Economic Development

This is a tale about a jewelry company still located in Providence. That fact alone might be considered newsworthy to some, but to owners Evelyn and Michael Guarino it’s a story about weathering the most difficult economic time this country has seen since the 1920s. May 19

President Barack Obama couldn’t get a national version of Georgia’s popular on-the-job-training program for the unemployed through Congress, but local companies and other supporters of the idea hope a similar program will be created in Rhode Island this year. May 19

For years, Narragansett scallop fisherman Michael Marchetti has believed information being used by government officials to manage the fishery did not correlate with his at-sea observations. He’s taken advantage of several research programs to both improve available data and increase his own financial opportunities in an industry in which many of his colleagues are feeling increasingly burdened by regulatory requirements. May 19

Swipely CEO Angus Davis was one of many skeptics of Rhode Island’s $75 million loan guarantee to former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios LLC video game startup two years ago. Now he has even more company in the business community urging state leaders not to sink any more money into the embattled Providence firm since it defaulted on part of its public-financing deal. May 19

Book Enterprises was days away from leaving the South Coast for Stoughton, Mass., when owner Jason Zutaut made one last call looking for an inexpensive space that would keep his wholesale book business and its 72 employees closer to home. May 19

Rhode Island’s taxpayers were hit with a couple major news stories within the last week, but in neither case should the state’s leaders be distracted from creating a positive economic-development climate in the Ocean State. May 19

Of all the changes happening in the health care sector today – federal reform efforts, outcome-based medicine, etc. – perhaps the change with the potential to be most disruptive to Rhode Island is the purchase of Landmark Medical Center by for-profit Steward Health Care, a transaction it hopes to duplicate with other community hospitals soon. May 19

Colin P. Kane, head of the I-195 Redevelopment Commission, has turned down Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee’s offer to head the R.I. Economic Development Corporation. May 18

(Updated May 18, 10:00 a.m.) 38 Studios LLC attempted to pay its overdue $1.125 million fee to the state late Thursday with a check the company admitted would have bounced, R.I. Economic Development Corporation officials said. May 17

(Updated 5:25 p.m.) Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee has asked developer Colin P. Kane, head of the I-195 Redevelopment Commission, to succeed Keith W. Stokes as head of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, according to Rhode Island Public Radio. May 17