A Democratic state senator and Republican delegate are the last of their colleagues who have yet to complete anti-sexual harassment training required of all lawmakers.

Of all 188 lawmakers, only Sen. Mary-Dulany James (D-Harford) and Del. Barrie S. Ciliberti (R-Frederick) haven’t completed the training. Both were part of a group of six lawmakers who earlier this year missed nine sessions — all offered virtually — between Sept. 14, 2023 and Jan. 26. All of the sessions were offered by the legislature’s human resources department.

Del. Barrie Ciliberti (R-Frederick). File photo by Bryan P. Sears.

Four lawmakers took the course before the end of session, leaving only James, 64, the daughter of the late Maryland Senate President William S. James and an attorney, and Ciliberti, 87, and a nine-year veteran of the legislature who voted for the 2018 law.

Reached by phone, Ciliberti said Wednesday that he is scheduled to take the training in person in Annapolis next Tuesday.

A spokesperson for House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) said the speaker “takes the training very seriously and is in communication” with Ciliberti about completing it.

James, who served from 1999-2015 in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2022, did not respond to a request for comment.

“I take this seriously,” James said in February when asked why she had yet to complete the training. She said at the time that she missed trainings because they were scheduled “when I have floor session or voting or other obligations.”

Sen. Mary-Dulany James (D-Harford). Photo by Bryan P. Sears.

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A spokesperson for Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) did not respond to a request for comment.

Lawmakers are required to take the training every two years. The mandated sessions were part of a 2018 law that broadened protections for women working in the General Assembly.

That law created an independent investigator to review complaints of sexual harassment, and made it illegal to retaliate against those who make complaints.

Even though the training is required, the repercussions for failing to do so are relatively minor.

First, lawmakers are subject to public shaming. The names and training status of each lawmaker is published on the General Assembly’s website. The list, however, is in an out of the way spot on the website so many people are likely to miss it.

In extreme cases, other sanctions can be imposed including preventing a lawmaker from hiring staff until completing the training. Such punishments are rare.

In 2019, then-Del. Hasan “Jay” Jalisi (D-Baltimore County) was ordered to not hire staff until he completed an anger management course approved by the speaker of the House.

Jalisi ignored the requirement, hiring a 20-year old to work on his legislative staff. The staffer, Brian Agandi, quit a month later for not being paid.

Agandi, in a lawsuit in 2019 against Jalisi, said the delegate misrepresented his ability to hire staff. Agandi, in 2020, won almost $20,000 in back pay and damages.

That same year, the legislature unanimously reprimanded Jalisi for chronic abuses of staff following the release of a 16-page report from the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics.

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USC Upstate took a commanding 8-0 in the fifth inning of Maryland baseball’s final midweek game of the season, but the Terps never gave in, posting 11 unanswered runs on five home runs.

After Jacob Orr hit an RBI single, Kevin Keister stepped up to the plate in the seventh inning with two runners on. Down 8-6, the team captain proceeded to rocket a three-run shot to left-center field, seizing the lead.

“Me and Jacob Orr have been struggling of late not getting hits, and he told [me], ‘If I get a hit here, then you’re going to get a hit here,’” Keister said. “So after I saw his [hit] fall, I had a lot of confidence, you know, got a pitch over the middle and it happened to come true.”

But the Terps weren’t done in the seventh, as Devin Russell smashed another home run, his second of the day.

Maryland shut down the Spartans in the final two innings to complete an improbable comeback win, 11-8.

“That’s one of the greatest comebacks I’ve ever been a part of in my whole career, whether it was a player or coach, being down 8-0 versus a really good team that’s trying to win just as much as we are,” Maryland head coach Matt Swope said.

Maryland had a bullpen day on Wednesday, with Trystan Sarcone taking the first two innings. He gave up two earned runs on two hits and a walk. USC Upstate’s Koby Kropf and Troy Hamilton got the scoring started in the second inning, pounding back-to-back solo home runs.

In the third inning, Nate Haberthier hopped on the mound and allowed four runs. Hamilton hit an RBI double that was misplayed by Elijah Lambros, who was later taken out of the game. When asked about the outfielder’s exit, Swope declined to comment.

USC Upstate added one more in the fourth inning, as Noah Sullivan hit a solo home run off Evan Smith, who pitched just 1 ⅓ innings.

The Spartans continued the solo home run parade in the fifth inning. This time, Andrew Johnson surrendered a Tyler Lang deep shot.

The Terps fought back in the bottom of the fifth inning, though. Russell plowed a solo shot off Braden Consaul and Chris Hacopian slammed a two-run home run off Tommy Henninger to cut USC Upstate’s lead to five.

Then, Ben Nardi, who replaced Lambros, hit an opposite-field, two-run shot, bringing Maryland within three runs in the sixth inning.

Johnson worked the sixth inning and got one out in the seventh before being pulled for Kenny Lippman, who escaped the seventh courtesy of Eddie Hacopian’s heroics. The infielder snagged a line drive and caught a pop-up for the final two outs.

Lippman also worked a scoreless inning in the eighth with the help of a timely double play.

Logan Berrier entered in the ninth inning, assuming his usual closing role. He got Kropf to ground into a double play, slamming the door on a monumental comeback victory.

Three things to know

1. Russell’s two-home run day. Russell showed off his power on Wednesday, smashing two home runs. He got the Terps on the board in the fifth inning and then gave them two insurance runs in the seventh.

“I was seeing the ball well and … the first home run, he kind of just threw me a slider to kind of get me over slider, and I luckily stayed back and I hammered it,” Russell said. “The second one was a 2-0 fastball, so I was sitting fastball all the way.”

2. Nine combined home runs. USC Upstate and Maryland combined for nine home runs on Wednesday. The Spartans hit four solo home runs in the first five innings and the Terps followed with five home runs in the final four innings.

“This is one of the rare days this year that we’ve seen in the past a lot that ‘The Bob’ plays like a little-league ballpark,” Keister said. “So, it was warm, the ball was caring, so we had faith that, you know, we have good hitters and we put a lot of good swings on balls and we ended up coming back because this ballpark couldn’t hold some balls we hit.”

3. Hacopian’s defense. Hacopian made some huge plays at first base, robbing two big hits from the Spartans.

“He’s an elite defender,” Swope said. “He’s the best first baseman in the league. He’s been fantastic. He’s always been very good defensively.”