The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition will launch its 2013 competition on Oct. 17 with an educational event intended to teach people about launching a business. more

Toy and game maker Hasbro Inc. plans to retire one of the eight iconic Monopoly game pieces in 2013, and it is letting fans vote online to determine the outcome, Hasbro announced Thursday. more

The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities has announced Elizabeth Francis as its new executive director. more

The R.I. Division of Taxation is reminding retailers and consumers of three major sales tax changes going into effect on Monday, Oct. 1. more

A sold-out crowd of more than 400 from eight countries filed into the auditorium at Providence’s Trinity Repertory Company on Wednesday for the first day of the Business Innovation Factory’s BIF-8 summit. more

AS220 Youth – the AS220’s free arts education program for at-risk teens – is a finalist for the 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. more

Rhode Island Mall, which has been vacant since April 2011, has new owners: Winstanley Enterprises LLC of Concord, Mass. and New York-based Surrey Equities LLC. more

Aquatic filtration system-maker Neptune-Benson LLC has acquired Beaver Dam, Wisc.-based Engineered Treatment Systems LLC, Neptune-Benson announced Monday. more

Gas prices in Rhode Island rose 1 cent this week after dropping 3 cents last, according to AAA Southern New England. more

The number of job openings in the Northeast in August was 694,000, down 4.5 percent from July and 18.6 year-over-year since August 2011, not seasonally adjusted, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. more