The Daily Record Business News Briefs: June 16, 2009

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 16, 2009

Down and dirty

Stevenson University's neighbor in Owings Mills, investment manager T. Rowe Price Group, is about to dump 25,000 cubic yards of dirt on the university -- and the school couldn't be happier. Stevenson, which is expanding its campus, is preparing sites for a new parking lot, campus entrance and 60,000-square-foot gymnasium. Meanwhile, T. Rowe has excess dirt that accumulated from the construction of two buildings at its Owings Mills complex back in 2007. The surplus fill dirt that T. Rowe is donating to the university will save the institution about $250,000. As one university official put it, "We really dig this donation."

Courtyard in 50th state

Marriott International Inc., of Bethesda, a worldwide operator and franchisor of hotels and related lodging facilities, announced the opening of a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii. The Courtyard brand now has hotels in all 50 states, the first Marriott product to achieve the nationwide availability. There are now more than 830 Courtyard by Marriott hotels worldwide, including 28 foreign countries. Courtyard plans to open hotels in nine additional countries by the end of 2010, the company said. The mid-price hotels are aimed at the business traveler market.

Distance education meeting

Calvert Education Services, of Hunt Valley, the home-schooling unit of Baltimore-based Calvert School, announced it will host a distance learning conference Wednesday through Friday in Baltimore. Titled the Trends in Distance Education Summit, the national meeting will bring together school superintendents, Calvert partners and the education community at large to discuss distance education for kindergarten through eighth-grade students. Calvert, a provider of distance learning for over a century, serves schools in 50 states and 78 countries.

Land for sale in Howard

Manekin LLC, a Columbia-based, full-service, commercial real estate company, said it has been selected by Howard County to serve as a consultant in the sale of approximately 25 acres of land at the intersection of Rogers Avenue and Rte. 40 (Baltimore National Pike) in Ellicott City. The site is zoned POR-MXD-6. Potential uses could be office, medical, retail, residential or special use such as a school or community center per existing zoning codes. For details about the land sale process, contact Liz Tarran-Jones at 410-423- 2034 or ltarranjones@manekin.com.

CancerTV.com site opens

CancerTV.com announced the launch of an educational video- sharing site to demystify cancer and treatments for patients, and educate health care providers worldwide. CancerTV provides instant access to the latest cancer news, best practices and research through user-friendly videos. Visitors can comment on videos, write or read topical blogs and contribute their own thoughts or questions. Interactive videos by physicians on select topics such as breast cancer, colon/rectal cancer, lung cancer or supportive care for patients are also offered. CancerTV and its sister site, OncologyTV, are headquartered in Timonium.

Signal Hill expands staff

Signal Hill Capital Group LLC, a Baltimore-based, specialty investment banking, research and institutional brokerage firm, announced it expanded its Sales, Trading and Research division through the addition of Senior Institutional Salesman Edward J. Cushing III as managing director, and Senior Research Analyst Mayank Tandon as director. Cushing was an institutional salesman with Merrill Lynch responsible for the New York and mid-Atlantic regions. Tandon formerly worked at Fidelity Investments, where he was the lead software and services equity research analyst and also served as portfolio manager of Fidelity's Select Software & Computer Services fund.

Scenic rail ridership falls

Officials say ridership is down on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. The railroad's general superintendent, Frank Fowler, told railroad board members that a ticket price increase meant more money came from May ticket sales, compared to last year, but ridership was down about 16 percent. Fowler said there were about 3,292 riders in May 2008, but only 2,763 last month. Fowler said they're expecting a 5 percent drop in ridership in June. Board members said ticket sales may be suffering because visitors must purchase tickets by phone, and suggested that the railroad begin exploring Web-based purchasing and booking programs.

Maryland Envirothon

While most students are enjoying summer vacation, more than 100 teenagers will compete Tuesday through Thursday at the 19th annual Maryland Envirothon, a rigorous competition for high school students interested in environmental issues and the outdoors. Participating students have been studying the state's natural resources for the past year. For the competition at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, five-member teams will demonstrate their knowledge of soils, forestry, aquatics, wildlife and this year's special environmental issue: Biodiversity in a Changing World. The winner will represent the state at the Canon Envirothon, North America's largest outdoor environmental competition.