R.I. gasoline prices jump 13 cents, averaging $3.739

Gasoline prices in Rhode Island jumped 13 cents in the last week, setting another record. The average price yesterday was $3.739 a gallon, according to a survey by the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources. The prices ranged from $3.649 a gallon to $3.799 a gallon. Since March 31, prices have risen 53 cents a gallon, with the average now 84 cents a gallon higher than a year ago. A separate report from AAA Southern New England set the average price in Rhode Island at $3.709 a gallon, with a range of $3.649 a gallon to $3.799 a gallon. The average price in Massachusetts was $3.689 a gallon, with a range of $3.599 to $3.859 a gallon. The Energy Office in Rhode Island also reported that diesel fuel yesterday was selling for $4.539 a gallon, up 11 cents a gallon from a week ago. The price of home heating oil averaged $4.309 a gallon, up 32 cents a gallon. The prices in the state survey ranged from $4.059 to $4.549 a gallon.

Laid-off workers to get aid

Workers scheduled to be laid off at Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics in Bristol starting June 1 have been certified as eligible for federal assistance under the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance program because their jobs were eliminated due to global competition. The program includes income support and employment retraining in another job or career. Saint-Gobain announced in October plans to lay off 90 of the company’s 160 workers from its manufacturing plant on Metacom Avenue, the result of transferring one of its production lines to a new facility in Mexico. “This federal assistance will help these folks get job training and enable them to continue paying their bills while they look for work,” said U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, who announced the certification. The assistance program is administered by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor and provides aid to workers who have become unemployed as a result of increased imports from, or shifts in production to, foreign countries. The goal is to help these workers return to suitable employment as quickly as possible. To facilitate that, certified workers may access services that can include job training, income support, relocation allowances, job search allowances and a health-coverage tax credit. According to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, Saint-Gobain plans the following layoffs: this year, June 5, July 10, and Nov. 25; next year, Feb. 22, May 16, July 9, Oct. 1, and Nov. 2. Saint-Gobain is a subsidiary of the France-based Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, a large industrial company that employs about 200,000 people in 50 countries.

Fund, trader to pay more than $1 million

A former hedge fund manager from Waltham, Mass., and his investment business have agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle an insider trading case. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday announced it has resolved its civil case against Michael Tom and Global Time Capital Management, of Burlington. Investigators alleged that a Citizens Financial Group employee tipped Tom off to the Rhode Island-based bank’s plans to acquire Charter One Financial in 2004. Tom was accused of buying shares of Charter One before the stock rose when the acquisition was announced. Tom agreed to pay more than $801,000 under the agreement, which is separate from a criminal case in which he previously pleaded guilty. His investment business and the hedge fund that he ran agreed to pay $252,000.

Amgen spends $2.5 million on lobbying

Amgen Inc., the biotech company that manufactures Enbrel at a plant in West Greenwich, spent $2.5 million lobbying the federal government in the first quarter of this year. Amgen lobbied on legislation that would allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve generic copies of biotech drugs. Generic drug companies already market cheaper versions of regular, chemical drugs, but the FDA does not have the authority to approve copies of biotech drugs, which are more complicated. The biotech industry resisted efforts to create a generic industry for nearly a decade. But with Democrats poised to pick up more seats in Congress this November, the industry is now pushing for a compromise before the political tide in Washington turns further in favor of generic rivals. Amgen also lobbied on the implementation of the Medicare drug benefit for seniors and efforts to reform the U.S. patent system. The Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based company disclosed its lobbying expenditures in a form filed April 21 with the Senate’s office of public records.

Brown targeted for new magazine

Brown University is among the Ivy League schools that are targeted as sites for a new type of magazine, social networking and event sponsorship. Manhattan Media announced the plan after buying 02138, the magazine for Harvard University alumni from Atlantic Media, publisher of The Atlantic and National Journal. The price was not disclosed. “Our plan is that this is the first of what will become eight Ivy League magazines, sites and events companies,” said Tom Allon, president and chief executive officer of Manhattan Media, a small New York publisher. The Harvard magazine is mailed free to about 100,000 Harvard alumni and supported by ads. “We plan to launch a companion Web site that’s a social networking Web site for Harvard alumni and a sponsor of a series of alumni events around the 02138 brand,” Allon said. Manhattan Media owns 10 publications, including Avenue Magazine, New York Press and several other weekly newspapers in Manhattan.

DOT hosting career day for students

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation will host the second annual Engineering Career Day today from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the University of Rhode Island Engineering Department in Kirk and Wales Halls in South Kingstown. The program provides a hands-on opportunity for high school freshmen and sophomores to try out different areas of engineering, including highway design, environmental engineering and bridge and geotechnical technologies. Approximately 125 high school students are expected to attend from the following schools: Cranston High School East, Central Falls High School, East Bay Met School, East Providence Career and Technical Center, E3 Academy High School, GAP Program/Talent Development, The College Crusade of Rhode Island, The Met Center, Times 2 Academy and West Warwick High School.

Save the Bay gets top tourism award

Tourism officials will honor Save the Bay with the Rhode Island Tourism Achievement Award tomorrow for three decades of commitment and advocacy to protect, restore and connect citizens to the state’s most vital environmental asset. The award is the industry’s highest form of acclaim. More than 400 members of the tourism and hospitality industry, as well as Governor Carcieri, are expected to attend a luncheon at the Westin hotel in Providence. Tourism officials also will unveil a three-minute video featuring Rhode Island’s top, “authentic” or unique attractions. The video is a trailer of seven, two-minute video podcasts that will promote Rhode Island to prospective visitors on the Internet starting May 25. The podcasts were developed for the state’s tourism Web site ( www.visitrhodeisland.com ), YouTube, iTunes and other video-sharing sites. The event is the culmination of National Tourism Week activities in Rhode Island, and will begin with a travel exchange featuring about 25 exhibitors at 10:30 a.m., followed by the luncheon at noon in the hotel’s main ballroom. The event will also highlight several regional tourism award winners, including: Autocrat Inc., in Lincoln; the Block Island Historical Society; Coggeshall Farm, in Bristol; the Newport Gulls baseball organization; Federal Hill; Aunt Carrie’s, in Narragansett; and Gregg’s Restaurants & Pubs, based in Warwick.

Nortek plans offering of notes

Providence-based Nortek Inc. yesterday announced plans to conduct a private offering of senior secured notes due 2013, which is expected to generate gross proceeds of approximately $750 million. Nortek intends to use the net proceeds, together with proceeds of borrowings under a new senior secured asset-based revolving credit facility, to repay all of the outstanding indebtedness under its existing senior secured credit. The notes will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, and may not be offered or sold in the United States without such registration or an exemption from the registration requirements of such act.

Red Sox report to air on Telemundo

The Boston Red Sox and Telemundo New England have announced that Red Sox Report, an Emmy-nominated television show, will now be seen in close to 270,000 Hispanic television homes on Telemundo New England as Reporte de los Red Sox. The program will be broadcast to all four of Telemundo’s New England broadcast markets –– Providence (WRIW), Hartford (WRDM), Boston (WNEU) and Springfield (WDMR) –– and will reach approximately 1 million viewers as estimated by Nielsen Universe. Red Sox Report, which currently airs on the New England Sports Network (NESN) on Sunday nights, will be reedited in Spanish by Telemundo New England, which will add a Spanish speaking on-air and voiceover presence. Reporte de los Red Sox is slated to air weekly on Wednesday evenings.