Monday, December 31, 2012

Daily Business Update

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Daily Business Update


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Mon. Dec. 31, 2012

DOR says it will miss deadline to release annual film tax credit report

For the second time in three years, the Department of Revenue has missed a statutory deadline to produce a report on the controversial film tax credit program. Agency spokeswoman Ann Dufresne said the report - which by law was required to be released by December 31 -- was still being reviewed Monday.

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Upper Crust workers’ lawyer raising funds to buy four more stores

The lawyer representing former Upper Crust employees who is turning the bankrupt pizza chain’s former Harvard Square location into a worker-owned store is spearheading a fundraising effort to turn four more Upper Crust restaurants into worker-owned stores.

Extended unemployment benefits go over ‘cliff’

Federal unemployment benefits for people unemployed more than 27 weeks expired Saturday, cutting off an estimated 45,000 Massachusetts residents as negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff stalled. Those affected are mostly the long-term unemployed, who will file their final claim this week. About 2 million people nationwide are expected to lose benefits, according to the National Employment Law Project.

Safelite declines to comment on talks to buy Giant Glass

Safelite Group, the country’s largest providers of vehicle glass repair services, declined to comment Monday on possible negotiations to buy a prominent competitor in Massachusetts, Giant Glass Co.

Cumberland Farms to give away free coffee starting at 5 pm until 5 am January 1

Free lunch may be hard to come by, but free coffee is not. Starting at 5 pm today and until 5 am on Tuesday, Cumberland Farms will be giving away free coffee at its stores. Customers will be treated to a complimentary cup of Farmhouse Blend, iced or hot. It’s the sixth year in a row the company has offered this freebie.

Gallon of gas in Massachusetts up by a penny to $3.41 a gallon, 12 cents above the national average

The cost of a gallon of gas in Massachusetts has inched up by a penny in the past week.

Top Massachusetts business stories of the year, as voted on by our readers

Readers have spoken, and by an overwhelming margin the biggest local business story of 2012 was NStar’s merger with Northeast Utilities that also included an agreement to buy power from the controversial Cape Wind project. Here are the others that rounded up the top five:

Purchase by pizza chain founder is delayed

The judge in the Upper Crust pizza bankruptcy case on Friday approved a purchase of four of the chain’s stores by an investment firm with ties to the restaurant group’s founder, but gave plaintiffs who objected to the sale until Jan. 7 to seek a ruling from the Superior Court on whether the transaction would violate an order barring Jordan Tobins from transferring his assets.

Federal investigators probe HP’s Autonomy division

Federal investigators are looking into allegations of accounting fraud at Autonomy, a British software company with offices in the Boston area

Steinway won’t sell band instrument division

Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. has decided not to sell its band instrument division, the Waltham manufacturer announced this week.

Tentative deal averts strike at East Coast ports

A threatened strike by dock workers Sunday that would have closed much of the port of Boston and other major shipping outlets along the east coast has been averted after the Longshoremen’s union reach a tentative deal with maritime operators. A federal mediator announced Friday the two parties had reached an agreement in principle over royalty payments for handling container cargo at the ports and that the deadline for a strike has been moved back 30 days, to January 28, 2012.

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

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Friday, December 28, 2012

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Daily Business Update

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Thu. Dec. 27, 2012

Lawyer files objection to Upper Crust bidder that allegedly has ties to founder of bankrupt pizza chain

A lawyer representing former Upper Crust pizza workers on Wednesday filed an objection in US Bankruptcy Court to the sale of any of the pizza chain’s stores to entities affiliated with founder Jordan Tobins. Upper Crust filed for bankruptcy protection in October and at an auction held last week, the high bidder for the assets of four former Upper Crust locations was UC Acquisition, an entity attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan alleges it has ties to Tobins.

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Parexel, Waltham biotech company, buys software maker Liquent for $72 million

Parexel International Corp., a Waltham biotechnology services company , said Thursday it has purchased software maker Liquent Inc. for $72 million. Liquent, based in Horsham, Pa., makes software used by drug companies to manage regulatory submissions and product registration. The purchase of Liquent will allow Parexel to expand the consulting services it provides to biotech and medical device companies. Liquent brings to Parexel more than 200 clients worldwide that use its software. Prior to the sale, Liquent was owned by private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners of Hermosa Beach, Calif.

November home sales in Mass. highest since 2005

Motivated homebuyers purchased 4,539 single-family properties last month, the best November for sales since the market peak in 2005, according to data released Thursday. Sales of single-family homes increased by 38 percent in November compared to the same month in 2011, the 11th month in a row of sales increases, according to the Warren Group, a Boston company that tracks local real estate.

Cellceutix stock surging on optimism about new cancer drug

Beverly biotech company Cellceutix Corp. surged again on Wednesday, pushing its stock price up by 30 percent in two days of trading since it claimed to be ahead of giants Merck, Roche and Sanofi in the race to develop a new cancer drug. Cellceutix closed trading on the Nasdaq exchange at $2.42 per share on Wednesday, an all-time high since the company went public in February 2008. As recently as Nov. 26, a share of Cellceutix cost $0.98.

Chevron to pay $1.7m to settle case alleging improper payments from state fund

Chevron USA, Inc. and Texaco Downstream Properties, Inc. will repay the state $1.7 million to settle a lawsuit alleging they accepted money from a public fund for gas station cleanups without disclosing reimbursement payments from their insurers, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced on Wednesday. The repayment announced Wednesday is the second in Coakley’s crusade against misuse of the cleanup fund. In April, Sunoco agreed to a $2.2 million settlement in a similar case.

Boston-area home prices rising, but more slowly than in other large cities

Home prices in Boston have risen in the past year but at a much slower pace than in other major housing markets, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released on Wednesday. Boston housing prices were 1.6 percent higher in October this year than they were in the same month last year. The average increase in 20 metropolitan areas was 4.3 percent -- the largest year-over-year increase in two and a half years.

Logan Airport breaks passenger record

For the second year in a row, Logan International Airport recorded a record number of passengers with 29 million travelers passing through the Boston airport. The airport will mark the occasion this afternoon by welcoming the 29th million traveler, who is expected to depart on a United Airlines flight later Wednesday afternoon. The airport’s previous passenger record was set in 2011 when 28.9 million travelers flew in and out of Logan.

Cambridge biotech Aegerion wins FDA approval for drug to treat rare form of high cholesterol

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals said Monday it has won approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market the Cambridge biotechnology company’s first drug, a treatment for a rare inherited genetic disorder that can raise cholesterol to life-threatening levels. The condition, disordehomozygous familial hypercholesterolemia -- or HoFH -- is resistant to statins and other medications typically used to bring high cholesterol under control.

Beverly pharmaceutical company claims it’s at leading edge of research on new cancer drug

Beverly-based biopharmaceutical company Cellceutix Corp. on Monday said a cancer drug it is testing in clinical trials is more advanced than similar drugs under development by larger companies that were featured in The New York Times on Sunday. Merck, Roche and Sanofi are not yet testing their drugs in clinical trials against many kinds of cancer but Cellceutix, which was not mentioned in the Times article, said Monday that it is already conducting such trials.

Union files complaint against UMass Memorial after some nurses told to work on Christmas

Unionized nurses have filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging that UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester was breaching its contract and violating federal labor law by requiring some nurses to work on Christmas. Between 10 and 20 nurses were told in recent days that they will be needed on Christmas even though they worked on Thanksgiving and are scheduled to work on New Year’s day, said David Schildmeier, spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

Massachusetts pension fund has about $28 million invested in the US gun industry

State treasurer Steve Grossman said the Massachusetts pension fund has $27.8 million invested in the gun industry. The Globe reported earlier this week that Grossman had asked for an accounting of gun-related investments following last Friday’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. “Given recent events, we’re engaged in a serious conversation on gun violence in America, and I hope that the timely release of this information will make that as comprehensive a discussion as possible,” Grossman said in a statement Friday.

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Daily Business Update

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Wed. Dec. 26, 2012

Boston-area home prices rising, but more slowly than in other large cities

Home prices in Boston have risen in the past year but at a much slower pace than in other major housing markets, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released on Wednesday. Boston housing prices were 1.6 percent higher in October this year than they were in the same month last year. The average increase in 20 metropolitan areas was 4.3 percent -- the largest year-over-year increase in two and a half years.

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Logan Airport breaks passenger record

For the second year in a row, Logan International Airport recorded a record number of passengers with 29 million travelers passing through the Boston airport. The airport will mark the occasion this afternoon by welcoming the 29th million traveler, who is expected to depart on a United Airlines flight later Wednesday afternoon. The airport’s previous passenger record was set in 2011 when 28.9 million travelers flew in and out of Logan.

Cambridge biotech Aegerion wins FDA approval for drug to treat rare form of high cholesterol

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals said Monday it has won approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market the Cambridge biotechnology company’s first drug, a treatment for a rare inherited genetic disorder that can raise cholesterol to life-threatening levels. The condition, disordehomozygous familial hypercholesterolemia -- or HoFH -- is resistant to statins and other medications typically used to bring high cholesterol under control.

Beverly pharmaceutical company claims it’s at leading edge of research on new cancer drug

Beverly-based biopharmaceutical company Cellceutix Corp. on Monday said a cancer drug it is testing in clinical trials is more advanced than similar drugs under development by larger companies that were featured in The New York Times on Sunday. Merck, Roche and Sanofi are not yet testing their drugs in clinical trials against many kinds of cancer but Cellceutix, which was not mentioned in the Times article, said Monday that it is already conducting such trials.

Union files complaint against UMass Memorial after some nurses told to work on Christmas

Unionized nurses have filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging that UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester was breaching its contract and violating federal labor law by requiring some nurses to work on Christmas. Between 10 and 20 nurses were told in recent days that they will be needed on Christmas even though they worked on Thanksgiving and are scheduled to work on New Year’s day, said David Schildmeier, spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

Massachusetts pension fund has about $28 million invested in the US gun industry

State treasurer Steve Grossman said the Massachusetts pension fund has $27.8 million invested in the gun industry. The Globe reported earlier this week that Grossman had asked for an accounting of gun-related investments following last Friday’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. “Given recent events, we’re engaged in a serious conversation on gun violence in America, and I hope that the timely release of this information will make that as comprehensive a discussion as possible,” Grossman said in a statement Friday.

TJX Cos. pays $200 million for online Wyoming retailer Sierra Trading Post

TJX Cos. Inc., the Framingham-based owner of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores, said it bought discount online retailer Sierra Trading Post for about $200 million. The privately-held Sierra Trading Post, which launched in 1999 and is headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, generates annual revenue of more than $200 million. The company specializes in apparel, footwear, and home furnishings. As part of the deal, TJX said, it is acquiring Sierra Trading Post’s office, distribution center and photography studios in Cheyenne, customer call centers in Cheyenne and Cody, Wyoming, and four outlet stores in Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming.

Brian McGrory named Globe’s new editor

The Globe has named Brian McGrory, a longtime reporter and Metro columnist for the paper, as its new editor.

Clear Channel launches electronic dance music radio station on former WFNX signal

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment on Thursday launched an electronic dance music radio station in Boston on 101.7FM, the former signal of alternative rock station WFNX. The news ends months of speculation about what Clear Channel would do with the frequency it purchased from the Phoenix Media/Communications Group in May for $14.5 million. The new station, Evolution 101.7 WHBA, will broadcast the same electronic dance music featured on Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio Internet station Evolution

Statement from Publisher Christopher Mayer naming Brian McGrory new Boston Globe editor

Boston Globe Publisher Christopher Mayer released the following statement to staff announcing the selection of Brian McGrory as the news organization’s next editor.

Hungry Mother to open second eatery

The owners of the popular

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