The Ticker

Liberty Mutual re-org affects 80 Mass. jobs

Liberty Mutual is eliminating 1,100 field customer service positions, including 80 in Massachusetts, in its sales offices around the country, and replacing them with 1,000 customer service jobs that will be centralized in six call centers, including one in Springfield, the Boston-based insurance company said yesterday.

Employees whose jobs are being eliminated will be able to apply for positions in the call centers — which will also be in Arizona, Indiana, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania — as well as positions elsewhere in the company, said Liberty Mutual Vice President John Cusolito. Workers who end up moving to a call center will be given relocation packages, Cusolito said. Other employees whose jobs are being eliminated will be given severance packages, he said.

Sixty-five of the new positions will be added to the Springfield call center this year, followed by more next year, he said.

North Andover woman gets six months for stealing from employer

A North Andover woman has been sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty to stealing $1.7 million from her employer.

Attorney General Maura Healy said 44-year-old Dorothy Giard pleaded guilty to larceny and false bookkeeping charges yesterday in Superior Court in Salem.

Judge David Lowy imposed a six-month jail sentence followed by 10 years of probation and ordered her to pay $1.7 million in restitution.

Prosecutors say Giard stole the money while working as the officer manager for Diamond Ironworks in Lawrence, a steel fabrication company. Authorities say she spent the pilfered cash on international vacations, high-end cars, spa services and other luxury items.

Road funding bill heads to Senate

The Senate could pass a $200 million local road funding bill and deliver it to the governor by late next week, according to the chairman of a committee that reviewed the bill yesterday.

Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets Chairman John Keenan (D-Quincy) told reporters after a brief hearing that he expects it to come up Wednesday. Combined with a total of $130 million in local road and pothole funding released by Gov. Charlie Baker this year, the bill would bring the total aid for local roads to $330 million, according to Keenan.

"I think probably the winter highlighted how essential it is to get this money there, and also because Gov. Baker released the additional $100 million that was authorized last year — he released it in January — so municipalities are really looking to combine that with this authorization to get the work done that they have to get done," Keenan said.

The bill cleared the House unanimously Wednesday.

• Life Time Fitness announced health and fitness industry veteran Michael Diatelevi, left, as general manager of the company's first sports, professional fitness, family recreation and spa destination in the Boston area. Life Time Athletic Westwood at University Station is under construction with a planned opening in summer 2015.

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Snow-smashed Bay State 
lobbying feds for millions

The battery of snowstorms that slammed the Bay State this winter killed 25 people in less than a month and injured more than 1,500, the state revealed in its pitch to the White House for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal disaster aid.

The whopping total — believed to be the first public accounting of the winter's death toll — spanned a 28-day period between January and February, when state officials say it snowed all but three days and rung up an estimated $400 million in snow removal costs and damages. Boston also set a record for snowiest winter, eclipsing a two-
decade-old mark.

The four-week pummeling shuttered businesses and crippled the MBTA to the tune of $40 million in storm-related costs, Gov. Charlie Baker wrote to the White House. The T, he said, also estimated 
$4.7 million in lost revenue — though that number is likely to grow — after it shut its system down on three occasions and struggled for weeks to return to full service.

"We understand the unique nature of our request to FEMA to declare a prolonged period of snow as a federal disaster," Baker said at a State House press conference. "But taking into account the unrelenting snowfall over those 28 days and the freezing temperatures over that time ... we're confident our request meets 
the threshold."

Neither Baker nor Kurt Schwartz, the director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, could say how much money the state would ultimately seek. A declaration could open the door to 75 percent in reimbursements to the state, cities and towns, but Schwartz said it is "quite likely" the total costs will ultimately eclipse the state's $400 million estimate.

Of the 25 deaths tied to the record-breaking winter, eight people suffered "cardiac episodes" while shoveling, officials said. Seventeen others died from what the chief medical examiner's office called "blunt force trauma," either from being hit by snowplows or cars, falling from roofs while clearing snow or even slipping on ice.

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New Balance gives Boston its sole

New Balance is releasing a new running shoe with a distinctive Boston flavor just in time for next month's 119th Boston Marathon.

The limited-edition Fresh Foam Zante Boston sneaker features the Boston skyline on its insole and the word "Fastah" on the sole — that's "faster" in Boston parlance. New Balance also inscribed its logo with "Boston."

"With its extraordinary culture of both sports fanatics and fitness fanatics, it's safe to say that nobody runs like Boston," the company said in a statement.

The sneakers go on sale for $114.95 at New Balance's Boston store and on newbalance.com on April 6.

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Uber, insurance companies agree on bill

Ride-sharing company Uber has reached an agreement with major insurance companies on a model bill that would cover drivers anytime they are working.

"It's a national agreement with a number of major insurance carriers to come together and agree on some negotiated insurance language for state legislation of transportation network companies," said Meghan Joyce, general manager of Uber East Coast. "We can use (the agreement) to provide clarity to insurance across the nation."

Uber and Lyft — which also signed the agreement — have been criticized for gaps in insurance coverage, as well as blurring the line between personal and commercial insurance policies. The agreement, which will be sent to state legislators across the country, provides lawmakers with a compromise both sides have already agreed to.

"Auto insurance carriers, Transportation Network Companies, and trade associations stand together in support of this insurance legislation, and encourage you to utilize this language," the letter to legislators says.

Uber and Lyft have faced scrutiny from cab drivers and local governments that want regulations for ride-sharing companies to put them on a level playing field with taxi companies.

Gov. Charlie Baker's administration is in the middle of its own regulatory process, and expects to file a bill in the coming weeks.

Bill Pitman, a Baker spokesman, said: "The administration continues to engage with municipalities, industry leaders and public safety advocates as it works to draft a statewide regulatory framework that embraces innovation and enhances the safety of riders and drivers."

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The Ticker

Smart meters come to Hub

Boston will replace all 8,000 parking meters in the Hub with "next generation" smart meters.

The Back Bay and Innovation District will get multispace meters, which allow more vehicles to fit in a block of spaces, the city said. The rest of the parking meters will be replaced by meters that will accept change, credit cards and cell phone payments. The smart meters also will collect real-time data about whether a space is occupied.

The move, announced yesterday as part of Mayor Martin J. Walsh's transportation initiatives, is expected to cost $5 million. Replacement of the parking meters will begin by the end of the year.

Heinz buy of Kraft just latest merger

Wall Street's deal-making renaissance shows no sign of ending.

Heinz's $45 billion acquisition of Kraft Foods, announced yesterday, has helped maintain the momentum in the market for mergers and acquisitions.

So far this year, companies globally have struck deals worth $802 billion, according to data provider Dealogic. That compares with $733 billion in the first quarter of 2014 and makes it the best first quarter for deal-making in at least five years.

Other big deals in the works include Simon Property's bid to buy rival Macerich, and AbbVie's deal to buy Pharmacyclics.

• Tufts Health Plan announced the appointment of Marc Backon, left, to senior vice president and chief sales and marketing officer for its commercial products division. Backon brings more than 25 years of health care ex­perience to this position.

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Rates drop for summer

The price of electricity is going down this summer for National Grid cus­tomers, but rates will remain higher than a year ago — with no relief in sight.

"It's a little higher than last summer," said Jake Navarro, a spokesman for National Grid. "This is a market-­based phenomenon and over time, because of the natural gas constraints in the region, these power supply prices are going to continue to creep up."

National Grid this week announced a 26 percent rate cut for its electric customers, or about $32 on a typical bill, and a 25 percent to 30 percent cut for natural gas customers, or $9 to $12 on a typical bill, starting May 1. The Department of Public Utilities yesterday approved the new rates.

Eversource, the state's major electricity delivery company, has said it hopes to be able to file for a rate decrease in a few months.

Last fall, the DPU approved a 37 percent rate hike for National Grid electric customers. At the time, National Grid blamed the increase on insufficient natural gas pipeline ca­pacity to fuel power plants. Gov. Charlie Baker has thrown his support behind efforts to add a new natural gas pipeline in the region.

"The region as a whole has become more reliant on natural gas, but without building the highways to get natural gas here," Navarro said. 'We need additional gas capacity in the region and until we get it, it looks like the power supply prices will continue to trend up."

A legislative committee is investigating the increases in electricity prices in Massachusetts, and a DPU spokeswoman said it has started looking into "ways to improve the retail electric competitive supply market."

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Asia stocks drift lower as Fed, China weakness weigh

NEW YORK — Asian stocks drifted mostly lower Wednesday as investor sentiment was kept in check by the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates following improved economic data as well as the lingering fears about China's weakening growth.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.4 percent to 19,638.90 and South Korea's Kospi lost less than 0.1 percent to 2,040.23. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.4 percent to 24,490.77 while the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China lost 1.1 percent to 3,652.57. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was practically unchanged at 5,967.60, hovering near its highest level in more than seven years. Southeast Asian indexes were mixed.

INVESTOR INDECISION: Markets were mostly in a holding pattern as investors turned cautious following recent economic data on the world's two biggest economies. U.S. government data showed that in February consumer prices rose in for the first time in four months while new home sales climbed to their fastest pace in seven years. That was a good sign for the world's No. 1 economy that nonetheless also raises concerns the Fed could soon raise interest rates. The reports came after HSBC's preliminary purchasing managers' index showed Chinese manufacturing activity slumped to the lowest in 11-months, signaling further weakness in the second biggest economy.

MARKET VIEW: "It remains to be seen whether we are going through a period of equilibrium, where bulls and bears even each other out, or simply a period where traders are happy to ride out the end of a good quarter by staying on the sidelines," Nicholas Teo of CMC Markets in Singapore wrote in a commentary.

WALL STREET: U.S. stocks ended slightly lower Tuesday as latest report on consumer prices and signs of possible renewed strength in the dollar left investors indecisive. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.6 percent to 2,091.50 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.6 percent to 18,011.14. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.3 percent to 4,994.73.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude futures lost 10 cents to $47.41 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 6 cents to close at $47.51 a barrel. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, slipped 3 cents to $55.08 in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 119.62 yen from 119.75 in the previous session. The euro strengthened to $1.0926 from $1.0914.

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Rising rates deliver electric shock

A legislative committee is looking into increases in electricity prices in Massachusetts, with its chairman calling the hikes "unprece­dented" and "outrageous" as news broke that Boston residents paid far more than the national average for electricity.

"The House Post Audit and Oversight committee is at the beginning stages of an investigation into the reasons why Massachusetts electric customers saw unprecedented increases in their electric bills over the past year," said Chairman David Linsky (D-Natick). "We want to determine why this happened, if the increases were warranted and if there is anything under the current Massachusetts regulatory structure that regulators can do about these outrageous rate increases."

Yesterday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said electricity prices in Boston were 63 percent higher than the national average in February — well up from last year, when local prices were 29 percent higher. Utilities have blamed insufficient pipeline capacity to supply the region, coupled with high winter demand.

"The high electric rates don't only affect the bill every month to the electric company, but that ultimately gets passed on to the consumer as well, it's a huge problem," Linsky said.

A Massachusetts economist group, MassBenchmarks, said in its quarterly commentary yesterday: "Should energy costs remain high, the state economy will pay a high price both in terms of reduced levels of consumer spending and business activity."

Dan Dolant of the New England Power Generators Association, said, "I don't know what new legislation can be put in place that change the fundamentals of supply and demand in the marketplace."

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The Ticker

Plymouth firm lands drone testing contract

Plymouth-based Avwatch Inc. will operate and manage unmanned aircraft system test ranges on Cape Cod and at other Bay State sites as part of a regional testing network selected by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2013.

MassDevelopment yesterday announced Avwatch's selection to oversee operations at the 22,000-acre Joint Base Cape Cod, delivering aerial reconnaissance, real-time, full-motion video and aerial systems testing and evaluation. Avwatch was founded in 2008.

The one-year contract is valued at $220,000, with $114,000 of that going toward building out a network to gather and transmit the test information to the FAA, according to MassDevelopment, which said the test ranges and center will offer new business opportunities in the areas of unmanned aircraft system platforms, control systems and payload/sensor development. Griffiss International Airport in Rome, N.Y., is the lead site in the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) Alliance.

Merrill Lynch hit with $2.5M fine

State securities officials have ordered a $2.5 million fine against Merrill Lynch as part of a settlement stemming from an investigation into a January 2013 internal presentation to Merrill financial advisers in Boston. According to Secretary of State William Galvin's office, which oversees the state securities division, a portion of the two-day presentation to more than 300 people touched on training to double production by transferring customer assets from commission-based brokerage accounts to fee-based alternatives, but did not include language regarding client suitability or fiduciary requirements of Merrill Lynch financial advisers.

TODAY

• Labor Deptartment releases Consumer Price Index for February.
• Treasury releases foreign holdings of U.S. debt for January.
• Commerce Department releases new home sales for February.

TOMORROW

• Commerce Department releases durable goods for February.
• A former executive at Liberty Mutual Insurance and Hanover Insurance has been named executive director of the Massachusetts Insurance Federation. John P. Murphy will succeed James Harrington, whom he called his "longtime friend and mentor."

The federation's 25 members write more than 
$7.5 billion in property and casualty insurance premiums in Massachusetts.

Murphy, of West Roxbury, has been president of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies since August 2012 and was regional vice president of the American Insurance Association from October 2005 until December 2010.

In 2011 and 2012, he worked as vice president and counsel at Hanover Insurance Co., which is based in Worcester. From 1987 until 2003, Murphy was assistance vice president and senior legislative counsel at Liberty Mutual in Boston.

He is also engaged in a civil law practice with Thaxter, Beckwith & Henderson of Cohasset and Stief, Waite, Gross & Sagoskin of Newton, Pa.

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Councilors pitch paid parental leave

Two city councilors have proposed a local law that would create Boston's first paid parental leave policy for city employees, a step that one expert said sends a strong message to other Massachusetts employers.

The proposal by City Councilors Michelle Wu and Tim McCarthy would grant up to six weeks of paid parental leave to both men and women, as well as same-sex couples, who have worked for the city for at least a year and do not belong to a union.

"This ordinance will help alleviate some pressure on working parents who have to make tough choices every day to do the best they can for their families," said Wu, a new mother.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he will sign the ordinance if the council passes it, and he hopes businesses consider adopting similar policies. A spokeswoman said the cost would depend on how many employees take advantage of it.

"It does send a strong signal," said Brad Harrington, executive director of the Boston College Center for Work & Family. "Everybody who operates around the city is going to observe what it does. ... It takes action at the level where action can best be taken, given the fact that Washington seems to be in gridlock over everything. Virtually every country in the world offers paid maternal leave, and about 75 countries have paid paternal leave. As a matter of national policy, the U.S. offers neither."

As a state representative, Walsh was the lead sponsor of a law that takes effect April 7 and broadens the state's 1972 maternity leave act to also give new fathers — at companies with as few as six employees — eight weeks of unpaid leave.

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Researcher is making a splash

Northeastern University could help develop the first underwater smartphone or wireless router after luring a highly cited researcher who is pioneering subaquatic Wi-Fi.

Tommaso Melodia, 38, came to Northeastern in August from SUNY Buffalo and brought with him his research and his lab — which sent the first underwater tweet a few years ago.

Less than a year into his stint at Northeastern, Melodia has already won a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to expand his research, this time focusing on the possibility of real-time underwater video streaming.

In layman's terms, his technology allows for bits of data to be transmitted over acoustic waves. In historical terms, this is the newest frontier in the transmission of information — like what we were trying to do with wires 50 years ago. It was a matter of carefully modifying frequencies and amplitudes to get the most efficient transmissions. Melodia is working on ways to adapt data to transmit through sound waves in water — similar process, different medium.

The consequences are far-reaching, from unlocking mysteries of the ocean to enabling scuba divers and submarines to communicate via Wi-Fi.

"This technology enables you to have a signal on a boat saying this is the location on the scuba diver, to enable voice communications amongst divers and monitor underwater activities of small submarines smuggling illegal substances," said Melodia, associate professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, and head of the Wireless Networks and Embedded Systems Lab (WiNES Lab).

"There are lots of environmental implications — you can monitor level of pollution and send warnings to the authorities, or even tweet directly to authorities."

Melodia's research progressed last year to allow the first files to be wirelessly uploaded to the Internet under water. He envisions these developments making search and rescue missions easier, especially when it comes to locating missing planes, and enabling an entirely new industry of underwater, Wi-Fi-enabled robotics.

"Having a better understanding of underwater acoustic propagation helps us make better devices to produce the pings of a black box," he said.

Sending data across water has another interesting application: the human body. The next phase of Melodia's work at Northeastern will likely encompass intra-body networks: the kind of Wi-Fi communication that would allow tiny implanted medical devices to detect and treat ailments in real time. The human body is made of 60 percent water, so it's not a leap to think that underwater Wi-Fi may soon change not just how we communicate, but how long we live as well.

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Buckle up for the innovative Swash

Swash ($499, BestBuy.com & Swash.com)

Not quite a washing machine, and not quite a dry cleaner, Swash is a new product category: a device that claims to extend the life of your clothes by cutting down on the number of wash-and-dry cycles and more or less replacing your iron altogether.

The good: This clever 53-inch clothes refresher from Whirlpool smooths and steam cleans your clothes in a 10- or 15-minute cycle. Retractable tension clips secure the shape of your clothes just so. I was even able to reshape some previously shrunken wool sweaters with the Swash.

The bad: Keep in mind that this thing weighs 80 pounds and is rather tall. Detergent "pods" are sold separately, with the going price about $7 for a 12-pack. And for heavily soiled clothes, you'll still need a conventional washer.

The bottom line: You never knew you needed a Swash. But if you're keeping your local dry cleaner busy, this will save you time and possibly cash.

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Some slow to embrace FASTR

A new Congressional bill that would improve public access to the roughly $60 billion in research the federal government funds each year is drawing praise from researchers who say it will accelerate innovation, and criticism from some publishers who fear it will undermine their financial model.

The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act would require each federally funded researcher to submit an electronic copy of the final text of their peer-
reviewed work and ensure that manuscript is available free online within six months.

"We are supportive of any initiative that increases transparency and collaboration, and creates widespread access to the amazing work of our biomedical researchers," said Dr. Paul J. Anderson, chief academic officer and senior vice president of research at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "The FASTR Act has the potential to speed the pace of innovation, a goal that we are all focused on, as we work to translate our research breakthroughs to clinical therapies for the ultimate benefit of our patients."

Harry Orf, senior vice president for research at Massachusetts General Hospital, said MGH also supports full disclosure of peer-reviewed research.

Currently, federally funded study results are reported to the National Institutes of Health and submitted within a year of publication to PubMed Central, a freely accessible government database.
Orf's one concern is that any additional requirements the FASTR Act entails be handled through that system to prevent "increased bureaucratic burden" on researchers.

"Researchers with a final manuscript like as many people as possible to see it," said Dr. Roger K. Pitman, a psychiatrist at MGH and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "The issue here is more one of interaction between the federal government and journals."

Opponents to the FASTR Act include the Association of American Publishers, whose president and CEO said the bill "undermines our scientific publishing system, prioritizing simplicity over sustainability."
"The bills' short, inflexible 6- and 12-month embargoes will damage the financial viability of many scholarly journals and weaken the quality and integrity of the system, including the vital peer review process," said Tom Allen. "A goal of free public access to the world must not be allowed to eliminate the financial incentives for scholarly publishers to invest in bringing cutting-edge research to public attention."

But Heather Joseph, executive director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, said, "Being able to provide access to this layer of information is at the core of our mission."

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Fed rate hike to have big impact

When the Federal Reserve finally raises interest rates, the ripple effect will hit everything from business investment to consumer borrowing, but that doesn't make it the wrong move, experts say.

"Short-term interest rates are going to go up, and that's going to affect a lot of things in the credit markets," said Paul Edelstein, director of financial economics for IHS Global Insight. "The Fed is going to make it more expensive to borrow."

Fed Chair Janet Yellen, has taken pains to be cautious, but the central bank last week gave signals that it will move slowly this year toward its first interest-rate increase since December 2008, when the economy was mired in the Great Recession and financial crisis.

One of the first and most notable ripple effects when the Fed raises rates will likely be on stock prices.

"When interest rates do go up, it is normal for that to have an effect on stock and bond markets," said Jeff Frankel, a professor at Harvard University and director of the Program in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The initial market reaction would likely be just a blip, but higher interest rates could lead to more volatile stock prices.

"Keeping interest rates so low for six years is part of what has sustained the rallies," he said.

Higher interest rates will spread to other loans, including mortgages, and eventually to credit cards as banks pass on higher borrowing costs to customers.

"If you want to borrow to buy a home, it's going to get more expensive," Edelstein said.

At the same time, it will become more lucrative to save, Edelstein said, as rising interest rates usually increase the yields on savings accounts.

For businesses, more expensive loans could take a bite out of investment plans.

"The more they have to spend to borrow money, the less they have to spend on other things," said David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, "and the less they'll have to spend on big capital expenses like factories."

The effects of raising interest rates may seem largely negative, but it is important to return to normal levels, analysts say.

"It's really, really unusual for interest rates to be at zero for more than six years," Wessel said. "Interest rates were cut to zero when things were really screwed up."

The Fed has said it will only raise rates when the labor market improves and it is absolutely sure the economy can weather the storm.

"No one likes to spoil a party," Frankel said, "but you do it because you think it's necessary to keep the economy on the long term."

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