Business

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT), a Bethesda-based REIT, is in the early stages of plans to redevelop part of Federal Plaza Shopping Center in Rockville into mixed-use. The 6.5-acre parcel, dubbed Federal Plaza West, comprises the western part of the shopping center. It’s located at 1776 E. Jefferson St., a little over a mile north of the Red Line’s White Flint Metro station. It’s currently occupied by a retail building, which an application document says is “mostly vacant,” but which Federal’s website lists as home to Micro Center, an electronics store, TJ Maxx, Planet Fitness and Dollar Tree.

In 2012, Elliott Dennis Kleinman used his management position to execute a fraudulent billing scheme, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office. Wednesday, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and tax evasion, in connection with a kickback scheme that defrauded his employer of more than $20 million. Kleinman, 68, of Bel Air, was a longtime employee of a family-owned global business headquartered in New York that has manufacturing facilities in Belcamp and Abingdon.

A doctor who runs a chain of urgent care facilities headquartered in Gambrills is facing federal charges alleging he fraudulently “bundled” COVID-19 testing with more expensive services while filing Medicare claims. The three-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury accuses Dr. Ron Elfenbein, the founder and CEO of Chesapeake ERgent Care, of instructing employees to bundle COVID-19 tests with “more lucrative but medically unnecessary” services that were valued higher when submitting claims to Medicare.

Dr. Mark T. Gladwin was named as the next dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine after a national search to replace Dr. E. Albert Reece, who announced last year he would step down after 16 years of leading the medical school. Gladwin is a heart, vascular and lung physician and scientist, and currently serves as a professor and chair of the department of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Maryland’s hospitals went into the 2022 legislative session searching for solutions to the local and national health care workforce shortage — and came out with $80 million and a number of “key wins,” lobbyists said.  Divided between $30 million allocated to hospital workforce recruitment and retention in the governor’s initial budget and $50 million in the supplemental budget, the money will be used for various retention programs — including bonuses, trainings, student loan repayments and other initiatives that could encourage nurses and other health care workers to stay at their jobs.

After years of explosive growth, Maryland’s medical cannabis industry appears to be cooling off. According to data from state regulators, the number of medical cannabis patients in the state has been growing at its slowest rate since the program kicked off sales in 2017. Some say that’s not a concern, just part of the industry’s natural course.

The Maryland Tech Council, the largest technology and life science trade association in the state, announced Tuesday it has secured $2.5 million in state funding to grow the state’s life science workforce through its BioHub Maryland program. The funding is included in Gov. Larry Hogan’s new Maryland Cancer Moonshot Initiative to expand and accelerate cancer detection, screening, prevention, treatment, and research in the state.

Harford County Community College (HCC) is one of 23 community and technical colleges to receive a grant for biomanufacturing equipment from Scientific Bioprocessing, Inc. and BioMADE. HCC will receive equipment valued at about $16,000. The equipment will support student learning in the biotechnology degree program which prepares students for careers in biomedical research, biopharmaceuticals, agriculture, biofuels, biomanufacturing and more.

As part of AT&T’s $2 billion commitment to help bridge the digital divide and homework gap, AT&T contributed $500,000 to PCs for People in Baltimore to provide free access to digital tools and digital skills training for students, families and adults in Baltimore and across Maryland. The funding supported under-resourced adults and children in Baltimore by helping them get access to computers.