Howard County Public Schools will launch a high school career academy next fall, the system announced last week. Through Apprenticeship Maryland, county high school seniors will have the opportunity to earn a salary and learn industry skills.

The academy focuses on careers in manufacturing and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Students will participate in on-the-job training in construction and design, information technology, engineering and technology, banking and finance and manufacturing industries.

Under the program, seniors will complete at least 450 hours of work-based training and will earn a salary. They will also gain technical skills and experience, have a mentor and learn valuable and marketable industry skills all while receiving their high school diploma.

The program is a partnership between the school system, business, the state Department of Education and the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

The school system offers a variety of academies for all high school students to take part in, including aerospace engineering, graphic design, cybersecurity and hotel and restaurant management, at the Applications and Research Laboratory, Howard County’s career and technology high school.

County attorney named to redistricting panel

A Howard County attorney has been named by Gov. Larry Hogan to a commission charged with redrawing Maryland’s congressional district map after a federal court ruled one of the districts was unconstitutionally drawn to diminish Republican influence.

Kathleen Jo Parson Tabor, who lives in the county, works as a solo practitioner attorney in Elkridge. She’s also a member of the Maryland Horse Industry Board and is founder and chairwoman of the Agriculture Law Section of the Maryland Bar Association. She is one of six people Hogan named last week to the Emergency Commission on Sixth Congressional District Gerrymandering.

The body is charged with developing new boundaries to address the constitutional violations found by the court, specifically that Democrats in Maryland drew the district to disenfranchise Republicans. The nine-member commission includes three registered Democrats, three registered Republicans and three registered unaffiliated voters.

The commission is charged with coming up with a new map for the 2020 elections. As Hogan moves forward with a commission, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh has announced he is appealing the federal ruling that threw out the congressional map.

—Luke Broadwater