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Mon. Aug. 27, 2012 TSA moves to fire 6 bag screeners, suspend 14 at Logan The Transportation Security Administration has moved to fire six bag-screening officers at Logan International Airport for violating inspection procedures for checked luggage and suspend 14 others for inattention to duty, agency officials said. The action was triggered by a routine audit that showed some officers weren’t paying close attention to computer monitors that display the contents of each bag as it is screened by an explosive detection machine, TSA officials said. The screeners were distracted by their cellphones and other electronic devices, according to the TSA.	Advertisement
WPI looks to develop sensors that can detect blood loss in wounded soldiers Worcester Polytechnic Institute, or WPI, is preparing to launch a project that will focus on the early detection of blood loss as a way of saving the lives of soldiers who are wounded in battle. The three-year project is funded by a $1.9 million grant from the US Army, and the research will be conducted in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Part of the project will be devoted to developing miniaturized wireless sensors that soldiers wear into battle.
Karen Clark study: Many US hurricanes would cause $10b or more in losses in 2012 dollars Gulf Coast residents have been intently watching Tropical Storm Isaac over the last few days, but for one Boston firm, studying hurricanes is a nearly full-time pursuit. The firm is Karen Clark & Co., which provides software products and consulting services that help insurance companies evaluate and manage risk. The firm has just issued a report that concludes that 28 of the roughly 175 Atlantic hurricanes that have hit the United States since 1900 would cause $10 billion or more in insured losses if they occurred today.
AAA: Mass. gas prices are unchanged The average price of gas in Massachusetts was $3.739 a gallon in the latest weekly AAA survey, the same as the previous week’s average, AAA Southern New England said Monday. Prices locally had risen 18 cents over the past month. The current national average for gas is $3.75 a gallon, AAA Southern New England said; a year ago at this time, the Massachusetts average price was $3.61.
Genzyme’s experimental MS drug receives a ‘refuse to file’ letter from the FDA Genzyme, the Cambridge unit of French drug maker a Sanofi SA, said it has received a “Refuse to File” letter from the Food and Drug Administration in response to its application for the approval of Lemtrada as a treatment for relapsing multiple sclerosis. After consultations, the FDA has requested that Genzyme “modify the presentation of the data sets to enable the agency to better navigate the application,” Genzyme said.
ImmunoGen rises on partner Roche’s drug results ImmunoGen Inc. surged 17 percent in early trading after partner Roche Holding AG said its experimental breast cancer drug significantly extended the lives of patients when compared with standard therapy. ImmunoGen, a Waltham-based biotechnology company that develops anticancer products, increased to $16.20 at 8:13 a.m. New York time. The treatment, dubbed T-DM1, for people with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, combines Roche’s Herceptin with ImmunoGen’s technology that helps the treatment carry chemotherapy directly into malignant cells while bypassing healthy ones.
Ask.com parent to buy About.com for about $300m from NY Times Co. NEW YORK — The parent company of Ask.com says it has agreed to buy The About Group from The New York Times Co. for $300 million in cash. Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, which also operates the dating site Match.com, announced the deal late Sunday. About.com provides information on a wide variety of topics and also operates ConsumerSearch.com and Calorie-Count.com. Content is written by paid experts known as guides. The Times purchased About.com in 2005 for about $410 million.
Commerce Bank completes its acquisition of Mercantile Bank & Trust Commerce Bancshares Corp., the holding company for Commerce Bank & Trust Co., announced Monday that it has completed its acquisition of the Boston-based Mercantile Capital Corp. and its subsidiary, Mercantile Bank & Trust Co. The $26.5 million all-cash transaction was announced earlier this year. Mercantile Bank’s three banking offices, located in the Brighton, Fenway, and South End neighborhoods of Boston, opened Monday as Commerce Bank offices.
Affinnova to Mitt Romney: You should have picked a woman running mate Affinnova Inc., a Waltham company that has repurposed algorithms devised for genetic research to address such consumer-product issues as how to design beer bottles and supermarket cereal aisles, claims that Mitt Romney may have missed an opportunity in not choosing a woman as a running mate. Ditto for President Obama. If Hillary Clinton were to be his running mate, he’d have a good chance of connecting with swing voters, said Affinnova, which used its optimization software to sort through millions of combinations of vice presidents, platforms, slogans, and candidate images.
Liquid Metal Battery changes name to Ambri Liquid Metal Battery Corp., a clean technology company based in Cambridge, said it has unveiled its new name – Ambri. Ambri seeks to commercialize a new battery technology that will enable electric grids to use renewable energy more efficiently. The liquid metal battery project began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technolgy lab of Professor Donald Sadoway with financial support from the Deshpande Center, the Chesonis Family Foundation, the French energy company Total, and ARPA-E.
New Balance promotes Minimus 1010 with ads from Arnold Worldwide New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., the Boston-based company known for athletic footwear and apparel, said that it recently launched a new ad campaign to support its Minimus Trail running shoe. The campaign was developed by Arnold Worldwide, the Boston shop that is New Balance’s ad agency of record. In March 2011, Arnold unveiled a new tagline for New Balance --- “Let’s Make Excellent Happen” --- and ads for the Minimus Trail shoe continue that theme. There is also a secondary theme, “Connect More with Minimus.”
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