Around Maryland

Patrick Wojahn, who recently resigned as mayor of College Park, Maryland, was ordered held without bond on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. A Prince George’s County judge denied bond for the 47-year-old during a hearing Monday morning, meaning he will stay behind bars until his case is resolved, WTOP’s John Domen reported from the scene. Prince George’s County police arrested Wojahn on March 2. He is charged with 40 counts of possession of child exploitative materials and 16 counts of distribution of child exploitative material.

Eighteen of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions are now under a quarantine order due to the spread of the spotted lantern fly, an invasive pest capable of harming local plant life. Maryland’s Department of Agriculture expanded the quarantine order to seven more counties Monday, including Allegany, Calvert and Prince George’s counties, along with several on the Eastern Shore.

A fuel tanker crash and explosion that killed the truck’s driver and damaged six homes on Saturday probably will require a cleanup of contaminated soil at the site along Route 15 in Frederick County, Maryland Department of the Environment officials said Sunday. Five units of the department and a contractor with vacuum trucks responded to the emergency, which was reported after noon Saturday, recovering materials from the remains of the tanker as well as overseeing the removal of fuel and flushing of the area’s storm drain system, the agency said.

A new survey by the Maryland Department of Health shows a decrease in substance abuse issues among the state’s youth between 2021 and 2022 while. At the same time, there was also an increase in mental health challenges due to the pandemic. The Maryland Youth Risk Behavior Survey and Youth Tobacco Survey, conducted in the fall of 2021, involved close to 60,000 students in 366 public middle and high schools. It also looked at COVID-19 screen time, mental health status and other “adverse childhood” experiences.

Hundreds of thousands of Marylanders are experiencing a significant cut to their federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits this week. During the pandemic, the food assistance program issued extra funds to low-income households, called emergency allotments, to help weather the national emergency. And now, amid record high inflation and benefits theft, emergency allotments are coming to an end. “There’s no making up for this,” said Maryland Hunger Solutions Director Michael J. Wilson. “This is going to be devastating.”

If money were no object, where would you move? Baltimore was a top choice, according to a recent national poll. Fourteen percent of respondents who moved last year said Baltimore was among the five cities where they’d want to relocate. The poll, in which people shared their motivations, experiences and disappointments with moving, was conducted by Home Bay, a real estate advice website, and was featured in The New York Times.