Latest Business News

NEWPORT – Stunning even Trudy Coxe, executive director and CEO of The Preservation Society of Newport County, the Breakers won the first prize of $25,000 in the national This Place Matters contest.

The contest was sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Firemen’s Fund Insurance Company.

Even more than the $25,000 cash prize, Coxe told Providence Business News Thursday that she is “thrilled” by the fact that the contest saw so many people from so many places show support for the Breakers, one of 11 Newport historic properties that the society manages.

She reeled off a list of about a dozen organizations and individuals that cast votes for the Breakers and encouraged others to cast votes through impromptu email campaigns.

Barnaby Evans, well-known WaterFire creator, sent out an email blast asking WaterFire supporters to vote for the Breakers, Coxe said, as did such groups as the local Chambers of Commerce, the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau and Grow Smart Rhode Island.

Full Post…

Galaxy Resources shares dipped today after it revealed a $27 million cost and schedule blowout for its lithium carbonate processing plant in Jiangsu, China.

Galaxy announced today that construction and fabrication labour shortages had resulted in a cost blow out to $99.8 million for the plant, up from a previous estimate of $72.5 million.

Although it said the plant was 76 per cent complete, Galaxy’s stock dropped 4.3 per cent to 66 cents.

The company said commissioning of the plant would occur over the next five months.

“The new schedule indicates that the back half of the Jiangsu plant – which includes purification, drying, micronising and bagging will be completed with commissioning to commence during Q3 2011,” Galaxy said in a statement. Full Post…

PROVIDENCE – The City Council granted preliminary approval Thursday evening to a $613.8 million budget that would raise taxes and reduce the automobile exemption.

The budget, for the fiscal year that started July 1, is smaller than last year’s $638 million budget and trims the budgets of at least a dozen departments by 10 percent or more.

Property owners, however, would see an increase in their tax bills. The budget calls for an approximate 5 percent increase for residential property owners. The tax rate would rise to $31.89 per $1,000 assessed value from the current $30.38 per $1,000 of assessed value. May

Full Post…

Print media has been on the decline for years and the advent of the the e-reader and the tablet has done nothing to reverse that trend. However, two newspapers hope these gadgets could at least help to save the news industry, according to Adweek.

The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, two titles under the same management, announced a new pilot program to offer discounted subscriptions along with discounted Android tablets. The papers’ news apps would be preloaded onto the devices, and give quick access to their sites.

“No one in the U.S. has bundled the device with content,” Greg Osberg, CEO and publisher of the Philadelphia Media Network, told Adweek. Full Post…

A federal judge last week approved Tampa attorney Burton Wiand’s request for just over $1 million to cover legal fees and professional services for August through December 2010.

The receiver’s tab to investigate and gather assets from Nadel, partners Neil and Christopher Moody and others is now at $4.3 million for almost two years of work.

Nearly 500 investors who lost money in the Nadel’s scam have filed claims to share in the money raised by the receivership, which has yet to distribute any funds.

In his report to U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara, Wiand said he recently sent more than 130 letters telling claimants about “deficiencies” in their claim forms.

Full Post…