Around Maryland

Arthur Wang, 17, realized the severity of COVID-19 months before most of his classmates when he got updates about the then novel virus from his uncle, who is a doctor in China. It inspired the Columbia resident to come up with an effort to better support teachers and other workers in Howard County, where he is a junior at River Hill High School, and beyond.

Baltimore County prosecutors decided not to bring criminal charges against two police officers involved in civilian deaths in separate incidents last October — and questioned why it took so long for state investigators to complete their reports, according to declination letters obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Deputy State’s Attorney Robin Coffin found that Maryland Transportation Authority Police Officer Theodore Jeremenko acted appropriately in an Oct. 9 police pursuit that turned fatal and was “nowhere near” the 26-year-old man when he lost control of his vehicle, crashed and died.

Thousands of Baltimore-area public school students are expected to return from spring break this week, raising fresh concerns over a potential rise in COVID cases. Students in Baltimore City and Baltimore County school systems will return to classrooms Tuesday following a weeklong vacation. Although overall positivity and transmission rates remain low in Maryland, health experts say some metrics are rising and could signal another wave of the pandemic in the coming weeks.

The Baltimore Police Department plans to become one of the first law enforcement agencies in the nation to hire civilians to investigate low-level crimes, internal affairs complaints and cold cases. Baltimore will set “a standard for staffing allocations in law enforcement agencies across the country,” which have struggled with hiring and retention, Mayor Brandon Scott (D) said at a news conference Thursday at police headquarters.

Students in one Pennsylvania school district are not allowed to read a biography of the first Black President, Barack Obama. In some Tennessee classrooms, a nonfiction comic book about the atrocities of the Holocaust is banned. And one school district in Wisconsin banned from libraries a picture book about a gay rights activist who was assassinated. In the last nine months, hundreds of books across dozens of states are being banned at an alarming rate.

Frederick County Public Schools is still struggling to recruit special education staffers, district officials told school board members at their Wednesday meeting. The system is short of 33 special education instructional assistants, who support teachers in day-to-day classroom management. Vacancies are measured by full-time equivalency, which counts a part-time worker as half an employee. Vacancies at the elementary level make up 20.5 of the openings, said FCPS’ achievement and equity director, Keith Harris.