Baltimore Sun Business

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and VALERIE GONZALEZ MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Meatpacking industry groups raised concerns Friday that recent heightened immigration operations in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma have caused employees to miss work, leading to problems at meat-related businesses that could ultimately raise prices for consumers. The Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Kansas Livestock Association said in a statement that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ope

The Sphere in Las Vegas may have a Maryland relative by 2030 if the Prince George’s County Council approves a $1.4 billion proposal to build the entertainment venue, but local workers want to secure a labor agreement first. During a public meeting in Largo on Tuesday, council members fielded residents’ concerns over Sphere Entertainment’s plans to construct the 6,000-seat venue, which would have about one-third of the capacity of the Las Vegas space, on a 15-acre lot just north of MGM National H

By LORNE COOK and KELVIN CHAN BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm said Friday it’s prepared to defend a 120 million euro ($137 million) fine against the social media platform X after the U.S. government threw its support behind a legal effort by Elon Musk this week to have the case dismissed. The European Commission fined X late last year for breaches of the bloc’s landmark digital regulations, stoking tensions with Washington. The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that it had

A Hampstead Tractor Supply Co. store planned along Hanover Pike received final site-plan approval this week, with construction planned to begin next month. The Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the plan Wednesday. A developer representative told the commission that depending on weather and other building conditions, completion is expected in summer 2027. The store is planned for 1734 Hanover Pike. The 21,930-square-foot home-improvement and farm-equipment store will t

The owner of Annapolis breakfast restaurant Toastique has opened another location, this time in Severna Park. It’s located at 580 Ritchie Highway, right next to Nothing Bundt Cakes. The national restaurant chain is known for its variety of natural foods, including its titular toasts. Managing partner and owner Allyson Jishi describes them as open-faced sandwiches. There are both sweet and savory varieties: Tomato Burrata, Spicy Crab and PB Crunch, among others. “I felt the need for

BayVanguard bought a Brewers Hill sports bar property owned by a former NBA player for the starting bid of $250,000 at a foreclosure auction on Friday, the auctioneer, A.J. Billig & Co., confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. The property of So Baltimore Sports Bar and Lounge, owned by Baltimore native and former Atlanta Hawks guard Malcolm Delaney, was foreclosed on by the bank over a $350,000 loan, according to court records. Delaney’s LLC also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April, acco

By MIKELLA SCHUETTLER, Associated Press/Report for America A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook liable for deceiving users about privacy protections on the platform in the latest legal setback against the social media giant that has already cost it billions of dollars. The jury found over 43 million violations of state consumer protection law and it is now up to the judge to determine how much the company would pay, with attorneys representing the state asking for the maximum $5,000 penalt

By JAMES POLLARD NEW YORK (AP) — New players hit the United Nations General Assembly sidelines this week as humanitarian groups searched for a counterweight to foreign aid cuts that have hampered global fights against disease, malnutrition and poverty. Nonprofits, foundations and corporations pack Manhattan ballrooms and closed-door meetings each September to direct some sliver of the world’s attention — and funding — to their missions. Timed annually to the U.N. General Assembly’s high-level me

For nearly 50 years, Chad Lownsbery has visited Ocean City from the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area. He remembers his grandmother handing each of his siblings a roll of quarters before they headed to the Boardwalk. “We had a blast on rides and games all evening long,” he said. Now, higher costs have pushed Lownsbery to visit less often. His experience reflects growing concerns about the affordability and value of an Ocean City vacation, as some longtime visitors say they are shortening stays, trav

By KAITLYN HUAMANI, AP Technology Writer In the latest twist in Anthropic’s dispute with the Pentagon, a federal appeals court on Friday rejected the artificial intelligence lab’s challenge to the government’s labeling of it as a supply chain risk. The decision allows the Pentagon to continue to remove Anthropic’s Claude models from its systems and bar the use of its products for Defense Department work. Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Pooja Bansal and her husband, Lokesh Gupta, tried what felt like every top running shoe money could buy. The cost was adding up for a sport many would think should be free. Now, the basement of their Maple Lawn home is filled with shoes — not for their use, but for their own brand. From their home, they check the shoes, package the goods with a pair of socks and send them from Howard County to customers around the world, with an average of 25 orders coming in every day. The couple launched Swift

By AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after U.S. midterm elections. Oil prices on Wednesday jumped more than 3%, pushing international Brent crude past the $100 threshold for the first time since July as salvos between the U.S. and Iran escalated. “Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to take

Family-owned Saval Foodservice has broken ground on a new headquarters and distribution center in Columbia that will consolidate its Howard County operations and add jobs over the next four years. The 230,000-square-foot facility in Columbia Gateway will include a distribution center and a multistory office building, Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement announcing the groundbreaking. Howard Hughes Communities will develop the commercial property through a long-term partnership to support Saval’s g

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Business Writer Man’s best friend is getting some love from the Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts of the USA said Tuesday its first cookies for dogs will go on sale in January. The blueberry muffin-flavored cookies were developed with Bark, a New York-based seller of dog treats and toys. The cookies, dubbed Patch Pals, will only be sold online. Also joining the Girl Scout cookie lineup in January are Sparkables, the organization’s first allergy-friendly cookie. The crunchy oatmeal c

By CLAIRE SAVAGE A group of former Amazon warehouse employees is suing the company for systemically discriminating against pregnant workers, accusing the company of denying them basic accommodations and penalizing some who took breaks to pump milk or time off for hospital visits. The four plaintiffs filed a proposed nationwide class action in a Brooklyn, New York federal court Tuesday, accusing Amazon of violating the 2022 Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which requires employers with 15 or more w

Baltimore is suing The Agora Companies over allegations of deceptive marketing and abusive subscription practices. Meanwhile, its office of employment development has continued to help the group recruit Baltimore workers. Agora said it recently reached out to the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development about openings for customer-service representatives, and the office shared the positions with its audience. The group also has posted openings through the city’s JobsBaltimore social me

By CHAN HO-HIM, AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — China hit back Wednesday against U.S. claims that Chinese artificial intelligence developers are engaged in “aggressive, malicious” industrial-scale efforts to extract capabilities from frontier American AI systems. The FBI, National Security Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a joint cybersecurity advisory Tuesday that said Chinese AI developers had extracted, or “distilled,” capabilities from some of the most adv

The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration will begin resurfacing 1.5 miles of U.S. Route 40, also known as Pulaski Highway, in eastern Harford County next week. The work will affect sections between Long Bar Harbor Road and Route 543, also called Creswell Road, beginning as soon as Sunday night. Crews are scheduled to work overnight from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays through late October, weather permitting. The project includes asphalt patching, milling

By JAMES POLLARD NEW YORK (AP) — A major American aid group is promising to deliver more medicines in high-need areas around the world after receiving its largest ever donation. Americares, a nonprofit that supports thousands of health centers globally, announced a $50 million gift Wednesday from an unidentified Connecticut family. The contribution represents an unusual expansion at a time when the United States’ sudden aid cuts have hamstrung programs ranging from maternal and child health to H

By MIKELLA SCHUETTLER, Associated Press/Report for America Attorneys representing the state of New Mexico told jurors that targeted political ads, attempting to lower Democratic turnout during the 2016 election, used Facebook data sold to a political consulting firm, during opening statements in a trial over the platform’s data protections. Facebook’s attorney said the social media company investigated suspicious third-party apps following the breach and told jurors the state’s