Despite a low unemployment rate and a positive jobs outlook, economists warn Maryland may face a soft recession in 2024. Maryland’s unemployment rate reached 1.6% in September and only climbed one-tenth of a point in November to 1.7%. The rate is the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of any state since 1976. But economists warn this historic milestone does not paint the true picture.

Baltimore is not on the verge of landing a pro outdoor soccer team, nor are plans to add such a squad past the proverbial midfield. But after a report published Wednesday, the ball is now rolling. In a report that Crossroads Consulting Services submitted to the Maryland Stadium Authority, four sites were identified as potential locales for a soccer stadium with a capacity between 7,500 and 10,000. The hypothetical venue would host a D.C. United minor league team, competing in the MLS Next Pro league.

The holiday rush has begun at Reagan National Airport and airline customers can expect new travel protections after the Southwest Airlines meltdown last year. 7.5 million people are expected to fly for the holiday season and, if you remember, this time in 2023 — it was pure chaos due to the Southwest disaster. But since then, there’s been big improvements to transparency and making holiday travel more efficient.

 

 

A decades-old shopping complex in Northwest Baltimore has changed hands for $48.3 million. Reisterstown Road Plaza at 6564 Reisterstown Road sold to Baltimore-based Tide Capital Realty in a deal that closed last month, state records show. The Class B mall is located in the city near the Metro station on Reisterstown Road with anchors that include Giant and Home Depot and several smaller shops and restaurants.

Baltimore agreed to a $100,000 settlement Wednesday to close out a lawsuit filed by rail company CSX after a city contractor dumped sewage-tainted water at the company’s Curtis Bay coal terminal while a city inspector was using the bathroom. The settlement, approved unanimously Wednesday by the Board of Estimates, stemmed from a 2018 incident in which a city contractor was working on one of several large sanitary sewer lines that runs beneath CSX’s property in South Baltimore.

National ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s is opening a shop at the Baltimore Peninsula development at the newly-opened Rye House apartment building. The shop, which will open next year, will sell ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and non-dairy products. Ben & Jerry’s was founded in 1978 in Burlington, VT by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. Ben & Jerry’s flavors can be found in grocery stores, restaurants, and at more than 200 of its owns stores throughout the country.

Constellation Energy Corp. is closing 2023 the same way it started the year, buying back its own stock. The Baltimore-based clean energy giant will spend another $1 billion on stock buybacks, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week. The latest round of buybacks comes as Constellation (Nasdaq: CEG) is nearing the end of its 2023 goal of buying back $1 billion worth of its stock.

Baltimore saw massive economic growth last year. Why? Because of the pandemic. While much of the world dealt with economic stress, Baltimore’s economy benefited from the stress on the global supply chain, experts told The Banner. The city’s gross domestic product grew by 5.9% in 2022, outpacing nearly every other part of Maryland — and most large economies in the nation, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

 

Choice Hotels held a ribbon-cutting Tuesday for the grand opening of its new North Bethesda headquarters, with many public officials, including Gov. Wes Moore (D), in attendance. The headquarters, which takes up a little over four floors at 915 Meeting St., will provide a workspace for around 400 employees and is over 108,000 square feet, according to Moe Rama, PR manager for Choice Hotels International.

The Orioles’ wish list for Camden Yards includes removing upper deck seats in various locations and creating more “social spaces,” according to an exhibit included as part of the team’s just-announced lease agreement. The plan would include taking out an unspecified number of left field upper deck seats to accommodate social spaces and a “relocated and expanded Kids’ Zone,” the exhibit says.