State Roundup, August 3, 2016

HEALTH CHIEF ADMITS BED SHORTAGE: Maryland’s top health official told a Baltimore judge Tuesday that he should have asked for more money in this year’s state budget to relieve a bed shortage that has prompted his department to turn away patientsfrom state mental hospitals. Van T. Mitchell, secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, was summoned to court to explain why he and five other top department officials should not be held in civil contempt for failing to carry out court orders to admit criminal defendants in a timely manner, Michael Dresser reports in the Sun.

FEDERAL, STATE HELP FOR FLOOD VICTIMS: State officials on Tuesday publicized a variety of existing government programs that can help victims of this weekend’s flash flood in Ellicott City, but the total amount of aid available is unclear. Some money may be tied up in political wrangling. As workers continued to clean up and stabilize Ellicott City’s historic downtown, which was torn up by the flood that coursed through its heart, state officials were busy identifying tax dollars to help, Erin Cox writes in the Sun.

 

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State Roundup, August 3, 2016