Stanley Black & Decker, the industrial tool and hardware manufacturer, has teamed with the Baltimore County Volunteer Firefighters Search & Rescue Mission to send a large supply of hand tools, accessories and storage to Ukraine to support the nation’s own search and rescue operations. About 10 pallets of tools were pulled and packed to be taken to Ukraine by a team of 63 firefighters, including 10 volunteer firefighters from Baltimore County. The team of firefighters is not only delivering the tools but also joining in the rescue efforts.

Marley Station mall in Glen Burnie has been sold to a New York-based partnership that says it plans to move quickly to fill vacancies. The ownership group includes Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group. The partners, based in Great Neck, New York, manage shopping centers across the country. The purchase price and seller were not disclosed. State assessment records list the owner as YAM Marley Station LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Maryland General Assembly’s 2022 legislative session resulted in the enactment of many new health care laws that will impact health care facilities, providers and insurers in the State. Here are some of the highlights from the 2022 session. Value-based care: New value-based care legislation:  (1) amends the Maryland Self-Referral Law to align with federal law permitting health care providers to be paid under certain value-based arrangements; (2)  amends the law governing health care practitioner compensation arrangements with insurers and health maintenance organizations to permit voluntary two-sided incentive arrangements with certain health care practitioners in which the practitioner can assume risk;

On Dec. 30 last year, a fire and explosion at South Baltimore’s CSX Curtis Bay Coal Piers shook homes in the neighboring community and sent a cloud of toxic dust across Curtis Avenue, choking residents unfortunate enough to be outdoors at the time. The massive silo explosion, which shut down operations at the country’s second-largest coal export piers, was heard three miles away in Anne Arundel County. Environmental disasters and toxic air emanating from dirty waterfront industries are nothing new in Curtis Bay. Neither are city and state officials lacking transparency and formal processes in their response.

In D.C. — and everywhere else, I suspect, with a Bohemian pulse — Pride celebrations are in full swing. Some people who are gay have come to resent the relentlessly commercial aspects of the season, reflected in Pride bocce ball sets from Target and Pride dog bandanas from Walmart. But nothing important in America is not monetized. And gay rights are easily the most dramatically successful social movement of the past few decades. This is not to say gay life in America is all rainbows. Many LGBTQ youths still face homelessness and are drawn to the false, cruel consolation of suicide.

A new report has found that Maryland has had the highest tech workforce growth since May 2021 and is tied for the lowest gender gap in technology jobs. The report from the Technology Councils of North America was greeted with enthusiasm by Baltimore and Maryland civic and business leaders who are seeking to ramp up development in the tech industry, an effort made difficult by the fact that some 20,000 technology jobs in the area are open. Still, leaders in the region say, the report is evidence that companies are beginning to realize the potential of Baltimore and are willing to move their businesses to the area.

In August 2021, Dr. Bryan O. Buckley — a member of the board of directors for the American Heart Association’s Greater Washington Region — helped save a man’s life by administering CPR when he collapsed suddenly along Three Notch Trail in St. Mary’s County. Buckley recalled that Christopher Holton, a Black man in his early 50s, went into cardiac arrest on the trail. Holton was “gasping for air,” Buckley said, and while there were other bystanders around at the time, no one came forth to try to provide first aid. Buckley said he had last performed CPR some 10 years ago at the time.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 48,000 Prince George’s County residents — more than 5.0% of the county’s population — lost their jobs. But now, Prince George’s County is months away from bringing its employment rate back to pre-pandemic levels, said Angela Alsobrooks, Prince George’s County executive.  Alsobrooks, a Democrat, lauded the state’s recovery from the economic effects of the pandemic on Tuesday morning at the county’s 2022 State of the Economy Breakfast and Address, an annual fundraiser for the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation and the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable that hasn’t been held in person in over three years due to the pandemic.  

Gaming Innovation Group Inc. (GiG) on Tuesday announced it has signed a head of terms agreement with Maryland-based sports betting brand Crab Sports to provide its award-winning Platform and Sportsbook solution in the state. This is the first deal in the U.S. for the new and expanded offering of GiG and Sportnco. Powered by its leading technology and flexible architecture, this turnkey solution includes the technical platform, CMS and the recently acquired Sportnco Sportsbook, all powered by GiG’s unique data and GiG Logic rules-based solutions.