Builders Flock To State For School, Hospital Jobs

Lured by a mini-boom in academic and health care construction in Connecticut, several major out-of-state development companies have opened in-state offices in recent months.

Massachusetts-based Linear Air targets business travelers with fuel-efficient jets

As commercial airlines cut back flights and companies look to sell off private jets in response to overwhelming fuel costs, Linear Air is looking to expand business in Connecticut.

A three-year dispute between the state and TIAA-CREF over control of roughly $1 billion in state pension assets may finally be headed to court.

Machinists union officials are expressing renewed skepticism about the fairness of the process of rebidding a $35 billion Air Force refueling tanker plane contract.

Many small businesses with international plans are finding help is close to home because the export center has been opening satellite offices across the state in order to become more accessible.

Are you sitting there alone in your office, wondering how to grow your business? Well, there’s one piece of advice I offer virtually every entrepreneur: Join an organization. You can build a company faster, easier, and more successfully if you’re part of group serving your industry, community, or local entrepreneurs.

University of Connecticut economists believe that strong exports will help keep the state out of recession in 2008 and 2009, but they see tough obstacles to maintaining steady growth longer term.

Connecticut’s private, nonprofit social services are asking Gov. M. Jodi Rell and legislators to reserve a portion of special fuel relief funding expected to be approved for their agencies.

Earning 10 cents for breaking up ice cream boxes seemed like a great payday for 10-year-old H. Scott Phelps, particularly when he spent his earnings on an ice cream of his choice.

California-based LA Fitness continues its Connecticut expansion with the opening of a new location in Bristol.

The state’s top property and casualty insurers continued to slash prices in certain lines of business and commercial coverage during the second quarter of 2008, as the industry continues its heated pricing battle.

When I started writing my column 15 years ago, I decided to follow Aesop’s lead and put a moral at the end of each lesson — and my readers often tell me that they remember those morals, as well as the 700-750 words that preceded them. We live in a world of 10-second sound bites, so messages wrapped up in tight little packages really grab attention. Here’s a refresher course — some of my favorite morals from the last three years:

A semester abroad in Kenya helped Robyn M. Gengras begin to realize the possibilities of her budding career in journalism.

If you are a middle-class worker counting on the pension promises of a corporation, you might want to start developing a backup plan for retirement.

There is a simmering movement in Connecticut toward including the right to initiative and referendum — a process that allows citizens to vote directly on proposed legislation — as part of the state constitution. It is unclear where the itch is coming from, but at a time when national opinion polls demonstrate that more than 80 percent of us feel the country is headed in the wrong direction, the environment may be perfect.

A recent survey on energy issues conducted by the New England Energy Alliance found almost 75 percent of Connecticut consumers favor competition in the electricity industry. An overwhelming majority expressed the desire to choose the company that supplies their electricity based on cost, pricing options and product offerings.

I’d like to ask you a favor. Just between you and me.