Poster Contest

Loan fund targets losses from drought Because of the severe drought and associated crop losses this year, the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corp. has created a loan fund to help farmers with weather-related income losses. The 2007 Farm Drought and Weather Event Recovery Assistance Loan Fund offers low-interest operating loans to producers who have suffered significant crop, livestock, feed and/or dairy losses. The program helps pay for all or part of production costs associated with the drought, as well as essential family living expenses.

Pupil makes finals of Braille Challenge Christopher Nusbaum, a third-grader at Runnymede Elementary School, has qualified for the final round of the Braille Challenge. Christopher traveled to Los Angeles to participate in the event yesterday. The Braille Challenge is a two-stage academic contest designed by the Braille Institute to encourage students to improve their Braille reading and writing skills. Students are grouped according to age and tested in several different competencies.

Autism society's gala is Friday The Howard County Autism Society will kick off a fundraising campaign with its Pieces of the Puzzle Gala black-tie event, to be held Friday at Turf Valley Resort & Conference Center in Ellicott City. Last year's celebration generated more than $80,000, funding the opening of the first county-based Autism Resource Center and the hiring of the society's first executive director, Kim Manning. The goal this year is $150,000, with which the group hopes to move the Columbia-based resource center to a larger facility, expand its collection of books and other materials and offer more workshop for parents, first responders, educators and others.

County gets grant to aid homeless Anne Arundel County has received a $1.6 million federal grant to maintain and expand its services to the homeless. "This will pay for transitional housing and supportive service programs provided by Arundel House of Hope, Associated Catholic Charities, Annapolis Area Ministries and Community Residences, as well as provide rental assistance to our most vulnerable citizens," County Executive John R. Leopold said in a written statement. The majority of the award will continue to fund tenant-based rental assistance programs operated by the Housing Commission of Anne Arundel County and the county's Mental Health Agency.

The children at Severna Park Elementary School found out by process of elimination Thursday who won the Bowie Baysox poster competition. An official with the minor league baseball team told the 300 students in the school's auditorium that she would reveal clues about the person whose drawing would be reproduced on reading posters in schools throughout Anne Arundel, Howard and Queen Anne's counties. As each clue was revealed, students who did not fit the winner's description had to sit down, said Marlene Engberg, the team's marketing director.

Samantha Luo, 16, a 10th-grader at Centennial High School, has won in the poster category of the 12th Fred Benjamin Peace Awards for Maryland High School Students. The topic illustrated by her poster was "Creating A Culture of Peace." The poster showed two hands clasped in front of a peace sign, surrounded by flags from nine countries. Samantha received a prize of $200. The awards, which also included prizes for poetry and essays, were presented at the 21st annual Maryland Peace and Justice Conference, held April 29 in Baltimore.