Business Digest for Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009

EMC hosts Children's Day

EMC Corp. is hosting EMC Children's Day on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at its headquarters in Hopkinton. The company is anticipating 400 children representing more than 250 employee families from its Franklin, Southborough, Westborough and Hopkinton locations. Events will feature music, tours, skits, games, arts and crafts and an ice cream social.

Westborough's Casey joins B2B CFO

B2B CFO, the nation's largest CFO firm that provides services to small- and mid-size companies, announced this week that G. Leo Casey of Westborough has joined the firm as a partner. Casey will provide part-time CFO services to businesses in the Greater Boston, Worcester, Nashua, N.H., and Providence, R.I., areas. In joining B2B CFO, Casey becomes the firm's sixth partner in the New England area. Nationwide, the firm has 125 partners in 43 states. Casey brings more than 34 years of financial and senior management experience, the last 15 of which have been in small-to medium-sized private companies. Prior to joining B2B, Casey spent 15 months in senior management positions at Envox Worldwide Inc. a $16 million software and services provider for Internet Protocol-based voice solutions.

Bernie & Phyl's Furniture wins award for excellence

Bernie & Phyl's Furniture has been selected as a winner of the ninth annual Better Business Bureau Local Torch Award for Excellence. The Torch Award honors businesses committed to promoting ethical business practices. This is the third time that Bernie & Phyl's has won the award the company received the honor in 2004 and 2007. Based in Norton, the company operates stores in Westborough, Braintree, Hyannis, Raynham, Saugus and Nashua, N.H.

NStar seeks stimulus funds

NStar Electric & Gas is requesting $28 million in matching stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Energy for various projects that will pave the way for the electric grid of the future. The funds, which are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, would help cover the cost of programs focused on smart metering, intelligent communication infrastructure, renewable energy connections in a downtown setting, and distribution automation. The $28 million grant would represent half of the total cost of these enhancements, the maximum allowed under the program.

Law office sponsors seminar on long-term care insurance

Estate planning attorney Jennifer A. Deland of Holliston will sponsor a free seminar by Meredith Penzak on long-term care insurance on Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. in Deland's office at 1660 Washington St. (Rte. 16), Holliston. The office is located directly opposite the Holliston Post Office. Light refreshments will be served. Penzak, an expert in the field of long-term care insurance, was chosen by Boston Women's Business magazine as one of the Top 10 in Insurance. For more information, call 508-429-8888.

Panel says senators broke no ethics rules over VIP mortgages

WASHINGTON The Senate ethics committee cleared Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad of breaking rules by getting mortgages through a VIP program, even as it scolded them yesterday for not being more careful to avoid the appearance of sweetheart deals. The Select Committee on Ethics told Dodd of Connecticut and Conrad of North Dakota in separate letters that it found "no substantial credible evidence" after a yearlong investigation that their mortgages from Countrywide Financial Corp. broke Senate gift rules. The two influential Democrats got their mortgages through a VIP program for those designated as "friends" of then-Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.

Ireland unemployment hits 14-year high of 12.2 percent

DUBLIN Unemployment in recession-hit Ireland has risen to a 14-year high of 12.2 percent, the country's Central Statistics Office reported yesterday. The rise from June's rate of 11.9 percent means the number of people out of work is reaching a new high each month in Ireland. When the unemployment rate last stood at 12.2 percent, in April 1995, Ireland's work force and jobs market were much smaller. The report said the number of job-hunters signing up for welfare benefits has surged 83 percent over the past year to an unprecedented 435,735 in this country of 4.2 million.

(Associated Press & Daily News staff)