Log On America gets $5 million boost
PROVIDENCE – Nortel Networks of Canada is investing $5 million and offering up to $45 million in loans to Log On America, which offers Internet links and telephone service to four New England states. A LOA spokesman said the investment and promise of loans would enable the company to expand into all six New England states. The information about the financial arrangement between Nortel and Log On America was contained in a document filed by LOA with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nortel and LOA reached agreement earlier this year on an $8 million, one-year arrangement in which Nortel would supply and install for LOA, among other things, telephone equipment at 16 locations in Rhode Island. The agreement would be subject to annual automatic renewal, LOA told the SEC.
Journal owner plans news via cell phone,
PROVIDENCE – The A.H. Belo Corp., owner of the Providence Journal and several other media outlets announced that it would make local news and information available for people with cell phones, pagers, desk top computers, pocket sized computers, e-mail, faxes and standard telephone lines. The information would be available to subscribers of any of the Belo-owned outlets, such as the Dallas Morning News, Belo’s largest newspaper.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
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Junkunc out, Brown & Sharpe reorganizes
NORTH KINGSTOWN – Brown & Sharpe, which has recently defaulted on loans and has been losing money, even as it cut its work force, announced in a news release that it was adding Richard M. Donnelly, former General Motors executive to its board of directors. The company also announced that it was attempting to renegotiate those loans. In its announcement, B&S said that Charles A. Junkunc, executive vice president/strategic development, who is widely considered instrumental in the company’s turnaround in the ’90s from near bankruptcy brought on by changes in the machine tool industry and a bitter strike. Junkunc told the Providence Journal that he had been outspoken recently about problems the company was having which he attributed to management errors and that was the reason he was leaving the company. B&S was a major tool and dye manufacturer for most of this century and made a transition into metrology, complex measuring instruments, a shift in which Junkunc participated.
Tobacco payment spurs debate
PROVIDENCE — The first payment from the national tobacco settlement, a $17.7 million installment, has revived debate about how to spend the money. Over the next 25 years, the state expects to receive about $1.45 billion from an estimated $206 billion national settlement. There’s been no agreement among state officials yet on how much of that money should be spent on antismoking programs. For the first time, the state budget includes nonfederal money for tobacco control. But the amount, $1 million, falls far short of what is needed, says Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty. The state chapter of the American Lung Association and other groups are also actively lobbying for the state to commit a large portion of its annual tobacco settlement money for antismoking programs. Fogarty says it could cost up to $23 million a year to operate a successful tobacco-control effort on the state. A recent state health department report showed a rise in the number of Rhode Island teen-agers who smoke since 1993.
Plunder Dome investigators look at ex-Cianci aide
PROVIDENCE — Investigators assigned to Operation Plunder Dome are looking into whether a former top aide to Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. attempted to influence the case of a businessman arrested last year. FBI agents began their investigation of Frank E. Corrente last spring, shortly after news of the federal corruption probe of City Hall became public,
The Providence Journal reported. Assistant City Solicitor Steven L. Catalano said the FBI told him they have taped evidence of an apparent attempt to obstruct the case of John J. Izzo, but did not say who the evidence was against. Izzo, a laundromat owner, was arrested in June 1998 for soliciting a policewoman posing as a prostitute. Izzo eventually pleaded no contest to the charge of solicitation and paid court costs and a fine. The penalty was in line with that handed down to the other 26 men arrested in the police sting that night. Both he and Corrente told The Journal they did nothing improper, and court records do not indicate that Izzo received any special treatment. But John A. Scungio, who pleaded guilty on Dec. 2 to delivering a $5,000 bribe to tax official Joseph A. Pannone, told the FBI that Izzo asked Pannone to help in the prostitution case. In response, Scungio said Pannone took Izzo to meet with Corrente at City Hall.
PPAC received grant to replace marquee
PROVIDENCE – The Providence Performance Arts Center has received a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to primarily replace the existing marquee with a new marquee and vertical sign in keeping with the theater’s original 1928 design. At a press conference last week, Mayor Vincent Cianci, Jr. noted that the federal government in 1995 had contributed $1 million of the $7 million that PPAC needed to expand its stage and building to book larger Broadway shows. Cianci said the economic impact of the expansion project has generated millions of dollars for the downtown and served as the stepping stone for the arts renaissance in the capital city.
