A push for a citywide report on tax increment financing (TIF) and the potential to use such bond sales to help renew underserved communities and wipe out vacant buildings was defeated by a Baltimore City Council committee Tuesday. Councilwoman Odette Ramos in April sought the report through an ordinance that would require several city agencies, including the Finance Department and Department of Housing and Community Development, to work with advocates to study TIFs and their impact on the city’s economic development. The quest was nixed, though, after an hour-long hearing by the council’s Ways and Means Committee chaired by Councilman Eric Costello, who voted against the ordinance.
Matt Gallagher of Goldseker Foundation joins Nestor at Union Brewing to talk Baltimore beer and cheer. Pearl Jam, great local eats and just a wee bit of politics and how Wes Moore could make our city better from the Governor’s chair.
The Cordish Companies’ Live Casino & Hotel Maryland earned the highest recognition across all major categories in the Best of Gaming 2022 Awards, a competition determined by readers of Casino Player Magazine, a national gaming industry publication. Live Casino dominated the Maryland casino category, claiming 17 first-place prizes, including Best Overall Gaming Resort, Best Hotel, Best Rooms, Best Casino, Best Players Club, Best Comps, Best Promotions, Best Table Games, Best High Limit Room, Best Poker Room, Best Poker Tournaments, Best Non-Smoking Casino, Best
Johns Hopkins has warned nearly 300,000 patients that their doctors, nurses and other health care providers may no longer accept CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield health insurance as soon as Dec. 5, jeopardizing patients’ access to care. Hopkins and CareFirst are at an impasse over rates the insurance company pays for care at Hopkins, a major provider of primary, specialized and outpatient surgical services in the region. CareFirst officials accused Hopkins of putting “the people we collectively serve” in the middle of contract negotiations that began in June, an allegation denied by Kevin W. Sowers, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine.
The Johns Hopkins University on Monday released its draft memorandum of understanding between itself and the Baltimore Police Department. The document, which activists have long wanted released, is a necessary step for the university to field its own private, armed police force. The university will host its first town hall about the memorandum Thursday to discuss details and address questions.
A South Korean nonprofit is the newest partner in Maryland’s program that seeks to attract international businesses to the state by offering resources such as mentorship and a temporary location to set up shop. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who is in the midst of a 12-day Asia trade promotion trip, announced Monday that the Korean Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups Agency (KOSME) will join the state’s Global Gateway Initiative, according to a press release from the governor’s office. This partnership will couple Maryland’s Global Gateway program with KOSME’s Global Youth Startup Academy, which seeks to assist up-and-coming technology companies that are looking to reach overseas markets.
Defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp. unveiled a three-story, 55,000-square-foot addition to its Linthicum facility on Monday, more than doubling the size of the manufacturing and research hub. The center, which focuses on military applications of aerospace technologies, is intended to increase how fast the company can manufacture and test equipment for outer space. To help achieve that goal, Northrop Grumman installed robotic manufacturing, augmented reality technologies and other labor-saving devices as part of the expansion.
Layoffs have been on the rise in the tech world for several months, but so have salaries for tech workers. It’s one of many disconnects in an intense battle for talent that continues to vex employers — particularly those companies on the hunt for workers with tech skills. “The hiring climate this year has been full of contradictions and challenges,” said Josh Brenner, CEO of Hired Inc. “We’ve seen climbing salaries, aggressive hiring, and layoffs — all at once.” Hired, a San Francisco-based job matching platform, recently analyzed more than 907,000 job interview requests and conducted a survey of more than 2,000 tech workers to spotlight changing dynamics in the recruitment arena.
Maryland voters are expected to overwhelmingly support a ballot measure this November that would legalize adult-use cannabis, but a political group isn’t leaving anything to chance. MD Can ‘22 is a political committee formed in May to advocate for the passage of the adult-use cannabis ballot question. It is bankrolled almost entirely by a $50,000 donation from Trulieve, a cannabis company with dispensaries in eight states, including three in Maryland — in Halethorpe, Timonium and Rockville.
The State Employees’ Credit Union of Maryland is putting its name on the University of Maryland football stadium in a 10-year, $11 million deal that could net the athletics department an estimated $300,000 to $400,000 each year in additional revenue. SECU, the state’s largest credit union with more than $5 billion in assets, will pay Maryland Athletics a guaranteed $11 million for the naming rights to the Big Ten stadium, home of the Maryland Terrapins. The SECU Stadium name will be unveiled on Oct. 1 when the Terps take on Michigan State in the Terps’ home opener in College Park. SECU already has its name on SECU Arena, the home of the Towson Tigers basketball team. That $4.75 million deal, forged in 2013, ends in one year.
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