Business

Gov. Larry Hogan and Comptroller Peter Franchot have once again joined forces to call for an increase in H-2B visas as the peak of seafood processing season beckons. Hogan underscored the importance of addressing labor shortages and the economic impact of the industry to the region amid rising demand in a Feb. 15 letter to the Maryland Congressional Delegation. “These temporary workers have long represented an important and long-valued part of our workforce,” Hogan wrote. “They are even more critical now given the acute labor shortages and critical role the seafood industry plays in Maryland communities, especially those on the Eastern Shore.”

Under Armour Inc. must turn over documents related to the federal government’s investigation into the company’s accounting practices which led to a $9 million fine last year, a Los Angeles judge has ruled. Judge H. Jay Ford III in the Los Angeles Superior Court said in a Feb. 15 ruling that UCLA’s requests for the documents from Under Armour (NYSE: UAA) through discovery “clearly seek relevant information” pertinent to its case against the Baltimore-based sportswear maker. UCLA sued Under Armour in 2020 after the company prematurely terminated a 15-year, $280 million sponsorship deal earlier that year.

The delivery truck had a blue and yellow Ukrainian flag on its side. As it sat parked in Fells Point Wednesday afternoon, its owner unloaded brandies, beers, wines and honey pepper vodka, all from various parts of Ukraine. “We want to sell as much as we can and if we run out, they’ll bring more tomorrow,” said Ron Furman, owner of Max’s Taphouse in Fells Point. Furman organized the sale of Ukrainian spirits to fellow restaurant and bar owners this week as a way of showing support to the country that is enduring a withering attack from neighboring Russia.

I have a tasty morsel to kick off this week’s column. Faidley Seafood owners and the heads of Baltimore’s public market system say they are on track to bringing the legendary seafood stall over to the new Lexington Market when it opens later this summer. This is welcome news for area crab cake lovers, coming after drawn-out negotiations that were starting to look a bit grim earlier this year.

The National Aquarium has rehabilitated and returned 15 young sea turtles to their natural habitat off the coast of Florida. The turtles have been at the aquarium since November after they were found cold-stunned off the coast of Massachusetts, according to aquarium staff. During their stay, the juvenile turtles were treated for various ailments that are commonly associated with cold-stunning, such as pneumonia, dehydration, emaciation, shell lesions, skin lesions, eye lesions, and blood infections, staff said.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. is weighing its options as the asset manager grapples with the impact of economic sanctions on Russia after the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW) has about $615.6 million in assets under management exposed to Russia as of Jan. 31, according to publicly available data about the company’s mutual funds. The company’s exposure to Russia comes through four mutual funds that invest in emerging markets, including one focused on Eastern Europe

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. may no longer be a tenant at Baltimore’s beleaguered Harborplace but a year-old lawsuit with the property’s receiver is rolling on with a trial set for the fall. IVL Group LLC, which has served as the receiver for Harborplace for nearly three years, sued the operator and corporate owner of Bubba Gump in January 2021, charging they failed to pay $91,831 in monthly rent for two years.