Business

While some may be skeptical about the recent request by Maryland leaders to declare a fisheries disaster based on the impacts of certain invasive species, at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, we see significant benefits for the ecosystem and watermen’s wallets. CBF is strongly supporting the efforts of Gov. Wes Moore and the state’s Department of Natural Resources to request a federal fishery disaster declaration in Maryland due to the proliferation of blue catfish, Northern snakeheads, and other invasive species in the Bay.

The Maryland General Assembly passed a bill that would establish a Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) fund to promote job growth and minority inclusion in the sciences. Both chambers passed House Bill 781 earlier this month, which establishes the Equitech Growth Fund to send state funding to projects that expand the economy through infrastructure investment and create a diverse workforce through job training programs.

Commissioners are moving forward with the task of regulating businesses interested in selling recreational cannabis in Carroll County, voting 4-1 Thursday to refer decisions about when, where, and how cannabis-related businesses can operate to the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission. The zoning commission will now work on changes to the county’s zoning code to allow businesses with state licenses to sell recreational marijuana in the county, and present a proposal to the commissioners sometime in the future.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined 17 other local prosecutors in calling on the federal government to issue a recall for particular Hyundai and Kia vehicles models that have been stolen at increased rates within the past year. In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, prosecutors say they want the federal agency to declare the vehicles’ systems are out of compliance with federal standards and pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.

Ikea is planning a $2.2 billion U.S. expansion that will add eight full stores and shore up the furniture chain’s logistics network, a move that will be the retailer’s largest U.S. expansion since the first store opened near Philadelphia 38 years ago. Along with the new stores, the investment will establish nine “plan and order” points — smaller stores focused on customer service and furniture delivery — as well as 900 new pickup locations, according to a news release Thursday.

Cannabis companies across Maryland are preparing for the last “4/20” before the rollout of recreational cannabis in July, with dispensaries looking at the popular holiday as a stress test for how their stores will handle the expected influx of new business as well as an opportunity to increase sales during a down year for the medical market.

Jose Abreu Jr. came to the small conference room of a Jessup hotel last month, setting up tables, shaking hands, reviewing paperwork and hoping to find someone like him. Abreu, 35, once had a successful sales career in New Jersey making six figures, he said. Then in 2021, the state government legalized cannabis and Abreu took a job making $15 an hour to work as a harvest specialist, an entry-level job in a cannabis cultivation facility.

The town of Hancock in Western Maryland is notable for being in the narrowest part of the state, sandwiched between Pennsylvania and West Virginia in a 1.8-mile stretch, but the world could get a little wider for residents after broadband internet comes to town after receiving federal grants. “It’s going to open up so many other opportunities,” said Hancock Mayor Tim Smith, a lifelong resident, who described the connection in town as “pretty decent,” with certain parts slow.