Economic Activity

Massachusetts debt could grow $953M in remainder of FY09

Economic Activity 05/10/2009

BOSTON – Gov. Deval L. Patrick said last week that the state is facing an estimated budget gap of $953 million for the remainder...

PAPER CUTS: The Providence Journal, which had its goodwill value written down by its parent, saw its revenue fall 13.3 percent last year. /

ProJo’s goodwill value written off by parent

Economic Activity 05/10/2009

The Providence Journal’s parent company, A. H. Belo Corp., has written down The Journal’s goodwill value to zero as the company’s losses widened in...

RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL has invested approximately $140 million in its Bridge Building, which includes a new ER and inpatient wings. /

Hospital capital projects slowing

Economic Activity 05/10/2009

Take it as a sign of the economy. After years of taking on massive projects – new emergency rooms and inpatient wings, new critical-care...

NEW FRONTIER: Ten images from the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, including this 16th century map, are being added to the World Digital Library. /

Brown, JCB Library treasures join online collection

Economic Activity 05/10/2009

The 500-year-old map of the world at the John Carter Brown Library had been rarely displayed – maybe once in the last decade or...

Donald Powers Architects Inc. believes in sharing the wealth – and workload. When the Providence firm wins a large contract, it usually brings in other businesses to help. President Donald W. Powers says the philosophy isn’t simply due to necessity. The firm is small, with 13 employees, but also takes to heart the New Urbanism belief “that more hands are better than fewer,” Powers says. DPA is now working on New Urbanism projects – a movement focused on cutting urban sprawl – in South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Arkansas. /

Firm grows by sharing its work

Economic Activity 05/10/2009

Donald Powers Architects Inc. believes in sharing the wealth – and workload. When the Providence firm wins a large contract, it usually brings in...

PAINTING A PICTURE: Jim Rugh, vice president of the Seabee Museum & Memorial Park, looks at a mural depicting Seabees unloading supplies at a station in Antarctica. /

Seabees generating a buzz

Economic Activity 05/10/2009

When the U.S. Navy base in Quonset shut down in the 1970s and its land was turned over to the state for economic development,...

SEEING GREEN: Native Structures founder David Kessler and architect Christine Malecki West. /

Hope for housing in green design

Economic Activity 05/09/2009

It was the day before Native Structures, a nascent Rhode Island homebuilder, broke ground last month on what the company hopes will be the...

Five Questions With: Stephanie Gerson

Economic Activity 05/08/2009

Stephanie Gerson is a new media experience designer who recently moved to Providence from San Francisco. She has quickly made her mark on the...

AMAZON.COM WANTS 70 PERCENT of the revenue from newspaper subscriptions sold on its new Kindle DX device, the publisher of the Dallas Morning News told Congress last week. /

Top exec at ProJo parent cool to Kindle

Economic Activity 05/08/2009

WASHINGTON – A top executive at A. H. Belo Corp., parent company of The Providence Journal, told Congress last week that Amazon.com Inc.’s much-publicized...