Showers possible this morning, with highs near 90 today. Sunny tomorrow, with highs in the low 90s.

Here’s your catch-up from this weekend:

It’s the first day of class for Baltimore schools. A new public “contract school”, Bard High Early College, will offer its students the opportunity to earn an associate degree (and transferable college credits) alongside their high school diploma. The unique school is part of a nationwide network developed by Bard College in New York. Students are accepted based on writing samples and in-person interviews, instead of test scores and attendance.

ICYMI: The Baltimore Sun profiled each of Baltimore’s 45 July homicide victims. Among the dead: 15-year-old Josh Burnett, killed by a 13-year-old over a cellphone; 53-year-old Jacqueline Parker, believed to be caught in the crossfire of a quadruple shooting; 26-year-old Jaswinder Singh, robbed and killed while making a takeout delivery; and 20-year-old Daquan Mason, shot after trying to help a family member being picked on. The Sun also checks in on the lives of family members and friends left behind, like mother Tamara Stokes, who hasn’t yet told her children that their father, Robert Lee Jackson, was killed.

Stokes: “She doesn’t know what’s going on. She doesn’t know that he was K-I-L-L-E-D.”

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, asked about the homicide surge by USA Today: “If you look at (the) homicide victims, almost all of them have had contact with the criminal-justice system. Many have been recently released from jail. They’re known to each other”

Over the weekend, three more people were killed in the city, bringing August’s total to 33. On Friday, 44-year-old Michael Thompson was found dead in a Canton rowhouse (police say Thompson’s murder was likely personal/domestic). Early Saturday, 37-year-old Daymar Rodgers was stabbed to death in west Baltimore’s Coppin Heights neighborhood (a 29-year-old woman was taken in to custody at the scene.) On Sunday, 26-year-old Tyvonte Worrell was shot and killed in Broadway East shortly after midnight.

Former governor Marvin Mandel died Sunday at 95. Serving from 1969-79, Mandel is remembered for being an effective executive, modernizing the state government, investing in public schools, and building Baltimore’s subway line. Mandel’s tenure was marred by corruption charges in 1977 (that were eventually thrown out). Later in life, Mandel continued to practice law, and served on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents from 2003 – 2009.

A $13 million project to revitalize the North Avenue streetscape in east Baltimore kicks off today. The plan includes repaving the street, installing brick sidewalks, new curb cuts, new traffic signals, and underground infrastructure fixes.