Lebanon
Mascoma Corp. in Lebanon says it has moved ahead of the pack in creating a commercially viable way of making ethanol, announcing a "proof of concept" that cuts the company's cost of production to less than half of last year's.
Last week's announcement, which researchers called "a true breakthrough" toward achieving commercial ethanol production, keeps the company on track to build…
May 10, 2009
Lebanon
Aerospace manufacturer Timken cut 45 hourly workers from its plant in Lebanon yesterday, the second significant layoff in the city within the past week.
The company gave few details about the downsizing, saying only that it was "based on economic conditions," according to spokeswoman Lorrie Paul Crum. Timken's first-quarter earnings will be released on Monday, and Crum would not…
April 26, 2009
Claremont
Chrysler had a miserable 2008, and 2009 doesn't look any better. John Lambert, who sells Chrysler cars at Lambert Auto Sales in Claremont, is trying to be upbeat about it all.
"It's tough because sometimes they like to focus on what's negative about it," Lambert said in a recent interview. "I see a lot of positives."
The company's crash is an opportunity to "make it lean," Lambert…
March 2, 2009
Hanover
Last week's bitter temperatures not withstanding, the world - both environmentally and economically - has appeared to be heading toward a meltdown.
There is the rapid decline of the U.S. housing market, the collapse of financial giants Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG, the subsequent, multibillion-dollar federal bailout of the financial services industry, and even the breakdown…
January 19, 2009
Lebanon
Two framed art prints in Steve Whitman's office in Lebanon suggest he's a true believer in the printed word. Both are sentimental portrayals of the role of the press in a democracy.
One is an imagined scene of Ben Franklin leaning over a printing press, accompanied by the caption "We the People . . ." Another, called "Hands of Freedom," is a close-up of weathered hands feeding paper…
January 12, 2009
Despite a wet Christmas weekend and the dampening prospects for the economy, ski mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire are reporting a solid start to the season.
Small mountains like the 30-trail Whaleback and larger ones like 141-trail Killington said they are close to matching last year's holiday totals.
And while visitors appear to be more price-conscious than in the past, weather…
January 4, 2009
Hanover
The president and CEO of Ledyard National Bank will become a board director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston next month, joining the nation's central banking system at a time of historic turmoil in the financial industry.
As one of nine board directors at the Boston Fed, Kathy Underwood will inform the central bank about the health of New England's regional banks and overall…
December 22, 2008
Hanover
There was the usual joke about Hypertherm's fourth-quarter meeting being the best attended of the year. That's when the company's profit sharing is announced.
As in past years, several hundred employees packed the cafeteria at the Hanover headquarters, wondering how much money they'd be getting on top of their usual paychecks.
Last year it was 34 percent of their base salary, and…
December 15, 2008
Lebanon
Signal Aviation, an aircraft sales and service company at Lebanon Municipal Airport, said yesterday it will stop selling airplanes as of next year.
Signal will not renew its dealership agreement with Kansas-based Cessna Aircraft Co. because of the slowing economy, a drop in sales and some changes that Cessna has made to its sales territories, according to Greg Soho, Signal's CEO…
December 7, 2008
West Lebanon
The first two months in business for Earth Deco had gone well, all things considered.
It turned a small profit in October, the worst single month for retail in the United States since 1971. And, though November started slowly, business was beginning to pick up as the holidays approached.
Then, a political uprising…
December 5, 2008
Lebanon
Lebanon's Rock Ridge was supposed to be one of those developments that would relieve the crunched housing needs of the Upper Valley.
Originally called Sleeper Village, the project promised to bring 141 new homes to an area where lack of inventory contributed to home values rising faster than salaries.
November 17, 2008
The cats were everywhere.
If compatible with others, they were grouped into one of four windowed rooms by the lobby of the Upper Valley Humane Society in Enfield. If not, there were cages in the hallway where they could be alone.
The kittens had their own suite, the sick ones were by the "hospital" where they could…
November 2, 2008
Business moves quickly. New Hampshire's court system does not. And the chief justice of the state Supreme Court says that's a problem.
"We're going to lose market share. People won't come," Chief Justice John Broderick Jr. said in an interview Friday. "The court system of the 21st century has to be competitive in a…
June 9, 2008
Springfield
A San Diego renewable energy company has purchased a 16-megawatt wood chip energy plant in Springfield, the company announced last week.
Marubeni Sustainable Energy Inc. has no immediate plans to trim the plant's staff of 22 people, said John Wood, senior vice president at MSEI. However, it has already begun upgrading the 20-year-old facility to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by…
December 2, 2007
