Around Maryland

Severe mental illness used to dominate Eric Smith’s life. He had a history of refusing treatment for his bipolar and schizoaffective disorders, and he repeatedly ended up hospitalized or in jail. But then, roughly a decade ago, Smith was court ordered into assisted outpatient treatment in Texas, where he regularly met with a judge who monitored the progress of his treatment. “I would very, very easily be dead or still caught in the criminal justice system,” he said. “Definitely not where I’m at now.”

The Harford County Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to make masks optional for students and staff, effective Tuesday. “It has been a long two years. We are all tired, but it is time. We need to move on,” said Dr. Roy Philips, a member of the school board. HCPS also updated its operational status, removing restrictions on before- and after-school activities and making its COVID testing program voluntary for all activities.

Since May 2021, over 200 COVID-19 vaccinations have been provided to homebound or infirmed Harford community members by Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association members, according to a news release from the HCVFA. Homebound people can contact the Harford County Health Department to receive a vaccine in their home. But once the word got out, the number of calls increased and the partnership between the county health department and HCVFA began, according to a spokesperson for the county health department.

Smartly dressed in a business suit, Audrey Hasson, 17, appeared cool and confident as she addressed a Howard County Circuit Court regarding the death of an urban adventurer at the cabin featured in “The Blair Witch Project” movie. Though it was only a mock trial competition and not a real court case, the Centennial High School senior readily admitted her nerves almost got the best of her. “It’s like competing in sports,” Hasson said. “I sweat so much.”

The Enoch Pratt Free Library has launched a pilot project at its Pennsylvania Avenue branch that aims to help people struggling with drug addictions and trauma find the resources they need to get on the road to recovery. The library partnered with the Maryland Peer Advisory Council and Healing City Baltimore to stand up the program, which places “peer navigators” with experience recovering from addictions, trauma, or life’s other difficulties to help direct people toward services that assist with substance use recovery, trauma, mental, and behavioral health, according to library staff.

Maryland has terminated its largely symbolic “Sister State” relationship with the region that includes the Russian city of St. Petersburg due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Gov. Larry Hogan sent a letter to Aleksandr Drozdenko, the governor of Leningrad Oblast, on Monday that cited “the duty of every government to remain vigilant of unlawful acts against public order, democratic principles and innocent civilians.”

Superintendents in three school districts on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia have announced they will leave at the end of the school year. They’re part of a nationwide trend. The 2022 Voice of the Superintendent Survey, conducted by education research firm EAB, found about half of respondents “are considering or actively planning to leave their role within the next two to three years.”

Five Sussex County residents have been charged with 91 felonies related to the illegal purchase of guns for other people, more commonly known as straw purchases, according to Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings. Jennings used the Wednesday press conference at the Brick Hotel in Georgetown as a chance to also voice her support for a permit-to-purchase law. The legislation would require anyone in Delaware wanting to buy a handgun to first be fingerprinted, undergo training and obtain permission from the state.