Business

JPMorgan Chase is investing $8.45 million in nonprofit organizations and initiatives in Baltimore to help residents boost access to affordable homeownership and increase wealth among communities of color, the bank’s head of corporate responsibility said Tuesday. The massive financial entity is doubling down on the city, pledging to invest at least $20 million on philanthropic programs and low-cost loans by 2027.

If you follow Lane Harlan on Instagram, you might get the idea that the restaurateur spends most of her time hosting dinner parties that get chronicled in Bon Appétit magazine, sipping wine along the Seine or frolicking in a field with her adorable baby girl.

The reality is, Harlan spends most of her time working, and has since she was about 14. “I’ve worked at a 24-hour Denny’s, I’ve worked at the hibachi grill in a kimono,” she reminisced, sitting in the Old Goucher courtyard next to her and her husband’s natural wine bar, Fadensonnen.

A Los Angeles chicken chain opened its first Maryland location this week, becoming the latest company to join the chicken craze in Greater Baltimore. Crimson Coward Nashville Hot Chicken debuted at 7090 Deepage Drive in Columbia on Monday. The Howard County restaurant comes as a franchise group looks to open three other Crimson Coward locations in Greater Baltimore this year.

The first time Vivien Bang grilled the outside of a rice ball in a little bit of sesame oil six years ago, she knew she had struck gold. “He was just like, ‘What are you doing? You have to do something with this,’” she remembers her then-boyfriend and now husband, Luke, telling her when he tried the new version of the snack she’d been making for years for friends and family.

Eight years have moved by quickly for STEER Tech CEO Anuja Sonalker, not just in the growth and success of her autonomous vehicle company but in cities and states embracing the industry as a catalyst for growth in infrastructure. “We’ve had some great last few years,” said Sonalker, who in the last five years was named an All-Star by Automotive News and a distinguished alumnus by the University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering.

Salesforce executives told investors that deals are shrinking or getting delayed. Dell said its margin is getting smaller. Okta highlighted macroeconomic challenges. And Veeva’s CEO said on his company’s earnings call that generative artificial intelligence has been “a competing priority” for customers. Add it all up and it was a brutal week for software and enterprise tech.

A huge mixed-use health care development is planned for Montgomery County’s White Oak region. The Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate will break ground next year on a 280-acre mixed-use health care development next to the Food and Drug Administration headquarters. Viva White Oak is approved for 12 million square feet of mixed-use development. It is near the Adventist Health Care White Oak Medical Center, off Cherry Hill Road.