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Commuter rail sought between Mass., N.H.
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 1, 2007
The Washington Trust Co.’s Commercial Lending Group has provided $1.3 million in working capital lines of credit to Providence Bay Fish Co., of Wakefield. The lines were approved in conjunction with U.S. Small Business Administration guarantee programs. Established in 1992 and privately owned, Providence Bay imports and exports frozen-fish products.
Rhody Transportation and Warehousing Inc., of North Kingstown, will begin serving the ports of New Jersey, New York and Boston in addition to the rail yard in Worcester, Mass. The 30-year-old, family-owned company operates 20 trucks providing next-day service in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut out of a 125,000-square-foot food-grade warehouse in North Kingstown.
Vermont medical providers are another step closer to emulating Rhode Island and sharing medical records electronically. The nonprofit group Vermont Information Technology Leaders has completed a report laying out a five-year plan that will encourage the use of electronic health-record systems, protect the privacy of patients and develop the computer systems that will do the job. The exact cost of the full system is unclear, but the 140-page report estimates implementing it would cost about $62,000 for each of the state’s physicians not working in a hospital, or a total of about $24.7 million. The Rhode Island Department of Health has just awarded Electronic Data Systems Corp., the state’s longtime Medicaid fiscal agent, a three-year contract valued at $1.7 million to design, implement and manage the nation’s first statewide network for electronic health records.
Don and Marie Perna, project coordinators for the Accessible Rhode Island guidebook, and their daughters were honored by Newport County industry representatives for their volunteer work in the collection and coordination of information for the book. The publication details the accessibility features of restaurants, museums, attractions and cultural sites throughout Rhode Island, based on criteria from the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The sites are evaluated in several categories, including parking, routes from parking, main entrances and bathrooms. The information is updated regularly on the Web site www.AccessibleRhodeIsland.org. For more information, call Marie Perna at (401) 944-3949.
The Northeast Human Resources Association (NEHRA), an HR association in New England with nearly 3,500 members, has announced the appointment of Robert Eubank as executive director effective Aug. 13. He is a human-resources professional and consultant with extensive industry experience that blends human resources with capabilities in general business management, legal, information systems, operations and strategic planning. Most recently, Eubank was president of Swift Murdock. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Colgate University and master’s of business administration from Northeastern University.
HostTech Communications, a Rhode Island-based supplier of co-location and managed Internet data solutions, has expanded its data center to accommodate growth for the second time in less than a year, adding 4,500 square feet to its location at Westminister Technology Park.
Mass Megawatts Wind Power Inc., of Worcester, Mass., has reported a net loss of 9 cents per share, or $327,954, in the fiscal year ending April 30. In the previous fiscal year, there was a net loss of 10 cents per share, or $316,565. However, after the end of this fiscal year, the company became revenue producing for the first time in its corporate history with the sale of wind-power plant equipment, and the revenue will be recognized in the quarter ended July 31. Additionally, the company has other signed contracts that have not been completed. Revenue for accounting purposes can only be recognized when the sale of the product is produced and delivered. As part of the company’s sales program, Mass Megawatts has started marketing its product, the Multiaxis Turbosystem, using financial analysis materials allowing the company’s potential customer base to identify effective financing methods.
Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid Corp. and the American Pain Foundation are partnering to provide free comprehensive pain-management information in August and September at all Rite Aid stores nationwide. In June, Rite Aid closed on its purchase of the Warwick-based Brooks-Eckerd drugstore chain and is converting those stores to Rite Aid facilities. Customers can pick up a free 11-page Pain Relief Guide with information on pain prevention and available treatments at any Rite Aid. There is also a free Pain Prevention Tip Book, with advice on how to prevent pain and savings on pain-relief products. The American Pain Foundation, an independent, nonprofit organization serving people with pain through information, advocacy and support, reports that pain is the number-one reason people seek medical care.
Stamford, Conn.-based Xerox Corp. has unveiled a new paper it says uses half as many trees as traditional paper and reduces mailing costs. The office equipment-maker’s new paper for digital printing uses pulp that is produced by grinding wood into papermaking pulp instead of using the more widespread chemical pulping process. Xerox also says its new paper uses 90 percent of a tree, twice the proportion typically used to manufacture paper for digital printers. It also requires less water and fewer chemicals and is produced using hydroelectricity to partially power the pulping process, reducing the reliance on fossil fuels.
PerkinElmer Inc., of Waltham, Mass., has named Robert Friel president and chief operating officer and said he probably will be elected chief executive officer to succeed Gregory Summe in 2008. Friel, who has been a vice chairman and president of the life and analytical sciences unit since 2006, will take the position of COO on Aug. 1, the company said. Summe, who joined the company in January 1998 as president and chief operating officer, will remain as chairman through April 2009.
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch has signed legislation to set up an independent authority to restore commuter rail service between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The law creates the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority to develop and manage the return of passenger rail service between Lowell, Mass., and Nashua and Manchester and possibly to other points in New Hampshire, such as the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. “Re-establishing rail in New Hampshire is critical to our future economic growth as a state,” Lynch said. An experimental federal pilot program that briefly brought passenger rail from Lowell to Concord ended in 1981.
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