Business

Kimberly Tenice Johnson and Denise Roles Matthews are statistical outliers in the wine world. They’re Black. They’re women. Their winery is based not only in Maryland, but in Baltimore. All of the above put them in lanes not exactly overflowing with company in the industry. Yet Philosophy — the winery the women launched in 2018 — has already scored silver and bronze medals in the Maryland Governor’s Cup Competition. They sell via farmers markets, festivals, an online shop and a handful of locations like Baltimore’s Off the Rox. And they have high hopes for this year’s harvest, which is winding down across the state.

The Federal Reserve has been working to cool down the hiring market, but the latest data shows few substantial changes in the nation’s labor market dynamics — meaning employers in many industries are likely to continue facing significant challenges finding talent. The United States added about 263,000 jobs in November, far above expert estimates of around 200,000. The unemployment rate sits unchanged from at 3.7%. The Labor Force Participation Rate, which is the percentage of working-age Americans actively seeking work or employed, dropped slightly to 62.1% in November, down from 62.2% in October and down from 63.4% in the month before the pandemic.

Maryland’s second busiest trauma center is receiving federal funding to help identify and aid victims of sex and labor trafficking. The University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center hospital (UM Capital) in Prince George’s County will get nearly $800,000 from the Department of Justice to go toward screening, identifying and supporting victims in medical settings. UM Capital’s emergency room, Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center, OB/GYN, Behavioral Health unit and outpatient clinic will be trained on best practices to begin assisting trafficking victims or high-risk individuals. “Victims of human trafficking are often identified by law enforcement, service providers, faith-based institutions, and medical settings,” Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said in a statement.

A Miami developer is proposing to build a mostly residential, 1.1-million-square-foot mixed-used community in Upper Marlboro in what would be the firm’s first project in the region. Citing the growth potential in Prince George’s County, Global City Development wants to build about 400 multifamily units, 200 for-sale townhouses and 50,000 square feet of retail on 60 wooded acres just east of Joint Base Andrews. The site comprises two adjacent parcels, located at 9702 and 10200 Marlboro Pike, of which Global has a contract to acquire. “We believe that Prince George[’s] County is set to experience significant growth over the next several years,” Brian Pearl, a Global principal, said in an email.

A Montgomery County judge said Thursday that he will wait to decide whether Maryland transportation officials properly awarded the first contract in a state toll lanes project until an appeals court rules on whether a bid protest was filed in time. Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Kevin G. Hessler issued an order saying he would hold off on a decision because an appellate ruling on the bid protest’s timeliness “may render moot” a ruling on its merits.

A watchdog investigation initiated after the tax returns of two former FBI directors were subjected to intensive audits during the Trump administration has concluded that the reviews from those years were conducted at random. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday that its review had determined that the Internal Revenue Service had selected tax returns at random for its National Research Program audits in 2017 and 2019.

Remedy has opened a new dispensary in Columbia that is twice the size of its old space as it prepares for an expected influx of customers when Maryland’s recreational market kicks off next year. The 10,000-square-foot dispensary at 8865 Stanford Blvd., which opened Thursday, is a store-within-a-store concept, where a variety of cannabis companies can set up individual booths to educate consumers about their different products. Right now, six brands have spaces within the store. CEO Mitchell Trellis hopes to eventually get nine different mini-storefronts in the location.

A mother-daughter team enamored with pickleball — an uber-popular sport that mixes tennis, Ping Pong and badminton — is opening a 12,000-square-foot, year-round indoor venue in a Timonium business park. Bonny Gothier and her daughter, Alex Guerriere, and the rest of the Baltimore Pickleball Club LLC owners group, signed a lease in a single-story building at the Timonium Exchange, a 200,000-square-foot complex at 2125-2131 Greenspring Drive.