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08/20/2008

Making the switch: Home heating oil versus natural gas
CRANSTON –– There are eight men crammed into Jimmy Cavanaugh’s tiny basement, and two of the biggest guys are now at the center of attention. They’re maneuvering a dolly holding a new steam boiler, a blue metal boxy device the size of a small freezer, which needs to go into the corner beneath an assembly of 2-inch heating pipes.

Business Digest: Developer offers vision for casino in New Bedford
Northeast Resorts yesterday offered up its vision for a resort casino in New Bedford, where it controls a swath of land along the city’s waterfront. Northeast, which includes Leon Dragone as one of its principals, owns or has options for acreage in New Bedford and Palmer, both places the company would seek to build a casino if Massachusetts approves such operations. Northeast holds options on more than 35 acres in the Hicks-Logan neighborhood along the New Bedford waterfront, just south of Route 195 and has dubbed the $1-billion project Revere’s Landing. Plans call for a 600-room hotel, 4,000 slot machines and 150 table games, all serviced by 4,000 employees. Northeast has a development agreement with Pennsylvania Real Estate Trust, which owns the Dartmouth Mall, and has entered into an agreement with the tribal owners of the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut to develop a facility in Palmer. Northeast and the Mohegans have outlined plans for Palmer officials for a $1.1-billion resort. The proposal, for a site a few hundred yards from the Massachusetts Turnpike, calls for 4,000 slot machines, 100,000 square feet of retail space, 11 restaurants and a 600-room hotel. Northeast now owns or controls 250 acres in Palmer.

Profits take a hit at 3 retailers
Three big-name national retailers — Home Depot Inc., Target Corp. and Staples Inc. — yesterday reported weak second-quarter sales and profits as consumers cut back on purchases of clothing, home goods and supplies in a slumping economy:

Dismal sign as housing starts fall, producer prices rise
The news means there’s no doubt the nation is in a period of stagflation, says one economist.

Longs asks shareholders to OK $2.7-billion takeover by CVS
Longs Drug Stores Corp. has recommended that shareholders approve its $2.7-billion, or $71.50-a-share, purchase by Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp. even as activist investor Bill Ackman hired a firm to explore getting a higher price.

Bulletins
•Companies

General Dynamics to buy Jet Aviation
The deal lets General Dynamics take advantage of the Swiss company’s strong luxury-jet presence in the fast-growing Persian Gulf region.

Inflation fears prompt selloff
A rebound in crude oil prices — up $1.66 a barrel to $114.53 — added to investors’ anxiety.

08/19/2008

General Dynamics settles fraud lawsuit
The federal government alleged that one of the company’s units defectively manufactured or failed to test parts used in aircraft and submarines.

R.I. gasoline prices plunge 8 cents from a week ago
Gasoline prices in Rhode Island are continuing a five-week slide.

Bulletins
•Companies

Lowe’s profit dips, but beats 2nd-quarter expectations
Results were boosted in part by consumers who bought freezers to accommodate bulk food purchases to cope with soaring grocery prices.

Wall Street slides on news about Fannie, Freddie
Stocks of Rhode Island importance fell, led by Bank Of America Corp. and Hasbro Inc.

Shoppers flood stores during Mass. tax holiday
Massachusetts’ tax-free weekend floods stores with shoppers, while some Rhode Island store owners try to counter with their own sales.

Navy commits to buying third Zumwalt destroyer
Raytheon Co. has about 2,000 employees, including nearly 500 in Rhode Island, working on the Zumwalt systems.

Business Digest: Waste recycling company to build Johnston plant
Converted Organics, which uses a special composting technology to convert food waste into lawn fertilizer in dry pellets and liquid concentrate for organic farming, says it has gained approvals in Rhode Island to develop a third organic soil and fertilizer manufacturing facility in the United States. The company has leased nine acres in the newly created Lakeside Commerce Industrial Park in Johnston from the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation. The Rhode Island Industrial Facilities Corporation gave initial approval on Aug. 1 to the company’s revenue-bond financing application for up to $15 million for construction of the new plant.

Fannie, Freddie shares take a dive
The stocks fall more than 22 percent over worries that the mortgage-finance companies need a government bailout.

08/18/2008

Easing of inflation could help bond investments
NEW YORK — Investors who rushed to the relative safety of bond funds when the stock market began to stagger last year might have felt they had outrun the troubles in equities — only to face the new threat of inflation when oil prices started soaring. But with the cost of crude now falling, some fixed-income investors could now find themselves in an enviable position.

08/17/2008

Homebuyer tax credit may not pay off

As in banks, deposits in credit unions are protected
Since the recent news about bank failures, I’ve received several queries from readers on the insurance that covers accounts at credit unions, and on the health of credit unions.

08/18/2008

Some questions, answers on tax credit for homebuyers

08/17/2008

New link in the chain
CVS Caremark Corp. last week solidified its national presence with its announced purchase of Longs Drugs Stores Corp., a 521-store chain that dominates Northern California and other Western retail markets.

Today on the air
Today on the air

08/18/2008

Food companies slim down packaging
CHICAGO — Consumers might not have noticed, but their bottles of Coke are slimming down: The cap on the 20-ounce bottle is a tad smaller these days — and 24 percent lighter.

For recycling, the question is to sort or not to sort
The big national haulers are promoting a “single stream” system where customers put all recyclables into one cart.

Protect yourself from ID theft
Protect yourself from ID theft

In tight economic times, some stay-at-home moms spend more time at home
NEW YORK — “I’m having ’em, so I wanna raise ’em.” That’s the philosophy that led Jenna Kagan to stop working when her daughter was born nine years ago. Two sons soon followed, and their mother remains firm in her belief that staying home with them is best.

08/17/2008

Some industries thrive in recession
Despite the economic downturn, consumers still find a way to pay for beer, candy and cigarettes.

PEOPLE IN BUSINESS
BankRI

In farming community, windmills split town, families
John Yancey can’t stand the turbines, and is bitter that his father signed a deal allowing them on the family’s land.

08/16/2008

Paint companies ask judge to make state pay
PROVIDENCE — Three major corporations that won a dramatic state Supreme Court verdict last month, overturning a jury finding that they created a public nuisance by selling lead paints here, returned to court yesterday to convince a judge to force the state to compensate them for some of their costs during the nine-year legal battle.

Bulletins
•U.S. economy

Business Digest
Boston tops inflation list

Dollar gaining strength worldwide
So far, the trend has helped push oil prices lower and made all imports less expensive.

FDA clears chemical used in containers
Some environmental groups still worry that bisphenol, used in the manufacture of a variety of bottles and cans, isn’t safe.

New program teaches the teachers
Five teachers are participating in a state-sponsored externship program this summer that puts them in a business setting.

08/17/2008

In the market downturn, it’s even a tough time to sell affordable-income units
Many nonprofit community development agencies in Rhode Island have newly constructed properties waiting for buyers.

Hamptons not immune to market woes
Though lifestyles have not changed, rentals have become popular as even the rich and famous fear a loss.

Internet sites help buyers find the safer neighborhoods
Some Web sites are better than others and buyers should be aware that not allof the information is timely or pertinent.

Career tips
Let’s face it: Work can be stressful. Even happy news, such as earning a well-deserved promotion, can take a toll if it means long hours while you learn the new job. Staying sane and healthy when work is stressful takes a proactive approach.

Middle Schoolers build a bridge to future careers
Middle school students learn about the transportation industry during a summer class offered by the URI Transportation Center.

Hourly wage or salary? It matters how workers view themselves
The actual number of workers paid by the hour last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, was 58 percent, or 75.9 million.

05/04/2008

Small Business: Building the network
PAWTUCKET — “No man is an island,” wrote the 17th-century poet John Donne. Neither, it would seem, is a business.

01/06/2008

Start-up: Kreatelier was launched at the Center for Women & Enterprise
PROVIDENCE — On a Wednesday night in mid-November, Line Daems and Pernilla Frazier arrive in separate cars outside the Center for Women & Enterprise overlooking Route 195 in the city’s Fox Point section.