Gains made in the last four years to build dozens of renewable energy projects on public land and create a regulatory framework for offshore wind production in the United States could be stymied by the large federal budget cuts scheduled to begin Friday as a result of the so-called sequester, outgoing Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said Tuesday. WiTricity, a Watertown company that licenses technology with such potential applications as allowing electric cars and consumer-electronics devices to wirelessly recharge their batteries, said Tuesday that it is opening an office near Utah State University, a hotbed of research for high-speed wireless charging. Founded in 2007 by physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, WiTricity licenses its technology to companies in the consumer electronics, automotive, and medical devices industries. New York Times Co. chief executive Mark Thompson, in a meeting with employees in New York, reiterated that the company was selling The Boston Globe in order to focus on its main newspaper. He also talked about a shifting model for the Times where subscribers account for more revenue than advertisers, as advertising continues to shift away from print. In the future, he said subscribers would be “our most important set of customers,’’ in a model more like HBO or Netflix than a traditional newspaper. The US Department of Transportation said Tuesday it has ordered Fung Wah Bus Transportation Inc. to “immediately cease passenger service and provide its entire fleet of 28 motorcoaches for thorough and detailed safety inspections by qualified inspectors.” Fung Wah operates service primarily between Boston and New York. A Tuesday story in the Globe noted that the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities was requesting the Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to shut down Fung Wah until it addresses safety concerns. Congressman Ed Markey joined with other House Democrats on Tuesday to reintroduce legislation to expand funding for residential heating assistance before the so-called sequester kicks in. Despite looming federal budget cuts, economists said they are cautiously optimistic that Massachusetts’ economy will continue to grow in the next year because of the state’s improving jobs and real estate markets, according to a new report regional economists. While the state’s economy is poised for expansion this year, the report said, across-the-board federal budget cuts known as “sequestration” could cut back federal defense, research, and health spending in the state, and such cuts could damage already fragile business and consumer confidence. A worldwide investor confidence index posted a February reading of 94.8, up 8.7 points from the previous month’s reading, as institutional investors felt more optimistic, particularly institutional investors in North America. The index is maintained by State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corp., a Boston-based financial services company. | 
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