Business

At the center of the Francis Scott Key Mall on Saturday, tables featuring a range of products and services stood surrounding the large fountain. Some offered jewelry and apparel. Others featured handmade skin and hair products. The small businesses at the tables were participating in Marketing Solutions and Events’ third annual Black-owned business showcase. The company hosted a series of Black-owned business showcases on Saturday at different malls across the country, including the Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick.

As Maryland’s sports wagering market continues to grow, attention has been turning to the state’s next betting frontier — iGaming, which involves wagering on virtual slot machines and other casino games. The number of mobile sportsbooks in the state jumped to 11 in July and then reached 12 on Thursday, with license approval for Greenmount Station and its operator partner Parx Interactive, according to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, which oversees betting and casinos in the state. There are also 10 retail sportsbooks.

We noticed something about our List this year of the biggest ongoing construction projects. Do you see it? There’s a distinct lack of new office projects. With the next phase of Amazon’s HQ2 campus on pause, the only private office developments on our List this year are 17xM, a new Skanska office building at 1700 M St. NW, and the renovation and repositioning of Metro’s former headquarters as 600 Fifth, at 600 Fifth St. NW in Penn Quarter. Compare that with 2019, when we had nine major office projects on our List.

Maryland’s utility regulator has ordered Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. to remove a controversial electrification plan from its proposal to raise customers’ gas and electric delivery rates. A proposed BGE rate hike, under review by the Public Service Commission, would allow the utility to invest not only in improving the electric grid and natural gas system but also in electrification programs to promote electric vehicle use and building efficiency, BGE has said.

His organization has distributed millions of pounds of food over the years that distributors, such as Amazon and Walmart, give to his organization after it reaches its expiration date. He donates the still edible food to groups and residents in the city’s low-income, mostly Black and historically disenfranchised neighborhoods. He said it’s his way of mitigating racism that has driven away resources, including grocery stores and food wholesalers. If getting food should be “as easy as breathing,”

A Maryland grocer is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture over a policy that he claimed blocked him from accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — commonly known as SNAP — benefits from customers.Altimont Mark Wilks, who owns Carmen’s Corner Store with locations in Frederick and Hagerstown, Maryland, said he started the two stores after spending 14 years in prison for felony drug and weapons convictions.

A Baltimore home improvement contractor will have to pay $550,000 in restitution and civil penalties for violating the Consumer Protection Act, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said Thursday. Phoenix Home Remodeling Group LLC, a roofing, siding and window contractor, was charged by the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division in December 2022 with taking deposits for home improvement services and then failing to complete the promised work.

Rockville, Maryland-based American Gene Technologies International will spin off is Addimmune division as a publicly traded company through a special purpose acquisition company. Addimmune is developing a gene and cell therapy that make gene modifications to T-cells that harden those cells against HIV infection and depletion, and that may allow those cells to target and kill HIV, the precursor to AIDS, instead of being killed by the virus.