Unemployment rates fell year over year in January in 227 of the United States’ 372 metropolitan areas, including the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro, according to the latest non-seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. more

Rhode Island’s unemployment rate fell to 9.4 percent for February, as the number of employed Rhode Island residents rose by 1,300 from January, representing a fairly good-news month for the state as it still struggles to recover from the economic downturn, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training announced Thursday. more

Providence-based GreenBytes Inc. has named Chris Maher as chief operating officer to lead “ongoing market expansion,” the computer hardware and software pioneer announced Thursday. more

Nearly $2 million worth of Innovative Partnership grants have been awarded by the Governor’s Workforce Board RI, Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee announced Thursday. more

Edward J. Cooney, senior vice president and treasurer of Nortek Inc., has died, the company announced Thursday. Cooney,65, had joined Nortek as vice president and treasurer in 2001 and was appointed senior vice president in 2011. more

Providence was so close to running out of cash a year ago that it couldn’t pay for tires on police cars. This month, Wall Street lined up to lend to Rhode Island’s capital, shrinking … more

Providence Preservation Society announced today that Karen Jessup has been named interim director of the citywide preservation organization. more

Mary Heath, a career sponsorship and events professional, was recently promoted to chief marketing officer of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum. Heath previously served as the senior director of sales and partnership marketing for the hall of fame, securing long-term partnerships with companies such as Rolex, Kia Motors and Alex and Ani. She is a former vice president of IMG’s tennis division and has served as an ATP World Tour and Women’s Tennis Association tournament director. For more than a decade, Heath was the co-owner of Perennial events. Heath holds a B.A. in English from Denison University and is also an adjunct professor of sports marketing at Salve Regina University. more

Mary F. Lovejoy, vice president and treasurer of Textron Inc., has been appointed to the board of directors of The Rhode Island Foundation. more

Jessica David has been named vice president of strategy and public affairs at The Rhode Island Foundation. The Rhode Island Foundation more