Small Business

Seasoned human resources professional Megan Shupe recently joined the staff at Beacon Staffing Alternatives in Aberdeen as a business development specialist. She is bilingual and has already used her Spanish language skills to help match prospective employees with potential employers. Shupe, 40, graduated from Edgewood High School in 1989 and from Harford Community College in 1991. She received a bachelor of arts in international relations, with a minor in Spanish, from Towson University in 1993.

Nearly two years after Maryland's first casino opened, the state has yet to dole out any of the $3.6 million in slots revenue that has accumulated for small, minority- and women-owned businesses, frustrating advocates and lawmakers. State officials are still working on a program to distribute the money as capital investments or loans to small businesses, a process that Baltimore Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden criticized as being too slow. "What's taking so long?" asked McFadden, who inquired about the money last month in a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Laws are like fine nets, catching the common fish even as the biggest push their way through. Or so you might think on learning of how federal prosecutors keep nabbing small and medium-size businesspeople who violate an obscure law relating to bank paperwork, even as the best-known violator of the law so far (a certain well-connected politico named Eliot Spitzer) walks free. Last month, the feds swooped down on a successful Maryland dairy business, South Mountain Creamery, seizing $70,000 in its bank accounts and formally charging its owners, Randy and Karen Sowers, with the offense of bank "structuring.

Maryland small businesses gripe that they can't get loans from banks. Lenders complain of a dearth of borrowers. Is there any way to get these two together? The state is going to try, under legislation expected to be signed into law today. Maryland will use a carrot — or, rather, up to $50 million in deposits — to encourage banks here to lend to small businesses. Basically, participating banks that make loans to small businesses will receive an equal amount of deposits from the state.

March 15--YORK, Pa. -- Each candidate running for the District 31 state senate seat in the April 24 primary has big plans if they make it to November's election. This district covers all of Cumberland County; and in York County -- Carroll, Fairview, Franklin, Monaghan, Warrington and Washington townships; and Dillsburg, Franklintown and Wellsville boroughs. Experience Attorney Andrew Shaw, 36, of North Middleton believes his experience as a small business owner has helped him prepare for his campaign.

I run a small business - about 20 employees - in the Baltimore area. We are a manufacturing company in the construction industry. I have worked extremely hard and sacrificed my own pay to keep our people employed over the last five years. I have not had a layoff and had previously earned a low unemployment tax rate. It used to be 1 percent. In 2011 it was up to 4.463 percent and I got a letter this week saying it will be 11.99 percent for 2012. It is ridiculous that I am shouldering the costs of all others.

Robert Tomkies raced yachts in his native New Zealand, with a reputation respectable enough to be hired to work for a fellow named Ted Turner. But as Tomkies' dreams grew, so did his family, until he figured that he had to do something else to take care of his wife and four kids. Tomkies opened a shop in Wellington selling lighting and electrical parts, and bought a small farm off Moonshine Road. Tomkies never got rid of the racing bug, designed and built a 30-foot yacht he named the "Moonshine Express" and tried to pass his passion for fast boats and the open sea on to his brood.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's bid to hike the "flush fee" to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay got some pushback in Annapolis Tuesday when lawmakers expressed concern about big jumps in what businesses would have to pay under the administration's plan. O'Malley has proposed doubling the revenues raised for the Bay Restoration Fund by the fee, which is paid by every household and business in the state.  The funds are needed to finish upgrading the state's 67 largest sewage plants so they'll take out more of the nitrogen and phosphorus fouling the bay's waters.

The state is kicking off a $150,000 campaign to advertise financing help for small businesses in Maryland. The state Department of Business and Economic Development said Tuesday that it will be running ads — online and on radio stations for 10 weeks — to spread the word that four of the state's financing programs still have money to extend after receiving $23 million in federal funding through the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The state, which has spent or earmarked about $1.3 million since getting the OK to start using the money last June, has until 2018 to allocate it all. The "Financing that Fits" campaign advertises the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority, which gives credit guarantees; the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority, which gives loan guarantees; the Maryland Venture Fund, which invests in startup companies; and Neighborhood Business Works, which provides gap financing.

Mayor Craig Moe will recognize those individually owned or family owned businesses that have operated in Laurel for more than 20 years at the Jan. 23 City Council meeting. In a statement, Moe said "locally owned and operated businesses … are integral to the creation and maintenance of Laurel's sense of community," and that city records indicate some of these businesses have been operating for more than 50 years, and several have been in business for 75 years. Moe intends the recognition to be a continuing program as other businesses achieve the 20-year milestone.