Business

America’s passenger railroad plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, Amtrak said Thursday, joining a growing list of transportation carriers and agencies that have made commitments to reduce their carbon footprints. Amtrak said it also plans to reduce diesel fuel usage through improved technology and use carbon-free electricity by 2030. The carrier, which operates more than 300 trains serving more than 500 destinations daily, said it will invest in research in collaboration with states and experts to advance innovations in fuel cells, hydrogen, batteries and other zero-emission technologies.

Holland Pump Company, an independent specialty pump rental and dewatering solutions provider in West Palm Beach, Florida, announced Monday it has completed the acquisitions of Jessup-based Pump & Power Equipment Corp. and Power Equipment of Trevose, Pennsylvania in a multi-company transaction. These are the fourth and fifth acquisitions since Holland Pump partnered with XPV Water Partners, adding three branches to Holland Pump’s extensive pump fleet and complete dewatering services offering. The acquisitions increase Holland Pump’s capabilities to service municipal, construction, industrial and mining industries in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, northern Virginia, and Delaware.

The nonprofit William & Lanaea C. Featherstone Foundation awarded 30 scholars with $3,000 merit-based scholarships during an awards ceremony Sept. 23. Travis E. Mitchell, senior vice president and chief content officer at Maryland Public Television, gave the keynote address. Catalina Rodriguez Lima, director of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, was presented with the Featherstone Changemaker Award, a prize that honors an influential leader who drives social change and makes a positive impact in the community.

An apartment management company owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, has settled with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office over claims the company mistreated renters by ignoring serious maintenance issues and charging illegal fees. The settlement includes a $3.25 million penalty and the requirement that the company, Westminster Management LLC, pay restitution to current and former tenants. Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said at a news conference that Westminster used its “vastly superior economic power” to take advantage of tenants who often struggled to pay rent and support their families.

Baltimore Sun reporters and editors will soon move to another workspace as the storied newspaper shuts down its Port Covington newsroom at Sun Park this year. Owners of the 185-year-old newspaper did not renew the paper’s lease with Sagamore Ventures, MAG Partners and McFarlane Partners at the site, said MaryAnne Gilmartin, CEO of MAG, and will leave by late December. The move follows the shutdown of the Sun’s printing operation at the 250,000-square-foot plant off Interstate 95 this year, with the giant presses dismantled and sold off. Under Armour founder Kevin Plank, whose Sagamore Ventures is one of Port Covington’s developers, acquired The Sun property in 2014 for $46.5 million.

Marriott International held a grand opening this week for its new global headquarters, a towering 21-story building that forms just one part of the changing landscape in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. The gleaming new office-hotel complex and other tall new buildings in the central core of downtown Bethesda on Wisconsin Avenue include the Wilson, a 23-story office tower which houses the headquarters for local television channel Fox 5 DC, and the 22-story Avocet Tower, a space for offices and a hotel. While the towering commercial buildings stand out among the multiple construction projects recently completed or now underway, it is residential construction that seen the biggest investment.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, a Hunt Valley-based TV station owner, dismissed as “speculation” a report that it’s trying to sell its Diamond Sports unit to three professional sports leagues, even as plans were confirmed Thursday for the launch of new regional sports streaming services around the country next week. Sinclair bought the regional sports networks for $10.6 billion in 2019, but they were hit hard by pandemic-related disruptions and “cord cutting,” in which many fans have abandoned traditional cable TV.