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Employers keep hiring briskly even in face of Fed rate hikes

America’s employers kept hiring vigorously in October, adding 261,000 positions, a sign that as Election Day nears, the economy remains a picture of solid job growth and painful inflation. Friday’s report from the government showed that hiring was brisk across industries last month, though the overall gain declined from 315,000 in September. The unemployment rate rose from a five-decade low of 3.5% to a still-healthy 3.7%. A strong job market is deepening the challenges the Federal Reserve faces as it raises interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s to try to bring inflation down from near a 40-hear high. Steady hiring, solid pay growth and low unemployment have been good for workers. But they have also contributed to rising prices.

Under Armour refocuses on teen athlete market as its second-quarter earnings beat expectations

Shares of Under Armour surged Thursday after the Baltimore-based brand beat Wall Street’s expectations for second-quarter earnings. While the sports apparel and footwear maker lowered its outlook for the year because of a challenging retail environment, officials also unveiled new strategies Thursday to propel the company’s growth while maintaining the brand’s premium status.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Frontier Airlines adds direct flight from BWI Airport to Dallas-Fort Worth

Frontier Airlines is adding a nonstop flight to Dallas-Forth Worth — the airline’s eighth destination from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The new service is a win for BWI, which is celebrating a slew of new flights and three new airlines this year — PLAY, Icelandair, and Avelo Airlines. Frontier, which started flying out of BWI in March 2019, will start the new Texas flights on May 21, with four flights per week. The Denver-based airline is stepping up its presence at BWI and at its 10 airports nationwide. The airline is also starting nonstop flights from Dallas to LaGuardia Airport in New York, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Orange County, California and Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Project leaders weigh in on innovative College Park development — and why trust and collaboration among partners were key

A new city hall in College Park, Maryland, built in collaboration with the University of Maryland (UMD), is attracting attention for more reasons than its appealing design. The 100,000-square-foot building, pending LEED Gold certification, serves as a centerpiece of the City’s downtown as College Park becomes a more vibrant, diverse and walkable community.

Elon Musk begins mass layoffs at Twitter

Elon Musk is beginning mass layoffs at Twitter, sharply reducing the company’s workforce of 7,500 and kicking off his wholesale overhaul of the company. An email went out to the company’s employees late Thursday notifying employees of plans to cut jobs, informing them that by 9 a.m. Pacific time Friday, workers would receive an email with the subject line: “Your Role at Twitter.”

microscope
United Therapeutics still eyeing 25K patients by 2025. Here’s what it’ll take to get there.

Silver Spring’s United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: UTHR) set another revenue record in the third quarter — and with that momentum, is now homing in on its goal to more than double the number of patients currently using its therapies in the next couple of years. For the local biotech, which reported third-quarter earnings Wednesday, growing its patient count from its current 12,000 to 25,000 by 2025 requires “maintaining even half our current growth rate for the next three years,” which seems “eminently doable,” CEO Martine Rothblatt said on a company earnings call Wednesday.

Sinclair posts 3Q profit due to soaring political advertising revenue

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. turned a profit in the third quarter on the strength of record political advertising even as core advertising fell amid economic uncertainty. The Hunt Valley-based media company saw its profit rise 10% to $21 million or 32 cents a share, compared to $19 million or 25 cents a share in the year-ago period. Excluding adjustments, Sinclair recorded a profit of $25 million. The earnings beat analysts’ estimates of 15 cents a share, according to Yahoo Finance.

Snyders retain Bank of America affiliate to explore ‘potential transactions’ involving the Washington Commanders

Dan and Tanya Snyder, owners of the NFL’s Washington Commanders, announced Wednesday they have retained BofA Securities, a division of Charlotte, North Carolina’s Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), to consider “potential transactions” involving the team. It was not clear in the statement if the Snyders are pursuing an all-out sale or just a stake in the franchise, which Dan Snyder purchased in 1999 for $800 million.

Electric morning
Calvin Butler will head Chicago-based Exelon, owner of BGE, under accelerated succession plan

Longtime Baltimore utility executive and business leader Calvin G. Butler Jr. will become one of the nation’s few Black Fortune 500 CEOs later this year after he was tapped Wednesday to become the next CEO of Exelon Corp., which owns Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. Under an accelerated succession plan announced late Wednesday, Exelon’s board of directors elected Butler to serve as president and CEO starting Dec. 31. Butler also will join Exelon’s board.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Montgomery County launches smart energy bus depot microgrid

AlphaStruxure, an Energy as a Service (EaaS) company, and Montgomery County officials celebrated the launch of the Brookville Smart Energy Bus Depot microgrid Tuesday, an integrated electric bus charging infrastructure project in Silver Spring. AphaStruxure led this project, a joint venture with Schneider Electric and global investment firm the Carlyle Group, which will power 70 electric buses, providing sustainable transport for Montgomery County residents. The Brookeville depot is the first microgrid to power electric buses in the greater Washington region. The 6.5 MW microgrid includes bus-height solar canopies, renewable natural gas-ready on-site generation, battery energy storage, and over 4.14 MW of charging capacity.

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