By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Raytheon Co. said Monday that it has been awarded an Air Force contract that could be worth up to $260 million to the Waltham-based defense contractor. The contract is for building rapidly deployable radar approach control systems that can be up and running within six hours. A so-called D-RAPCON systems is described in a company press release as mobile “air traffic control in a box.” A D-RAPCON system is made up of a transportable antenna plus three trailer-sized shelters that house radar equipment, communications systems, and an operations center with multiple controller work stations. Each station has the same look and feel of what a controller would see at a major airport. The contract is for one system plus 18 options for a total of 19 potential systems.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Merrimak ATM Group LLC has agreed to pay $50,000 to the Commonwealth to settle allegations that it failed to post fee disclosure notices on some of the ATM’s it operates in the Bay State, the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Monday. Merrimak, which is described as a non-bank ATM provider with its principal place of business in California, has also agreed to change its disclosure practices following a joint investigation by Coakley’s office and the Massachusetts Division of Banks . The investigation was triggered by a consumer complaint. Merrimak operates hundreds of ATMs in a Massachusetts, many of them at convenience stores and parking garages. In agreeing to the settlement, Merrimak neither admitted nor denied Coakley’s allegations.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

A dining hall renovation at the University of Connecticut has won several awards for its design, said the project’s designer, Prellwitz Chilinski Associates Inc., a Cambridge-based architectural firm of 40 people. Prellwitz Chilinski Associates, or PCA, was commissioned to renovate and expand a 1960’s era cafeteria on the university’s main campus in Storrs. In renovating McMahon Dining Hall, PCA oversaw a 5,000-square-foot expansion to the cafeteria’s original 14,000 square feet of space. In its new format, McMahon Hall features restaurant-style “display kitchens”, new connections to adjacent residential towers, and the “vibrant, airy, porch-like feel of a ‘pavilion in the woods,’” PCA said; UConn’s goal for the $8 million project was to increase the dining hall’s capacity by 200 seats and make the hall into a “showcase for great food and student interaction.”

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The average price for gas in Massachusetts is $3.49 a gallon in the latest weekly AAA survey, up 1 cent from the previous week’s average, AAA Southern New England said Monday. Local prices are up 5 cents over the past month, AAA Southern New England added. The current national average is $3.65 a gallon. A year ago at this time, the Massachusetts average price was $3.65. The current range in prices in the latest AAA Massachusetts survey is 34 cents, from a low of $3.35 to a high of $3.69. AAA’s weekly surveys look at self-serve, regular unleaded gas.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Could this be a culinary first for the Hub? A brick-and-mortar restaurant devoted to the grilled cheese sandwich? Greater Boston has long been home to clam shacks and steak houses, not to mention hot dog stands and burger joints. And now Downtown Crossing is about to be graced with a 1,200 square foot restaurant that regards the grilled cheese as the keystone of the fast-food pyramid. The new restaurant is called Cheeseboy, and it’s location near the corner of Washington and School streets is set to open Monday afternoon. As grilled cheese connoisseurs know, Cheeseboy has been around for several years, dishing up its signature product at mall food courts as well as at kiosks at transportation hubs such as South Station.

By Globe Staff

Synageva BioPharma Corp., a Lexington biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for rare diseases, said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough therapy designation to its drug candidate for the treatment of the early onset form of LAL deficiency. Lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (or LAL deficiency) is a rare disorder caused by a marked decrease in LAL enzyme activity. Early onset LAL deficiency is the most rapidly progressive form of LAL deficiency and is usually fatal within the first six months of life. According to the FDA, breakthrough therapy designation is intended to expedite the development and review of drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions. “We are deeply aware of the devastating impact this disease has on infants,” chief medical officer Anthony Quinn said.

By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff

Earnings edged up in the second quarter despite narrowing profit margins at Partners HealthCare System, aided partly by a state government decision to drop an assessment on Partners’ newly acquired health insurance division, Neighborhood Health Plan.

Net income totaled $133.2 million in the three months ending March 31 for Boston-based Partners, which runs Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals, an increase of 0.7 percent from the $132.2 million earned in the same period last year.

Operating income jumped nearly eight-fold to $40.8 million in the most recent quarter, from $5.3 million last year, when the hospital and doctors organization took a $110 million accounting charge to write off the value of computer and software systems it was replacing.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The Shaw’s and Star Market supermarket chain said Friday that its in-store donation campaign raised $300,000 for the One Fund Boston, the fund established by Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino to help people affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. Besides the in-store donation campaign, Shaw’s and Star Market donated an additional $200,000 to The One Fund Boston from their foundation, the company said. “Our customers and associates have a well-earned reputation of generosity, and I sincerely want to thank everyone who donated to support those affected by this tragedy,” Shane Sampson, president of Shaw’s and Star Market, said in a statement. Headquartered in West Bridgewater, the Shaw’s and Star Market chains operate 169 stores in New England.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Carnegie Hall, the storied New York performance venue, said that Robert K. Kraft, chief executive of the Kraft Group and the New England Patriots, will receive its Medal of Excellence at a benefit at the Waldorf Astoria in mid June. The award recognizes Kraft’s leadership in business and philanthropy, and it will be presented by Sanford I. Weill, chairman of Carnegie Hall’s board of trustees. CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley is the evening’s master of ceremonies. In a statement, Weill said of Kraft. “Bob has made such a remarkable impact on the lives of so many, complementing his great success in business with a strong commitment to giving back to the community.... We’re proud to recognize Bob for his great spirit of generosity and his friendship to the hall.”

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is hoping its 72-year-old signature monkey can learn new smartphone tricks --- and help teach pre-schoolers to boot. Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has a long history in textbooks and literature, and in 1941, it published a children’s book starring a monkey named Curious George. As times have changed, the company has looked to technology to augment and evolve its text-book business. In its latest effort, the publisher has developed a new Curious George teaching app series for iPads and iPhones. One app is called “Curious About Shapes & Colors,” and it seeks to teach pre-kindergarten-aged children about simple and complex shapes and primary and secondary colors. Games and reward are used to motivate young learners, the company also known as HMH said.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The Biogen Idec Foundation announced a $250,000 grant to East End House to develop, implement, and evaluate an interactive out-of-school-time genetics program for middle school students in Cambridge. The program, known as GenoExplorers, will initially reach about 150 students and it will offer them hands-on experiments, collaboration with local scientists, and field trips, all designed to introduce young people to the science of genetics. The program is scheduled to launch this fall. The plan is to provide four hours per week of teaching for 35 weeks during the school year, and nine hours per week for four weeks during the summer. The goal is to expand the initiative to additional centers in the coming years and to create a national program.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

MassHousing, the quasi-public agency charged with providing financing for affordable housing in the Bay State, said it has awarded $104,950 to support sober housing programs in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. The MassHousing grants will come from the Center for Community Recovery Innovations Inc., or CCRI, a nonprofit subsidiary corporation of MassHousing that supports nonprofits that create or preserve affordable sober housing in Massachusetts for recovering substance abusers. To date, CCRI has awarded more than $6 million in grants for more than 1,500 units of substance-free housing. “Substance abuse impacts not only those dealing with addiction but their families as well,’’ MassHousing executive director Thomas R. Gleason said. “Affordable sober housing is greatly needed across Massachusetts, and MassHousing’s CCRI funding is a very useful resource in helping to expand and rehabilitate that housing.’’

By Globe Staff,

The top companies on the 25th anniversary edition of the Globe 100 all work in different industries, but each achieved record or near-record financial results in 2012. Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. of Springfield tops the 2013 list. Retailer TJX Cos. was second, followed by Global Partners of Waltham, American Tower Corp. of Boston and Parexcel International of Waltham. TJX topped a special 25th anniversary Hall of Fame list ranking the aggregate performance of top Globe 100 companies over the past quarter century. State Street Corp. of Boston was second on the all-time list, followed by Eaton Vance Corp. of Boston, EMC Corp. of Hopkinton and Staples Inc. of Framingham. The Globe 100 magazine, which appears Sunday, and a complete online package, also honors a dozen top Massachusetts innovators.

By Katie Johnston, Globe Staff

New electronic signs announcing bus arrival times will be installed at Logan International Airport this fall as part of the airport’s attempts to encourage passengers to use high-occupancy vehicles. The Massachusetts Port Authority on Thursday approved a partial $4 million budget for signs announcing buses that will take passengers to the Blue Line MBTA station, Logan Express satellite parking lots, and the new rental car facility opening in the fall. Signs showing arrival times for the Silver Line were installed last year. The $4 million will also cover signs directing passengers to high-occupancy ground transportation at all four terminals to better accommodate these vehicles. Massport has been promoting high-occupancy vehicle usage to help deal with the parking crunch at the airport, where lots could exceed capacity 40 days this year.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Wegmans, a New York-based supermarket chain, is delaying the opening of a store planned for the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Newton from the fall to the spring of 2014, a spokeswoman for the chain said Thursday. Construction delays and the juggling of other projects are the reasons for the delay, said the spokeswoman, Jo Natale. Family-owned Wegmans currently operates 81 stores in six states and is opening new stores at a rate of two or three a year, Natale said. Fall openings are planned for a new store in suburban Washington, D.C., and another in suburban Philadelphia. Plans for opening a Wegmans in Newton were first disclosed in late 2011, a few months after the chain opened its first (and still only) Massachusetts store in Northborough.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Walmart, the giant retail chain, held a ceremony earlier this week to mark the installation of a new solar array system at its Walpole store. Eight of the 50 Walmarts in Massachusetts now have such systems, a company spokesman said. The other local Walmarts with solar arrays are in Springfield, Ware, Lunenberg, Northbridge, Halifax, Abington, and Tewksbury, he said. Collectively, the installations at those eight Walmarts are projected to provide 2.8 million kilowatt hours of energy annually, saving about 1,484 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually – roughly the equivalent of taking 309 cars off the road, Walmart said. The eight Massachusetts array were installed by Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC of Connecticut. The inverter for the solar PV array is from Massachusetts-based Solectria Renewables.

By Casey Ross, Globe Staff

A Boston development team filed plans Thursday to build two, 400-foot towers in front of the TD Garden with 300,000 square feet of stores and restaurants, 500 residences, office space and a 200-room hotel.

The project, by Delaware North Cos. and Boston Properties, would dramatically reshape the entrance to the Garden, creating a modern, retail-filled gateway with shops and restaurants. The complex would contain 1.7 million square feet of total space, making it one of the largest developments in the city.

The developers filed an outline of their proposal with the Boston Redevelopment Authority Thursday. They still must undergo a months-long review process, but indicated they hope to start construction early next year.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The top prize of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition was awarded to 3dim, a startup whose 3D sensing technology allows users to control the latest generation of smartphones through gestures, MIT said Thursday. In choosing 3dim for the Robert P. Goldberg $100,000 grand prize, judges looked at proposals from seven finalists winnowed from a field of 215 applicants. 3dim cofounder Andrea Colaço offered this description of the start-up’s technology: “The need for specialized hardware and high power has, to date, prevented 3D gesture capture in mobile devices, leaving users to poke at their small screens. Unlike existing 3D sensing methods which require high power illumination, sophisticated sensors, and complex processing, the 3dim solution exploits the compressibility of 3D signals to reduce power, cost, and complexity of 3D acquisition.”

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Dynamics Research Corp., an Andover company that provides technology and management consulting services to government agencies, said Thursday that a subsidiary has been awarded a federal contract extension from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The company, which refers to itself as DRC, won a contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2010, and now the department has decided to extend that contract through next year, DRC said. Over a five-year period, that arrangement could have a total contract value to DRC of $125.5 million. The contract covers work DRC is doing on behalf of the department’s Veterans Relationship Management program, which is a multi-year initiative for delivering fast, accurate, and easily accessible health care information and benefits to veterans, service members, and eligible beneficiaries

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.4 percent in April, but the state’s economy shed 1,400 jobs, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported Thursday. April was the third consecutive month that the Massachusetts economy has lost jobs, and April numbers add to evidence that the state economy is slowing after a period of strong growth. The current national unemployment rate is 7.5 percent. April’s job losses in Massachusetts were spread across a variety of sectors. Leisure and hospitality, financial services, construction, and government were among the sectors of the Bay State economy that lost jobs last month.

By Globe Staff,

Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, called on Congress and President Obama to delay efforts to lower the federal deficit, arguing that budget cuts and tax increases have slowed the economy and contributed to high unemployment.

Rosengren, speaking at a conference in Milan, said cuts in local, state, and federal spending in recent years have offset efforts of the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy through record low interest rates, keeping the economy from growing fast enough to significantly lower unemployment.

“Increased fiscal austerity in the US has weakened the outlook,’’ Rosengren said in prepared remarks. “I would urge policy makers to consider scenarios where some elements [of deficit reduction] take effect only after the economy has more fully improved.”

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The Boston Conservatory, which bills itself as the oldest performing arts conservatory of its kind in the nation, has scheduled a ceremonial groundbreaking for Thursday afternoon for a new building that will house orchestra rehearsal hall and dance studios. The new building will be located at 132 Ipswich St, about a thousand feet from the school’s main building at 8 The Fenway. Plans call for conservatory president Richard Ortner to host the event, and other dignitaries are expected to be in attendance. “As a multi-disciplinary performing arts conservatory, our highly specialized curriculum requires equally specialized studios and teaching spaces,” Ortner said in a statement. “This project addresses many current needs and also makes provisions for future development.” The project will also breathe new life into the neighborhood, he added.

By Beth Healy, Globe Staff

Harvard University endowment chief Jane Mendillo earned $5.3 million in 2011, up 52 percent from 2010, the institution disclosed on Wednesday.

The highest-paid manager on Mendillo’s staff at the nation’s largest endowment was again Andrew Wiltshire, who oversees hedge funds and other alternative assets for Harvard. Wiltshire took home $6.6 million, a 20 percent increase from the prior year.

The compensation disclosure for managers who invest the $31 billion Harvard endowment coincided with the university’s filing of its annual tax return Wednesday.

The pay of the Harvard endowment’s managers is a closely watched matter in some quarters of the university and among its alumni. Ninety percent of compensation for Harvard endowment managers is based on performance, and whether they beat their investment return goals.

By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff

The state’s biggest health insurers reported mixed first-quarter financial results Wednesday, with two notching income gains, one registering lower earnings, and one posting a loss.

While all of the health insurance companies said they were working to hold down premiums as they rolled out new products and shifted doctors and hospitals to risk-sharing payments, each cited unique factors influencing financial performance in the three months ending March 31.

First quarter operating earnings are typically weak for health insurers because that’s when many people decided to go ahead with elective surgeries and other procedures they postponed during the holidays. But that downturn was offset by investment income at most of the plans.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care turned in the strongest quarterly results -- its net income rose 150 percent.

By Beth Healy, Globe Staff

Boston attorney Keith F. Higgins of the firm Ropes & Gray was named director of the Security and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporate Finance. Higgins, 61, has been with Ropes since 1983 and has worked on more than 50 initial public offerings for corporations. He also has advised public companies on mergers and acquisitions, compliance and corporate governance. In joining the SEC, he would be in charge of rules to help make sure investors are provided all the information they need about companies to make sound investment decisions. His group also is in charge of reviewing filings and ensuring that companies meet their disclosure obligations. He will assume the new job next month.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Algeta ASA, a Norwegian company with its US operational center in Cambridge, said Wednesday that its injectable drug for a certain kind of prostate cancer has been granted approval by the US Food and Drug Administration. The drug, called Xofigo, has been approved to treat patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, or CRPC, that has spread to the bones but not to other organs. According to Algeta’s press release, Xofigo is the first alpha particle-emitting radioactive therapeutic agent approved by the FDA. The commercial production of Xofigo is already underway, the company said, and the first doses are expected to be ready for patient treatment within a few weeks. According to Algeta, the FDA approval is a major milestone for the company.

By Beth Healy, Globe Staff

State Street Corp. chief executive Jay Hooley sounded a more optimistic tone on the economy than he has in some time at the company’s annual shareholder meeting Wednesday, saying the recovery is “perhaps a little better than advertised.” Hooley said the economy is still “not where we want it to be’’ and said customers are “still pretty risk averse.” However, the Boston financial services giant is continuing to invest “for greater growth going forward,’’ he said. It was a notably short meeting with few questions – a change for State Street since the financial crisis, when its meetings have been attended by protesters and activist investors. It’s likely a surging stock price has helped: State Street shares were up nearly 33 percent for the 12-month period ended March 31.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Bedford’s iRobot Corp. said Wednesday that it has been awarded contracts totaling $7.2 million from the Brazilian government for robots that can help provide security as Brazil gears up for a World Cup soccer tournament, a scheduled papal visit this summer, and the 2016 Olympics. The company makes several kinds of robots. Some, such as the Roomba vacuum-cleaning robot, are designed for home use by consumers. Another line is designed to let doctors interact with patients remotely. The company’s military and law-enforcement robots, meanwhile, can perform such tasks as battlefield reconnaissance and detecting explosive devices. Following big cuts in Pentagon spending, iRobot has generally been putting more emphasis on its nonmilitary robots. In any case, Brazil represents an important international market for the company’s unmanned ground vehicles.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

A 65-year-old couple retiring in 2013 is estimated to need $220,000 to cover medical expenses throughout retirement, according to a health care cost analysis by Fidelity Investments, a Boston-based financial services company whose investment products include retirement savings plans. Fidelity’s estimates for such costs had increased an average of 6 percent annually between 2002 and 2012, but the 2013 figure is 8 percent lower than a year ago. A change in demographics as well as smaller payment increases to doctors and hospitals were among reasons Fidelity cited for the decrease. “It is extremely important that health care costs are factored into retirement savings strategies today so that retirees can be prepared to pay their medical bills throughout retirement,” said Brad Kimler, executive vice president of Fidelity’s Benefits Consulting business.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Acacia Communications Inc., a Maynard-based provider of infrastructure equipment and services for the telecommunications industry, said it has closed a new $20 million round of financing. The round was led by Summit Partners. Other participants in the round included existing investors Matrix Partners, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, and Egan Managed Capital. Summit Partners managing director Peter Chung will join Acacia’s board of directors. In a statement, Acacia president and chief executive Raj Shanmugaraj said: “Enthusiastic investor support culminates an exciting year of growth across all dimensions of our business and validates the market momentum we’ve established in the fast-growing coherent 100G transceiver market. Acacia has developed fundamentally innovative technologies that dramatically drive down the costs, size and power of high-speed fiber optics communication equipment.”

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

QuickBase, a database software brand of Intuit Inc., said it will relocate its Waltham offices to the Alewife section of Cambridge in the fall. The new office will have 60,884 square feet of space at 150 CambridgePark Drive, which is owned by Equity Office. QuickBase and other Intuit units have about 200 employees in about half the space in Waltham; the new space in Cambridge can accommodate an additional 100 employees. And it’s one block away from the MBTA Alewife Station. The new office space features such perks as a yoga and meditation room, locker room with showers, game room with ping pong and Xbox Kinect, and bocce ball court. QuickBase chose Alewife because of its proximity to public transportation and easy access to nearby universities.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Tokai Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Cambridge biopharmaceutical company, said Wednesday that it has raised $35.5 million in a Series E financing based on encouraging clinical progress in its development of a potential treatment for prostate cancer. The financing round included both current investors, Apple Tree Partners and Novartis Venture Funds as well as undisclosed angel investors, the company said in its press release. Tokai was founded by Apple Tree Partners. Tokai calls its drug candidate galeterone (TOK-001). The proceeds of the Series E financing will be used to expand the ongoing ARMOR2 Phase 2 clinical trial of galeterone in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, or CRPC. “We are extremely encouraged by the maturing data we are seeing from the ARMOR2 clinical trial,” Tokai chairman Seth Harrison said.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Cupcake Charlie’s, a local chain whose bakery menu also includes cupcake cookies and whoop cakes, is gearing up for a Saturday grand opening celebration at Patriot Place, the Foxborough entertainment-and-shopping complex located next to Gillette Stadium. Foxborough will be Cupcake Charlie’s fourth location. Saturday’s planned hilarity includes face-painting, DJ music, a temporary tattoo station, and appearances by balloon artists and the official mascot of the New England Revolution soccer team, a Patriot Place press advisory said. Cupcake Charlie’s cupcake options include Rockin’ Red Velvet, Chocolate Overload, and Chocolate Mint Madness. “Cupcake Charlie’s has been a highly anticipated addition to the Patriot Place tenant lineup,” Patriot Place general manager Brian Earley said. “We are excited to open the doors to yet another family owned business with roots in the local community.”

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Baskin-Robbins, the Canton-based sister chain of Dunkin’ Donuts known for its ice cream, said Tuesday that it is rolling out a new line of “shelf stable sherbet flavored freezer bars” that will be sold at such retailers as CVS/pharmacy, Dollar General, Rite Aid, and Walgreens. Dunkin’ Donuts has long sold packages of its coffee in supermarkets that consumers can buy and then use to brew coffee at home. But to enjoy a frozen treat from Baskin-Robbins treat has generally meant a trip to a Baskin-Robbins store. Now Sherbet Flavored Freezer Bars will be available at many retailers, and that means that Baskin-Robbins products will be exposed to a wider audience, the chain said in a press release. Initial freezer bar flavors include “Rock ‘N Pop Swirl” and “Rainbow Sherbet.”

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Iron Mountain Inc., a Boston firm specializing in records management and data storage, said Tuesday that it has acquired three records management businesses owned by Texas-based Information Storage Consolidation Co. As a result, Iron Mountain said it will assume responsibility for serving the nearly 1,000 customers of Safe Records Center in Lansing, Mich.; Archives USA in Dallas; and the Document Bank in Miramar, Fla. No financial details of the transaction were included in Iron Mountain’s press release. With the purchase, Iron Mountain said it establishes a presence in Lansing and strengthens its existing operations in Dallas and across southeast Florida. One of Iron Mountain’s strategies is to acquire companies such as ISCC that grow its business and increase its storage rental revenue.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

WegoWise, a Boston firm whose analytics help owners of multifamily real estate portfolios save money on utility bills, said it has raised $3 million in financing from Boston Community Capital. The funding will support WegoWise’s recent expansion into the commercial real estate sector, said the firm, which added that it has raised nearly $5 million to date since its founding in 2010. With 22 employees, WegoWise provides a Web-based utility analytics platform. Bridging big data and energy efficiency, this platform distills large aggregations of energy and water data into useful, actionable information for building owners, managers, and energy auditors so they can lower their costs. “WegoWise’s mission is to create a universal tool to improve the efficiency of the built environment,” WegoWise CEO Andrew Chen said

By Beth Healy, Globe Staff

New York Times Co. chief executive Mark Thompson, speaking at an investor conference in Boston Tuesday morning, said he was “very pleased with the interest, and the progress, that’s been expressed so far” in the company’s effort to sell The Boston Globe. He declined to offer details on the sales process. The Times Co. in February announced it planned to sell the New England Media Group, which includes the Boston Globe, as it focuses on its flagship newspaper and an international strategy. Thompson called the Globe “a great newspaper in a great city” and cited recent coverage of the marathon bombings as a display of strength. However, he said the Globe, as a metro, or regional newspaper, is “a very distinct business from the New York Times.”

By Daniel B. Kline, Globe Staff

Boston’s LogMeIn, Inc. has launched Xively, a cloud platform for developing and managing commercial products on what the company calls “The Internet of Things.”

According to a LogMeIn press release, the Internet of Things (IoT) enables a world where devices, data and places are interconnected with applications and users over the Internet, transforming how people discover, interact and experience their world.

Xively, formerly known as Cosm in its beta form, is designed to help companies simplify the development of connected products that can be quickly deployed, easily interact with other connected offerings, and scale to billions of devices.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Cloudant, a Boston company whose technology helps Web and mobile app developers to scale their data, said Tuesday that it has raised $12 million in Series B funding from Devonshire Investors, the private equity firm affiliated with Fidelity Investments; RackspaceHosting; and Toba Capital. Cloudant also said that current investors - Avalon Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Samsung Venture Investment Corp. - purchased additional shares. According to its website, Cloudant was founded in Cambridge in 2008 by three MIT physicists who were frustrated by the available tools for managing and analyzing Big Data in their research. ‘‘The market opportunity for managed, hosted databases is large,” David Jegen, Devonshire Investors managing director, said. And Cloudant is “in the sweet spot of this market.”

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

There were 5,948 single-family Massachusetts homes put under agreement in April, up 32.8 percent on a year-to-year comparison basis, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, or MAR, said Tuesday. That was the most homes that have gone under agreement in any month since the association began tracking data in January 2004, the association said in a press release. Also last month, pending sales for Massachusetts condominium hit their second highest point, the association said. “Buyers came out in force to make offers on the limited number of homes for sale in April,” association president Kimberly Allard-Moccia said in a statement. “While the activity is positive, we need more homes on the market to make sure prices don’t spike up too quickly.”

By Associated Press

Biogen Idec Inc. said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing its experimental drug Eloctate as a treatment for hemophilia A. Its shares rose almost 4 percent by midday. Weston-based Biogen Idec asked the FDA to review the drug in March, and the FDA has accepted that application. Eloctate is intended to be injected once or twice a week. Other treatments are taken three or four times a week. Hemophilia is a rare, inherited disease that affects blood clotting. Hemophilia A occurs in approximately one out of every 5,000 male births. Those with the disease don’t have enough of a blood clotting protein called factor VIII. In March, the FDA started a review of Biogen’s drug Alprolix as a treatment for hemophilia B, which is less common.

By Katie Johnston, Globe Staff

Amtrak plans to start replacing its fleet of locomotives in the Northeast this fall, eventually phasing out all but its high-speed units by 2016. The 70 new electric locomotives, built by Siemens Rail Systems in Sacramento, Calif., use 20 percent less energy than the existing fleet, with a projected savings of $300 million over a span of 20 years, said Michael Cahill, president of Siemens Rail Systems. The new ride along the Northeast and Keystone corridors will be quieter and more reliable, said Joe Boardman, president of Amtrak, noting that the old locomotives have been in service for up to 35 years, each traveling an average of 3.5 million miles. Amtrak plans to start looking for a manufacturer to replace its high-speed locomotives this year.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Just in time for Father’s Day, the Yankee Candle Co. of Deerfield is unveiling some new offerings for its Man Candles collection, including one that is redolent of bacon and another that emits the fragrance of movie-house popcorn. As many candle buffs know, the Man Candles collection launched last year on the theory that a man’s den, basement, or garage could benefit from pleasing scents. According to the company, the line’s debut produced such a “tremendous response” that a Man Candles II collection was in order. Officially, the line’s two new fragrances are titled, “MMM, Bacon!” and “Movie Night.” (In describing “Movie Night, the company says: “It doesn’t matter what’s playing … the enticing aroma of hot, freshly buttered popcorn is the feature attraction.”)

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The average price for gas in Massachusetts was $3.48 a gallon in the latest weekly AAA survey, up 6 cents from the previous week’s average, AAA Southern New England said. Prices locally are up a cent over the past month. The Massachusetts average price is 10 cents less than the national average of $3.58 a gallon, AAA Southern New England said. A year ago at this time, the Massachusetts average price was 23 cents higher at $3.71 a gallon. In the latest AAA survey, the range in prices was 34 cents, from a low of $3.35 to a high of $3.69. AAA’s weekly surveys focus on self-serve, regular unleaded gas.

By Katie Johnston, Globe Staff

The Hyatt Harborside near Logan International Airport has changed its name to the Hyatt Boston Harbor, effective Monday. The 20-year-old, 270-room hotel, which recently renovated its meeting space, is hoping to play up its location on the water. “Hyatt Boston Harbor boasts one of the most spectacular and panoramic settings in New England,” general manager Michael Hickey said in a statement. “The new name evokes a sense of place while capturing the hotel’s matchless position in the city.” Renovations included adding to the hotel’s meeting and convention space, the hotel said. According to the hotel, it is a seven-minute water taxi ride to the center of Boston’s business district, and the hotel is only two minutes from Logan.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Dunkin’ Donuts, the Canton-based coffee-and-baked-goods chain, said that its New England customers have donated $467,884.61 to The One Fund Boston to help the people most affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. More than 2,000 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Upstate New York, and Maine collected donations from customers from April 22 - 28, the chain said in a press release. In addition to the week-long Dunkin’ Donuts in-store fundraising campaign, Dunkin’ Brands, the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts, and the Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation together donated an additional $200,000 to The One Fund Boston. ‘‘We are grateful to our franchisees, employees, and guests who came together to support The One Fund Boston,’’ Dunkin’ Brands chief executive Nigel Travis said.

By Globe Staff

Athenahealth Inc., which provides electronic record and billing systems to hospitals and other medical industry clients, said that it has finalized its previously announced purchase of the Watertown “Arsenal on the Charles,” a 29-acre, multi-building property situated on the Charles River. In December, the company disclosed that it had agreed to pay $168.5 million to acquire the parcel from Harvard University, which is expanding in nearby Allston. The campus already serves as Athenahealth’s headquarters, but executives said buying the property will allow them to expand the business in coming years. The complex, whose historic buildings date back 200 years, is located about 10 miles from downtown Boston, the company said in a press release. athenahealth entered into a new $325 million senior credit facility to finance the purchase.

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

A big March drop in foreclosure activity suggests that “the foreclosure crisis is over” in Massachusetts, the Warren Group said in Monday’s issue of “Banker & Tradesman.” The Warren Group is a Boston-based firm that tracks local real estate and compiles foreclosure data; the firm also publishes “Banker & Tradesman.” During March, lenders filed 284 petitions to foreclose, the first step in the foreclosure process in Massachusetts. That number was down 82 percent from the number of petitions filed during March 2012, the Warren Group said. Foreclosure deeds, which represent finished foreclosures, decreased by more than 74 percent to 227 in March when compared with the same month from a year ago. “Overall, we’re seeing foreclosures drop all over the country, but Massachusetts is exceptional in its reduction,” the firm said.

By Globe Staff

Dyax Corp. of Burlington said Monday that it has priced a registered direct offering with RA Capital Management, Venrock, Federated Investors Inc., and one other institutional investor for gross proceeds of approximately $30 million. In a press release, Dyax said it intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to fund research and development activities, including the development of DX-2930, a drug candidate for the treatment of hereditary angioedema, or HAE, and for general corporate purposes. The offering was priced at $2.30 per common share, which was the last reported sale price of the company’s common stock on May 9. A total of 8,901,675 million shares of common stock and 41,418 shares of Series 1 convertible preferred stock are expected to be issued at closing.

By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff

Health insurance base rates will rise an average of 2.5 percent for Massachusetts small businesses and individuals renewing their policies July 1. The increase is slightly smaller than the 2.7 percent average base rate hike for policies renewed in the current quarter.

The new third-quarter rates, approved by the state Division of Insurance, all fell within the cap established by the Patrick Administration as part of last year’s health cost containment law. Those rules tie health care spending to the state’s economic growth, projected at 3.6 percent. In addition to the base rates, however, many employers have to pay more because of heightened risks associated with their industry, location, or age of their workforce.

Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest insurer, will boost base rates by 3.6 percent.