Carcieri to recognize wellness programs

Governor Carcieri has scheduled a ceremony in the State Room this morning to recognize five community, work-site and educational organizations for their creative approaches to wellness programs aimed at keeping Rhode Islanders healthy. The Governor’s Awards for Wellness Innovation will be given to Shape Up RI, Kent Hospital, Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., Mt. Hope High School and the Town of East Greenwich. Eleven other organizations will receive honorable mentions. This is the second year of the awards, which are a component of the governor’s wellness initiative in his health-care agenda. The initiative seeks to cut in half the number of Rhode Islanders with unhealthy and unsafe habits. Wellness programs stress good nutrition, adequate exercise, healthy body weight, seat belt use and tobacco avoidance.

Forum advocates financial education

Forty advocates for youth financial literacy gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to discuss educational strategies for New England. The first New England Youth Financial Education Forum included: Paul Maloney, chair of the finance department, Providence College; Charles Kelley, executive director, R.I. Student Loan Authority; Gail Mance-Rios, deputy director, R.I. Higher Education Assistance Authority; Peter Kerwin, chief of program development, R.I. Higher Education Assistance Authority; and Laurie Mockler, business teacher at Pilgrim High School. James Hedemark, forum organizer and executive director of the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition, said, “After advocating for youth personal financial education in Rhode Island for nearly five years, I am encouraged by the efforts being made by educators in our state, but our research reveals that only five percent of high school students in Rhode Island take a course dedicated to personal finance each year.”

Hospitality industry challenges highlighted

The Rhode Island Hospitality Education Foundation has used a $245,000 grant from the Governor’s Workforce Board to conduct a skills-gap survey to identify challenges related to the hospitality industry. The survey concluded that there is a need for training in customer service and English as a Second Language. The study also found a negative perception of career opportunities and limited opportunities for supervisory-skill training. Steps to overcome these include: developing customer service and language training, embedding guest human-resource managers in one-stop centers for recruitment and informational interviews, hiring a youth coordinator to connect to the statewide Youth Workforce system, and producing a career awareness video with industry partners.

Former R.I. Foundation CEO named to new post

Ronald V. Gallo, who had been president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Foundation for 15 years, has been named the Santa Barbara Foundation’s president and CEO. “The appointment of Ron Gallo as CEO of the Santa Barbara Foundation will greatly enhance the opportunities for the foundation to better serve our community. His lengthy experience in community foundation work and his reputation as an innovator will enable the foundation to continue to expand philanthropy in our county,” said Robert Emmons, chairman of the Santa Barbara Foundation. Gallo replaces Chuck Slosser, CEO for 18 years at the foundation, a community organization with an endowment of $300 million.

Providence Mechanical earns award

Providence Mechanical, of Providence, was recently honored with an outstanding-performance award during the Air Conditioning Contractors of America –– New England Golf Tournament at the Stow Acres Country Club in Stow, Mass. The honor was presented to Providence resident Ray Bolvin during a ceremony attended by Ted Leopkey, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who gave the keynote address. Nearly 150 HVAC contractors throughout the region participated.

LIN-TV part of interactive technology trial

Providence-based LIN TV Corp., a local-television and digital-media company, has announced that its Hartford-New Haven television stations will participate in Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet Click Through market trial, set to begin next month. It will test technology that enables viewers to interact with television ads and programs and bookmark interesting content and advertisers’ offers to view at their convenience. LIN’s new media strategy is focused on partnering with innovative companies, such as Backchannelmedia, to deploy technology that will engage audiences around LIN’s brands and generate new revenue opportunities.

EpiVax CEO publishes research on immunology

Dr. Annie De Groot, chief executive officer of Providence-based EpiVax, Inc., is the lead author of an article highlighting key findings about the activation of natural regulatory T cells. Her work appears in the Oct. 8 issue of Blood, the prestigious medical journal published by the American Society of Hematology. In an accompanying editorial, Rachel Caspi, of the National Institutes of Health, wrote, “This important finding has the potential to explain tolerance to human antibody variable regions … .” De Groot is the principal investigator of newly awarded grants from the NIH and the Montel Williams Foundation to explore the impact on juvenile diabetes and multiple sclerosis. EpiVax is a biotechnology company that is attempting to merge immunology research with bioinformatics to generate new therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.

LNG proposal withdrawn, for now, in Maine

Quoddy Bay LNG has withdrawn its request for Maine state permits to build a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on the Passamaquoddy Indian reservation at Pleasant Point on the Atlantic coast. The Oklahoma company notified the state last week following a decision by federal regulators to dismiss its application. Federal regulators said Quoddy Bay failed to provide information needed to move forward with an engineering review and environmental assessment. Company president Donald Smith said it still plans to pursue the project. “We expect to refile [state applications] in the near future, but are uncertain of the dates due to the world LNG supply and demand situation,” he wrote.

Construction to resume at Tweed Airport

A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled in favor of Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport in its dispute with the Town of East Haven over the planned construction of runway safety areas. The airport sued East Haven in May to block the town from interfering in the project, according to an attorney for the airport. Part of the new safety area is in East Haven. Under the ruling made public Sunday by New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr., the airport has a right to build federally mandated runway safety areas at either end of the airport’s main runway and may continue construction immediately. The decision by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall makes it clear that federal law trumps East Haven’s authority. The ruling permanently bars East Haven from taking any action that would interfere with completion of the runway safety areas, which Hall found were matters of airline safety, not an effort to expand the airport. However, the ruling is subject to appeal.

Navy places $3.7-million order for robots

Bedford, Mass.-based iRobot Corp. has received a $3.7-million order from the Naval Sea Systems Command under an existing contract. The order is for delivery of 17 PackBot Man Transportable Robotic System robots and repair parts. The robots are customized for the Navy command and are equipped with advanced tools and sensors that enable technicians to detect, identify and disable explosive devices from safe distances.