Business

The Maryland Jockey Club and the state’s horsemen have agreed to have an outside consultant examine the dirt surface at Laurel Park as racing remains on hold after two horses suffered fatal injuries in competition last week. The agreement, reached less than an hour before an emergency meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission on Tuesday morning, brought temporary peace to a contentious standoff between the horsemen and the Maryland Jockey Club’s parent company, 1/ST Racing, over racing conditions at Laurel and comes amid horse racing’s most high-profile time of the year.

Silver Spring’s Aziyo Biologics Inc. (NASDAQ: AZYO) has inked an agreement that gives Burlington, Massachusetts-based LeMaitre Vascular Inc. (NASDAQ: LMAT) exclusive U.S. distribution rights to the local firm’s cardiovascular business line, which includes products for cardiac tissue and vascular repair surgeries. The three-year deal can be extended if both companies agree, and either can end it due to bankruptcy, breach of the contract or other events — including if LeMaitre doesn’t meet minimum volume purchase requirements, Aziyo said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

One of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s has gone from ice cream to cannabis with a social mission. Ben Cohen has started Ben’s Best Blnz, a nonprofit cannabis line with a stated mission of helping to right the wrongs of the war on drugs. The company says on its website that 80% of its profits will go to grants for Black cannabis entrepreneurs while the rest will be equally divided between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the national Last Prisoner Project, which is working to free people incarcerated for cannabis offenses.

Most bus stops are boring, bland, barely hospitable, and when it’s hot out, you’re liable to roast at one of them, whether it’s covered or not. But a company started by a University of Maryland professor is trying to change that. Living Canopies started as a maker of cooler, and greener, backyard patio umbrellas. And they still make those. But they’re also turning your typical bus shelter into something greener, usable, and at least in terms of temperature, also cooler.

Continental Realty Corporation, a Baltimore-based real estate investment and management company with $3.5 billion in assets under management, closed its Continental Realty Opportunistic Retail Fund I LP (CRORF), a close-ended fund, raising $240 million in equity. The total includes $200 million in the fund itself and $40 million in its two co-investment vehicles.

Workers at a northwest Baltimore nursing home are looking to unionize with one of the largest health care unions in the country amid a push for higher wages and improved services in the elder care industry. Employees at Autumn Lake Healthcare’s Arlington West nursing home in the city filed to unionize with the 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers East on April 13, according to National Labor Review Board filings.

After months of upheaval, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has filed for bankruptcy. The decision is a low point for a home goods retailer that has been around for more than half a century — and one that will mean vacancies in some prominent local retail centers. The New Jersey-based chain filed April 23 for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after a failed turnaround plan left it short on cash and struggling to keep its shelves stocked, the Wall Street Journal reported. All 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 locations of Buybuy Baby are expected to close.

Rocky Gap Casino Resort will celebrate its 10th anniversary with live entertainment, fireworks and giveaways May 21. “We’re incredibly proud to have been a part of the Allegany County community for the past 10 years,” said Brian Kurtz, senior vice president and general manager of Rocky Gap Casino Resort. “We look forward to continuing to provide exceptional entertainment and service to our valued guests for many years to come.”