Carnival Pride to resume Baltimore cruises in 2015 after brief exit

Ryan Sharrow 

New Media Editor- Baltimore Business Journal

Carnival Cruise Lines plans to bring back its Pride ship to Baltimore in 2015 following a brief departure stemming from new federal fuel regulations.

The world’s largest cruise company said last year it would reposition the cruise this November from the Port of Baltimore to Tampa, Fla., where the boat will begin seven-day cruises to Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

Those plans will continue. But following approval in September by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard of Carnival’s plan to reduce ship emissions, the ship will again start year-round cruises from Baltimore beginning in March 2015.

 Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland health exchange turns to brokers for help enrolling individuals, businesses

Sarah Gantz 

Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland’s health exchange is turning to the existing broker community to help pick up the slack for its struggling website.

The exchange board on Monday announced a new program with the state’s largest insurance broker membership organizations that would set up a designated help line for people who want to connect with a local broker for help navigating the website and enrolling in coverage. The exchange also announced a deal for small businesses to sign up for tax credits and health plans approved for sale on Maryland Health Connection through brokers and insurance companies beginning in April.

The exchange’s own Small Business Health Options Program is again being delayed until January 2015, the same time the federal exchange’s small business program is expected to launch.

 Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal

What’s an economy with a ‘human purpose’? O’Malley explains in his State of the State

Governor Martin O'Malley's State of the State address focuses raising the minimum wage.

 

Ryan Sharrow 

New Media Editor- Baltimore Business Journal

Gov. Martin O’Malley delivered his final State of the State address Thursday afternoon in Annapolis, focusing on the middle class and raising the minimum wage.

In his speech, O’Malley said raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 “is going to create more and better customers for Maryland businesses.”

“And that is why raising the minimum wage in Maryland, is not only good for the hundreds of thousands who will see a boost in their paychecks, it is good for every Marylander, because it is good for our economy,” according to O’Malley’s prepared speech. “It’s time to raise the minimum wage.”

Read full article here from Baltimore Business Journal

Changes to Maryland's estate tax exemption gains steam

Gary Haber 

Staff Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

A bill raising the exemption for Maryland’s estate tax has won support of a powerful backer — Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr.

Miller is one of a list of Senators who have signed onto Senate Bill 155. The bill would over four years raise the size of estates that don’t have to pay tax to $4 million by 2016, up from $1 million currently.

House Minority Leader David Brinkley, R-Frederick and Carroll is the bill’s primary sponsor. But the bill has also attracted bipartisan support from Democrats Miller, Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore County and James Mathias Jr., D-Somerset, Worcester and Wicomico.

Read full article here from Baltimore Business Journal

Baltimore's crowded industrial market is pushing developers to Prince George's County

Kevin Litten 

Staff Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

The Baltimore region is so tight on industrial real estate, developers have started eyeing sites in Prince George’s County for new warehouses.

Jones Lang LaSalle Americas Inc. and Colliers International Baltimore both have identified Prince George’s as a likely target for industrial growth given what Colliers called “an alarming lack of space” in the Baltimore market.

Prince George’s “remains an important and strategic location” for Baltimore,” Colliers wrote, with more than 21.4 million square feet of industrial space, 14.7 percent of which is vacant.

 Read full article here from Baltimore Business Journal

O'Malley hedges support for changes to Maryland's estate tax

Gary Haber 

Staff Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Wednesday said he would work with legislative leaders to possibly raise the exemption for Maryland's estate tax, but he did not commit to making any changes.

"I'm for what works and for what's fiscally responsible," O'Malley said at a press conference in Annapolis.

Two bills have been introduced in the state Senate so far this session that would "recouple" estate tax exemptions under Maryland law to bring them in line with the federal standard. Both bills would raise the size of Maryland estates that are not subject to the estate tax.

Read full article here from Baltimore Business Journal

A 15-minute train commute between Baltimore and D.C. is getting closer to reality

Ryan McDonald 

Digital Producer- Baltimore Business Journal

A 15-minute commute from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., might be a possibility after all.

The Greater Baltimore Committee in 2012 supported a plan to use maglev trains to produce the next generation of high-speed rail in the Northeast corridor. But the love affair eventually faded and talk of maglev trains coming to the Baltimore area waned.

But the Japanese government is promising to lend the United States half the cost of building the first “Super-Maglev” train. The high-speed train would reduce the 37-mile commute between Baltimore and D.C. from one hour to a blazing-fast 15 minutes.

Read full article here from Baltimore Business Journal

The case for a $12 minimum wage in Baltimore

James Briggs 

Associate Editor- Baltimore Business Journal

Greater Baltimore workers should earn a minimum wage of somewhere between $11.55 and $13.85 per hour, according to a suggestion by University of Massachusetts Amherst economist Arindrajit Dube.

Dube in a New York Times op-ed pointed out that even if the Democrats' proposed $10.10 national minimum wage becomes law — which is unlikely in today's political climate — that means full-time employees would still only earn 37 percent of the median wage in the United States.

The 1968 minimum wage, he adds, was equivalent to $10.60 an hour in today's money, or 55 percent of the median full-time wage. But even meeting that threshold would ignore the obvious — that it's more expensive to live in some areas of the country than others.

 Read full article here from Baltimore Business Journal

Nielsen cutting 333 jobs in Columbia

Ryan Sharrow 

New Media Editor- Baltimore Business Journal

Nielsen plans to lay off 333 workers at its Columbia offices, just months after the media research firm closed its $1.3 billion acquisition of Arbitron.

The job cuts will start on Jan. 14, according to a filing with the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The layoffs will take place at Nielsen Audio’s offices on Patuxent Woods Drive, the filing said. The offices were formerly Arbitron, which was rebranded after the merger closed in September.

Arbitron was one of the largest employers in Howard County. The media research firm had a total of 1,000 workers in the U.S., including about 860 in the Baltimore area.

Read full article here from Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland again delays small business health exchange

Sarah Gantz 

Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland Health Benefit Exchange’s small business program will be delayed until April to allow health leaders more time to test the online insurance system.

The Small Business Health Options Program is one of several aspects of the state’s new virtual insurance marketplace that the exchange board agreed to delay in order to address more pressing technical issues with the marketplace’s website.

The exchange’s small business program has already been delayed once. Small businesses were originally supposed to begin enrolling in insurance through the exchange in October, when the marketplace opened to individuals. But it was delayed until January to allow more time to fix technical problems. If the small business program opens in April, coverage would take effect in June or July.

Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal

Baltimore Business Journal-- BWI airfare drops 7.5% in last year, remains below U.S. average

Nov 7, 2013, 6:58am EST  /  by Ryan Sharrow

Flights out of Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport dropped 7.5 percent during the last year and stayed below the national average.

Roundtrip domestic flights from BWI averaged $315.42 in the second quarter, down from $341.15 in the year-ago period, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. BWI ranked No. 86 among the nation’s top 100 airports.

By comparison, the U.S. average in the second quarter was $377.56, marking a 3.6 percent declined from the same period last year.

Flights from Huntsville, Ala., in the second quarter averaged $547.49, good for highest in the U.S. Atlantic City, N.J., was last at $159.41.

Washington Dulles ranks fourth-highest in the U.S., with flights averaging $479.81. Reagan National flights averaged $367.24, ranking No. 67.

Going back to the second quarter of 2000, flights at BWI have dropped nearly 18 percent from $384.38.

Read article here from The Baltimore Business Journal 

JetBlue, Spirit CEOs say Baltimore is ripe for adding new flights

Ryan McDonald 

Digital Producer- Baltimore Business Journal

Executives from two of the country’s low-price airlines say Baltimore is an attractive market for adding new flights.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) currently offers just a handful of daily flights out of Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport — all to Boston. But CEO Dave Barger said the airline may eventually add direct flights from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., or San Juan.

Barger spoke to the Business Journal on Monday following an address he delivered at the 18th Annual International Aviation Forecast Summit in Baltimore. He praised the city’s Inner Harbor and access to Washington, D.C.

Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal

Marylanders will start paying sales tax on Amazon purchases with new warehouse

Sarah Meehan 

Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

Amazon.com Inc. is coming to Southeast Baltimore, and already you can hear the groans on social media.

While the new distribution center at 5003 Holabird Ave. will bring with it 1,000 full-time jobs, it will also mean a 6 percent sales tax for every Amazon order by Maryland residents — regardless of whether an order actually ships from the Baltimore warehouse.

“Sales tax has to be applied to all purchases made with Amazon by Maryland residents,” Maryland Retailers Association President Patrick Donoho said.

Read full article from The Baltimore Business Journal

Four Points by Sheraton BWI to close its doors

Ryan Sharrow 

New Media Editor- Baltimore Business Journal

The 201-room Four Points by Sheraton BWI Airport plans to cease operations on Nov. 30.

The closure of the hotel comes as the property reaches the end of a 30-year lease with the Maryland Aviation Administration, said Kevin Carnes, general manager of the Four Points.

The franchised property needs a roughly $2 million renovation to get it up to the standards of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, owner of the Sheraton brand, Carnes said, and it would be hard to obtain a return on investment.

Read full article from Baltimore Business Journal

Amazon to build massive fulfillment center in Southeast Baltimore, create 1,000 jobs

Ryan Sharrow 

New Media Editor- Baltimore Business Journal

Amazon Inc. confirmed on Tuesday widely expected plans to build a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center on the site of the former General Motors assembly plant in Southeast Baltimore.

The online retail giant will create more than 1,000 full-time jobs at the warehouse when it opens. Seattle-based Amazon will pick, pack and ship books, electronics and consumer goods at the facility.

The project, part of the Chesapeake Commerce Center on Holabird Avenue, is being developed by Duke Realty Corp. Amazon did not disclose when construction on the project would begin.

Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal

Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey to store circus merchandise in a huge Jessup warehouse

Kevin Litten 

Staff Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

Chesapeake Real Estate Group is developing a new 241,457-square-foot warehouse for Feld Entertainment in Jessup that will allow the company to consolidate two smaller warehouses nearby in the same industrial park.

Feld Entertainment, best known for its Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, will use the warehouse in the Baltimore-Washington Industrial Park to store merchandise it sells at concessions stands at circus and other shows the company produces such as Disney on Ice and Monster Jam.

The site at 8235 Patuxent Range Road was formerly home to an Owens Corning asphalt shingle plant, and was acquired through the Maryland Voluntary Cleanup Program due to contamination from a former apple orchard on the site.

Read full article here from Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland unemployment insurance tax to drop in 2014

Gary Haber 

Staff Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland employers will see a drop in the state’s unemployment tax rate next year, in many cases by as much as 70 percent.

Under the lower rate, announced by Gov. Martin O’Malley and other state officials on Wednesday, employers will pay a tax rate in 2014 of between 0.3 percent and 7.5 percent on the first $8,500 of a worker’s wages. That is down from the 2013 rate, which was between 1 percent and 10.5 percent.

The lower rate goes into effect Jan. 1. The 2014 rate reduction follows a drop of as much as 55 percent in 2013.

 Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal

CyberMaryland 2013 to lose some speakers, attendees to fed shutdown

Ryan McDonald  
Baltimore Business Journal

The government shutdown is going to affect the lineup of this week’s CyberMaryland 2013 conference.

John “Chris” Inglis, deputy director of the National Security Agency, will no longer be able to lead the keynote speech at the conference’s kickoff “Cybersecurity- Past, Present & Future” presentation. The conference starts Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Michelle Jackson, special projects coordinator at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, said there has been an invite made to Richard Schaeffer Jr., a former senior executive at the NSA.

Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland health exchange experiences glitch in first hours of launch

Joanna Sullivan 

Editor-in-Chief- Baltimore Business Journal

Technology is doing what the filibustering U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Congress couldn’t do — stop Obamacare from kicking into action on Tuesday.

The Maryland Health Connection was supposed to be up and ready for business at 8 a.m. But a visitor hoping to buy health insurance on the online exchange was greeted with this:

“We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for visiting Maryland Health Connection. We are experiencing connectivity issues. Please visit the site again at 12 Noon.”

Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland's unemployment rate drops to 7 percent

Gary Haber 

Staff Reporter- Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland’s unemployment rate dipped to 7 percent in August as the state added 9,700 jobs during the month.

Private employers bolstered their payrolls by 4,900 jobs, the highest private-sector job growth since 2007, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data was released Friday by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

With August’s job growth, Maryland has reclaimed all the jobs the state lost during the recession, state officials said.

Read full article here from The Baltimore Business Journal