3 companies get economic assistance from Mass.

The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved $3.5 million in state and local tax breaks to encourage investment banker JPMorgan Chase & Co. to move to a building in Boston's Seaport District, where it plans to add 300 jobs over the next five years and retain another 600. Separately, the council approved $915,000 in tax breaks for Parexel International, which helps drug companies manage clinical trials, to open a facility in Billerica this year. Parexel executives said they plan to move 425 employees from existing locations in Waltham and Lowell to Billerica, and hire at least 75 more employees there over the next few years. The agency also approved $1.7 million in aid to help DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., part of Johnson & Johnson, build a $17 million medical-training center in Raynham. (Todd Wallack)

American Airlines' regional carrier, American Eagle, will end service at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I., in November as part of its cost-cutting. American Eagle flies a 44-seat regional jet three times a day to Chicago from T.F. Green. Travelers will still be able fly to Chicago from T.F. Green on Southwest Airlines or United Airlines, an airport spokeswoman said. (Nicole C. Wong)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. said it agreed to sell 18 branches in northern New York to Community Bank System Inc. Citizens, the Rhode Island parent of Citizens Bank, did not disclose the price. The branches are just a fraction of Citizens' 1,600 total branches and represent half a percent of total deposits, vice chairman Dana Drago said, adding that Citizens plans to add 57 branches in Stop & Shop supermarkets in New York through next year. (Ross Kerber)

Staples Inc. is raising its bid for Dutch office supply company Corporate Express NV's Preference Shares A to $5.60 each to appeal to remaining stockholders. The Framingham-based company said the Preference Shares A have a nominal value of $1.87. Corporate Express agreed to a $2.7 billion acquisition deal, at $14.50 per ordinary share, on June 11. (AP)

Medical technology company Hologic Inc. said the Federal Trade Commission cleared its $580 million takeover of Third Wave Technologies Inc. The agency granted an "early termination" of the antitrust review. The acquisition is still subject to completion of a tender offer of all outstanding shares of Third Wave for $11.25 per share. Shares of Bedford-based Hologic rose 63 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $22.74. (AP)

A father and son who built Adelphia Communications into a cable television powerhouse before they were accused of ruining it have been resentenced to lesser prison terms. Federal prosecutors said Adelphia founder John Rigas got his 15-year sentence reduced to 12 years. His son, Timothy, got his 20-year sentence reduced to 17 years. Judge Leonard Sand in Manhattan wrote that "a minimal adjustment is appropriate" though he also noted the seriousness of the crimes. (AP)

Passengers on two American Airlines flights to and from New York will test in-flight Internet access beginning Wednesday. American says broader service is expected to begin in the next couple of weeks. American plans to charge $9.95 to $12.95 for Internet service, depending on flight length. The test with technology partner Aircell will begin on one flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Los Angeles and another going back to New York. Internet service on those flights will be free. (AP)

A federal court has slapped RMG Technologies with an $18 million fine to be paid to Ticketmaster and permanently banned the software company from using its products to procure tickets. The US District Court for the Central District of California had issued a temporary ban in October 2007. Ticketmaster had accused RMG of selling software that floods the Ticketmaster website with requests to buy tickets in bulk, beating Ticketmaster's own individual customers. RMG president Cipriano Garibay said the allegations were "absolutely" false and that Ticketmaster had won the case on a technicality. If forced to pay the $18 million, Garibay said RMG would be forced to close down and file for bankruptcy. (AP)