ATLANTA – PRIMIS Marketing Group, a Chicago-based provider of integrated database marketing information for mid-sized and large companies, has acquired MarketModels Inc., a Wickford-based data management, modeling and analytics firm.

Founded in 1999 by database marketing industry veteran Brad Mitchell, MarketModels serves more than 1,000 corporate and collegiate clients, including LendingTree.com, AC Nielsen, J.P. Morgan Chase, Sun Microsystems, The Tribune Co., Experian and Equifax.

MarketModels is the third company to be acquired by PRIMIS since 2003; Hyphos360, a database development and hosting company, was bought in 2004, and AccuData America, a marketing data and services company, in 2003.

R.I. to adopt California car emissions standards

PROVIDENCE – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri has endorsed the state’s adoption of California’s greenhouse gas emission standards, also adopted by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, New York and New Jersey, which he says will reduce car emissions by 30 percent.

Carcieri said automakers already have the technology to meet the standards, and it would add only about $1,000 to the cost of a new car by 2016 – easily offset by savings from added fuel efficiency (about $245 per year with gasoline at $3 per gallon, he said).

The new standards would cover carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and certain air-conditioning refrigerants emitted by the fleets of vehicles sold by auto manufacturers.

Newport seeks its place on World Heritage List

NEWPORT – Aided by U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the city of Newport is submitting two nominations for inclusion in the World Heritage List of treasured sites that should be preserved for future generations.

Created in 1972 by a United Nations treaty, the list includes more than 800 sites worldwide, but only 20 in the United States – among them Monticello, Yellowstone National Park, the Statue of Liberty, and the most recent addition, the Carlsbad Caverns, listed in 1995.

Newport is submitting two proposals. One, “The Lively Experiment,” includes Touro Synagogue, the Redwood Library & Athenaeum, the Great Friends Meeting House and several other sites that underscore Newport’s history of providing freedom of religion and expression.

A second proposal, “The Evolution of 19th Century American Architecture,” showcases The Breakers, Rough Point, Ochre Court, the Newport Casino and the Griswold House as examples of architecture built between the Civil War and World War I.

The vetting process for the World Heritage list can take three to five years.

Raytheon gets contract for maritime defense

TEWKSBURY, Mass. – The Raytheon Co.’s Project ATHENA has been awarded a $1.1-million cost-plus-fixed fee contract modification from the U.S. Department of Defense to further demonstrate the maritime domain awareness system’s capability to provide wide-area surveillance for coastal and national defense.

Project ATHENA is a joint battlespace information infrastructure that integrates data from multiple sources to provide a full picture of real-time events, enabling responders to better respond to threats arising from the maritime environment.

The new contract is from the defense department’s Counter- Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office. It will entail demonstrations using the Maritime Domain Awareness Fusion Center at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems’ Naval Integration Center in Portsmouth.

Mass. to hold 16 forums on energy assistance

BOSTON – In response to mounting concerns over rising natural gas and electricity prices, the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications & Energy is holding “energy assistance forums” statewide, starting with 16 this month, with gas and electric companies participating.

The events will explain the reasons for recent energy cost increases, advise consumers on how to reduce energy consumption and help eligible households enroll in assistance programs.

Next month, the state will resume automatically enrolling income-qualified households for discounted gas and electric rates. Working with the utilities and the Massachusetts Division of Transitional Assistance, qualifying households will receive discounts on the delivery charge for monthly gas and electric bills. DTE Consumer Commissioner Judith Judson said an additional 24,000 households are expected to be enrolled, for total savings of more than $3 million.

R.I. Health Dept. opens flu clinics to everyone

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Department of Health has ordered that flu vaccine clinics be open to anyone, maximizing public access to the shots.

Several clinics have already been held that were restricted to “high-risk” individuals – people ages 65 and older, nursing home and group home residents, pregnant women, health care providers, caregivers to infants and people with serious long-term health problems.

The remaining clinics are open to the general public. Prices range from $25 to $30, with some clinics offering free shots to the uninsured, and all providers are accepting Medicare Part B, Medicaid, Blue Cross (senior and commercial products) and United (senior and commercial products) insurance coverage.

Wash. Trust provides $6.8M to telecom firm

WESTERLY – The Washington Trust Co. says it has provided $6.8 million in financing to Carousel Industries of North America, based in Peace Dale, for working capital and to acquire Adirondack Business Systems, an Albany-based firm.

Carousel Industries builds and manages communications networks, providing a single-source approach to converged network business needs for phone, data and wireless systems as well as ongoing maintenance and repairs.

It is one of the largest Avaya Platinum Certified dealers nationwide, with more than 200 employees in offices throughout the eastern United States.