Cox wins mall communications contract
WEST WARWICK – Cox Communications has been selected by Commonwealth Development Group, developer for Providence Place Mall, the provider of choice for telecommunications services for the Mall, Cox Communications announced. Under the five-year marketing contract, Cox will provide Cox Digital Telephone (local and long-distance service), high-speed Internet access, and its traditional cable television service to Mall tenants.
Interactive kiosk installed at Convention Bureau
NEWPORT – Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the wineries of Newport County, and MontegoNet Solutions, have combined to install an interactive touchscreen kiosk on the main floor of Newport’s Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Gateway Center. The interactive kiosk allows visitors to surf the Web sites of Newport, Greenvale and Sakonnet Vineyards, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Information is available on winery tours and tastings, other area attractions, restaurants and hotels.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
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Blue Cross profitable in first quarter
PROVIDENCE — As merger plans loom for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the finances of the ailing health insurance firm are recuperating. In the first three months of this year, Blue Cross operated in the black — in part because of a one-time tax break. But a first-quarter surplus will help the company meet its prediction that it will become profitable this year, following three consecutive years of annual losses of more than $20 million. Meanwhile, Blue Cross is examining whether to sell or merge with a larger company to help ensure its long-term survival. A spokesman for Blue Cross confirmed company officials recently met with officials from Anthem Insurance Companies, an Indiana-based company that is one of two known suitors for the Rhode Island company. A similar meeting will be arranged with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the other company that publicly has acknowledged an interest in merging with Rhode Island Blue Cross, the spokesman said. According to recent figures, Blue Cross had a surplus of $439,946 for the first quarter of 1999, which compares with a $7.2-million loss during the same three months of 1998.
Noise consultants suggest airport buy 135 homes
WARWICK — Consultants for the state Airport Corp. say the best way to resolve high noise levels is to buy at least 135 of T.F. Green Airport’s closest neighbors. Noise experts have proposed a $20-million buyout of the homeowners most affected by the air-traffic boom at T.F. Green. Many, if not all, of the homes have already been soundproofed at a cost to federal taxpayers of about $25,000 per house. Mark Perryman, the project manager of the year-long noise study, said now the best way to deal with noise is to buy the homes. He said the buyout offer should be extended to all homeowners inside or adjacent to a noise contour line in an area exposed to an average of 70 decibels of airport noise over a 24-hour period.
Almond names Sowa to workers’ comp court
PROVIDENCE – Gov. Lincoln Almond has appointed Edward P. Sowa of Lincoln as a judge for the Rhode Island Workers’ Compensation Court, replacing Judge William Gilroy, who retired last year. The appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. Sowa has served as a partner at the Providence law firm of Gunning & LaFazia, Inc., specializing in Workers’ Compensation practice. From 1995 to 1998 Sowa served as judge of probate for the Town of Lincoln. A 1966 graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Sowa received his law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1969.
RIEDC wins four national promotion awards
PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation has received four awards in the 1999 American Economic Development Council Promotional Materials Awards Competition. RIEDC was among five Best of Show winners for a business expansion black and white print campaign promoting Rhode Island as the “Brighter Place for the Big Idea,” an ad that also won “Best of Class” award. A companion collateral campaign, featuring a color brochure, also won “Best of Class.” The tourism divisions “Get Unstressed” advertisement won an “Excellent” award. (Award designations for the competition are Best of Show, Best of Class, Superior, Excellent and Honorable Mention.) RIEDC officials said there were 900 national entries submitted in the contest. Creative products were designed by Duffy & Shanley of Providence, the advertising, public relations and marketing firm that is RIEDC’s agency of record.
State’s purchase to preserve 137-acre farm-forest
BURRILLVILLE – In a continuing effort to preserve open space, the Department of Environmental Management announced its third – and largest — purchase under the Forest Legacy Program, a 137- acre working farm and forest operation on Buxton Street and East Iron Road, near the DEM’s Black Hut Management Area. The conservation easement was purchased for $52,800 from the property’s owner, John J. Wright, who had bought it in 1961. The state’s other acquisitions under the program have been a 76-acre white pine forested parcel at the headwaters of the Queens River in Exeter, and a 75-acre working forest in South Kingstown.
