NEW BEDFORD – Four federal grants totaling $600,000 aim to enhance broadband adoption and support for small businesses and nonprofit organizations across Massachusetts. more

Once known by the buzzword “consolidation,” municipally shared services is a concept that’s been kicked around for years by towns throughout the state, but has rarely gotten past the planning phase. But in financially ailing cities like Pawtucket and Central Falls, it might be an idea whose time has finally come. more

Brown isn’t typically the color a golfer would use to describe his ideal fairway but at public and private courses around the state it’s becoming quite in fashion as clubs have pushed for formalized conservation programs. more

Former House Finance Committee Chairman Tony Pires is more familiar than most with the often glacial pace of action in the General Assembly. Now director of administration in Pawtucket, Pires and other city leaders know their financially ailing community can’t afford to wait any longer when it comes to the money-saving issue of sharing services with neighboring communities. more

To the Editor: The Governor’s Workforce Board (GWB) deeply appreciates the vote of support for job training expressed in the PBN’s editorial entitled “Broad job training efforts a good sign” (4/15/13). The editorial specifically commends the GWB for two grants recently awarded to Amos House in Providence and Connecting Children and Families in Woonsocket to partner with employers in the food-service industry to train 120 homeless, unemployed and underemployed Rhode Islanders. These awards were two of 10 Innovative Partnership grants – totaling nearly $2 million – that were announced in March by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee to support innovative business-education partnerships that will prepare unemployed Rhode Islanders with the skills that businesses need to fill current and future vacancies in high-growth occupations and industries. more

Rhode Island earned the No. 37 slot on Chief Executive Magazine’s list of the “2013 Best & Worst States for Businesses,” moving two spots up from its 2012 ranking. more

Rhode Island has been selected as the 14th partner state in the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative, a program that helps states assess the costs and benefits of fiscal policy options and make better decisions based on informed results, Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee announced. more

On same-sex marriage, New England is now united. Rhode Island became the 10th U.S. state and final one in the region to make gay weddings legal, after its House of Representatives passed a bill expanding marriage rights to homosexuals. more

While many of Rhode Island’s 91 special districts perform valuable services, their lack of mandated financial controls leaves them open to charges of poor fiscal management, according to a report released by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council late Monday. more

On May 12, Deborah A. Gist, the Rhode Island commissioner of elementary and secondary education, added a new title to her name: doctor in educational leadership, from the University of Pennsylvania. more