Melanie Dzwonchyk

Laurel Leader editor Melanie Dzwonchyk announces her retirement, effective Dec. 29, 2017.

Laurel Volunteer Fire Department will hold its annual Fire Prevention Open House Oct. 22, 2017.

Laurel Board of Trade hosts a forum for City Council candidates Oct. 18 at the Laurel Municipal Center.

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 11, a union representing the Laurel Police Department, invited candidates for Laurel City Council to an endorsement forum Sept. 28.

Members of the Friends of the Laurel Library will be collecting donations for the group's Giant Book Sale scheduled for September.

Laurel Mayor Craig Moe plans to throw his hat into the ring for the 2018 county council race.

As the Laurel Leader approaches its 120th year this September, one editor was at the helm for a good third of its life. Gertrude Poe, who died July 13 at the incredible age of 101, is widely recognized as a pioneering woman in journalism who guided her weekly broadsheet as four decades of American life was filtered through the little mill town on the Patuxent and reported on the pages of the Leader.

Police found Dustin Khoury, of Sparrow Point, around 8:25 p.m. Tuesday when officers were called to the area of Contee and Larchdale roads. Police said Khoury was found in a car with a gunshot wound, and died later at a hospital.

Gertrude Poe, who guided the Laurel Leader for 41 years as editor before retiring in 1980, died Thursday, July 13 at her home in Ashton.

Laurel police arrested Barry Linn Richardson Jr. July 7 and charged him with armed robbery, robbery, first and second degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime and theft. Laurel police said Richardson entered the store with a handgun May 29 and demanded money.

The Laurel Volunteer Fire Department won the Most Outstanding award at theh 39th annual Fourth of July parade on Saturday, July 1.

Water service has been restored at Bryant Woods Elementary today after a water main break near the school cut off the water supply early this morning, schools spokesman John White said.

After a flood of turnout during early voting, Laurel residents head to polls today for the final day of voting in the presidential election.

In a reversal of a Library Trustee Board decision made in 2014, the new Laurel library will maintain the building's original name that reflects the contribution of 19th-century Laurel statesman Charles Stanley, who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

On Aug. 25, Cortney Jordan was hired by the Howard County Public School System to teach fourth grade at Bollman Bridge Elementary in Jessup. The next day she caught a flight to Houston, first stop on her way to swim in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as a member of the US Paralympics team.