Sales of existing single family homes set RI record
WARWICK – Despite rising interest rates, sales of existing single family homes set a new record in the first quarter of this year, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. The Realtors reported 1,698 existing single family homes in the first three months of this year, compared with 1,661 sales for the same period a year ago. And as demand for homes continues, the median sales price rose for the fifth consecutive year. The median price for single family, existing homes reached $127,950 in the first four months of this year, the highest level since 1989,when it was $128,000. Last year at this time the median price was $120,000.
Forum on gambling casino set May 22
PROVIDENCE – A public forum on the proposed Narragansett Indian gambling casino in West Warwick will be held May 22 at URI’s Paff Auditorium in its Feinstein College of Continuing Education in downtown Providence. The forum– or town meeting as it is being called -is scheduled from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sean Daly, a former newscaster for Channel 6, will moderate the program. Seats are available on a first come first serve basis. No tickets are necessary. Admission is free.
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Monet files for bankruptcy; 30 to be laid off
EAST PROVIDENCE – Monet has filed in U.S Bankruptcy Court in Delaware for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. The company also told The Providence Journal that it would lay off 31employees in its East Providence plant but would retain 261 administrative and support workers in its office here. The company said it planned to reorganize and was in discussion with a potential buyer. Meanwhile the company will continue to operate under its Monet Group name.
APC reports lower quarterly return; stock jolted
WEST KINGSTON – American Power Conversion’s stock sank about 10 points in the two weeks after the company announces revenues were lower than expected for the first quarter of this year. From a high of $43.62 on April 18, when the lower revenues were reported, the stock’s value slipped to $33.18 on May 11. The company attributed the lower than expected earnings to weakness in the euro currency an a post-YTK drop off in spending for APC’s computer protection products. However, APC executives assured shareholders at the company’s annual meeting that revenues would rise again for the next quarter, as a result of some new products it was bringing to the market. Moreover, the company predicted that two recent acquisitions, ABL Electronics Corp., a producer of computer connectivity products such as network cables and switches; and Advanced Power, a direct current technology company, would also increase revenues. While the company reported a $47 million net income from $309 million in revenue for the first quarter of this year, a 12 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago, it paled by comparison with comparative increases in revenues posted for the first quarters in 1999, 26.6 percent. And 27.3 percent in 1998.
Hudson Companies relocate office
PROVIDENCE – The Hudson Companies, long a fixture on Allens Avenue, have moved their corporate offices to 89 Ship Street in the Jewelry District. The companies consist of the Hudson Asphalt Group, with facilities here as well as in Massachusetts and Connecticut; the Northeast Truck Group, which provides sales and service for Mack Trucks out of Coventry, R.I. and Avon, Mass. The combined companies employ more than 200 people.
Court upholds conviction in extortion
BOSTON – The First Circuit Court of Appeals here has upheld the conviction of Edward R. Hughes for attempting to extort $325,000 from a Rhode Island software company after he had murdered the company’s president in Mexico. Hughes has been convicted in Mexico of the murder of Brian McCarthy, president of Automated Software of North Kingstown. He is serving a 20 year federal prison sentence on the extortion charge. The court rejected several challenges to the extortion conviction submitted on Hughes’ behalf. During the 1998 trial assistant U.S. attorneys asserted that Hughes became jealous of McCarthy who was named president of the software company they had jointly founded. They further asserted that Hughes had shot McCarthy to death while they were on business in Mexico and dumped his body along the roadside in the Mexican state of Queretaro. On his return to the United States, Hughes then told company officials that he and McCarthy had been attacked by Mexican bandits who then released him with instruction to raise one-million Mexican pesos or about $325,000 in ransom. After McCathy’s body was found, Hughes’ story began to unravel and additional evidence was presented leading to the charges and Hughes’ conviction.
Almond appoints two to board of higher ed.
PROVIDENCE – Governor Lincoln Almond has announced the appointments of William Robinson III and John Howell to the state Board of Governors for Higher Education. He also reappointed Michael Ryan, Deborah Smith and William Turner. All of the appointments are subject to Senate confirmation. The terms expire Jan. 31, 2003. Robinson, who has been an instructor at the University of Connecticut and a former member of the East Greenwich School Committee, replaces Jack Keigwin, whose term expired this year. Howell, the publisher and editor of the Warwick Beacon, replaces Alfred Budnick, whose term also expires this year.
(Compiled from news reports and releases, print and electronic.)
