Business

Medical cannabis has grown into a $600-million-a-year industry in Maryland since the first pre-rolled joint was sold legally in 2017, but Black Baltimoreans are largely left out. Baltimore, which is 62% Black, has 10 dispensaries. Some are locally owned. Others are owned by multistate corporations. None have majority Black ownership. And only one dispensary is located in a Black neighborhood. Now, Maryland is poised to legalize adult-use cannabis, meaning more dispensaries, more jobs and more money.

Rebecca Alban Hoffberger is tied to the train tracks in the old-timey photograph used as an invitation to the American Visionary Art Museum’s gala last fall. A locomotive belching black smoke and emblazoned with the word “retirement” is barreling down the tracks. The train’s cowcatcher resembles a set of giant metal teeth, as if Hoffberger’s retirement from the American Visionary Art Museum, which she incorporated 33 years ago, threatens to chomp her to bits.

A former silk mill dating back more than 100 years is under new ownership and renovation of the historic landmark is underway. Located on East Railroad Street in Lonaconing, the Klotz Throwing Company — sometimes written as Klots — opened in 1907, producing silk and rayon until it was closed in 1957 during a labor dispute. At its peak in the 1920s, the facility employed more than 300 peop The former mill in Allegany County was purchased in March by Brandon Sloan, a Lonaconing resident, from heirs of the late owner Herb Crawford. .

The short-staffed crab processing industry got some relief Thursday with the addition of 35,000 H-2B Visas expected by the second half of Fiscal Year 2022. The announcement by Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.-1st, confirmed the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor approved the move to bolster the seafood industry.

A wind farm developer is funding an $11 million research initiative to measure how wind turbines built in the Atlantic Ocean will affect local and regional marine life. US Wind, the Baltimore-based subsidiary of Italian renewable energy firm Renexia SpA, is partnering with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science to fund three research projects over the next 10 years focused on marine mammals, fish and birds. University scientists will analyze the animals in an 80,000-acre area located 13 miles off the coast of Ocean City that US Wind federally leased to build offshore wind turbines.

Greater Washington Partnership CEO JB Holston is stepping down, with Thursday as his last day, though he’ll stay on as a senior adviser to the board and leadership through the end of the year, per the leadership’s request, the organization has confirmed to the Washington Business Journal. His sudden departure comes just one day after the regional business alliance held a high-profile event, featuring Vice President Kamala Harris, to announce billions of dollars in commitments — some of it already allotted or spent — from 25 of its member organizations toward inclusive growth across five years.

It’s been Karen Komisar’s dream for three decades to run her own business. For years, the Ellicott City resident worked with Animal Advocates of Howard County, helping the organization raise funds for pet adoptions. Meanwhile, she rescued her own dogs and cats. In September, Komisar left her job of 25 years in health care sales with plans to open Sea Dog Pet Boutique. The business opened its doors Monday at 172 Main St., in Annapolis.