By Rob CoxThe author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. When is a merger-of-equals really a takeover? One easy way to tell is when the top brass get rich and undeserved paydays. There’s probably no better live example than the just-delayed sale of Massachusetts electric utility NSTAR. Its top five executives could feast on as much as $50 million in severance and change-of-control payments despite labeling their deal as one of mutual control for both sets of shareholders. As regulators probe the union more deeply, investors may want to do the same. It’s Continue reading >>>

A Black Woman's Guide To Networking -- Award Winning Business Executive and Networking Guru, Juliette Mayers, Shares Secrets to Success with New Book -- Bookcover and author, Juliette Mayers Boston, MA (November 7, 2011) -- A Black Woman's Guide to Networking, written by Juliette Mayers, author, award winning business executive and networking Guru, will be available for purchase on Friday, November 4th, 2011 on her website: www.juliettemayers.com and on www.amazon.com. This inspirational book is for black professional women and others who Continue reading >>>

"Five Things You Need to Know Today" is a Patch column that provides readers with essential, daily information at a glance. 1. Sunny: Today will be sunny with a high around 62 degrees and a low around 42, according to the National Weather Service. The evening will be mostly clear. 2. Town Meeting tonight: Needham will hold its fall special Town Meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the James Hugh Powers Hall on the second floor of Town Hall. On the agenda: a question of whether to adopt the Stretch Energy Code, a funding plan for the new senior center, zoning changes and more, for a total of 15 articles. 3. Continue reading >>>

A Massachusetts witness at Hingham reports watching "a very bright object with white and red light" at 200 feet that was 20 to 30 feet in diameter that eventually shot off at a 90 degree angle and disappeared on November 5, 2011, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database. The witness and a girlfriend had just stepped outside when the object came into view and they both looked up. "When I did I saw a very bright objet covered in white and red light shoot across us," the witness stated. "The object was low in the sky, approximately 200 or so feet off Continue reading >>>

Dave and Buster’s, a Dallas-based dining concept that combines eating, drinking and playing, will burst onto the Massachusetts restaurant scene with all its bells and whistles next month.The chain of 57 entertainment venues is scheduled to open its first Bay State location in Braintree on Dec. 12, following a long local permitting battle that ended in a compromise over booze sales. Dave Buster’s said it drew nearly 1,800 applicants for the 250 to 300 jobs the chain is filling for the Braintree restaurant located in an abandoned Circuit City store off Interstate 93 near the South Shore Plaza. “We Continue reading >>>

Ravi Subramanian ends his banking trilogy with the launch of his latest novel The Incredible Banker As a successful author who popularised ‘corporate fiction' in Indian writing, Ravi Subramanian's banking trilogy (after If God Was A Banker and Devil in Pinstripes) is all set to end with his new novel, The Incredible Banker. Launched recently at Landmark, the book not just drew crowds from banking circles but others who have followed his 18-year stint in the industry. The Incredible Banker is about the lives of three people in the Greater Boston Global Bank, like any other foreign bank Continue reading >>>

On Saturday, Nov. 19, Westwood resident George Russell, Jr. will rececive some recognition at an event hosted by a Grammy Award winning gospel music icon.   Whittier Street Health Center is honoring Russell for his contribution and dedication to the Greater Boston community at the group's ninth annual "Saving the Health of the Community International Benefit Gospel Concert".  The event will be hosted by gospel music legend Dr. Bobby Jones at the Berklee College of Music Performance Center.  "George Russell is a dynamic and inspiring leader, whose contribution and civic engagement are legendary," Continue reading >>>

CLASSICAL COMES TOMALDEN: A group of classical musicians from Greater Boston has founded the new Firebrand Concert Series in Malden. Firebrand’s first concert on Saturday, “An Evening of Tango,’’ features traditional tangos by Carlos Gardel, crossover tangos by Piazzolla, and compositions from contemporary Argentine tango composers. “Residents of Malden deserve access to quality, innovative, and fun music programming in their hometown,’’ said Diana Golden, director of the concert series. She said she and the other musicians hope to Continue reading >>>

The Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage offices in Cambridge will help sell Thanksgiving pies prepared and donated by more than 150 of Greater Boston’s best restaurants and caterers, including Aquitaine, Blue Ginger, Flour Bakery and Cafe, Harvest, Mistral, Sel De La Terre, the Capital Grille and Upstairs on the Square. Apple, pecan, pumpkin, sweet potato and diabetic apple pies will be sold for $25 to benefit the clients of Community Servings, a nonprofit organization that provides free, home-delivered meals throughout Eastern Massachusetts to 775 homebound individuals with acute life-threatening Continue reading >>>

Slater Cram, assistant branch manager of the West Newton office of The Village Bank, recently graduated from the New England School for Financial Studies. The school was established by the Massachusetts Bankers Association in 1960 to provide opportunities for professional growth to those already in the industry. Studies focus on financial management, technology, lending, marketing and other strategic industry issues. To complete the program, students enroll in a one-year course of study, including two one-week residential sessions held at the Babson Executive Conference Center in Wellesley. Continue reading >>>