Business

Years ago, when Warren’s Barbershop was located in the Snowden River Shopping Center, David Clark walked into the shop. He was new to the area and working as a door-to-door salesman. Shop owner Julius Warren Jr., commonly known as Mr. Julius, asked Clark if he knew how to cut hair. Clark had cut hair a little in college, but nothing too extensive. Still, Mr. Julius brought him under his wing.

The state needs to be “smarter” about how it funds workforce development programs after a $4.7 million cut in federal funds this year with more cuts expected next year, Maryland Labor Secretary Portia Wu told lawmakers Tuesday. “We’re very dependent on the federal funds,” Wu told a virtual meeting of the Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee. “So we are in a situation where state investments in workforce are going to be critical in the coming years.”

Nine nonprofits across Baltimore will receive grants from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to tackle the city’s vacant housing crisis. The bank will distribute roughly $4 million to nonprofit organizations and bring them together to create what it is calling the Baltimore Housing Innovation Cohort. The cohort‘s goal is to increase the housing supply in the city and make home ownership more affordable.

United Airlines said Tuesday that it is starting a $1.5 billion share buyback as the carrier reported higher-than-expected earnings for the busy summer travel season and forecast strong results for the last three months of the year. United expects to earn an adjusted $2.50 to $3.00 a share in the fourth quarter, compared to $2.00 a share a year earlier and the $2.68 analysts polled by LSEG estimated.

Maryland is continuing to make strides in the fast-growing cyber and skilled trades industries. In January, Gov. Wes Moore announced the establishment of the Maryland Cybersecurity Task Force in response to rising threats within the state and in September Howard Community College (HCC) broke ground on a Workforce Development and Trades Center.

The Maryland Association of Counties (MACo), a nonprofit, nonpartisan voice for all 24 counties in the state, is proposing that solar companies with state approval to build solar farms on agricultural land, be required to pay $3,500 to $5,000 per acre to the county where farms are located. The money would be used in that county for conservation or agricultural preservation. “MACo has been having discussions with all the state agencies and with the solar industry and so on, recognizing that next spring there’s more than likely going to be a push for further solar legislation,” Chris Heyn, Carroll County’s Department of Planning and Land Management director said at a solar work session last week.

A Hanover company has created a product that could change how data centers are built. Ciena Corp. has developed a new product that will enable companies to build bigger data centers by better connecting the millions of computers inside them. The telecommunications and cloud services company (NYSE: CIEN) expects the product will be ready by the end of 2025. Helen Xenos, senior director of portfolio marketing for Ciena, said the company developed the product – called the 1.6 terabyte coherent-lite pluggable — because the existing technology supporting data centers is reaching its limits.

About 165 million Americans get their health insurance through work, and yet most don’t spend much time considering what their employer is offering in the way of benefits and what it will cost. In fact, employees only spent about 45 minutes a year, on average, deciding which benefit options suit them best, a report from Aon found. Open enrollment season, which typically runs through early December, is an opportunity to take a closer look at what’s at stake.