Baltimore Business

Hernias are a common ailment among Americans; more than 4 million people develop the painful condition. And although both men and women develop hernias, female patients may be harder to diagnose. Doctors and patients may not realize the abdominal pain a woman is feeling is because of a hernia. Dr. Hien Nguyen, assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the pain can be mistaken for other conditions with similar symptoms, such as adhesions from prior surgery, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts.

A convenience store supplier located in Anne Arundel County is closing its doors and plans to layoff about 200 workers. Eby F.A. Davis LLC, a division of the Illinois-based Eby-Brown Co., will be ending operations at its Baltimore-area facility and conducting layoffs of 194 employees in two phases, according to a statement Friday from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The first phase will occur over a two-week period in mid-April; the second will be during a two-week period in mid-May, the department said.

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

Anita R. Sody, former corporate secretary and treasurer of a Baltimore meatpacking business, died Jan. 21 of pneumonia at Season's Hospice at Good Samaritan Hospital. She was 88. Anita Ramming was born in Baltimore and raised on Harford Road in Northeast Baltimore. She was a 1942 graduate of Eastern High School. In her youth, she enjoyed singing with the choir at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church. A former resident of Sparks and Towson, Mrs. Sody had been secretary and treasurer of A.W. Schmidt & Sons, a family-owned meatpacking business in the old Belair Market, from 1978 to 1991.

The Reeves Agency Inc., a Baltimore-based advertising and public relations business that was started in 1978, has declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy, reporting more than $700,000 owed to more than 120 creditors and assets of less than $230,000. A trustee will sort through the company's finances. Neither Rebecca Reeves, president of the Reeves Agency, nor her attorney, Irving E. Walker, returned telephone calls yesterday. In a recent interview, Walker said, "For this corporation it would be a permanent closure.

Steve Appel, who's been in the business of selling cool furniture to Baltimoreans since the 1980s, called me after one of my give-a-guy-a-chance columns. It was 2009, with the recession lingering and the national unemployment rate at double digits. Baltimore's was just under 11 percent — and higher, as always, among guys between 18 and 24. Appel, the affable co-owner of Nouveau Contemporary Goods in North Baltimore's Belvedere Square, had an opening for someone from that demographic to make furniture deliveries.

Ellen Reich's business - run out of her Butcher's Hill rowhouse - has international reach. She's the proprietress (she loves that word) of Three Stone Steps, which sells metal art, recycled jewelry and other intriguing items made by artisans in Haiti, the Philippines and other countries. Founded in 2007, the company specializes in "ethically sourced imports," which combines Reich's love of travel with her social-justice background in the labor movement. What prompted you to start the company?

FTI Consulting Inc.'s stock price hit a 12-month low Wednesday after the business services company fell short of financial analysts' expectations for first-quarter earnings. The company, which has its corporate headquarters in Baltimore, said it earned 43 cents per share in the three months ending in March. That was up slightly from 42 cents per share a year earlier but 18 cents a share short of what analysts had anticipated. The company attributed the gap to a range of factors, including "expenses and investments that should not recur in 2012.

Eliyahu Werdesheim avoided a prison sentence Wednesday for the 2010 attack of a black teenager in Northwest Baltimore, in a case that heightened community divides. Werdesheim, a former member of an Orthodox Jewish citizens' watch group, was sentenced to three years' probation by Baltimore Circuit Judge Pamela J. White for second-degree assault and false imprisonment. Werdesheim, now 24, had faced up to 10 years in prison for the Nov. 19, 2010 assault on Corey Ausby, who was then 15 years old. Much of the two-hour hearing was devoted to remarks by nine Werdesheim supporters, including Baltimore business leaders, a rabbi and one of his college professors.

A convenience store supplier located in Anne Arundel County is closing its doors and plans to layoff about 200 workers. Eby F.A. Davis LLC, a division of the Illinois-based Eby-Brown Co., will be ending operations at its Baltimore-area facility and conducting layoffs of 194 employees in two phases, according to a statement Friday from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The first phase will occur over a two-week period in mid-April; the second will be during a two-week period in mid-May, the department said.

Joe Flacco's Hail Mary pass in Saturday's division game may have saved the Ravens' season, but it appears to have emptied the tables in Baltimore restaurants. Baltimore bars did clean-up business on Saturday, but restaurants lost customers, as patrons called in to cancel reservations, according to anecdotal conversations with local restaurant owners. Blame it on bad timing. The division game began at 4:30 p.m., which was perfect, in theory, for planning a Saturday night restaurant dinner -- if the game had ended in regulation.

Steve Appel, who's been in the business of selling cool furniture to Baltimoreans since the 1980s, called me after one of my give-a-guy-a-chance columns. It was 2009, with the recession lingering and the national unemployment rate at double digits. Baltimore's was just under 11 percent — and higher, as always, among guys between 18 and 24. Appel, the affable co-owner of Nouveau Contemporary Goods in North Baltimore's Belvedere Square, had an opening for someone from that demographic to make furniture deliveries.

The goal for Race On is clear: To make the Grand Prix of Baltimore a long-term fixture, the company must generate significantly more money from Baltimore businesses and fans. Enter Debbie Bell. The former director of corporate sales and sponsorship for the Orioles has been named Race On's vice president for sales and marketing, officially becoming the first full-time employee of the promotion company founded by financier J.P. Grant and construction executive Greg O'Neill. She's been on the job for about two weeks, spending much of her time trying to drum up enthusiasm — and persuade business owners to set aside some of their 2013 budget to help support the Labor Day weekend auto racing festival.

This month, 900 Strayer University students walked across the stage at 1st Mariner Arena during a regional commencement ceremony in which they were awarded bachelor's degrees from an institution whose Baltimore roots date to the late 19th century. Strayer's Business College began in Baltimore in 1892 as the brainchild of Seibert Irving Strayer, a Bucknell University graduate who was a writer and shorthand innovator. In 1902, he was joined by Thomas W. Donoho, a former manager of a typewriter company and a lawyer who later headed the Baltimore school.

Ellen Reich's business - run out of her Butcher's Hill rowhouse - has international reach. She's the proprietress (she loves that word) of Three Stone Steps, which sells metal art, recycled jewelry and other intriguing items made by artisans in Haiti, the Philippines and other countries. Founded in 2007, the company specializes in "ethically sourced imports," which combines Reich's love of travel with her social-justice background in the labor movement. What prompted you to start the company?

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is launching a micro-loan fund for small businesses in Baltimore, to help them hire and stabilize their businesses. The effort, called BaltimoreMICRO, will enable small businesses with under $1 million in annual revenue to apply for loans ranging from $5,000 to $30,000. Retailers, service providers and contractors based in Baltimore are eligible. The program appears to be targeting small businesses, including stores and restaurants, in city neighborhoods.

Journal owners sue business publicationCOLUMBIA -- The owners of the Baltimore Business Journal have sued a Howard County publication and its owner, alleging copyright infringement, and asking for at least $100,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages.Baltimore Business Publications Inc., a subsidiary of American City Business Journals Inc., is also asking the court to prohibit the Columbia Business Journal Co. and editor and publisher Edward G. Pickett from using the words "business journal" on any of its publications.

New positions Kist is product manager at Baltimore Business Baltimore Business Communications Inc. named Brian A. Kist AT&T product manager for the Timonium-based wireless products and accessories dealer. An Annapolis resident, the University of Baltimore graduate formerly was president of TeleToys & Wireless Services, now part of BBC. Hartley executive producer for ActLikeAnOwner.com ActLikeAnOwner.com, an Internet alliance of business technology professionals that is based in Columbia, appointed John Hartley as executive producer.

Any business that gets lucrative financial help from City Hall would be required to hire 51 percent of its workers from within the city limits or it could face a criminal sanction. Those are the terms of a new bill proposed by City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, who believes such legislation is needed to reduce what he calls Baltimore's "stubbornly high unemployment rate. " Young's "local hiring mandate" legislation will be introduced Monday before the City Council, he said.

Nine of the richest individuals in the United States live in Maryland, according to Forbes. Two of them do business in Baltimore, and quite prominently so (sometimes together): Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and Under Armour founder Kevin Plank. There's a third man who is, at the very least, on the cusp of being a billionaire if he is not already. Peter Angelos, owner of one of Baltimore's most prominent law firms and its baseball team, has shrewdly built his fortune for decades.