Business

The latest development in the fallout from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse traces its roots back millennia. It also could contribute to litigation about who’s paying for what that’s expected to take years. The owner of the Dali, the massive cargo ship that lost power and knocked down the Key Bridge on March 26, killing six men, has declared “general average,” according to Darrell Wilson, a spokesperson for the ship’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd.

It has been a rough few weeks for port workers in Baltimore after the March 26 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Thousands of workers remain without work due to the collapse. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed the Maryland Protecting Opportunities and Regional Trade (PORT) Act into law to provide immediate relief, but those impacted said it’s taking too long.

One national retailer is set to open on Pratt Street next month while another has renewed its lease, the latest signs of a potential bounceback in downtown’s retail market. Burlington (NYSE: BURL), a discount clothing chain, is hiring new employees and stocking its 35,000-square-foot store at Lockwood Place in preparation for a May 3 opening, company officials said.

At a time when Maryland hospitals are under pressure to reduce wait times and control costs, more of them are turning to a rapidly expanding firm backed by private equity to operate their emergency departments. An Ohio-based company called U.S. Acute Care Solutions, or USACS, will soon expand from operating one emergency department for the University of Maryland Medical System to 10, increasing its already sizable footprint in the state.

Help is available Tuesday for those with insurance-related questions regarding the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, the Maryland Insurance Administration said Monday. Virtual “disaster center” sessions will be held Tuesday from noon to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The agency will offer 10-minute presentations followed by breakout sessions with representatives of state and federal agencies.

A Rockville-based manufacturer of pickleball and table tennis equipment will more than triple its footprint when it expands into a new headquarters over the course of the next year. Joola has inked a lease for 35,000 square feet at 915 Meeting St., in North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose mixed-use development. The company currently operates out of 10,000 square feet at 2101 Gaither Road In Rockville.

The magnitude of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse and the closure of the Port of Baltimore is beginning to sink in for a variety of business owners in Baltimore, such as Nicholas Johnson from Su Casa Furniture in Fells Point. Before the bridge’s collapse, Johnson wasn’t aware that the Port of Baltimore was a main hub for plywood. He worries how this may affect his furnishing business, but also how the port’s closure may impact Baltimore’s small business economy.

Dawn Myers understands what it takes to style textured hair, and it’s not just because she’s a Black woman, a cancer survivor and a businesswoman. She’s also a problem solver. Myers, 38, said she founded her company, The Most Inc., five years ago when she saw many people — primarily women of color — struggling to manage their hair. All the while, major conglomerates were making money off the same group of customers without understanding them “well enough to solve their problems.”