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Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., a provider of satellite ground data processing and information technology systems and services, has opened a facility with 100 employees in Greenbelt to support activities for the company's 10-year, $736 million Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-Series R contract for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The 24,400-square-foot facility will house Harris employees and the staff of its subcontractors on the project, Atmospheric and Environmental Research and Carr Astronautics. The opening continues Harris' expansion in Maryland, with the company already employing more than 300 people in the state and about 1,500 in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.

Harris will process in real time weather and environmental data from the next generation of weather satellites, and will distribute more accurate and timely products to more than 10,000 direct users, according to Harris information.

Lockheed lands $230M extension from NASA

Lockheed Martin of Bethesda has won a $230 million contract extension from NASA to continue the Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for services to support all major NASA centers. The modification is a phased extension beginning in February and continuing through October 2011.

Lockheed will continue to provide desktop hardware and software, personal digital assistants, telephone operations, network services, information technology security and other services.

Mortgage broker charged in $2.4 million scam

David Wehrs Sr., a 54-year-old mortgage broker in Annapolis, has been charged with wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud investors and financial institutions of $2.4 million, federal prosecutors announced.

Wehrs owned Maryland Title and Escrow Co. in Annapolis and also operated a small home remodeling company, Show-Me. From 2007 to October, he allegedly induced people to invest through Maryland Title into a purportedly federally insured money market fund that he "guaranteed" would pay monthly interest payments of 10.85 percent.

But instead, Wehrs spent the money day-trading securities, authorities said, to the tune of millions of dollars of trades per month. He also allegedly spent the money to pay other investors, cover business expenses, and buy real estate and personal property.

Wehrs faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also taking action against him.

1-800-Pack-Rat closes on $99 million offering

1-800-Pack-Rat of Bethesda, which offers portable storage and moving services to residential and commercial customers nationwide, has closed on $99.17 million through a fully subscribed equity offering.

The company raised $12 million in 2007 from Envest Ventures of Virginia Beach, Va. It expects to expand to 130 locations across the U.S. this year, according to company information.

Discovery launches new channels in India

Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, a division of Discovery Communications of Silver Spring, will launch two new channels in India, Discovery Science and Discovery Turbo in India.

Broadcast in English, the 24-hour channels will bring the number of Discovery Network channels in India to five. According to company information, the current three networks reach 116 million cumulative subscribers in India with programming customized in English, Hindi and Tamil.

Clipper City Brewing changes brand name

In an effort to clear up confusion regarding its products, Clipper City Brewing of Baltimore has changed the brand name on its beers to Heavy Seas Beer.

However, Clipper City Brewing will keep its name for corporate purposes, according to marketing director Kelly Zimmerman. The change was made to consolidate its products under a single name and to expand the Clipper City products into the 19 other states that already carry Heavy Seas Beer.

Clipper City products have been sold mainly in Maryland, with some sales in surrounding states, according to company officials. "We will have more brand recognition as Heavy Seas than Clipper City," Zimmerman said.

Microvest Capital closes$60M private equity fund

MicroVest Capital Management of Bethesda announced the closing of MicroVest II LP, a $60 million private equity fund targeting microfinance institutions worldwide. 

According to company information, the fund will be a capital intermediary between investors and financial institutions that serve the working poor. The fund began investment operations in early 2009. Lead investors include J.P. Morgan Securities, International Finance, CARE USA, Kinnevick New Ventures, Prudential Insurance Company of America, Christian Super Pty Ltd. and Mennonite Economic Development Associates.

Furbish awarded grantfor vegetated living system

Furbish Co. of Baltimore has won an $81,000 grant from the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute for one of its sustainable products, SmartSlope, a vegetated living retaining wall system.

The grant is part of a $250,000 annual investment by the Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund to help accelerate Bay restoration through improving water quality in new ways. Previous fund recipients include Traffax and Zymetis. Fund recipients are selected by Mtech and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

GeoSoftWorks lands patent for GeoSelector

GeoSoftworks, a subsidiary of direct marketing services provider DirectMail.com of Prince Frederick, received a patent on its GeoSelector technology, a system for generating user-specified information from a map.

The company markets GeoSelector as an affordable, simple-to-use product that combines Google mapping technology with a high-end geo-coding program and then links this output to more than 200 million consumer records, offering almost every type of organization new opportunities to make use of such data, the company said.