Today in Globe Business

TSA promises full-body scanner for Logan Airport

The Transportation Security Administration said yesterday that Boston’s Logan International Airport is among the airports slated to receive a controversial scanning machine that can detect substances hidden under clothing, potentially thwarting terrorist attacks like the near-disaster on a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.

The TSA, which has 40 of the full-body scanning devices in 19 airports across the country, is planning to install 150 more next year, including one in Boston. Logan was scheduled to get two of the devices late last year, but it is unclear why they were not installed.

TSA has been testing the scanners, which produce images of people’s naked bodies with blurred facial features, since 2007. Officials said they aren’t sure what percentage of passengers at Logan would go through the device.

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Boston Capital: Down-and-out stocks paid off for Putnam manager

A long list of Boston mutual fund managers are going to remember 2009 as their best year in a terrible decade.

Fund managers who lost staggering amounts of money in 2008 have much better stories to tell now. Stocks funds of nearly every flavor have earned meaty double-digit returns and bond funds, too, produced mostly excellent results. While nothing seemed to work last year, nearly every investment style made money in 2009, and many mutual fund managers produced exceptional returns.

So who was Boston’s best this year? Among many worthy candidates, Nick Thakore of the Putnam Voyager fund is my choice for the ninth annual Boston Capital Fund Manager of the Year award. He is the first Putnam Investments manager to achieve this flagrantly subjective distinction, joining a roster that includes Fidelity Investments colleagues Will Danoff, Joel Tillinghast, and Bob Litterst; Dan Fuss of Loomis Sayles & Co.; two-time winner Ken Heebner of Capital Growth & Management; Dan Rice of BlackRock Advisors Inc.; and Maura Shaughnessy of MFS Investment Management.

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Hacker in card theft to admit guilt today

Albert Gonzalez, 28, the hacker accused of helping to orchestrate the biggest credit card theft in US history, is expected to plead guilty to two charges in US District Court in Boston today.

Prosecutors accused Gonzalez and his partners of stealing more than 130 million credit and debit cards by hacking into computers of several retailers, including 7-Eleven Inc., the supermarket chain Hannaford Brothers Co., and Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey company that processes card payments for thousands of businesses.

Under a plea agreement, Gonzalez will plead guilty to conspiracy and conspiracy to engage in wire fraud. Prosecutors agreed not to seek a sentence of more than 25 years; Gonzalez agreed not to seek a sentence of less than 17 years. He originally faced up to 35 years in prison.

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New owners, big changes at Provincetown time-share

The Sandcastle Resort in Provincetown is a slice of old Cape Cod - for better or worse.

The 136-unit resort is a time-share, where its many owners have summered for decades, with generations of children and now grandchildren playing on its sandy beachfront and in its inground pool. Its two main buildings fronting on Cape Cod Bay look timeworn, with leaking roofs, rusty railings, and cracked decks.

Last year, a Masphee-based development firm bought the unsold weeks at the Sandcastle, and the company’s plan to modernize what was once a Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge has outraged longtime members. They contend the company is using high-pressure sales tactics to get them to surrender their deeds and enroll in a new time-share plan that includes hefty sign-up fees, or face a special assessment for improvements at Sandcastle.

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WGBH adds 2 shows to radio lineup

WGBH unveiled the centerpiece of its new full-time news radio station: two talk shows hosted by well-known Boston TV personalities.

''The Emily Rooney Show'' - Rooney also hosts WGBH’s ''Greater Boston'' - will start at noon on Jan. 11 on 89.7 FM. The one-hour show will focus on local news and public affairs and feature a segment called ''What are YOU hearing?'' with commentary from local experts and analysts. It will be followed by ''The Callie Crossley Show,'' which will center on current events and regional arts and culture.

“Emily’s is a today show, responding to what is happening in the moment on any given day,’’ Crossley said. “My show is a these-days show. I might respond in the moment, but I may broaden it out to examine other issues.’’

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Ponzi scheme collapses nearly quadrupled in ’09

MIAMI - It was a rough year for Ponzi schemes. In 2009, the recession unraveled nearly four times as many of the investment scams as fell apart in 2008, with “Ponzi’’ becoming a buzzword again, thanks to the collapse of Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion plot.

Tens of thousands of investors, some of them losing their life’s savings, watched more than $16.5 billion disappear like smoke in 2009, according to an Associated Press analysis of scams in all 50 states.

While the dollar figure was lower than in 2008, that’s only because Madoff - who pleaded guilty earlier this year and is serving a 150-year prison sentence - was arrested in December 2008 and did not count toward this year’s total.

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