Business

Maryland’s unemployment rate dipped below 4% last month for the first time since the start of the pandemic as a strong labor market helped quell fears of an impending recession. New figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday show Maryland’s unemployment rate was at 3.9% in July, a slight drop after holding steady at 4% in May and June. The state’s unemployment rate has now dropped 1.5 percentage points since January but remains above the national rate of 3.5% and higher than Maryland’s pre-pandemic mark of 3.3% in February 2020. Maryland is one of 10 states and D.C. that have unemployment rates higher than the national rate.

Baltimore County announced plans Friday to acquire the former Sears property at Security Square Mall as part of an effort to revitalize the 40-year-old Woodlawn center. Under the $10 million contract with property owner TF Baltimore MD LLC, Baltimore County will acquire about 18 acres of land that includes a 202,653 square-foot building directly connected to the mall, according to a Friday news release from Baltimore County. “The Security Square Mall site is a critical anchor for the communities on the west side of Baltimore County, and our administration is committed to revitalizing the area and making sure it will serve as a vibrant community hub for years to come,” County Executive Johnny Olszewski said in a news release.

Beloved southern-style chicken finger joint Raising Cane’s is opening a location in Gambrills in January, a restaurant spokesperson said. The restaurant, known for its chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries and Texas toast, will employ about 115 people at the new location near the intersection of Crain Highway and Johns Hopkins Road, spokesperson Julia Doyle said. A Towson storefront will open this winter. And a third site in Bowie on Crain Highway and Heritage Boulevard will follow in early 2024.

A few yards from Isabel Espinoza’s Langley Park apartment, the area shows signs of the labors of this working-class immigrant neighborhood: Carpet-cleaning trucks sit in parking lots, corner street vendors sell fruit cups with chile and lime, and men walk into three-story brick buildings, their jeans stained with paint. Then Espinoza pointed to the windows.

The 300-foot-tall smokestacks that have towered over the Gunpowder River and its creeks for over a half-century are expected to fall Friday morning in Bowleys Quarters as demolition crews tear down the remaining structures of a shuttered coal-fired power plant. The planned destruction will remove the last remaining structures at the defunct Charles P. Crane Generating Station, and comes as Baltimore County planners are weighing a request by property owner Forsite Development Inc. to extend public water and sewer lines to the property.

CNN has canceled its weekly “Reliable Sources” show on the news media, and said Thursday that its host, Brian Stelter, a Towson University alumnus, is leaving the network. The show’s last broadcast will be Sunday. CNN has been looking to cut costs but also to put forth a less opinionated product. Stelter has written a book, “Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth” and been critical of Fox News, making him a frequent target of CNN’s conservative critics.

Mariner Finance faces a lawsuit by five states and Washington, D.C., that alleges the Baltimore-based mortgage lender charges customers for hidden additional products they either didn’t agreed to buy or didn’t know about. The suit, led by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, claims Mariner added hundreds to thousands of dollars to the total amount consumers owed. The suit says Mariner charged Pennsylvanians $19.5 million for add-ons from 2015 to 2018 and charged another $8 million in interest for these premiums in the same period.

The developer of a new luxury town home development in Annapolis has pledged to alter his site plans, a move that appeases City Council members and neighbors in surrounding communities. Ward 4 Alderwoman Sheila Finlayson said Tuesday that she had a very productive meeting with Nelson Epega, CEO of Bando Investment Group and developer of Athens Annapolis, a 48-home luxury community under construction south of Aris T. Allen Boulevard. Most significantly, Epega agreed to seek approval from the State Highway Administration for an access road off the four-lane split highway.