Business

MedStar Union Memorial Hospital opened a new outpatient center on Wednesday to help patients struggling with heart conditions get care without traveling across different floors in a crowded hospital. The MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute combines disciplines like advanced heart failure, vascular surgery and other cardiac specialties in one place. The 10,000-square-foot building at the corner of Calvert Street and E 33rd Street in North Baltimore was once home to the hospital’s counseling center, now located across the street.

Frederick businesses can get help with improvements to their exteriors with the approval of a grant program that will be distributed to three business and community organizations in the city. The city’s aldermen approved the $100,000 grant from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development on Thursday.

After two terms of rough negotiations with Maryland’s executive branch, unionized state employees flocked to the State House for the first time in nearly a decade Thursday to watch Gov. Wes Moore and Department of Budget and Management Secretary Helene Grady sign their new contract. “Gone are the days when you have state leadership that works in opposition to labor leadership,” Moore, a Democrat, said to a cheering crowd.

Three years ago, the grocery store chain Lidl tore down a beloved neighborhood market on Belair Road in Hamilton to open one of its locations, promising to serve surrounding communities with “high quality groceries and low prices.” It has been sitting empty for well over a year. The closing has upset residents who have many questions about what’s going on. It turns out a supply chain issue with the refrigeration system caused the delays to the opening Lidl’s 5950 Belair Road location, according to an email from Councilwoman Danielle McCray provided to The Banner by a resident.

Skyline Technology Solutions, a 20-year-old IT company, is expanding its Anne Arundel County headquarters near Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The firm recently renewed its lease for 29,000 square feet at Aviation Business Park at 6958 Aviation Blvd. in Glen Burnie. At the same time, it signed a new lease for 16,000 square feet at the site. Mike Roden of CBRE represented Skyline Technology Solutions and Lacey Johansson of St. John Properties represented the landlord in the deal.

Frederick County has launched a loan program to help underserved small-business owners who are in or graduated from the county’s entrepreneur mentorship program get early-stage investments for their businesses. Individuals who participated in or completed the county’s EmPOWER Mentorship Program can now apply for loans of up to $10,000 through the EmPOWER Loan Program to help grow their businesses, according to a news release from the county.