Elkridge Today: Recycle Your Tree

The high is 32 degrees and the low is 16 in Elkridge today, according to the National Weather Service.

Did you see flurries last night? Upload your pics to our ! 

If you’re ready to toss your holiday fir, Howard County wants to help. From now until Jan. 20, drop off your Christmas tree at (Landing Road) or put it out on trash collection day. After collecting trees, the county composts and reuses them, through a program known as .

In not-so-merry news, Long Reach High School was on what its principal called a “nonemergency lockdown” on Monday, after Howard County police received two calls reporting that there was an emergency at the school, according to an email to families. Here’s an excerpt: “Students from one specific class had their personal belongings searched for the cell phone used to make these calls. The specific cell phone was not found on any student. Students were released from the non-emergency lock down at 10:15.”

Lockdown aside, readers had yesterday about the fact that Howard County students had school at all. Read the comments and vote in our poll about whether students should have had school on Jan. 2. 

For the record, in Elkridge, which normally follows the public school schedule, was closed on Monday, and posted the following to its Facebook page Monday night: "We look forward to welcoming students back to school on Tuesday, January 3!"

The County Council will have its first meeting of 2012 tonight. will be at 7 p.m. in Ellicott City's George Howard Building. See the list of proposed legislation.