BUSINESS BRIEFS | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

LINTHICUM - Northrop Grumman Corp. announced Thursday the completion of the preliminary design review of the Marine Corps' G/ATOR radar project, which will replace five of the Corps' current radars.

The $256 million Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar will give the Marines a better ability to "detect, track and provide target quality data to engage hostile aircraft, cruise missiles, unmanned air vehicles and provide location of hostile rockets, mortars and artillery," the company said in a statement.

Northrop is the prime contractor for the project.

The work now moves to the critical design phase, "the last major milestone before production begins," said Emmitt E. Gibson, vice president of ground-based tactical radars for Northrop's land forces division.

Other contractors working on the project are Sensis Corp., CEA Technologies Inc., Stanley/Techrizon and Caterpillar Logistics.

Northern chamber seeks internships

GLEN BURNIE - The Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce is seeking paid internships for high school students participating in the National Academy Foundation's Academy of Finance.

The interns can perform record-keeping, payroll, audits and accounts payable tasks for businesses, the northern chamber said.

Companies interested in hiring a summer intern can get more information at www.naf.org/internshiptoolkit/employer2/site/theme/course.html or send e-mail to Jacqueline Dunn, signature program facilitator at Northeast High School at jadunn@aacps.org. The northern chamber asks that businesses not call the school because teachers are off for the summer.

The internships can be for full- or part-time jobs.

State gets top marks for tech work

ANNAPOLIS - The Milken Institute announced last week that Maryland has climbed into the No. 2 spot nationwide for technology economy preparedness.

The study credits alternative assistance, like Maryland's Sunny Day Fund, as well as new projects like Maryland's Nanocenter.

The study was released on the heels of Gov. Martin O'Malley's announcement of a program to invest $1.1 billion in Maryland's bioscience industry over the next 10 years.

The Milken Institute's 2008 State Technology and Science Index provides an updated look at the technology and science assets for all 50 states and ranks states on their ability to foster and sustain a technology sector. Maryland was ranked fourth in 2004, the most recent time the study was conducted.

The top five states this year were Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado, California and Washington. The index looks at 77 indicators that are categorized into five major components: research and development inputs, risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure, human capital investment, technology and science work force, and technology concentration and dynamism.

Homes for America earns national award

Annapolis - One of Homes for America's newest affordable housing communities, Serenity Place in Baltimore, recently received top honors by a national organization as the nation's 2008 Best Special Needs project. A regional organization also recently selected the property as the Best Maryland Housing Project of the Year.

The National Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition selected the property as the best project developed in the past year that serves residents with special needs. This is the third time in 13 years that a Homes for America affordable community has received the award.

The Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers, which includes affordable housing groups in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland, also selected Serenity Place as the Best Maryland Project.

Serenity Place is a 19-unit community in the Waverly neighborhood of Baltimore that involves the reuse and rehabilitation of a vacant school building. It serves low-income formerly homeless women with a range of disabilities.

Homes for America, an Annapolis-based affordable housing organization, is one of the largest nonprofit owners of affordable housing in the country. Homes for America owns 55 rental communities in the mid-Atlantic states.

- From staff reports