Baltimore Business Journal articles from May 1997

Baltimore Business Journal archives from May 1997

Topping off a good move for Lion Brothers' style. (Lion Brothers Co. Inc.'s hat division)
May 2, 1997... Hat division doubles revenues since '94 The right hat is so important. An Owings Mills-based manufacturer makes its fashion statement every day at places like Boy Scout troop meetings and Donna Karan fashion shows, through a headwear...

Ryland Group Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 2, 1997... Corporate profile The financial performance of the Ryland Group, based in Columbia, continues to improve. Last week, the company reported that net income for the quarter ended March 31 nearly doubled that of the previous year. Net earnings...

Real estate deal angers developer. (Otis Warren of Maryland Inc.)
May 16, 1997... Lucrative property awarded separately The developer hand-picked by Baltimore City to manage its commercial real estate portfolio is furious about the way the deal was structured, and plans to take his beef to the city's Board of Estimates next...

Ad agencies pull out all the stops. (Maryland Lottery's advertising account)
May 16, 1997... Firms spend to woo clients Gray, Kirk/VanSant was the last of four agencies to present its pitch for the Maryland Lottery's five-year, $60 million advertising account. Showtime: Friday, April 4, at 5:30 p.m. With rehearsed scripts and...

New league to establish hoop team. (National Rookie League plans Baltimore franchise team)
May 16, 1997... Some influential African-American business leaders are forming a new minor basketball league that will include a publicly owned Baltimore franchise. The National Rookie League, started to give basketball players the option of turning...

Region ripe for sports franchises? (Baltimore, MD)
May 16, 1997... Baltimore's population and wealth should put the city near the top of the list for National Basketball Association or National Hockey League expansion, a new study shows. American City Business Journals, the parent company of the Baltimore...

Hopkins, University of Maryland face Medicare audits. (John Hopkins Hospital)
May 16, 1997... Teaching hospitals being checked for possible overbilling Auditors will descend on Baltimore's two major teaching hospitals to ferret out whether physicians there overbilled the government while caring for Medicare patients. The Johns...

Mergers change hierarchy of public companies. (Baltimore, MD)
May 16, 1997... An exodus of public companies from the Baltimore area is under way, with four of the area's 50 largest public companies already gone and more on the way out. In the past year, the region has lost four public company headquarters, with six more...

USF&G tries to carve niche in tough market.(Company Profile)
May 16, 1997... When shareholders gather for USF&G Corp.'s annual meeting Wednesday, they will hear about a vastly different operation than the virtually moribund insurer that seemed to be on its last legs in 1990. But now that USF&G has reshaped itself,...

As it grows, United remembers its roots. (United HealthCare Corp.)(Special Report: Health Care)(Company Profile)
May 16, 1997... For a newcomer to the state, United HealthCare has not been shy about asserting itself in a tough market. Perhaps that's because the company considers itself a Baltimore native. United HealthCare bought what was once Chesapeake Health Care, a...

Rouse Co. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 16, 1997... Corporate profile The Rouse Co. recorded increased earnings, made a major acquisition and lost its founder in THE ROUSE COMPANY 1996, At the end of last year, the company reported net earnings of $16.4 million, up from a $2.8 million loss in...

Controversial phone firm to avoid Md. (KTNT Communications Inc. of Kennedale, Texas not to set up shop in Maryland)
May 23, 1997... A Texas long-distance company that does business under the names "I Don't Care" and "It Doesn't Matter" has decided not to set up shop in Maryland because of possible resistance from the state's Public Service Commission. KTNT Communications...

Insurers fight for Medicaid patients. (health insurance)
May 23, 1997... Maryland soon will be inundated with managed care advertisements - on television, the sides of buses, the walls of doctor's offices - pleading with the state's poorer citizens to let someone take care of them. It's a very public courtship of a...

Aegon nearing merger decisions. (Aegon USA Inc.)
May 23, 1997... When the chairman of Aegon USA Inc. attended both Louisville's Kentucky Derby and Baltimore's Preakness Stakes this month, his mind may have been on a horse race that has nothing to do with the Triple Crown. Officials from both cities are...

Hess drops the other shoe on old strategy. (Hess Shoe Store)
May 23, 1997... Only store still catering entirely to men appears ready to close its doors Hess Shoes may be one step closer to the end of an The only Hess shoe store still catering solely to men - at the corner of Light and Baltimore streets - appears to...

GBC wants role in hotel choice. (Greater Baltimore Committee)
May 23, 1997... Business group working to influence controversial decision The Greater Baltimore Committee - which so far has taken a back - seat will get actively involved in the fate of the new, so-called convention headquarters hotel. GBC president...

Hopkins now accepting 'Change.' (Johns Hopkins Medicine)
May 23, 1997... New newsletter goes for the truth, even when it hurts The premier issue of Change smacked readers with a two-word headline: "Reality Hits." Beneath the headline, the front-page article painted an ominous picture at Johns Hopkins Medicine,...

Feds overpaying for Medicare, study says. (federal government)
May 23, 1997... The federal government may be overpaying the managed care industry as much as $2 billion a year for Medicare patients. Because of the accounting methods used by the Health Care Financing Administration - or HCFA, the agency in charge of...

Following the shifting winds of fortune. (Image Dynamics and Gray, Kirk/VanSant merger)
May 23, 1997... Image Dynamics move surprises many; but not seen as a market signal The story of how Phyllis B. Brotman built her public relations business from a one-woman operation to one of the best-known agencies in Baltimore is familiar stuff in local...

U.S. group to teach kids business basics. (Jump Start Coalition)
May 23, 1997... WASHINGTON - Backed by the federal government and the Federal Reserve, a new coalition was set to be formed this week to help children understand more about business and personal finance. In an ambitious plan to bring almost 20 nonprofit...

Columbia: 'common sense' for technology companies. (Microcosm Inc.)(Special Report: Technology)
May 23, 1997... Location is key, but not because of the landscape For Microcosm Inc. executives, locating their business in Columbia was nothing more than common sense. "Maybe it's stating the obvious - but Columbia is virtually equidistant between two...

Applying new theory to hair replacement market. (cosmetic transdermal reconstruction)(Special Report: Technology)
May 23, 1997... When Mary June McGinnis was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, she turned to an Owings Mills company to design a hairpiece for her. "I even wore mine to chemotherapy treatments at Johns Hopkins," said McGinnis, who wore her hairpiece from...

Referral service takes byte out of tech training. (1-800-TRAINING)(Special Report: Technology)
May 23, 1997... New software and upgraded computers are coming on the market practically every day. With the speed with which computers are advancing, it's pretty difficult for employees to keep up. Officials at Sylvan Prometric, a division of Sylvan Learning...

Local high tech lab helps cops trip up criminals. (ATF Forensics Science Laboratory in Rockville)(Special Report: Technology)
May 23, 1997... In the fight against violent crime, law enforcement agencies frequently partner with innovative firms to develop crime-solving technology. Two companies, Forensic Technology Inc. in Rockville and Mnemonic Systems Inc. in Washington, D.C., have...

Cerbco investors want more from subsidiary sale. (Cerbco Inc.)(Special Report: Technology)
May 23, 1997... Investors in Landover-based Cerbco Inc. are questioning the company's plan to sell its copier and facsimile equipment subsidiary next month. Of the $22 million in proceeds Cerbco will receive on the deal, $2.2 million will be paid to...

We'll create our own jobs, thanks. (young entrepreneurs)(Small Business Workshop)
May 23, 1997... Young entrepreneurs would rather risk it on their own than in corporate America Michael A. Plumhoff didn't enter, college with the zeal of an entrepreneur. He d planned to work for a big brokerage firm. But like many young entrepreneurs, the...

State employees ready to bargain. (labor unions in Maryland)
May 30, 1997... At the top of unions' agenda: Hike pay All but 1,000 of the 40,000 state workers who won collective bargaining rights last year are set to go to the negotiating table this summer. Eight of the nine bargaining units set up by the Glendening...

City hopes to charm: meeting may mean big payoff. (Baltimore, Maryland)
May 30, 1997... Baltimore's hospitality industry is getting ready for one of the most important three-day conferences it's ever hosted, with a potential multi-million dollar payoff in new convention business over the next five years. Several hotels,...

Piper scouting for space. (Piper & Marbury)
May 30, 1997... The city's largest law firm might become the lead tenant in a new office building. That's just one of the options under review by Piper & Marbury, whole lease at 36 S. Charles St. runs out in four years. If the firm decided to become an...

T. Rowe: 'We're not for sale.' (T. Rowe Price Associates Inc)
May 30, 1997... T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. is not selling. End of story. Forget about it. That's how George A. Roche, new chairman and president of the Baltimore-based mutual fund giant, reacts to speculation that T. Rowe Price could follow Alex. Brown...

Murray's numbers are crunching hospitals; pressure on commission's economist coming from all sides. (economist Robert B. Murray)
May 30, 1997... The economist is surrounded. Angry hospital executives and their newly hired lawyers are in front of Robert B. Murray, stacking piles of typed testimony at his feet. Insurance executives and other business types are clamoring behind him,...

Getting doctors to talk with their patients.
May 30, 1997... Baltimore fin aims to lower health care costs by helping doctors refine their skills in communication John Hawks discovered a curious phenomenon among doctors a few years ago - a pattern that could help make the 51-year-old entrepreneur...

It takes a village to fund start-ups; nonprofit group uses small loans to give boost to woman-owned firms.
May 30, 1997... After tinkering around with her home computer for seven years, Janice Anderson decided in 1995 to plunge into the world of self-employment. That year, she opened Anderson Office Services in her West Baltimore home, offering desktop publishing,...

Rent-A-Wreck of America Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 30, 1997... Corporate Profile: Rent-A-Wreck is chugging along, building its national presence as it signs up more franchisees. In March 1993, the company had 350 franchises offering inexpensive rental cars. By December 1996, the number was up to 469. That...

Revived markets driving legal work; as economy rebounds, so does industry. (intellectual property, health care, real estate laws)(Baltimore, Maryland)
May 30, 1997... Intellectual property law is hot. So is health care law. And real estate law, at least in Maryland, seems to be thriving. At least that's what some observers say. To be sure, it is difficult to pin down exact trends in the legal profession, and...

'Medical junkie' turns to growing health law field. (Sigrid C. Haines of Lerch, Early and Brewer)
May 30, 1997... As a self-professed "medical junkie," Sigrid C. Haines chose not to go to medical school or become a nurse. Despite her interest in reading medical journals and the intricacies of hospital billing systems, she also decided to cut short her...

Lawyers' benefits start to catch up with other industries.
May 30, 1997... Attorneys may be on top of the most recent legal decisions, but when it comes to some employee benefits, it seems they, are behind the times. Only now are law firms starting to turn to managed care to cut the costs of their employees' health...