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Thu. Jan. 03, 2013 Judge rejects lawyer’s plan to buy four Upper Crust restaurants A lawyer representing former Upper Crust workers lost a last-ditch effort to buy four of the company’s pizzerias and block their sale to a private equity firm with ties to the chain’s ousted founder. On behalf of ex-employees who accuse the company of seizing wages, Shannon Liss-Riordan submitted a plan late Wednesday night to the bankruptcy court judge that offered $855,000 for leases at the South End, Watertown, Wellesley, and Lexington locations. That’s $200,000 more than the proposed sale amount of these restaurants to UC Acquisition, an affiliate of investment firm Ditmars Ltd.	Advertisement
Macy’s to close Belmont store, five others across US Macy’s Inc. said Thursday it plans to close its Belmont store, along with five others, laying off 101 local workers. The Belmont store opened in 1978 as a Filene’s and became a Macy’s in 2006, when Macy’s Inc. bought May Department Stores, Filene’s parent company. The other stores being shuttered include the Bloomingdale’s Fashion Home Store in Las Vegas and Macy’s locations in Pasadena, Calif.; Honolulu, Hawaii; St. Paul, Minn.; and Houston. A total of 634 workers will be laid off, though the Cincinnati-based company said some may be offered positions at other stores.
Biogen Idec gives up on experimental drug to treat Lou Gehrig’s disease Biogen Idec Inc. said Thursday it is halting efforts to develop dexpramipexole, an experimental drug to treat ALS, the progressive neurodegenerative disorder, after the drug candidate proved ineffective in clinical trials. The move was a blow to efforts to advance treatments amyotrophis lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gerhig’s disease, for which there is currently no cure. It was also a setback to the Weston-based biotechnology company, which had invested in the high-risk development program.
Research and data specialist The 451 Group buys Boston’s Yankee Group Yankee Group Research Inc., the Boston mobile strategy firm, has been acquired by a New York technology research company, 451 Group LLC, the companies said Thursday. Terms of the deal with Yankee Group’s prior owner, Boston private equity firm Alta Communications, were not disclosed. Yankee Group, Boston’s oldest technology forecasting firm, analyzes mobile communications trends and advises business about how to capitalize on them
Massachusetts foreclosure activity drops in November Massachusetts foreclosure activity fell in November as fewer struggling homeowners went into foreclosure and lost properties to lenders, according to new data released Wednesday. There were 295 completed foreclosure filed in November, 2012, a decline of almost 60 percent from November 2011. Between January and November, there were 7,158 homeowners who lost their properties to foreclosure -- a nearly 8 percent drop compared to the first 11 months of 2011
Newton-based BigBelly Solar names new chief executive Compacting trash and recycling can maker BigBelly Solar Inc. said Wednesday it has hired former Infinite Power Solutions chief executive Jim Norrod to the same position. The Newton-based company said it picked Norrod because the veteran chief executive has a record of growing companies, leading some toward profitable mergers and acquisitions.
WTKK scraps talk, relaunches as urban contemporary music station WTKK-FM made its anticipated switch from talk to music Wednesday, rebranding as Power 96.9 with an urban contemporary format at the conclusion of the final “Jim & Margery” morning show, hosted by Jim Braude and Margery Eagan. A format change by WTKK, a talk radio station since 1999, had been reported for weeks but owner Greater Media Inc. had kept the music genre a secret.
Avis buys Zipcar for $500 million Cambridge-based Zipcar is being acquired by Avis for nearly $500 million, following a period in which the pioneering local hourly car rental company faced increased competition from traditional car rental companies entering the hourly rental market.
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.
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.
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