BGE Home enters Maryland electricity market

BGE Home, an unregulated company owned by Baltimore Gas & Electric parent Constellation Energy, has begun selling electricity for the first time to Central Maryland homes. BGE Home has offered residential deals on natural gas for years. Now the company is seizing on declining wholesale electricity prices to offer households a lower cost per kilowatt-hour than what BGE is charging, BGE Home officials said. BGE Home joins Washington Gas Energy Services and Dominion Retail in marketing alternative electricity deals locally. BGE Home's two-year price of 10.25 cents per kilowatt-hour for generation and transmission is more than a penny less than what BGE will be charging between now and June. However, BGE's default price should decline in the next year or two to reflect lower overall energy costs.

- Jay Hancock

First Mariner's top executives took pay cuts in 2009

First Mariner Bancorp Chairman and CEO Edwin F. Hale Sr. got a pay cut last year at a time when the Baltimore-based bank continued to struggle financially while operating under heightened regulatory supervision. According to a document filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Hale's pay package fell nearly $50,000 to $544,847. Other top executives also took pay cuts, including George H. Mantakos, president of 1st Mariner Bank, who saw his compensation drop more than $30,000 to $264,330. The company did not give bonuses or stock awards last year. The company also set a special meeting for Feb. 12 when shareholders will be asked to approve the issuance of more shares and other measures needed for the company to conduct a stock offering to raise up to $20 million from existing shareholders.

- Eileen Ambrose

TravelCLICK to open Baltimore office, hire 50

TravelCLICK, an electronic commerce company that helps hotels with their Web sites, said it is opening an office in Baltimore and plans to hire about 50 people. The firm, which has been serving the hospitality industry since 1999, is looking to hire Web designers, developers and programmers to staff its new Baltimore office at 1410 Key Highway. TravelCLICK is based in Schaumburg, Ill., and has offices in Phoenix and Houston, as well as locations in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Asia. According to the company, it has 15,000 hotel customers in 140 countries. Services the company offers to hotel companies include Web site design and development, e-mail marketing campaigns and social networking.

- Gus G. Sentementes

First phase of Westport Waterfront project to begin

Turner Development has started construction on the first phase of public improvements for Westport Waterfront, a $1.2 billion mixed-use development on 50 acres along the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River in Baltimore. The work includes construction of a "living shoreline wetland" along 900 feet of the riverfront. Maryland's Department of the Environment awarded $620,500 in federal stimulus funds to Turner to help reconstruct the shoreline and create the tidal wetlands. It's the first step in making 25 acres of the Westport Waterfront site ready for building construction. It will be followed by construction of roads, landscaping, utilities and bike paths starting in the spring. Construction of a luxury apartment structure developed by the Landex Cos. is expected to begin in 2011.

- Edward Gunts

FDA-cited Jessup seafood processor resumes operations

A Jessup seafood processor that had been ordered by the Food and Drug Administration to stop operations because it wasn't complying with federal safety laws will resume normal business Thursday with a new food handling plan. The agency said Congressional Seafood Co. Inc. did not document that fish were refrigerated at correct temperatures, failed to keep fish species separate to avoid cross-contamination and did not keep sanitation records. The company delivers seafood in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington. Three executives were cited. The company said that it created a new management structure and worked with an FDA-approved third-party seafood inspector to ensure compliance.

- Andrea K. Walker