Around Maryland

Ashley Bartlett spent many years as a renter in Baltimore City, but as the pandemic unfolded, she grew frustrated with frequent calls to her landlord to fix things. “I thought, ‘I can’t keep doing this. Just buy a house.’” Having lived in several city neighborhoods over the years, among them, Charles Village, Mt. Vernon and Mt. Washington, she kept an open mind about the location of her first home. “I saw places that I liked, but my bank account did not,” said the 33-year-old administrative specialist.

Maryland crabs could have competition when it comes to the who rules seafood platters across the Delmarva Peninsula thanks to Atlantic white shrimp inching further north. The question now, is whether the two species can coexist in the same waters. Consumers, and the few commercial fishermen allowed to take part in the planned limited fishery, stand to be the real winners if Maryland shrimp proves to be a tasty and lucrative revenue stream.

Baltimore Circuit Court judges and State’s Attorney’s Office employees might testify at the trial later this year for the former city homicide prosecutor accused of using his law enforcement authority to stalk ex-girlfriends, a state prosecutor said during a hearing Wednesday. The Office of the State Prosecutor brought 88 criminal charges against Adam Chaudry in December, alleging he subpoenaed phone records for over two years to harass women he had dated.

A small group of students gathered Monday around a table in a brightly decorated classroom at Cradlerock Elementary School in Columbia poring over gadgets and poking neon-colored balls of modeling clay with wires connected to a small fan and light bulb. The classroom, known as the STEM Center or “The Rock Tank,” opened to students on March 3 and is the first of its kind in the Howard County Public School System. The school held a special ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the new space last week.

For Mental Health Awareness Month gets close to its midway point, Harford County has partnered with the Core Service Agency of Harford County to bring free programs to residents to support mental wellness. The free activities include a family wellness night, an outdoor movie screening of the documentary “The Power of Expression” in Bel Air, and training on suicide prevention. “Mental health is as important as your physical health, and we’re working with the Core Service Agency of Harford County to bring you programs to support mental wellness during Mental Health Awareness Month in May,” Glassman said.

Nearly 28,000 children in Baltimore County could receive increased food benefits to help their families buy groceries this summer under a significant local expansion of a state anti-hunger program. Summer SNAP for Children will provide $30 monthly per eligible child in June, July and August. Each child will also receive $10 over winter break in December. The county had planned to serve about 10,000 kids, but additional state funding means many more will qualify, officials said.

A late-semester spike in coronavirus cases at Johns Hopkins University, spurred by recent social events, has some students pleading for the option to take exams online. After many months of strict health protocols at Hopkins, the campus in Baltimore has seen more than 500 cases in the past week and, according to its online dashboard, had filled all available isolation housing. The spike shocked some students because of the school’s international reputation in public health and its early and enduring warnings about the dangers of the pandemic.

Gov. Larry Hogan is directing state law enforcement to assist local and federal partners should they be called to protect the homes of Supreme Court justices in Maryland. Over the weekend, crowds of abortion-rights demonstrators held protests outside the homes of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts, both of whom live in Maryland.