Bill aimed at lessening rate, impact of foreclosures

A group of legislators plans to file three bills aimed at slowing the pace of home foreclosures in Massachusetts, and limiting the impact on communities. The bills would impose a six-month moratorium on foreclosures resulting from defaults on subprime loans; require judicial approval for each foreclosure; and protect tenants and former owners from eviction after foreclosure. The bills are backed by the Mass Alliance Against Predatory Lending, a coalition of community organizations, and sponsored by legislators including Senator Dianne Wilkerson. They are being filed only months after Massachusetts passed the nation's toughest regulations on the mortgage industry. (Binyamin Appelbaum)

Networking equipment maker 3Com Corp. said its loss widened in its fiscal third quarter on a tax provision. The loss for the quarter ended Feb. 29 totaled $7.8 million, or 2 cents per share, versus a loss of $4.8 million, or a penny per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding a one-time tax liability provision, net income was 8 cents per share, ahead of analysts' expectations of 3 cents per share, according to a Thomson Financial poll. Revenue rose 4 percent to $336.4 million from $323.4 million. Last week, private-equity firm Bain Capital Partners LLC and its Chinese Partner Huawei Technologies Co. dropped a $2.2 billion offer to acquire Marlborough-based 3Com, saying the Committee on Foreign Investment planned to block the buyout. (AP)

Biogen Idec Inc., the world's largest maker of multiple sclerosis treatments, said an experimental drug regenerated cells and restored movement in rats with nerve damage. Injections of neublastin promoted nerve growth in the spinal cord and restored the rats' ability to respond normally to stimulation and grasp objects, Cambridge-based Biogen Idec said. The findings were published in the April edition of Nature Neuroscience. Researchers from Biogen Idec, the University of Arizona, and Tufts University found neublastin's ability to repair nerves was virtually complete and long-lasting. The recovery lasted for more than six months, researchers said. Biogen Idec is in discussions with US regulators about starting trials of neublastin for people with nerve pain in their hands and feet, said a company spokeswoman. (Bloomberg)

Comcast Corp., the state's largest cable provider, said it would offer voice services to businesses. Comcast disclosed in January it had become the fourth-largest residential phone provider in the nation, with its digital voice offering. Now, the company is targeting small- and medium-size businesses. The company will offer a "Triple Play" for businesses, similar to the bundle of phone, high-speed Internet, and TV it offers to residential customers. (Carolyn Johnson)

Boston Globe reporter Peter J. Howe will become a business reporter for New England Cable News next month, the regional network said. Howe, 42, will replace Mont Fennel, NECN's business reporter for the past 16 years; Fennel is joining DigiNovations Inc., a Concord firm specializing in video production and Internet TV. Howe has spent 22 years at the Globe, covering a variety of beats including transportation, energy, telecommunications, and technology. He also has served as a contributing editor of Globe 100, an annual special section that focuses on the top-performing publicly traded companies in Massachusetts. (Chris Reidy)

Wall Street banks hit by mortgage losses and write-downs have cut more than 34,000 jobs in the past nine months, the most since the dot-com boom fizzled in 2001. Citigroup Inc., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and Morgan Stanley are among the firms that have disclosed headcount reductions so far. After the Internet bubble burst, 39,800 jobs were eliminated during the same period; the number climbed to 90,000 in the next two years, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The collapse of the subprime mortgage market last year and the ensuing credit contraction have saddled the world's largest financial institutions with at least $200 billion of write-downs and losses. Securities firms started eliminating positions in mortgage departments as early as last July, when rising delinquencies on home loans to borrowers with poor credit histories led to a decline in the prices of bonds tied to the loans. (Bloomberg)