Five Things To Know About Columbia, 8/28

1) Weather: It’s supposed to reach a high of 88 degrees today with a 40 percent chance of scattered showers.

2) Question of the Day: Do you think our schools are safe?  following the that an officer is assigned to each of the 12 high schools within the school system and that officers do not screen students for weapons. Read the full story .

3) Are bloggers bullies? Dennis Lane points out in his blog that school board member Brian Meshkin has started a campaign against bullies. The initiative, called One-Howard-County, is aimed at reducing cyber bullying among young people and adults, according to Meshkin's website. According to Meshkin's site, examples of adult cyber bullying include: “bloggers that attack instead of discuss and individuals who post personal attacks on comment boards of online news articles, oftentimes under pseudonyms or false identities.” Tell us in comments: What do you think constitutes an adult cyber bully? For further reading, the Patch terms of use can be found here.

4) Good news: Howard County school board candidate Bob Ballinger was not robbed. You may have thought differently after receiving a strange email on the subject today, Ellicott City Patch reports. .

5) Columbia Patch Update: Your local editor Andrew Metcalf returns to run Columbia Patch Wednesday after time off, and I resume my full-time duties as associate regional editor for Howard and Carroll County Patches. I've enjoyed guest editing the site and interacting with readers! Andrew's email address--for story ideas and news tips--is andrew.metcalf@patch.com. And feel free to continue to reach out to me for anything Patch-related: lisa.rossi@patch.com or @LisaARossi on Twitter.

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