Business

Brendon Hudson got his start in the restaurant business in the dining room at Velleggia’s, his grandfather’s Little Italy restaurant. At 7 or 8 years old, he helped out as a host — “seating everyone at the wrong tables” — and eventually worked his way back to the kitchen. When Hudson’s grandfather, Frank Velleggia Sr., sold the restaurant in 2008, the budding chef decided to enroll in the Culinary School of America. These days, Hudson and his partner, David Monteagudo, run Allora, a petite Roman cafe and dinner spot in Mt. Vernon.

Young area athletes have the opportunity to take advantage of several summer camps being offered by McDaniel College in the upcoming weeks. The Green Terror Boys Basketball Day Camp will have two sessions, the first starting Monday and running through Friday. The second session runs Aug. 1-5. The camp is for boys ages 7-17 and is directed by McDaniel men’s basketball coach Kevin Curley with McDaniel players serving as coaches and counselors.

A $200 million project to overhaul the aging Baltimore Arena is officially underway, with an ambitious timeline and the musician Pharrell Williams as a new financial backer. Construction work on the 60-year-old arena has already begun, but leaders from venue developer Oak View Group joined with Mayor Brandon M. Scott, officials from the Baltimore Development Corp. and representatives of the project’s financial backers for a groundbreaking Thursday to give the renovation its ceremonial kickoff.

The state legislator who has led the charge to lure the Washington Commanders to Virginia gave up the fight Thursday, saying the latest controversy surrounding the team has proved too much to overcome, a substantial setback for the team in its search for a new location for its stadium. The news came as a group of D.C. legislators declared on Thursday they would not support bringing the team to the city, further muddying prospects for the team’s ultimate location.

Downtown Annapolis’ Sailor Oyster Bar suffered heavy damage during a fast-growing Wednesday evening fire that prompted restaurant employees to quickly escort patrons out of the business. As they assessed the damage Thursday, the popular seafood joint’s owners said they expect it to take months to reopen. Heavy smoke could be seen billowing from the restaurant at 196 West St. on Wednesday evening, as 56 firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour to extinguish the two-alarm fire. No one was injured in the blaze.

The Gaithersburg biotech is now a step away from potentially getting its first product to market, after the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee gave its nod to Novavax’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine at its meeting Tuesday. The FDA, which typically listens to the advisory committee’s recommendations, must now decide whether to greenlight the protein-based shot for emergency use authorization for adults in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would then have to endorse its use.

It seems the Ministry of Brewing gospel is spreading. The Upper Fells Point brewery will open a new production facility on Greenmount Avenue by the end of the year, according to plans approved Tuesday by the city’s Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals. The extra space will allow Ministry of Brewing to ramp up production and can more beers for distribution without infringing on sacred taproom space.