Pie in the Sky fundraiser nets nearly $540k for Community Servings

Community Servings’ annual Thanksgiving fundraiser Pie in the Sky this year raised $538,000 to benefit the organization’s home delivered food and nutrition program for the critically ill, including those living with HIV/AIDS. Sponsored by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and Digitas, Pie in the Sky sold a total of 15,689 pies to community members during the 19th annual fundraiser. More than 150 of Greater Boston’s best chefs and over 800 volunteers donated their time, talents, and resources to the fundraiser. "This year, Pie in the Sky’s success will allow Community Servings to provide Continue reading >>>

AJCommittee taps new NJ director

+ enlarge image John Rosen receives some last-minute pointers from Allyson Gall before succeeding her as director of the American Jewish Committee’s New Jersey Area. Photo by Robert Wiener Advertisements by Robert WienerNJJN Staff Writer December 14, 2011 As he prepares to become the next director of the American Jewish Committee’s New Jersey Area, John Rosen is intent upon continuing the interfaith and multi-issue outreach of his predecessor, Continue reading >>>

Economic study calls 2000-10 the state’s ‘lost decade’

Rising income inequality, a decade of stagnant job and wage growth, and deep-rooted racial and ethnic disparities threaten Massachusetts’ economic future, according to two reports released independently this week. One study calls 2000 to 2010 a “lost decade” for the Bay State, according to non-partisan think tank MassINC and Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market studies. It was the first 10-year period since World War II that Massachusetts ended with fewer jobs, a drop of 143,000 positions, the report said. Despite an increasingly educated and productive workforce, wages Continue reading >>>

Harvard’s Money Matters

A Harvard education purports to teach its students the skills they need to make the world a better one. We are encouraged to think critically about social problems, to create our own innovative solutions to them, and, as a result of this education, to demonstrate the individual responsibility we each have to society.But there is a dangerous disconnect between the principles that guide the University’s socially beneficial education and research, and those that inform the investment strategies of the Harvard Management Company, which manages Harvard’s current $32 billion Continue reading >>>

CEO says Genzyme ready to roll

The message from new Genzyme CEO David Meeker: We’re back. In an exclusive Herald interview this week, the Vermont native who took over in October at the Cambridge-based biotech discussed new parent company Sanofi, the departure of longtime CEO Henri Termeer and the manufacturing problems that forever changed the company. “That was a devastating moment for Genzyme,” said Meeker, a pulmonary critical care specialist who joined Genzyme in 1994. “The inability to supply patients with the medication they need was something that affected us profoundly and, obviously, has and continues to be Continue reading >>>

Acura Preps for Entrance into Alternative-Powertrain Market

by Cambridge PR Group PEABODY, MASS. (12/13/2011)(readMedia)-- While Acura has had its share of firsts in the industry, like the first all-aluminum production car, it has taken a more calculated approach in developing its first alternative powertrains. In the near future though, Acura dealers could feature a range of vehicles showcasing hybrid and diesel drivetrains designed to boost performance and fuel economy simultaneously. Acura recently allowed Motor Trend magazine behind the wheel of three vehicles sporting its new powerplants, including a 1.6-liter turbodiesel, a 2.4-liter direct-injected Continue reading >>>

Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s ‘State of Equity’ report to be released …

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) has released a summary of “The State of Equity in Metro Boston,” a report studying the ways that inequity affects the residents of greater Boston at each stage of life: as children, young adults, adults, and seniors.The full report and findings will be released on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at an event co-hosted by Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.The State of Equity in Metro Boston is the first in a series of indicator reports that will monitor the region’s progress toward achieving the goals Continue reading >>>

J&R Launches Electronics Trade and Save Program

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JR (www.jr.com), New York City’s must-shop destination for electronics, and NextWorth, a leader in consumer electronics upgrades and trade-ins, today announces the new JR electronics trade-in and save service, available both in-store and online. In time for the holidays, the program aims to help customers save money when they upgrade to new electronics by trading in old items for store credit. “It’s a thrill for us at NextWorth to provide an electronics trade-in program to such a well-respected Continue reading >>>

Race between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich tightens in New Hampshire

MADISON, N.H. - Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich clashed bitterly yesterday over how they made money, an unusually sharp exchange that reflects the tightening presidential primary race in a crucial state long seen as a Romney stronghold. The sparring began when Romney told a Fox News audience that Gingrich should give back the $1.6 million in fees he earned consulting for Freddie Mac, the semipublic mortgage giant seen as responsible in part for the housing bubble that burst three years ago. Gingrich shot back: “If Governor Romney would like to give back all the money Continue reading >>>

Sun Life to cut hundreds of Bay State jobs

Canadian insurance giant Sun Life Financial is cutting some 800 U.S. jobs, with roughly half of the layoffs hitting the firm’s American headquarters in Wellesley. “It’s fair to say that the vast majority of the impacts will be in the Boston area,” Sun Life spokesman Frank Switzer told the Herald, saying the firm will cut some 400 jobs in Wellesley, Boston and Portsmouth, N.H. Sun Life CEO Dean Connor announced the layoffs today as part of a plan to “reposition” the Toronto-based firm. He said Sun Life, which also owns Boston-based MFS Investment Management, will stop selling variable Continue reading >>>