Baltimore Business Journal articles from March 1998

Baltimore Business Journal archives from March 1998

NationsBank sues Lasky. (Michael W. Lasky, owner of Inphomation Communications Inc.)
March 6, 1998... Lawsuit details how Inphomation owner got $6.7 million in loans NationsBank charged Michael W. Lasky with fraud in a lawsuit to collect on 86.7 million in loans he and his bankrupt company received from Maryland's largest bank. According to...

Ad draws ire of New Line. (New Line Productions Inc. sues Trahan, Burden & Charles Inc and NeighborCare Pharmacies Inc.)
March 6, 1998... A Hollywood studio claims two Baltimore firms did a very ungroovy thing by using a well-known movie character in a television advertisement. New Line Productions Inc. filed a lawsuit against Trahan, Burden & Charles Inc., an advertising firm,...

Midtown site focus of plans. (real property in midtown Baltimore, Maryland)
March 6, 1998... For a vacant office building, the property at 901 N. Howard Street in Midtown Baltimore is getting a lot of attention. A state agency, nearby businesses, local arts groups, several neighborhoods, a university and vandals all have an interest in...

Day-care remedy. (day-care centers in Baltimore, MD)
March 6, 1998... Sick-child service still a rarity here The last thing Malinda Hughes needed on an already busy Monday was a sick child. But instead of missing both graduate classes and work, Hughes took her 4-year-old daughter to "sick school" at Harbor...

Hospital rate setters back to square one. (hospital charges in Maryland)
March 6, 1998... The state commission responsible for setting hospital rates is back where it was last summer - in the middle of a heated dispute between the hospital and insurance industries. At issue is how Maryland can keep its hospital charges below the...

Weinberg & Green making a comeback. (law firm)
March 6, 1998... After two years of lawsuits, nasty lease negotiations and an exodus of partners, Weinberg & Green partners say they are rejuvenated, restructured and ready to take on new clients. Since rough times hit in 1995 and 1996, the Baltimore law firm...

Alex. Brown closing Wilmington, Del., office. (BT Alex. Brown Inc.)
March 6, 1998... BT Alex. Brown Inc. is closing its Wilmington, Del., stockbrokerage and merging it into its Philadelphia office. Alex. Brown officials said the consolidation is an effort to beef up its sales staff in Philadelphia. The 27 Delaware employees,...

Barve leads state's push to lure high-tech firms. (Kumar Barve, state delegate heads Science and Technology subcommittee)
March 6, 1998... Kumar Barve barely has time for lunch these days. On a recent afternoon, Barve rushed into his corner office in the state House of Delegates Office Building after a short meeting he squeezed into his schedule. He apologetically asked his...

Copier or printer? It's harder to decide these days. (computer printer and copying machine industries)
March 6, 1998... Advances in printer and copier technology are forcing the two separate industries to compete in the same office-equipment market. Vendors say the introduction of digital copiers capable of serving as network printers and the increasing use of...

McCormick pushes growth. (McCormick and Company Inc.)
March 13, 1998... McCormick & Co. wants to boost sales by 50 percent over the next three years, and is promising top executives millions in stock to make it happen. McCormick Chief Executive Robert J. Lawless and other key executives at the Sparks-based spice...

Reliving the glory days: old Colt pairs past pros with companies. (former Baltimore Colt football player Tom Matte)
March 13, 1998... Old Colt pairs past pros with companies Like a halfback trying to deliver a football across an elusive goal line, Tom Matte stretches across a conference table to show a visitor a small telephone number scratched in his leather address book....

Restaurateurs sizzling for high-end beef. (proliferation of steak houses in Baltimore, Maryland)
March 13, 1998... Go ahead, indulge. Order up a rare piece of meat, a bit pink on the inside, and don't worry too much about what it costs. That's the message of a growing number of steak restaurants where a diner can easily drop $50 on appetizers, drinks and a...

U.S. trustee unwinding Lasky firm. (Inphomation Communications Inc. owner Michael W. Lasky)
March 13, 1998... Bankruptcy court officials believe a former employee of Inphomation Communications Inc. raided the company's files after owner Michael W. Lasky had been ousted by a court judge. According to documents filed by the trustee put in charge of...

Office building plans will displace retailers.
March 13, 1998... When Shelly Baker opened her flower shop on East Baltimore Street, she was aware she may have to vacate on short notice to make way for new construction. But for the past four years, Baker never knew when that time would come. "I always...

Curran, Chamber spar over bills. (Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr.; Maryland Chamber of Commerce)
March 13, 1998... A dispute over state tobacco legislation has led to a war of words between Maryland's largest business organization and Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. The Maryland Chamber of Commerce has accused Curran of joining an anti-business...

Battle for Glen Burnie gets nasty. (Bank of Glen Burnie)
March 13, 1998... The battle for control of the Bank of Glen Burnie is turning into a soap opera. With two former governors, two lawsuits, a sexual harassment claim and a trucking magnate who loves a good proxy fight, the story line is keeping local industry...

Passing the first exam: state's HMO report cards get good grades for effort. (health maintenance organizations in Maryland)
March 13, 1998... When Bruce J. McCubbin reviewed his company's health benefits last fall, he had some new information to consider - Maryland's first-ever HMO report card. McCubbin, director of human resources at Von Paris Moving and Storage in Howard County,...

Diehl Graphsoft Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 13, 1998... A weekly analysis of Baltimore-area public companies Corporate Profile Diehl Graphsoft Inc. has a 12-year history of developing computer-aided design (CAD) software. In May 1997, the company released its second cross-platform version of its...

Total realignment. (Total Health Care's revamping strategy)
March 20, 1998... Firm, in spotlight, revamping strategy Total Health Care, a once-successful chain of health centers for Baltimore's low-income community, has become famous in ways its founders never envisioned. Facing a horde of new competitors, a budget...

Interact eyes Silicon Valley. (InterAct Accessories Inc.'s expansion to Silicon Valley)
March 20, 1998... A Baltimore County video game company is expanding to Silicon Valley to keep up its lightning-fast growth pace. InterAct Accessories Inc., the largest manufacturer of video game accessories in the world, plans to open the seven-employee...

No bonus for BGE top brass. (Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.; Christian H. Poindexter and two other executives)
March 20, 1998... Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s top three executives didn't get any extra cash in their paychecks last year. Poor earnings in 1997 kept chairman and chief executive Christian H, Poindexter and two other senior executives from bringing home cash...

Towson bank to buy historic Hansa Haus. (Bank of Maryland)
March 20, 1998... The Bank of Maryland is nearing a deal to buy the Hansa Haus and open a bank branch in the distinctive Bavarian-style building on Charles and Redwood streets. The Towson-based bank is a subsidiary of Mason-Dixon Bancshares Inc. in Westminster....

Cleaning fluid maker maps plans for China. (Chemspec Inc.)
March 20, 1998... An East Baltimore company is breaking into the carpet cleaning business in China. Chemspec Inc. has started a joint venture with a Chinese company to sell cleaning equipment and chemicals in that country. The deal is worth $6 million to...

Columbia's Reliable sells off 21 Hub stores. (Reliable Stores Inc.)
March 20, 1998... The country's largest publicly owned furniture chain has quietly bought its way into the Baltimore-Washington market. Heilig-Meyers Co., of Richmond Va., closed Feb. 4 on the purchase of 21 Hub furniture stores and three Kline Furniture stores,...

Black & Decker Corp. (Proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 20, 1998... Corporate profile A strong fourth-quarter performance helped to make 1997 a record year for Towson-based Black & Decker. The Power Tools and Accessories, Security Hardware, and Fastening and Assembly Systems divisions reported record sales and...

Late payouts irk hospitals. (Maryland Hospital Association prepares report on two large insurers who refuse to reimburse hospitals)
March 27, 1998... Maryland hospitals are trying to halt an outbreak of what they consider improper denials and delays of payments by the state's two largest managed care companies. A report detailing dramatic increases in refused payments and overdue bills is...

Accounting shop plotting acquisitions. (Walpert, Smullian and Blumenthal)
March 27, 1998... A Towson accounting firm, fueled with cash from American Express Tax & Business Services, is on the hunt to buy several other firms in its quest to triple billings and staff. Wallpert, Smullian & Blumenthal, a 32-year-old tax and consulting...

Game over for Disney; BreakAway starts up. (BreakAway Games Inc. to develop computer games for PCs and console machines)
March 27, 1998... OverTime Sports Inc., the Disney-owned computer games company that wowed critics with its football-simulation software, quietly shuttered its Hunt Valley development studio last month and laid off 30 people. But the 3-year-old company's top...

MicroProse Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 27, 1998... Corporate Profile After playing near the edge of financial disaster for several years, MicroProse Inc., a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software, has rebounded from its 1996 losses with record revenues, margins...

In the public eye. (RWD Technologies Inc.)
March 27, 1998... IPO can mean cash, publicity - or disaster Businesses, large and small, go public for many reasons: the infusion of cash, publicity, prestige, and the fact that once a company's stock is publicly traded, it is easier to raise money in the...