Business

Sinclair Broadcast Group chairman David Smith has given an additional $140,000 to the effort to create term limits for Baltimore elected officials, bringing his total investment in the ballot question to $525,000, campaign finance reports show. Smith made the contribution Sept. 29, days after supporters — including the Rev. Alvin Hathaway, Marvin “Doc” Cheatham and former independent mayoral candidate Robert Wallace — gathered in front of City Hall to kick off a campaign promoting term limits.

The Labor Department has proposed a rule that would make it easier for delivery drivers, janitors, construction workers and other independent contractors to be considered employees, granting them access to benefits and federal labor protections. The proposal would overturn a Trump-era move and restore Obama-era standards for determining whether workers qualify as employees or independent contractors.

The Maryland biotech also received $30 million in milestone payments after licensing retifanlimab to Incyte Corp., and could receive more if the drug, now in clinical trials, is later approved. MacroGenics separately expects to start a phase 2/3 study by year’s end of a candidate in patients with a form of advanced prostate cancer, and has another candidate in early-stage studies for colorectal cancer, nonsmall cell lung cancer, metastatic prostate cancer and melanoma.

The newly erected student housing complex at Morgan State University, named after the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, is more than just a dormitory for freshman computer science major Matthew Brown. The building is a constant reminder of the contributions his great-grandfather, Philip L. Brown, Sr., made while working with Marshall on a lawsuit for equal pay for Annapolis teachers more than 80 years ago. Marshall, who was a civil rights attorney at the time and had not yet been appointed to the high court, represented Philip Brown, who helped found the Colored Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County.

McDaniel College unveiled a new five-year strategic plan last week, with parts of the plan aimed at forging a stronger partnership between Westminster and the college. One of the four initiatives McDaniel revealed Oct. 10 is community relations, with a goal of enhancing a “sense of belonging for students in Westminster,” by increasing opportunities “for students to get off the Hill and onto Main Street.”

“What’s in a name?” William Shakespeare used the line in his play “Romeo and Juliet.” A name can make a big difference in the life of someone who doesn’t have accurate identification. It can make regular activities difficult, from doing everyday banking to going to the doctor. Most transgender people have inaccurate identification, according to the U.S. Transgender Survey’s Maryland report. Inaccurate identification can prevent transgender people from participating in public life, said Lee Blinder, Executive Director and co-founder of Trans Maryland.

As elsewhere in Greater Washington, mixed-use projects around Metro feature large in suburban Maryland’s development scene — not least in Prince George’s County, which aspires to become the region’s next boomtown. Montgomery County has economic aspirations of its own and is well known for its dominance in the life science industry. That dominance has continued to attract a lot of new development and office-to-lab conversion projects.

Baltimore Medical System (BMS), the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) system in Maryland, reached an agreement with the proposed school of Maryland College of Osteopathic Medicine at Morgan State University to serve as the school’s community health clinical teaching arm. Under the affiliation, both instructors and students from the new medical school will complete rotations at BMS facilities, including eight community health centers and eight school-based health sites across Baltimore, as part of their clinical training. Instructors of the new medical school, who are also clinicians, are expected to begin practicing at BMS centers as early as 2023 in order to incorporate the most current and advanced population health practices into the school’s curriculum.