ambassador for the local United Way and founder of Molly Shattuck Vibrant Living. "It's imperative that we continue to come up with solutions to put healthy, affordable meals on the tables of families who need it. " On Thursday, families of children at St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore's Head Start on Caroline Street received canned corn, green beans, carrots, northern beans, beef broth and peanut butter.

Saying "yes" to single-sex schools is sage advice for today's educators and policy makers ("Maryland Should Say Yes to Single-Sex Schools," Mar. 11). The writer, Christopher Summers, provides powerful points about why students deserve a variety of school options. Current research documents the high academic achievements of girls and boys who graduate from single-sex schools. Equally compelling are the stories graduates tell about their personal experiences. Listen to what students at Garrison Forest School, an all-girls school from Kindergarten through 12th Grade, tell me, "I can be true to myself.

Eleven-year-old Tyler Parker-Rollins says being vegan isn't always easy. But he says it's also "fun" and that he plans to be one "forever. " His 9-year-old brother, Will, loved it when his friends tried vegan pizza at his birthday party and "they actually really liked it. " Their little sister, Maya, who's 5, says she's vegan "because I love animals, and I don't want pigs to be killed. " She then runs off to find her copy of "Charlotte's Web," which, she says, "is where I got that from.

For the first time in three trials in the 2004 slashing deaths of three children in Northwest Baltimore, jurors on Monday heard a nine-year-old statement by one of the suspects describing his nephew emerging shirtless from a rear window of the apartment in which the victims were killed. The tape-recorded statement by Policarpio Espinoza Perez, charged in the killings with his nephew, Adan Espinoza Canela, was played in Baltimore Circuit Court for the first time since the May 2004 killings of three young relatives because he is now being tried separately.

A team of 90 volunteers painted and cleaned the playground at the Pratt House this week to prepare the site for an overhaul next month. College students, part of Students Today Leaders Forever, joined Volunteers of America Chesapeake to enhance the playground at the 35-unit apartment complex for formerly homeless families with two or more children. The recreational area will be rebuilt in April with new equipment for the children, who helped design their dream playground. The students from Minnesota and North Dakota are taking part in the Pay it Forward Tour, which offers an alternative spring break trip.

The mother of two children who had their throats slashed nine years ago took the stand Thursday in the murder trial of Policarpio Espinoza Perez and described how her husband's elder brother took a romantic interest in her niece. Prosecutors have argued that friction among members of her extended family ultimately led to the 2004 murders of her children and one other young boy. During this week's trial — the third for Espinoza Perez — witnesses have faced questions from both sides about romantic tensions surrounding Noemi "Mimi" Quezada's niece.

A panel of jurors took their seats Monday in the trial of a man accused of nearly beheading three children nine years ago. Prosecutors say Policarpio Espinoza Perez, a 31-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, slashed the throats of three children ages 8, 9 and 10 in 2004 in a Baltimore apartment in the 7000 block of Park Heights Ave. Perez has been on trial for the murders twice before, both times with Adan Canela, 26, who is also accused of...

I would like to applaud the wonderful op-ed by Alan Guttman regarding Head Start and the sequester budget cuts ("What can't be measured," March 6). It is so important that people understand the critical role of Head Start in educating our children. This key program is responsible for the success of so many. Few realize just how much early learning factors into a child's ability to succeed in later academics. You have done our community a service by highlighting this. For all of the great things I could say about the article, I found one thing wanting.