Business Owners

A Towson law firm plans to challenge the renewal of the Recher Theatre 's liquor license in an effort to stop the establishment's plan to become a nightclub. The Charles E. Brooks Law Offices will file a petition with the county liquor board within the next week on behalf of residents and property owners, according to Jean Kosloski, an attorney with the firm. Liquor licenses in Baltimore County expire April 30. "We object to them becoming a nightclub," Kosloski said. "That type of usage in the center of Towson is kind of a disaster waiting to happen.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is at it again, and his proposed plan to raise the gasoline tax in Maryland must be defeated ("Gas tax: Pay now or later" Mar. 13). The brunt of Mr. O'Malley's new $3.4 billion gas tax proposal to increase funding for Maryland's transportation needs will fall squarely on Maryland's motorists and gasoline retailers. Under Mr. O'Malley's proposed gas tax hike, Maryland's gas tax rate would skyrocket to 39.5 cents per gallon, and it would become the 5th highest gas tax burden in the nation if gas averaged $3.50 a gallon per year.

Here we go again, observing our government changing laws to suit the business owners at the expense of the poor schmucks who are just trying to buy a little entertainment ("City politicians rush to save Ticketmaster's user fees," Feb. 24). Shame on Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and shame on the Ravens, the Orioles and all the smaller outfits that support Ticketmaster's stupendous rip-off of the American public. How could they stomp on the very folks who support their businesses?

The state's highest court will review a Baltimore judge's declaration that contracts at the heart of the long-planned State Center redevelopment are void. Maryland's Court of Appeals granted the review on Tuesday. The decision means the case will skip the state's intermediate appellate court. In January, Judge Althea M. Handy voided the development contracts that set up a framework for a mixed-use overhaul of a 28-acre site in midtown Baltimore that houses several state agencies.

A woman's body was found Thursday in rising waters near a homeless camp in Laurel, as flooding closed roads throughout the region and a dangerously high reservoir prompted the evacuation of Laurel's historic district. The discovery of the body came as police in Laurel were going door to door to warn residents and business owners about likely flooding from a release of water at the T. Howard Duckett Dam by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. The commission also released water from Brighton Dam in Brookeville.

UPDATE (Jan. 18): Not so fast. Although the Baltimore Business Journal reported soon-to-be new owner (paperwork still needs to be completed to make it official, he said) Steve O'Donnell would "likely 'keep everything the same'" at J. Patrick's, O'Donnell says that's not the case. During a phone conversation this morning, he said he will likely leave it as an Irish bar, but that "it can't stay open and operate how it is right now. " "Is it going to stay J. Patrick's?

The $1.5 billion overhaul of State Center in midtown Baltimore is effectively dead after a judge voided development contracts essential to the project. “The court's ruling reconfirms the significance of following the competitive bidding laws,” said Alan M. Rifkin, the attorney for a group of business owners and landlords who sued the state, alleging that the contracts were illegitimate. Unless the state mounts a successful appeal and can resurrect the public-private partnership deal, the court order Thursday requires the state to go back to the drawing board on the project, in the pipeline since the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. A new start would mean following the state's procurement laws, which require finding public financing for the project - a tall order in austere times.

A Baltimore judge said Tuesday that she will soon decide whether a lawsuit about the proposed $1.5 billion redevelopment of State Center should go to trial. At the end of several hours of arguments regarding whether the two sides agree about the facts of the case, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy told attorneys she intends to rule on the state's summary judgment motion before the end of the week. If Handy does not rule in the state's favor, and unless the parties come to a settlement, a trial will be necessary to determine the merits of allegations made in 2010 by downtown landlords and business owners.

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.