Businesses

At Liam Flynn's Ale House in Baltimore's Station North Arts and Entertainment District, two George Washingtons will get you a can of Natty Boh. But a single Baltimore BNote, with an image of Frederick Douglass on one side and an oriole on the other, will get you the same beer at half price. It's a special the bar's proprietors use to promote the circulation of the local currency. "It's a deal - and people take advantage of it every day," said Liam Flynn. "Usually it's about 20 BNotes a day. " The BNote recently turned 2 years old and is now accepted at more than 200 local businesses.

Companies supplying components for the nuclear power industry are located throughout the United States, including a number in Maryland. These manufacturing firms have developed businesses providing components and equipment required for the maintenance and upkeep of the 104 operating reactors in the U.S. Unfortunately for them, the domestic market is expanding at a very low rate. Currently in the U.S., ground has been broken for five new reactors. These supplying firms would benefit if allowed to participate in the growing international market.

When I bought Marlin Steel in 1998, the extent of its technology was an old fax machine. Today, our factory is full of industrial robots that are fed computer-aided designs and churn out steel containers for industry 60 times faster than before. We're winning jobs that used to go to China and elsewhere. My employees, who once made $6 an hour, average $26 an hour now. This isn't your grandfather's small factory: We depend on the Internet, cloud computing and other new technologies, just like thousands of other manufacturers our size.

Sol Kramer, who turned a Depression-era 15-cent balsa toy airplane business into a leading wholesale hobby empire, died of pneumonia April 24 at Hospice by the Sea in Pompano Beach, Fla. The former Pikesville resident was 96. Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Lithuanian immigrants. His father, Morris, was a Saratoga Street tailor. His mother, Dora, was a homemaker. Mr. Kramer was a graduate of the old Robert E. Lee School and received his diploma from City College at age 14. "He and his brother, Lou, belonged to the Junior Birdmen of America, a model airplane club promoted by the Hearst newspapers," said his son, Dr. Karl Kramer of Coral Gables, Fla. "His brother was really the airplane builder.

Howard County and Economic Development officials will visit more than 100 area businesses during the week of May 6 as part of Howard County's Business Appreciation Week. Business visits are expected to take approximately one hour and will begin at 8 a.m., each day, with the last business visited at 4 p.m. Space is now limited, but businesses interested in participating in Business Appreciation Week should contact the Howard County Economic Development Authority at 410-313-6500.

Mark Montgomery, president and CEO of Ports America Chesapeake, will be the guest speaker at the BWI Business Partnership's May signature breakfast and annual transportation forum, Wednesday, May 15, from 7:45 to 9:15 a.m. at the BWI Airport Marriott, 1743 West Nursery Road, in Linthicum. Ports America, the largest terminal operator in America, is responsible for the widening of the berth at Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore. The Port of Baltimore is one of only two ports on the East Coast that will be able to accommodate the super-sized ships expected to arrive through the expanded Panama Canal in 2014.Montgomery was honored as the Baltimore Museum of Industry's Industrialist of the Year in 2012.

Maryland plans to steer to minority and women-owned businesses 29 percent of the nearly $8 billion a year it spends on contracts, increasing a target that was already among the most aggressive in the nation, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said Monday. The new goal - an increase from the current 25 percent - would if attained have a profound impact on boosting minority-owned construction firms, IT contractors, engineers and other companies in Maryland that have historically struggled to land state government contracts, supporters said.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's recently released 2012 State of the Bay Report tells us the health of the Chesapeake Bay has improved 14 percent since 2008. But that doesn't tell the whole story. Throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, we hear about local governments, businesses and citizens rolling up their sleeves to reduce pollution from all sectors: agriculture, sewage treatment plants, and urban and suburban runoff. They are working to restore local rivers and streams.

Recession being the bane of piano retailers, it seems wholly remarkable that Harry Cohen and his son, Lou, decided to start selling Baldwins and Wurlitzers in 1937 - the year the economy relapsed toward the end of the Great Depression. But somehow the Cohens survived the recession of 1937 and 1938. In fact, the family business, founded in Philadelphia, thrived through three generations and extended into three states. Hundreds of families in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland bought new and used pianos from one of the Cohens over the years.

Small businesses would be protected from the type of fraud allegedly committed by Harford County payroll firm AccuPay Inc. under legislation being proposed by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. The Maryland Democrat plans to introduce a bill that would require payroll service providers to register with the Internal Revenue Service and be either bonded or certified by the tax agency. It also would set federal penalties for payroll firms that fail to send clients' tax payments to the government.