BLB PAYS $1 MILLION TO DIMEO

The owners of the Twin River slot parlor in Lincoln continue to work out their financial problems and last week agreed to pay another $1 million to the contractors who renovated the gambling venue. In March, Dimeo Construction Co., of Providence, the contractor that managed the $225-million reconstruction project that transformed Lincoln Park into Twin River, put a lien on the property to secure $5.7 million from BLB Investors LLC. Dimeo’s subcontractors filed their own liens. The demands for payment earlier this year were wrapped into a lawsuit in state Superior Court. BLB Management Services, an offshoot of BLB Investors, has been holding the contractors at bay this year while it talks with the state about ways to raise its revenue at Twin River. Under an earlier court-approved settlement, BLB agreed to pay $750,000 — to be divvied up among Dimeo and its subcontractors. The last payment — $250,000 — was made Sept. 26. According to an amended settlement, BLB will make four more payments of $250,000 each to help settle its construction-related debts.

CAPRIO: BUY YOUR CLOTHES IN R.I. TAX FREE

Rhode Island General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio is putting his money behind Rhode Island’s merchants this holiday season, taking it upon himself to promote what he considers an underpublicized advantage the state has over its neighbors — the lack of a tax on clothing. Through a billboard sign that went up yesterday morning on Route 95 south on the Massachusetts border, and a Web site — www.NoClothesTax.com — that went live yesterday, Caprio will try to get out-of-staters to consider shopping for clothing here. “We in Rhode Island need to brand our state — especially when it comes to the retail trade,” Caprio said. “We’re not seen as a tax haven for clothing or anything else.” Other states, particularly Massachusetts, make no bones about promoting their tax advantages over this state, he said. Rhode Island should turn the tables on its competitors. So, he’s paid about $12,000 out of his campaign fund to put up a billboard with a straightforward message: “Shop Rhode Island, where every day is a sales tax-free holiday on clothes.” Caprio may pay for other billboards in Massachusetts and Connecticut promoting the lack of clothing sales tax, he said.

LYNCH WANTS BETTER USED-AUTO BUYER’S GUIDES

When you shop for a used car, you need more information than you get from those “buyer’s guide” notices posted on car windows, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch says. The notices should list a vehicle’s history and other information, Lynch says. That way, a potential buyer will know whether the vehicle has had flood or collision damage. Lynch and the attorneys general from 39 other states, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands have asked the Federal Trade Commission to strengthen the buyer’s guide notices to include a used vehicle’s damage, title and Lemon Law history.

AIRPORT EXPANSION SAFETY PACT TO BE SIGNED

Gilbane Building Company, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Rhode Island Building Trades were scheduled yesterday to sign a partnership agreement for the T.F. Green Airport expansion project. Under the agreement, Gilbane will request specialty or trade contractors to join the partnership when they start working on the site. The partnership will provide benefits, which include special recognition from OSHA and priority in compliance-assistance programs. The major goals of the partnership are to reduce by 5 percent annually the number of injuries, illnesses and fatalities affecting participating employers. Also, the goal is to decrease worker compensation costs and the number of OSHA citations for the project.

Stantec WANTS TO ACQUIRE JACQUES WHITFORD

North American design firm Stantec said yesterday that it has offered to acquire Jacques Whitford, an environmental consulting services business with more than 1,700 employees and 40 offices, including one in Lincoln. The transaction, expected to be completed in January, is subject to satisfactory due diligence, regulatory approvals and Jacques Whitford shareholder approval. “Jacques Whitford is a leading provider of environmental management, remediation and geotechnical engineering services, and their addition will significantly strengthen our core capabilities in our environment practice,” says Tony Franceschini, Stantec president and CEO.

BRADFORD PRINTING TO BEGIN NEW ERA

When Bradford Printing and Finishing opens its doors on Jan. 5, it will be the beginning of a new day and new ideas for the textile plant. The goal: A company that strives to be environmentally acceptable, that understands survival is everything, has a cohesive work force willing to embrace change, and where there is no such thing as an unhappy customer. “My vision is simple,” said Nick Griseto, president and chief executive of the new company. “It does not include any mergers or acquisitions, no closures or radical changes in personnel. We even know our end user and the product.” That end user is the U.S. military, for whom the defunct Bradford Dyeing Association provided textile services for the past 40 years, finishing millions of yards of cloth annually. Griseto, a former Bradford Dyeing executive vice president of sales and marketing who lives in South Carolina, said the U.S. Department of Defense is aware of the new program and is supporting it. The struggling Bradford Dyeing, in continuous production for 97 years, threw in the towel just last week, citing energy costs, government contract disputes and labor problems that were too mountainous to overcome. An estimated 75 people will be recruited for the new operation, coming from the ranks of experienced Bradford Dyeing employees, job fairs or statewide applicants. Griseto said he wants to hire workers as soon as possible.

Mass. To review insurance company’s rates

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has asked for a review of Premier Insurance Co.’s new auto insurance rate, claiming the company is discriminating against people who do not own homes. The company’s new rating system, which went into effect this month, gives consumers with homeowner’s insurance from any carrier a car rate reduction of up to 5 percent. Coakley said Friday that state regulations forbid discrimination based on home ownership. If Coakley’s request is granted, the state Division of Insurance will review Premier’s rating system. The division has approved rates that consider whether consumers have homeowner’s insurance, but Coakley’s office said those methods also give reductions for renter’s insurance, something Premier does not do. A request for comment from Premier’s parent company was not returned.

TRACTION ANNOUNCES LIVE BLOG SYSTEM

Providence-based Traction Software, a developer of social software for secure, scalable collaboration, has announced a live blog micro-messaging system. With the new feature, users can write brief notes from wherever they are and share them instantly over the company’s enterprise wiki platform, the first enterprise suite to incorporate micro-messaging technology that’s been made popular by Web services such as Twitter and Pownce. A live blog is an automatically updating browser window that can be shown directly on a user’s desktop or mobile device such as an iPhone. Users type a brief note in the window and everyone with access sees a new highlighted note in seconds. The notes are stored in a hypertext journal so they can easily be tagged for follow-up, discovered in a search or forwarded.