Baltimore weekly roundup: GBC and UpSurge merger; DOGE data and ICE; city schools cyberattack

Welcome to the roundup of the latest from Baltimore's tech and entrepreneurship scene. Want this in your inbox? Subscribe for free.

This week, we explore the ongoing evolution of (and history behind) a merger of two major ecosystem builders and the ways the current federal administration’s data grab enables deportations like Maryland resident Kilmar Ábrego García’s.

Scroll down for more news from throughout Baltimore, and remember to nominate your favorites for our RealLIST Connectors.

📰 News Incubator: What to know

• A cybersecurity breach hit Baltimore Public Schools, compromising information for over half its current employees and more than 1,000 students. [Baltimore Banner/Technical.ly]

• Check out all the Baltimore ecosystem leaders speaking at our Builders Conference on May 8-9! (Join them?) [Technical.ly/Eventbrite]

• Mayor Scott wants to lower property taxes by 2028 to attract new businesses. [Baltimore Biz Journal]

• Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals fans can now watch teams play without a cable subscription through a streaming-only version of Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. [Washington Post]

• No member of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office will be allowed to work with the Piedmont Reliability Project group. Instead, the group will have off-duty or reimbursable deputies go with people to contact landowners to do land surveying. This decision comes as the project, created in part to address energy demands from data centers out of state, is facing opposition. [Baltimore Banner/Technical.ly]

• The Accelerate Breakfast Series is accepting applications to pitch to nearly 200 investors at its next event in July. Deadline to enter is May 16. [Accelerate Breakfast Series/Technical.ly]

• Baltimore HQ-ed govtech accelerator Hutch has announced its 2025 cohort. [Hutch]

• Professional services and consulting giant EY included several Baltimore region companies for its Entrepreneur Of The Year finalists, including b.well Connected Health and Celebree. [EY/Technical.ly]

🗓️ On the Calendar

• •Partner event: Are you a Salesforce expert, or trying to be? The annual MidAtlantic Dreamin’ conference invites tech folks from across the region for a day of learning, brainstorming, networking and fun in Philadelphia on May 5. [Register Here]

• Open Works is organizing an entrepreneurship-focused resource fair on April 25 for workers who’ve been laid off because of federal government cuts. [Details here]

• Baltimore Code and Coffee hosts a coworking session on April 26 in Federal Hill. [Details here]

• Celebrate startup founders at the next Equitech Tuesday on April 29. [Details here]

• Tell Baltimore Tech Meetup organizers what programming would be helpful for you at their next event on April 30. [Details here]

• Learn about the cannabis industry and the opportunities within it during the Maryland Cannabis Convention on May 2-3. [Details here]

• For teens and young adults: Learn all about advanced manufacturing and explore career paths on May 10. [Details here]