More job cuts AT Fidelity

Boston-based Fidelity Investments, one of the biggest employers in Rhode Island with more than 2,400 workers in Smithfield, confirmed yesterday that it will eliminate about 1,700 jobs in the first three months of next year, adding to previously reported dismissals throughout the company that started this week. Together, the two rounds of job cuts represent 3,000 employees, or about 7 percent of the company’s 44,400-member work force, Anne Crowley, a Fidelity spokeswoman, said. No decisions have been made on which divisions will dismiss employees or whether fund managers and research analysts will be affected, she said. “All we have finalized is the number of employees” who will be affected, Crowley said. The company did not break down the firings by location, but Crowley said the cutbacks will be roughly proportionate, at about 2.9 percent at each.

Disaster loan deadline near

Small businesses in Bristol, Newport and Providence counties have until Dec. 8 to apply for economic injury disaster loans up to $1.5 million from the U.S. Small Business Administration because of the drought and extreme heat that occurred between July 15 and Dec. 31 of last year. The loan program is available to farm-related and nonfarm-related small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and nurseries that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this disaster. The loans are available at 4 percent interest with terms up to 30 years. SBA determines eligibility based on size and type of business and its financial resources. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based upon each applicant’s financial condition.

Mall pays EPA fine

The Rhode Island Mall, in Warwick, has paid $36,100 for violating federal regulations covering the storage and handling of polychlorinated biphenyls, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration. An EPA complaint alleged that the mall engaged in unauthorized use and discharge of PCBs in several freight elevators, in violation of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. PCB contamination was identified in the pits underneath the four freight elevators at the mall, and PCB oil was found at levels exceeding 50 parts per million in the hydraulic fluids at each elevator location. Under the settlement, Rhode Island Mall will also remediate the PCB contamination in the elevator bays and will come into compliance with federal PCB regulations.

GTECH extends lottery pact

Providence-based GTECH Corp., a unit of Lottomatica, has signed a three-year contract extension with the Georgia Lottery to continue providing online technology and services, as well as games through September 2013. GTECH said it forecasts revenues of about $125 million over the three-year period. Jaymin B. Patel, company president and chief executive officer, said it has had a partnership with the Georgia Lottery since it began in 1993.

CVS faces unions’ charges

A group of labor unions says Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp. has violated patient privacy and improperly pushed an expensive diabetes drug to doctors, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The unions, representing 6 million workers and known as Change to Win, say CVS urged doctors by letter to add Merck & Co.’s Januvia diabetes drug to treatments of specific patients which the company had identified through a review of prescription claims processed by its Caremark unit, the Journal reported. CVS said the allegations are part of a dispute with the unions over workplace rules, the Journal reported.

bonds rating unchanged

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the BBB rating on approximately $23.9 million of Providence special obligation tax-increment refunding bonds series E, series F (taxable), and series G (Alternative Minimum Tax). The outlook is stable. The rating reflects the city’s covenant to seek appropriations to replenish debt-service reserve funds and address potential deficiencies, a strong history of tax increment payments by Dominion Resources and previous owners of the Manchester Street power station and adequate debt-service coverage. The bonds are secured by net tax revenues generated from a single property, the Manchester Street Station, which is owned and operated by Dominion. Payments by Dominion remain sufficient to cover debt service and are based on incremental growth in assessed valuation.

Energy firm’s credit plan to be reviewed

The state Public Utilities Commission is preparing to review National Grid’s proposed plan to comply with a new law requiring the utility company to credit customers for energy they produce with generators such as solar panels or wind turbines but do not use. The law is pivotal to the financing of wind-turbine projects in Portsmouth and Barrington and is designed to encourage other such projects. The PUC has scheduled a pre-hearing conference on Tuesday on the company’s proposed payment rates.

Cox adds ‘green’ hybrid bucket truck

Cox Communications New England is moving toward a more environmentally friendly fleet by adding a hybrid bucket truck. The hybrids from Navistar provide potential fuel savings of nearly 60 percent when the engine is shut off and equipment such as overhead utility booms operate solely on the truck’s battery power. Diesel emissions are also completely eliminated. The Hybrid Truck Users Forum estimates that 1,000 to 1,500 gallons of fuel can be saved per truck and greenhouse gas emissions can be cut by 11 tons to 16.5 tons per unit annually.

Casino leases tract in Massachusetts

The Mohegan Sun casino has leased land in western Massachusetts for a possible development, in case state lawmakers approve casino gaming. The Mohegan Tribe announced Thursday it has signed a 50-year lease on 152 acres in Palmer with options to renew it for another 49 years. The land is in a private lot just off Route 32. The cost of the lease was not immediately disclosed. Mohegan representative Paul Brody said they are spending millions now as an investment. This year, state lawmakers declined to approve casino gaming, but they may reconsider it next session. Mohegan officials said if lawmakers approve gaming next year, the new Palmer casino could open by 2012. State regulators would still have to grant Mohegan a state license.

Bad economy ends Audubon’s Eagle Festival

The Connecticut Audubon Society says it’s canceling its 2009 Eagle Festival because the worldwide economic downturn has dried up corporate sponsorship. The festival was scheduled for Feb. 14 and 15 in Essex. It has drawn thousands of spectators to the town each year to celebrate the return of the winter population of bald eagles to the lower Connecticut River. Connecticut Audubon Society president Robert Martinez says corporate sponsorship is vital to offering visitors the chance to see the eagles in the wild, enjoy live birds of prey demonstrations and attend lectures by experts, all free of charge. Martinez says the society plans to hold the event again when the economy allows.

Maine records record cruise ship season

Maine ports are finishing the cruise ship season with a record number of calls, 128. Bar Harbor drew the bulk of the ships, 97, and Portland was the destination for 31. Bar Harbor harbormaster Charlie Phippen says the new record was set despite 11 weather cancellations at the Down East port. A third Maine port, Rockland, gets into the act next year as a destination for large cruise ships. Grandeur of the Seas is scheduled to make a daylong visit to Rockland on June 21, and Jewel of the Seas is expected to have passengers ashore on Oct. 4. Portland spokeswoman Nicole Clegg says 38 visits are expected at the southern Maine city next year. Portland had 23 cruise ship visits in 2007, while Bar Harbor had 91.

Ingersoll Rand to close Connecticut plant

New Haven, Conn., is losing another manufacturing plant with an announcement by Ingersoll Rand Co. that it will shut the facility down next year, eliminating about 100 jobs. Ingersoll Rand, maker of builder and architectural hardware, has announced it will close its manufacturing facility on Ives Place in the second quarter of next year. Company officials are citing a companywide restructuring and the challenging economy as reasons for the decision. Company officials say employees were notified Wednesday of the pending shutdown. The company has 29 plants in the United States, along with others in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Canada.

Student-aid lending agency’s bond rating cut

The ratings on Vermont Student Assistance Corp.’s $19.94 million of general obligation bonds were cut by Moody’s Investors Service because of the college lender’s use of auction-rate securities to fund loans. Moody’s cut the rating two levels to Baa1, its eighth- highest grade, from A2, the New York-based company said in a report. Moody’s gave the borrower a negative outlook “due to the potential for the current liquidity crunch” to limit its ability to refinance its debt. The Winooski, Vt.-based lending authority has $1.73 billion of auction-rate securities, long-term debt with rates set weekly or monthly through bidding, and $433.4 million of other floating-rate demand bonds outstanding. Interest-rate swings in the auction-rate market and “the potential decline in profitability within the student loan market” led to the rating cut, Moody’s said.

Investors to buy Maine newspaper group

An investment group has signed an agreement to purchase Blethen Maine Newspapers, which owns the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville and other media in the state. The prospective buyer, Maine Media Investment LLC, includes former Defense Secretary William Cohen, and business associates Robert Baldacci and Michael Liberty. The senior operating partner is Richard Connor, a Bangor native who is editor and publisher of The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Neither side disclosed the price or other terms of the agreement. Employees were told about the development Wednesday afternoon. The deal is not complete and the final sale may be months away.

Vermont prisoners may be Alabama bound

Vermont Department of Corrections officials are working on a deal to send up to 80 Vermont inmates to an Alabama prison. Corrections Commissioner Robert Hofmann told legislators Wednesday that the option will be for offenders who are “unacceptable to be placed with a majority of other prisoners.” The cost of housing a prisoner out of state is cheaper — $50 a day, according to a bid from LCS Corrections, compared to $140 a day in Vermont, Hofmann said. If the deal goes through, the state hopes to send between 60 to 80 violent offenders to the 734-bed Perry County Correctional Center in Uniontown, Ala., possibly moving some Vermont prisoners already housed in prisons in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arizona. Once the move is complete, about 10 percent of Vermont’s out-of-state inmates would be in Alabama and most of the others at a facility in Kentucky, Hofmann said.

Two more Maine wind-power projects eyed

A Massachusetts wind-power company has filed permit applications for two more Maine projects, a 40-turbine wind farm in the Lincoln area, and a 17-turbine project outside Danforth. First Wind of Newton is seeking state Department of Environmental Protection and local approval for the 40-unit Rollins Mountain project, which would be built along ridge lines in Lincoln, Lee, Winn, Burlington and Mattawamkeag. First Wind, which also works under the subsidiary name of Evergreen Wind, is also seeking state Land Use Regulatory Commission approval for the Stetson II project. Its 17 windmills would expand the 38-turbine Stetson Mountain project, which is nearing completion. Evergreen operates Maine’s first major wind farm at Mars Hill. TransCanada’s 44-turbine project in western Maine’s Kibby Mountain is under construction.

Timeshare firm to offer new resale system

Sell My Timeshare NOW, of Dover, N.H., has announced a business-to-business resale system for timeshare resorts and developers. Vacation Property Solutions is the company’s newest division, expanding the company’s services to help resorts, wholesalers, brokers and travel clubs provide timeshare inventories. Already the leading advertising and marketing company for consumer timeshare resales and rentals, the company offers both by-owner transactions or broker-assisted services for timeshare sellers, buyers and renters.

More cracks found at nuclear power plant

Company inspectors have found 16 additional cracks in the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant’s steam dryer. Entergy Nuclear spokesman Robert Williams says the discovery during a refueling and maintenance shutdown of the facility in Vernon brings the total number of cracks to 63 in the metal steam dryer, which removes water from the steam before it is sent from the reactor to the plant’s turbine. Williams says the cracks were not new and had been discovered by improved technology. He says the cracks were brought on by aging. Despite the cracking, Williams says the steam dryer as well as the reactor vessel and surrounding containment structure are in good shape.

Company plans to convert waste oil to fuel

A 19th-century mill building in Pittsfield, N.H., is being converted to help produce a 21st century fuel. American Energy Independence Co. is turning the former Suncook tannery into its headquarters and a site for converting restaurant waste vegetable oil into fuel. Chief executive officer Tony Giunta says the company collects used vegetable oil from more than 150 restaurants, filters it and blends it to create a new fuel. He says the plant will be in business by Dec. 1. The company also will sell products including vegetable oil multi-fuel boilers.