Business

Spirit Airlines canceled its multibillion-dollar plan to merge with ultra-low-cost competitor Frontier Airlines after failing to win over shareholders. The company will instead pursue a deal with JetBlue Airways Corp. “While we are disappointed that we had to terminate our proposed merger with Frontier, we are proud of the dedicated work of our team members on the transaction over the past many months,” said Ted Christie, CEO of Spirit Airlines.

Lithium ion batteries are found in many products, including cellphones and other portable electronics, as well as electric vehicles. The batteries, which use liquid electrolytes, have drawbacks, however.  One of the biggest is their tendency to overheat, which can lead to fires. To address that problem, Beltsville-based Ion Storage Systems has developed a solid-state battery that uses nonflammable materials. The technology was created by Eric Wachsman, who founded the company in 2019 and serves as its executive chairman.

Firing the latest salvo in the legal battle over the fortune of Peter Angelos, his younger son is asking a judge to invalidate changes that the Baltimore Orioles owner’s wife and his elder son made over control of the trust in which the team and other possessions have been placed. In a motion filed Monday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, Louis Angelos argues that his brother, John, the Orioles’ chairman and CEO, has gone against their ailing father’s desire that his two sons share equally in the decision-making and distribution of his vast holdings.

A Maryland energy company and Frostburg State University have received grants from the Maryland Energy Administration to jointly explore the feasibility of converting a coal plant to house a small nuclear reactor to generate electricity. The Rockville-based company, X-energy, develops advanced small modular reactors, or SMRs. The nuclear reactors, smaller than conventional reactors, are designed to be built off-site and transported to the installation location. Proponents maintain they are safer and more cost-effective than conventional reactors.

Developers of the Port Covington waterfront community in South Baltimore have provided $2.5 million in grants and other funding to help revitalize neighborhoods near the site where offices, shops and apartments are under construction. The distribution over the past year was announced Thursday and marks the latest round of investments through a community benefits agreement between the developers and neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Cherry Hill, Curtis Bay, Lakeland, Mount Winans and Westport. The money is designed to boost economic development, education and transportation.

If only we could glide around on the ice on this scorching hot day. But it won’t be long before tourists and residents alike will be able to take to the ice at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor thanks to $300,000 in grants from two of the city’s largest philanthropic names. The Pearlstone Family Fund and the Joseph & Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds have each committed $150,000 to keep the Inner Harbor Ice Rink going through the winter holiday season for the next three years, the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore announced on Monday.

Cloudforce, a consultancy that specializes in Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem, is tripling its office footprint at Oxon Hill’s National Harbor, citing the area’s attractive amenities and a congested tech sector across the river in Northern Virginia. The firm, owned by Metrolink Networks LLC, had already been located at National Harbor. Cloudforce recently expanded its footprint to 15,000 square feet there, occupying the top floor of 120 Waterfront St. and putting its name on the building.

The Justice Department is expected to file a lawsuit against some of the largest poultry producers in the U.S. along with a proposed settlement seeking to end what it claims have been longstanding deceptive and abusive practices for workers. The suit is being filed in federal court in Maryland naming Cargill, Sanderson Farms and Wayne Farms, along with a data consulting company known as Weber, Meng, Sahl and Co., according to three people familiar with the matter. The people could not publicly discuss the specific details of the suit before the filing was made public and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.