Bank expands Fall River loan pool
FALL RIVER – A low interest loan by Citizens-Union Savings Bank has enabled the city’s Office of Economic Development to expand its business loan pool, Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr., chairman of the OED announced. The loan permits the OED to meet the U.S. Treasury Department’s requirements as a certified Community Development Financial Institution. Last August the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development notified the city that the FROED would receive $2.365 million in new loan funding.
Law school appoints dean
DARTMOUTH – The Southern New England School of Law announced the appointment of Robert V. Ward, Jr., a Boston legal educator and administrator, as its new dean. Ward, a law professor for nearly 20 years, currently serves as a tenured member of the faculty at the New England School of Law. The dean’s job was previously held by Judge Francis J. Larkin, who was appointed last year to the position of Chancellor at the law school. The announcement was made last week by Judge William A. Dimitri, Jr., chairman of the board of the law school, and attorney Margaret D. Xifaras, the board’s vice chair person. Ward, 49, will be the only African-American to serve as a dean of a law school in New England, according to the university. Ward will begin his new job on July 1. Southern New England School of Law is a private law school in North Dartmouth established in 1981. There are approximately 300 students enrolled at the school.
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Goodkind & O’Dea acquires Anderson-Nichols
BOSTON – Goodkind & O’Dea, Inc., engineering has announced its acquisition of Anderson-Nichols & Company, Inc., a consulting architectural and engineering firm. The acquisition was hailed by a Goodkind spokesperson as fulfilling the company’s strategic goals of strengthening its position throughout New England. Goodkind & O’Dea, based in Rutherford, N.J. with offices in several Eastern cities including Boston, is a multi-discipline engineering company and was founded in 1952. Anderson-Nichols was founded in 1922 and has operated since then from its Boston base providing design and construction support services in architecture and landscape architecture, and various aspects of engineering.
LHS buys Wilmington firm
WILMINGTON – Priority Call, which offers phone services such as pre-paid phonecard and credit and debit card calling from its base here has been acquired by LHS Group, Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., for 5.2 million shares of stock. LHS makes billing systems for telephone companies in 70 countries. Acquisition of Priority Call moves LHS into the prepaid calling card market, which has been growing rapidly.
Smaller Business Assn. honors four Bay State firms
WALTHAM – Four Massachusetts firms were among five New England companies recognized by the Smaller Business Association of New England for their innovative approaches to business. The winners from the Bay State are: Boston Duck Tours for their adapting World War II amphibious vehicles for use as water and land tour carriers in the city of Boston; Children’s Medical Ventures of South Weymouth for shaping a traditional pediatric product line to meet a neglected neonatal market; Concord Communications of Marlboro for modifying its network performance and capacity planning software from an end-user perspective, and Streamline for its innovative approach to distribution and information gathering in serving busy two-career suburban families. The fifth award winner is Fresh Samantha of Saco, Maine, for its combination of marketing, packaging and distribution of all natural juice products in creating a market niche for itself.
Fleet reports software failure disables 400 ATMs
BOSTON – Fleet Financial Group reported last weekend that their technicians in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York were summoned to repair a software problem that disabled about 400 ATMs in the three states, but most of them in Massachusetts. Oddly enough only Fleet card holders had trouble withdrawing money from the ATMs. Non-Fleet cardholders were not affected by the problem.
Lycos offers radio service via Web site
WALTHAM – Lycos Inc., the number three Internet search engine, in the process of being acquired by USA Networks, Inc., has begun offering a five channel radio music service through its Web site in an effort to attract music fans to its site. Initially Lycos is offer the five channels which provide choices from jazz to alternative music, but a company spokesman said the company plans to expand that service to from 25 to 50 channels within six months. Lycos’ radio connection is through Westwind Media.com, a Denver broadcast syndicator. RealNetwork Inc.’s software is used to play the music on personal computers, also offering videos and images to match the music.
Sales up and so are prices for single-family homes
BOSTON – Sales of detached single-family homes were up slightly last month compared with March in 1998, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. The average sale price was reported to be $220,760. But the association also reported that the average price for such homes was up 13.2 percent over the same period. A surge in condominium sales was reported – a 21.3 percent increase, while the sale price rose only 15.4 percent to an average of $138,631.
Family Education Network reports boost in investment capital
BOSTON – A leading Internet web site for parents and teachers, Family Education Network has announced investments of $51 million to help it build partnerships with school districts throughout the country. Harcourt General Inc. and America Online are the principal investors, the network announced, along with Jostens, Inc., manufacturer of graduation rings and yearbooks and two investment companies, Sprout Group and Morningside Group. Family Education Network reports it is linked with 6,000 schools in 775 school districts throughout the country.
