Business

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.

PNC Bank and Howard University are teaming up with Morgan State University to establish an entrepreneurship center aimed at providing Black business owners with the resources to succeed. Representatives from Morgan State, Howard University and PNC Bank as well as local Black entrepreneurs came together Wednesday to announce the launch of the new Morgan State University-Regional Hub of The Howard University and PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship, the culmination of months of planning and millions of dollars in investment.

An executive of Perdue Farms, the nation’s fourth largest producer of chicken products, will head the Salisbury-based company as CEO starting this summer. The fourth-generation, family-owned poultry producer on Wednesday named Kevin McAdams, chief operating officer of Perdue Farms and president of Perdue Foods, as the next CEO. He will replace Randy Day, a 40-year Perdue veteran who will retire after having been CEO since 2017.

The new Great Wolf Lodge opening in Perryville this summer wants to focus on local partnerships and that starts by collaborating with Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes. The Chicago-based resort chain will feature special cupcakes from the celebrity chef and his Remington cake shop during its grand opening on June 29. Guests will be able to enjoy the limited-time cupcakes until September and all the revenue will benefit Believe in Tomorrow Children’s House at John Hopkins, which provides lodging to families of children receiving critical care treatment at the Hopkins children’s hospital.

A consumer watchdog is accusing a powerful Maryland regulatory agency of taking too long to respond to its requests for information and action — and is now seeking a rule that would lay out how quickly the agency must answer its formal filings. The bureaucratic, procedural gambit involves the Office of People’s Counsel, which represents consumers’ interests on utility matters in the state, and the Public Service Commission, which regulates electric, gas and some water utilities.

Four months after Southwest Airlines left customers stranded in Maryland and across the country, a wave of delays at the airline Tuesday morning renewed fears of a repeat, but ultimately proved to be a hiccup. Nearly 250 Southwest Airlines flights at BWI Marshall Airport were delayed Tuesday after the Dallas-based airline asked the Federal Aviation Administration for a nationwide pause on departures.

The former office of Juanita Jackson Mitchell, the first Black woman to practice law in Maryland, will soon serve as a legal and social services hub in West Baltimore’s Marble Hill historic district, community leaders announced Monday. Located at 1239 Druid Hill Ave. in Upton, the vacant building where Mitchell’s office sat was purchased by the Beloved Community Services Corporation. Its executive director, Alvin Hathaway, said he’s “blessed” to give the neighborhood where he grew up a gift on his birthday.