Finally, it is here: Tyler Martin's first real step on the road to becoming a Marine. His debut comes in the form of a routine physical fitness test.

The 17-year-olds were best friends and senior football stars at Howard County's River Hill High. Steven Dankos started every game at offensive right guard, and team captain Thomas Erdman was a couple of spots away at left guard.

First came the "green" jobs, green buildings and green energy.

A Rockville police officer fatally shot a 120-pound Rottweiler-pit bull mix early Sunday after the dog attacked its owner, eluded officers for hours and ignored electrical shocks from a Taser, officials said.

Two months after four roundabouts opened to traffic, some drivers still don't understand how to maneuver through the new traffic pattern at routes 50 and 15 at Gilberts Corner, the latest attempt to ease worsening congestion on Washington's periphery.

As President Obama pushes for more charter schools, the education world craves a report card on an experiment nearly two decades old. How are these independent public schools doing? The safest and perhaps most accurate reply -- it depends -- leaves many unsatisfied.

It's almost December, time to sum up and see whether I added value to life on the planet this year. Others can assess my successes, if any. I prefer to dwell on my failures. Here are five I consider important.

Previous posts from Valerie Strauss's education blog.

I arrived late to the book party launching Maggie Hall's new paperback about Marmite, an English condiment that is perhaps the foulest compound legally sold for human consumption. Late, but not late enough: There was still plenty of Marmite left.

When we were in school, we figured money must be the only reason anyone would take the abuse dished out to substitute teachers. Only later did we discover how little they were paid.

Three Metro employees were injured early Sunday when a train headed into the West Falls Church rail yard smashed into a parked train, in a crash that destroyed three train cars and caused at least $9 million in damage, authorities said.