BUSINESS BRIEFS | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

PASADENA - An Alex's Lemonade Stand will be set up today at Gardiners Furniture store to raise money and awareness in the fight against childhood cancer.

The stand will be open from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at all five of the Gardiners locations in central Maryland, including the store in the Pasadena Crossroads Shopping Center, 8038 Ritchie Highway.

The company also operates stores in Catonsville, Towson, Westminster and Bel Air.

The stands are named in honor of Alexandra "Alex" Scott, who died of cancer in 2004 at age 8. She had opened a lemonade stand in her front yard to raise money in the search for a cure to childhood cancer.

To date, the foundation bearing her name has raised more than $20 million and is funding more than 80 research projects, the foundation said in a release.

Network breakfast set for Aug. 13

LINTHICUM - A multi-chamber of commerce networking breakfast will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Aug. 13 at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute, 692 Maritime Blvd.

Eleven business groups are scheduled to attend, including the Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, the Baltimore-Washington Corridor Chamber and the Chesapeake Regional Tech Council among others.

The cost to attend is $25 for chamber members in advance and $45 for non-members in advance. The breakfast is limited to 250 attendees. The event usually sells out, so early registration is advised.

To register, visit the www.naaccc.com or take a check to the northern chamber office at 7477 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd., Suite 203 in Glen Burnie.

$70 million in unclaimed checks

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service has initiated efforts to help poor, disabled and elderly Mid-Atlantic residents collect more than $70 million in payments before the October filing deadline.

More than 230,000 of the federal stimulus checks have gone unclaimed in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, the IRS said. They are worth at least $300 each.

Many residents, including those whose only income is a Social Security check, didn't earn enough to file a 2007 tax return, a requirement for getting the stimulus check.

"Three hundred dollars is a lot of money to a person trying to make ends meet, to handle rising fuel costs, rising food bills," said Michael Cassidy, executive director of the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, a Richmond think tank. "So the outreach is really critical here, especially if the folks are homebound."

The checks still can be claimed by filing a tax return by Oct. 15.

There are 97,000 uncollected checks in Maryland. State Comptroller Peter Franchot will tour Baltimore, Frederick, the Eastern Shore and suburban Washington to help residents to file, according to spokesman Joe Shapiro.

The highest concentrations of unclaimed payments are in urban centers in Maryland and Virginia, and in the eastern portions of Washington, according to figures released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

BB&T earnings fall in second quarter

ANNAPOLIS - BB&T Corp., which has 18 branches in Anne Arundel County, said its earnings dropped to $428 million during the second quarter, a roughly 6 percent drop from $458 million during the second quarter of 2007.

The company also increased its provision for credit losses to $330 million in the second quarter, up from $88 million a year ago.

Although the bank continues to "be affected by the challenges of the current credit cycle, the encouraging news is that our core operations are producing solid results," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John A. Allison said in a release.

"We remain focused on client service and are partnering with our clients to prudently work through the challenging economic environment," he said.

- Staff and wire reports