Officials from the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority need to balance their budget, but they plan to wait until at least March before increasing fares and establishing service cuts in hopes of an increase in funding, reported Boston.com. more

PROVIDENCE – Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee last week announced that longtime aide Stephen R. Hourahan will return to Family Service of Rhode Island as chief advancement officer. more

Patrick Boris, a banquet chef in Las Vegas, is inching closer to his own “fiscal cliff,” 2,100 miles away from the political brinksmanship under way on Capitol Hill. If Congress and the White House allow the country to go over the cliff later this month, Boris figures he could owe federal income taxes on more than $100,000 in forgiven mortgage debt following the short sale of his two-bedroom townhome next year – a personal financial “disaster,” in his words. more

Superior Court Associate Justice Sarah Taft-Carter has ordered the parties involved in the state pension reform litigation into mediation, the R.I. Judiciary announced Tuesday. more

Providence College has agreed to contribute $3.84 million to the city over the next 10 years as part of a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, Mayor Angel Taveras and PC President Rev. Brian J. Shanley announced Tuesday at a press conference. more

Oil rose for a second day in New York on speculation that Republicans and Democrats are getting closer to a budget agreement. more

The U.S. economy will fall into “severe recession by the spring” unless Congress lessens the tax increases and spending cuts set to begin in January, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. more

BOSTON – Gov. Deval L. Patrick last week announced that William “Mo” Cowan, chief of staff to the governor, will leave state government and return to the private sector in January 2013. Brendan Ryan, currently director of communications, will succeed Cowan. more

You may have seen headlines last week about the Federal Housing Administration needing a taxpayer “bailout” by the Treasury and wondered: Uh oh. Is the FHA heading down the fiscal drain like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have required billions in federal assistance just to stay in business? more

Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee plans to nominate William J. Parsons, current managing director of community and business development, to be the next executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation. more