It takes a Village to raise a neighborhood

The district around the Broadway T station in Southie,­ once home to Whitey­ Bulger's Triple O's, used to be called the Lower End and more recently was considered part of the neighborhood's expansive West Side.

But the triangle along Dorchester Avenue and West Broadway up to A Street has undergone massive changes in the past decade and now a new name for the mini-district is gaining traction — Broadway Village.

If it sounds pretentious, it's not intended to be. Twelve years ago this area between the Broadway and Fourth Street bridges was primarily an industrial district. Bordered by Gillette on one side, nearby was the empty Court Square Press printing plant, a shuttered Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church and the closed Cardinal Cushing High School, mixed in with local hangouts such as the Cornerstone, Mul's Diner, Amrheins and the Quiet Man Pub. But there were also ramshackle auto garages, gas stations and empty lots.

Now there are hundreds of high-end condos — including those at the rehabbed church and printing press — and several new luxury apartment complexes. There's a Franklin Cafe, a Stephi's restaurant and, yes, a Starbucks. A plan for an upscale 14-story boutique hotel has been OK'd, on the site of a former gas station, a 160-unit residential project at A and West Third Streets in on the table, and there's rumors that the Cornerstone site may soon host more upscale housing.

Whoever came up with the Broadway Village name hasn't come forward. It was one of a number of suggestions sent to an email address on a billboard atop the now-demolished Quiet Man Pub that said "This corner needs a name."

"The area has changed so much" said Southie resident Dom Lange who put up the sign, and has sold real estate here for 12 years. "It deserved a new name."

Broadway Village was chosen by more than 50 percent of some 200 people who voted on a new neighborhood name on a subsequent online poll.

"I would have preferred something edgier, but I like Broadway Village," said Bill Gleason, president of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, who bought a condo here 12 years ago. "Everything we've done here has been about making this area feel more like a residential village."

Gleason said truckers used to come over the bridges and dump trash and empty ashtrays in the streets.

"It's been about changing the mindset of what this area is now," Gleason added. "The name seems to be sticking."

But not everyone likes it. John Libonati, co-owner of Social Wines, an upscale liquor store that opened in the area several years ago, isn't having it.

"I don't like the name Broadway Village. It makes the area feel small," said Libonati, who said he'd prefer the acronym WEBR for West Broadway. "But I don't think this area needs to be renamed. It's South Boston, that's what I tell my cus­tomers."

Michael LeBlanc, an architect designing a high-end rental project at 22-26 West Broadway, uses the moniker, while acknowledging that rebranding efforts usually come from realtors trying to add value.

"But it can be a healthy way for people to ID their neighborhood and capture the spirit of a place" LeBlanc said.

He added that sometimes neighborhood names change because people want to forget. The Lower End calls up the era of Bulger and of a ramshackle district where residents were lower on the economic and social scale.

The area's new residents are more affluent and Whitey's old haunt at 28-30 West Broadway is on the market for $3.9 million.

"I hear more people using the name," said Lange, who named his new brokerage Broadway Village Real Estate. "We're not trying to impose it on people. If it sticks it's because the residents like it and that's good. If it doesn't, well that's OK too."

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Mass. jobless rate dips, but trails U.S.

Massachusetts added more than 10,000 jobs last month as the unemployment rate dipped slightly, but the gap between the state's and the nation's jobless rate continued to widen.

"We're just staying the same and the U.S. has been going down," said Elliot Winer, former chief economist for Massachusetts and chief economist for the Northeast Economic Analysis Group.

The state unemployment rate was 7 percent last month, down from
7.1 percent in November, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. For the second month in a row, the national rate was lower — 6.7 percent — than the state jobless rate.

Still, the jobs added were a positive sign, Winer said.

"The job numbers are somewhat encouraging, but it's not extraordinary growth," Winer said.

More jobs were added from December 2012 to December 2013 than any other December to December period since 1999, the labor and workforce development office said. The state added 55,500 jobs during that time.

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Beloved ‘Chet and Nat’ shared spotlight

Chet and Nat.

They were a TV news anchor match made in heaven.

Natalie Jacobson yesterday shared some kind words about her former husband Chet Curtis in a statement she read to the Herald. Curtis died Wednesday night at age 74 of pancreatic cancer.

"Chet and I shared a wonderful time as partners on television and in life — and have a beautiful daughter 
together who was married last June. Thankfully, Chet was well enough to be there. I will think of happy times even while 
being very sad that his life 
ended so soon."

In a tearful interview with Jack Harper on WCVB-TV 
(Ch. 5), Jacobson said Curtis "loved what he did, as I did, and I think that's one of the reasons
he and I worked so well together."

The married duo anchored WCVB's nightly news for nearly two decades beginning in 1982. Boston TV viewers adored them.

"He was my life partner and my work partner," Jacobson said during the WCVB interview, "and it was a wonderful marriage on both fronts for a long time."

After they split up, Curtis left the station in 2001 to take a job at New England Cable News. Jacobson said the divorce was "very hard," saying: "I thought we'd be married forever."

Jacobson couldn't hold back the tears. "I'm grateful for the years we had," she told WCVB. "I'm grateful for the three children. I'm sad Chet died early, 
I really am."

In an online story on Channel 5's website, Jacobson talked about their TV reign.

"We were so fortunate, and we realize we were, to live in the genesis of television."

And they couldn't wait to get to work in the morning.

"What you see is what you get," she told WCVB. "We never felt like we were acting. It was comfortable, it was honest."

And Curtis, Jacobson said, "lived life to the fullest."

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Panel: Minimum on tax too low

The Gaming Commission is considering asking lawmakers to raise the minimum amount of winnings subject to state tax requirements, arguing that failing to do so could cost the Bay State as much as $58 million in lost revenue by driving gamblers to less restrictive states.

Chairman Stephen Crosby said he would draw up a proposal for the panel's consideration after a majority of commissioners yesterday said they supported raising the $600 threshold.

"In the judgment of our consultants, the amount of money we would gain (in taxes by keeping the $600 threshold) would be less than the money we would lose," Crosby said.

Federal law requires tax forms to be completed on winnings of $1,200 or more for slot machines, and for other types of gambling — such as racing — when the winnings are both $600 or more and at least 300 times the original bet.

Of the 23 states that have commercial gaming, Crosby said, at least 18, including Connecticut and Rhode Island, use either the federal standard or none at all.

"The industry is not crying wolf here," Crosby said of the complaints the commission has received from gaming license applicants. "We are substantially out of step (with other states)."

Commissioner James McHugh, however, said he does not favor raising the threshold to $1,200.

"I just have difficulty catering to people who don't like paying taxes," he said.

But Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor who has written extensively about gaming, said Massachusetts' threshold is "unnecessarily low."

"To have to start declaring your winnings on the spot is going to discourage a lot of people," he said.

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Website woes seen months before launch

State officials overseeing the Health Connector website knew as early as February 2013 — some nine months before launch — that parts of the $69 million Obamacare gateway would probably be delayed, public records obtained by the Herald last night revealed.

"It opens another whole can of worms of questions about how early did these issues start," Joshua Archambault of the Pioneer Institute said about the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority Board. "At what point did they know it was not going to work on Oct. 1 and still decided to go live?"

University of Massachusetts Worcester spokesman Mark Shelton said the memos reveal just how closely the state has been monitoring the performance of CGI, the website's developer.

"The university, the Connector and the commonwealth have been actively managing this process since work began on this immensely complex project in 2010," he said. CGI declined to comment last night.

The latest documents reviewed by the Herald indicate that as early as February last year, state officials and CGI discussed "deferring some scope" of the website after the Oct. 1 launch, according to a memo from Dr. Jay Himmelstein of UMass Medical School to Peter Ihrig of CGI.

By late April, "CGI expressed concerns that it could not meet the February Plan timelines for code development, testing completion and go-live for October 1, 2013," according to the memo. On June 21, CGI was "at least two weeks behind and up to seven weeks behind its projected code development pace," the memo said.

The July 1 memo concludes "there is a substantial and likely risk that CGI may be unable to deploy into production the scope of HIX/IES functionality on October 1, 2013."

Since launching on Oct. 1, the disastrous site has frustrated customers trying to enroll. Several key deadlines have been pushed back or bypassed with stopgap fixes. State officials, who have stopped paying CGI, have been forced to create manual workarounds to enroll Bay Staters by March 31.

But a later memo from Himmelstein dated Oct. 25 — three-and-a-half-weeks after the embarrassing launch — revealed exactly how consequential state officials feared the website failures could be. Himmelstein complained to CGI's Ihrig that the state had "already incurred substantial costs to develop and implement operational workarounds" for the site. He also warned CGI's failures could prevent Bay Staters from accessing Obamacare, "suffer harm" to the state's reputation and "incur additional costs."

Gov. Deval Patrick insisted on Nov. 14 the state site "gets better every day" and called the bugs and glitches "nothing unexpected." He also said the site's slow speed was "because there's been just a lot of demand for it."

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Local life science companies flex muscles at conference

Life science com­panies — one of Massachusetts' key sectors — are coming off a week that showcased them at their strongest, according to local industry in­siders who attended the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

More than 240 biotech companies — many of them from Massachusetts — made presentations to about 500 investors at last week's conference, said Donna LaVoie, president and CEO of the LaVoie Group, a Cambridge health-care communications company.

About 25 companies already are in line to go public, said Bruce Booth, a partner at Atlas Venture in Cambridge, and by the end of the year, the number likely will reach 30.

"There is a shift," said Ron Renaud Jr., president and CEO of Idenix Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge. "We used to talk about (only) 15 or 20 profitable biotechs."

Immuno-oncology companies — those that focus on getting the immune system to attack a cancer — are among the hottest, Booth said.

But not every investor is waiting for an IPO, he said; the pharmaceutical industry is embracing innovative new start-ups, wanting to get involved with them at the earliest stages.

"The discussion is about launching these great new drugs," Booth said. "Many of them were born in small biotechs."

The "build-to-buy" struc­tured deal — one in which you create a company, already knowing who the buyer will be — is here to stay, he said.

"You know exactly what your return curve is." Booth said.

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The Ticker

Experts: Target hackers will be tough to find

The hackers behind the recent Target data breach are likely a world away and nearly impossible to find.

That's the consensus among outside cybercrime experts­ as Target, the Secret Service and the FBI continue their investigation of the pre-Christmas data heist in which hackers stole about 40 million debit and credit card numbers and also took personal information — including email addresses, phone numbers, names and home addresses — for another 70 million people.

In the aftermath of the breach, millions of Americans have been left to wonder what has become of their precious personal information. The information can be used in a variety of nefarious ways. Criminals can attempt to use the credit card numbers and place charges on the original owners' accounts or they can use other pieces of personal information to steal people's identities and apply for new lines of credit.

Boston Morgan Stanley director No. 1

Peter Princi, a managing director, financial adviser in the Morgan Stanley's wealth management office in Boston, has been ranked No. 1 in On Wall Street Magazine's 2013 listing of Top 40 Advisers Under 40. This listing is a select group of individuals who are 39 years of age or younger, as of Dec. 31. Individuals are recognized based on their trailing 12-month production and assets under management. This listing also takes into consideration the overall business mix of practices and adherence to high standards of industry regulatory compliance.

"To be named to this annual listing is an impressive honor, and we are extremely proud to have Peter Princi represent Morgan Stanley on this list," commented Robert Malenfant, complex manager of Morgan Stanley's Boston Harbor Wealth Management office.

TODAY

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.
• National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for December.
• Discover Financial, McDonald's Corp., Microsoft Corp., Nokia Corp., Southwest Airlines Co., Starbucks Corp., and United Continental Holdings Inc. report financial results.

FRIDAY

• Procter & Gamble and Samsung Eletronics report quarterly financial results before the market opens.

THE SHUFFLE

• Polaris Capital Management LLC, an investment management firm, announced that Jason Crawshaw, left, has joined the firm as a research analyst. In this role, Crawshaw will conduct fundamental analysis on global and international equities, capitalizing on his experience and tenure in both developed and emerging markets.
• The Massachusetts Society of CPAs has named Eileen P. McAnneny as its president and CEO. McAnneny was selected to lead the MSCPA after an extensive nationwide search led by the MSCPA's executive search committee and national search firm, Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group.

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Chain targets part-timers

Target's decision to move its part-time workers from its own insurance program to Obama­care likely marks the opening of the floodgates for other com­panies to do the same, potentially pushing tens of thousands of Bay State part-timers onto government-sanctioned health care by this summer, experts said.

"Before June of this year, you're going to see a migration of 100,000 to 200,000 Massachusetts residents" said Bill Fields, an employer consultant, describing the expected shift from employer-sponsored insurance to the state Health Connector.

Target announced this week it will no longer provide health insurance for its part-time employees.

"Health-care reform is transforming the benefits landscape and affecting how all em­ployers, including Target, administer health benefits coverage," said Jodee Kozlack, Target's executive vice president of human resources, in a statement. "Our decision to discontinue this benefit comes after careful consideration of the impact on our stores' part-time team members and to Target, the new options available for our part-time team, and the historically low number of team members who elected to enroll in the part-time plan."

Target says fewer than 10 percent of its 361,000 part-timers are enrolled in its plan. The statement said if Target continued to offer health in­surance for part-time em­ployees, some workers could be disqualified from Obamacare subsidies they might otherwise be entitled to receive.

Fields predicted there could be a ripple effect.

"Once they see their neighbor doing it, you're going to see a lot of copycats," Fields said about companies that employ part-timers.

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said Romneycare prompted a similar trend.

"Around 2008 or 2009, we recommended to all of our members that they drop coverage for part-timers. It rapidly happened," Hurst said.

But Fields said he advises his clients to keep insurance for part-timers, and he said companies that do not are making a cold, fiscal decision.

"It's a bottom-line argument," Fields said. "You don't have the morals you normally have in these situations."

The total number of part-time employees in Massachusetts was not immediately available.

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Boston Ponzi schemers get prison time

As three members of a West Roxbury family were sentenced yesterday for bilking their victims out of more than $10 million to fund their lavish lifestyle, officials warned potential investors to take steps to protect themselves from such Ponzi schemes.

"If it looks too good to be true, it probably is," said Brian McNiff of the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office, which enforces the Uniform Securities Act.

McNiff advised people to get investment opportunities in writing and check with the office to make sure the person offering them is a registered securities broker or investment advisor, and to find out if the person has been the subject of complaints.

Steven Palladino, 56, of West Roxbury convinced dozens of people to loan Viking Financial Group — the company his family formed in 2007 — more than $10 million, promising high returns, prosecutors said.

The Palladinos transferred the funds into their personal accounts to fund luxury vehicles, a vacation in the Bahamas, rent for Steven Palladino's mistress and casino trips, prosecutors said.

Yesterday, Steven Palladino was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in state prison, with five years probation. Lori Palladino, 52, was sentenced to two years, suspended for five years. Gregory Palladino, 28, was sentenced to two years, with five years probation. All three were ordered to pay restitution.

Steven Palladino "ruined our lives," said one woman, who said she lost $280,000. She declined to give her name. "I had my own little nest egg. But there's no chance of my retiring soon now."

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Teen tobacco use up in smoke

New national figures, showing that declines in youth tobacco use have slowed, indicate that Big Tobacco's relentless marketing is trumping widespread prevention efforts, experts told the Herald yesterday.

A new report from the U.S. surgeon general, coming on the 50th anniversary of the landmark report that linked smoking to lung cancer, shows the number of young people who started smoking in 2012, 2.3 million, is actually up from 2002, when 1.9 million picked up their first cigarettes. Though, due to population growth, the rate of teen smokers is down, it is leveling off and not showing the kind of decline that advocates would want to see over the course of a decade.

"There's a lot of guerrilla marketing going on," said Margaret Reid, a division director at the Boston Public Health Commission.

While cigarettes aren't as popular as they used to be, tobacco companies are increasingly trying to push other products such as flavored cigars and cigarillos. Boston health officials are tracking a rise in the use of these products, which are often targeted at minority youth, according to Nikysha Harding, director of tobacco prevention and control at the city's health commission. "And they're being marketed at a very, very low price point," Harding said.

Harding said to attract the college crowd, tobacco companies hire "attractive people" to scout for potential smokers in bars, then send them coupons.

Tobacco companies have said they don't market to teens. Efforts to reach tobacco company officials for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.

Boston University public health professor and smoking prevention expert Dr. Michael Siegel said the numbers should compel government officials to revamp their anti-smoking campaign to compete with tobacco companies' evolving marketing strategies.

"We can't expect to continue progress if we can't continue investment," Siegel said. "There is a public perception that we've taken care of the smoking problem. That's dangerous. It's just not true."

Massachusetts' anti-smoking budget has been slashed from $53 million to about $4.5 million over the past decade, Siegel said.

Harvard School of Public Health research scientist Hillel Alpert said non-conventional tobacco products can be a gateway to traditional cigarettes. "The different forms of tobacco products that are on the market only serve to promote addiction," he said.

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Builder bets on Eastie waterfront

Gerding Edlen is betting on a turnaround for East Boston waterfront development and prospects for a stalled New Street project.

The Portland, Ore., developer paid $7.27 million for the 3.9-acre parcel at 6-26 New St., near LoPresti Park on the inner harbor.

The firm is now looking at approved plans for the site and any changes needed to make it more appealing in today's market, according to president Kelly Saito.

"We are excited about the future and the potential for East Boston, especially the waterfront … so we wanted to invest in what we think will be a really interesting, desirable place," Saito said.

In 2010, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved a $90 million project pitched by Billerica's New Street Realty Trust, which sold the site to Gerding last week. With Boston's Cresset Development, it planned to raze two buildings, add seven stories to a nine-story one for 165 residential units, and erect a new six-story building for 59 residential units or 106 hotel/extended-stay rooms.

But those plans and other approved Eastie waterfront projects — save Roseland's Portside at Pier One, which broke ground last year — never got off the ground.

"A lot of it was timing," Saito said. "The economy kind of stalled ... things." But it's since rebounded and been robust for development in other parts of the city, he said, and "East Boston feels like it's bound to come around soon."

But East Boston Project Advisory Committee President Bob Strelitz said he doubts it will be soon.

"I think they're really buying it with a very long-term perspective," he said. "Why would they start before there's some credibility on the waterfront?"

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WeWork to rent desks to startups

A new collaborative office space for startups is coming to Boston, and organizers say it can add a sense of community to start-ups in Boston.

"WeWork is going to bring the most amazing startup community in Boston," said Hunter Perry, a Boston startup veteran who will lead WeWork's two Boston locations when they open early next month. "We're creating a place where people within all of Boston can have access to various ways to grow."

WeWork, which has locations in New York, San Francisco, and Seattle, among other cities, targets small, early stage companies that do not need large office space. The average size of WeWork's companies is five people, Perry said.

What separates WeWork from other "co-working spaces" is the sense of community they build, Perry said. There is a sports lounge in the basement of WeWork Seaport in Fort Point, complete with arcade games, a pool table and kegs. Members also get access to WeWork companies across the country for possible partnerships.

WeWork Seaport will have nearly 700 desks, and WeWork South Station will have more than 300.

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Ginger Man taps Fort Point again

A New York tavern boasting 70 taps and 160 varieties of bottled beer has its second lease in as many years for a spot in South Boston's Fort Point neighborhood.

Bob Precious, owner of The Ginger Man, this time wants to move into a 6,000-square-foot space at the back of 374 Congress St., which opens onto Boston Wharf Road.

The hope is for an actual opening this time around, after neighborhood opposition sank plans in 2012 for The Ginger Man to open on nearby Farnsworth Street.

The Boston Licensing Board will consider the company's request for a liquor license transfer and 2 a.m. closing next week.

"We do have a signed lease, but you never know unless the liquor license goes through," said Dave Urbanos, an owner representative. "The sticking point before — and it still is — is we want a 2 a.m. license."

This time, The Ginger Man's proposed home is "further away from all the apartments and the people who had an issue with us going into (the Farnsworth Street) space," Urbanos said.

"It's on the edge of what Fort Point is now because on the other side of the street, it's parking." he said. "There's new places in the neighborhood that have gotten liquor licenses. We're hoping for the best."

The Ginger Man is named after the 1955 J.P. Donleavy novel set in post-World War II Ireland that chronicles the misadventures of Sebastian Dangerfield, a young American cad studying at Dublin's Trinity College. The New York bar is on East 36th St. in Murray Hill.

The Hub location would have a broader menu, because the space allows for a bigger kitchen.

"We want to do a lot of house-made sandwiches, cook our own meats, make our own bread — more of the farm-to-table-type of thing," Urbanos said.

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$20M-$30M cleanup eyed for Wynn site

Wynn Resorts says it is close to an agreement to clean the contaminated Everett site it is targeting for a casino and 500-room luxury hotel — on land a recent study concluded is too contaminated for residential use.

An Aug. 27 action plan authored by GEI Consultants and obtained by the Herald anticipates a future "Activity and Use Limitation" document — a deed attachment that spells out restrictions to avoid disrupting contaminants — would bar 
single-family residential use and "multi-unit residential use, institutional use, park, playground or other outdoor recreational uses with unrestricted access to soil."

"Under the (plan) that we're envisioning, there wouldn't be any problem with a hotel or with multi-unit residential," said Chris Gordon, development manager for Wynn. "We're not proposing multi-unit residential, but there wouldn't be any problem if we did. We're very comfortable it's going to be fine for the development we're going to do."

Gordon said the 
$20 million to $30 million cleanup plan involves excavating and trucking away arsenic-infested fill from three "hot spots" on the former Monsanto chemical plant site, burying and trapping other contaminated soil with a concrete-like material, and removing contaminated sediment where an underground garage is planned.

Gordon said contaminants would be capped and covered in such a way that hotel and casino guests would have no contact with them, and certain areas of the site would be off-limits or highly restricted for maintenance and utility workers.

Wynn and FBT Everett Realty have to agree on use limits as part of the deal for Wynn to buy the property for $35 million. The deal has Wynn putting $10 million into escrow for cleanup — FBT shaved that amount off of its asking price — and an additional $10 million to $20 million cleanup commitment from Wynn. Gordon said the wide range is to account for the discovery of more contaminated underground material than anticipated.

The cleanup plan is part of what the state Gaming Commission will weigh when it decides in May if Wynn will be licensed to open the only Boston-
area casino. Mohegan Sun, if it can win a referendum in Revere next month, will also compete for the license.

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West Coast firm buys One Kendall Square for $395M

San Francisco's 
Divco­West increased its Boston-area holdings last week with the $395 million purchase of the One Kendall Square office, lab and retail complex in Cambridge.

The San Francisco real estate investment firm bought the nine-building, 670,000-square-foot campus and a 1,500-car garage in two separate sales that closed Thursday, according to Registry of Deeds documents and a source familiar with the transaction.

Representatives from DivcoWest and the sellers, Related Beal and Rockwood Capital, could not be reached for comment.

Beal Cos. and Rockwood bought One Kendall Square for $210.5 million in 2006 and made 
$64 million in improvements.

They put the property up for sale in December 2012 but pulled it from the market in March, according to published reports.

One Kendall Square is 91 percent leased, with tenants including Twitter, Semprus BioSciences, Staples and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. It encompasses the nine-screen Kendall Square Cinema and restaurants/bars including the Blue Room, West Bridge, Cambridge Brewing Co. and Belly Wine Bar.

DivcoWest, which manages more than $2.5 billion of equity, made the purchase under its newest investment fund, 
DivcoWest Fund IV, which is targeting real estate including properties in technology-oriented growth markets such as in-demand East Cambridge.

DivcoWest acquired One Winthrop Square, a 114,000-square-foot Boston office building, for $36 million in December.

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Drone bill headed to State House

A bill that would restrict how police in Massachusetts can use drones — requiring warrants and banning weapons — goes to a Transportation Committee hearing on Beacon Hill tomorrow.

"I just want to ensure we don't have a major intrusion of our privacy rights, mainly by law enforcement," state Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth) told the Herald.

The Drone Privacy Act, filed by Hedlund, would prevent drones from carrying weapons, and would require warrants before they can be deployed, except in emergency situations.

The bill also seeks limitations on the kind of information that police departments collect, and would require data accidentally collected to be deleted within 24 hours.

In a statement, Suffolk Country District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the bill would be a needed update to the state's decades-old wiretapping laws. "The Legislature should make the most of this opportunity to update our surveillance laws," Conley said. "We're not opposed to drone use or regulation but, frankly, our most urgent needs are much more down-to-earth."

Still, there are some who think it is too early to regulate an emerging technology.

"I'm really opposed to knee-jerk legislation but particularly in response to technology that's rapidly evolving," said Missy Cummings, a drone expert and professor at MIT. "I'm all for privacy, but if we jump the gun too early we're either going to have to repeal laws or they're going to be too weak."

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Casino applicants wary about trade secrets

Lawyers for the state Gaming Commission are poring over a slew of casino application filings marked "confidential" to judge the merits of developers' claims that they include critical trade secrets — but City Hall suspects they may be overreaching.

In petitions to the commission, the city of Boston — which is studying if it can argue it is a host community to casinos in either Everett or Revere — says sections of a Wynn Resorts application for an Everett casino "exclude information which has been provided to the commission, certain elements of which are relevant to the city's review." Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he's particularly concerned with 77 pages he said are under seal in the Wynn application Boston received.

"There's a lot of questions I have about that proposal," Walsh said. "Wynn having 77 pages missing is alarming."

Gaming Commission spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said of the legal review: "The commission will continue to make every effort to ensure a transparent process while also balancing our statutory obligations to certain privacy rights and competitively sensitive information." She said the commission will either allow filings to remain confidential or release them.

The casino application form includes a list of 47 filings the Gaming Commission presumes applicants will consider confidential, such as audited financial statements. Applicants can check a box to agree or disagree, and request that even more answers be hidden. Wynn requested an additional 38 filings be withheld, including how its Everett casino will fit the "Massachusetts brand," plans to work with minority- and female-owned businesses, and how staff will be trained to identify signs of gambling addiction.

Company spokesman Michael Weaver said Wynn, a publicly traded company, is obligated to protect "sensitive financial and strategic company information."

"The documents available to the general public are consistent with the type of information made available by a company, for example, to individuals considering investing in the company," Weaver said. "We believe there is ample information to enable the public to understand the scope and impact of the proposed project and the clear difference between Wynn and Mohegan Sun."

Mohegan Sun, which is proposing a casino at Suffolk Downs in Revere, only asks that two additional filings be confidential, items referred to in the application as "Land" and "Site Plan." A spokesman said the items are attachments to a confidential lease agreement. Mohegan filed several site plans that are public.

"Mohegan Sun believes openness is important in the licensing process, and our application allows not only the Gaming Commission but our host community, surrounding communities and the public to examine and understand our proposal," the company said in a statement.

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Boeing, Etihad to develop aviation biofuels

Aircraft maker Boeing Co., Etihad Airways, the oil company Total and others say they will work together on a program to develop an aviation biofuel industry in the United Arab Emirates.

Boeing says in a news release Sunday that the program will involve research and development and investments in production of fuels derived from plants that can power aircraft.

Etihad is based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The other participants are Takreer, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, located in Abu Dhabi.

Boeing says Etihad ran a 45-minute demonstration flight Saturday in a Boeing 777 partially powered by aviation biofuel produced in the UAE.

Boeing also has aviation biofuels programs with U.S. and other airlines.

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Tempo thermometer kinda cool, and that’s just how it leaves us

Tempo Bluetooth Smart Thermometer ($47, Bluemaestro.com)

The latest edition to the "smart home" movement comes to us from U.K. startup Blue Maestro. This app-enabled temperature sensor can alert your smartphone when the temperature of a room is outside a designated threshold and keep a running log of how cold or hot it has been.

The good: Do you often check on your children and pets during those extremely cold winter nights to make sure they're not exceedingly cold or hot? Then this product seems like a good idea. Plus, it's sleek and simple.

The bad: You have to be in Bluetooth range to be alerted to a temperature emergency, which is a giant bummer. This product would be much better if it could shoot you an email.

The bottom line: This seems like a good idea, but it's got a very limited application. I'd wait for something better.

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New mayor embraces digital technology

For the first time ever, there is a computer on the desk of Boston's mayor, just one of several signs that a new digital era has arrived at City Hall.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh has not one, but two iPhones — an iPhone 5 as his personal phone, and a shiny new iPhone 5s for his office phone. Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Walsh's predecessor, was a notorious technophobe — though he hired people who did a ton to bridge the city's digital divide. He knew social media was important but he didn't really get how it worked.

Walsh does. He pushes himself to learn. Walsh uses apps on his iPad to read the news and to capture images of business cards.

He posts from the social media dashboard Hootsuite and even uses Twitter, just yesterday sending out the pregame message: "Go Pats!!! MJW" which is how his personal tweets are signed. And he does another thing that Menino never quite mastered.

"Yes, I check my own email," Walsh told the Herald. "I texted a 'LOL' today. I talk to my girlfriend's daughter to find out what all those sayings mean."

What will having a digitally literate mayor mean? Here are some of the ideas being floated:

• Monthly mayoral webcasts.

•      Virtual community meetings, letting citizens weigh in from home.

• A city app to promote independently owned businesses.

•  A public schools/startup community connection.

•   A high-tech overhaul for the city's neglected public access channel.

"We have an incredible opportunity here to firmly insert technology throughout city government and to make doing business with the city easier and more common sense," Walsh said.

Walsh has already discussed ideas for new city apps with the Office of New Urban Mechanics, the small civic innovation department he wants to expand. And he's promoted a 33-year-old expert in constituent services, Justin Holmes, to the position of interim Chief Information Officer, a job that could easily have gone to a veteran of the perfunctory world of IT, a sign Walsh knows City Hall departments can be laboratories for new ideas.

As Menino's director of constituent engagement, Holmes more than doubled the number of residents who interact with the city, launched the first Twitter feed for constituent services, helped get the Citizens Connect app off the ground and dramatically improved the satisfaction rate of residents who asked their government for help.

"When you think about municipal technology, it's not the ends, it's the means," Holmes said. "Mayor Walsh knows this, so the opportunity to drive change is 
incredibly exciting."

Added Nigel Jacob, one of the city's two research and development gurus: "With Mayor Walsh, it's just a new day."

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Tech industry: Obama's NSA reforms 'insufficient'

SAN FRANCISCO — Technology companies and industry groups took President Barack Obama's speech on U.S. surveillance as a step in the right direction, but chided him for not embracing more dramatic reforms to protect people's privacy and the economic interests of American companies that generate most of their revenue overseas.

"The president's speech was empathetic, balanced and thoughtful, but insufficient to meet the real needs of our globally connected world and a free Internet," said Ed Black, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a group that represents Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other technology companies upset about the NSA's broad surveillance of online communications.

On Friday, the president called for ending the government's control of phone data from hundreds of millions of Americans and ordered intelligence agencies to get a court's permission before accessing such records. He also issued a directive that intelligence-gathering can't be employed to suppress criticism of the United States or provide a competitive advantage to U.S. companies.

In addition, the president directed Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to consider whether new privacy safeguards could be added to online data gathering. Although those activities are only meant to target people outside the U.S. as part of national security investigations, information on Americans sometimes gets swept up in the collection.

Eight of the world's best-known technology companies underscored their common interest in curbing the NSA by releasing a joint, measured critique of Obama's proposal. They applauded the commitment to more transparency and more privacy protections for non-U.S. citizens, but also stressed that the president didn't address all their concerns.

"Additional steps are needed on other important issues, so we'll continue to work with the administration and Congress to keep the momentum going and advocate for reforms consistent with the principles we outlined in December," said the statement from Google, Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and AOL.

In his speech, Obama also directed Holder and Clapper to look into new restrictions on the length of time the U.S. can hold data collected overseas and the extent to which that data is used. He added that the U.S. won't spy on regular people who don't threaten national security.

But nothing he said is likely to diminish the potential losses facing the U.S. technology industry, said Daniel Castro, a senior analyst for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington D.C. think tank.

The ITIF estimates that the doubts raised by the NSA spying could cost U.S. companies as much as $35 billion over the next three years.

In the aftermath of recent NSA leaks, the companies set aside their competitive differences to come together and urge Obama to curtail the NSA's online snooping and lift restrictions that prevent companies from publicly disclosing specifics about how frequently they are asked to turn over their users' personal information in the name of national security.

Obama did agree to at least one major concession to the technology industry by pledging "to make public more information than ever before about the orders they have received to provide data to the government." The companies are hoping greater transparency will show that the U.S. government has only been demanding information about a very small fraction of their vast audiences.

But the promise of more disclosure didn't satisfy two different groups focused on online privacy and other digital rights.

"Far more needs to be done to restore the faith of the American people and repair the damage done globally to the U.S. reputation as a defender of human rights on the Internet," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology.

Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation believes there's still a long way to go. "Now it's up to the courts, Congress, and the public to ensure that real reform happens, including stopping all bulk surveillance — not just telephone records collection," she said.

Recent revelations about how much information the U.S. government has been vacuuming off the Internet threaten to undercut the future profits of technology companies that depend on the trust of Web surfers and corporate customers.

U.S. Internet companies are worried that more people, especially those living outside the U.S., will use their products less frequently if they believe their personal data is being scooped up and stored by the U.S. government.

Less online traffic would result in fewer opportunities to sell the ads that bring in most of the revenue at companies such as Google, Facebook and Yahoo. There is also concern that foreigners will be reluctant to do business with a wide range of U.S. companies that sell online storage and software applications that require an Internet connection.

Obama's proposal made "progress on the privacy side, but it doesn't address the economic issues," Castro said. "I don't see anything in the speech that will prevent companies in other countries from using what the NSA is doing to gain a competitive advantage over the U.S. companies."

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Ortutay reported from New York.

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AP: Borgata ends fake chip-tainted NJ poker match

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Saying they have confirmed that one or more people used "a significant number of counterfeit chips" at an Atlantic City poker tournament, state casino regulators on Saturday canceled the tainted match and ordered all prize money frozen until an investigation is complete.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement canceled the first event of the Borgata Winter Poker Open. It had suspended the game Friday after suspicions about the use of fake chips arose.

No charges have been filed in the case.

"Thus far, investigators have found that one or more tournament entrants improperly introduced a significant number of counterfeit chips into the tournament, gaining an unfair advantage and compromising the integrity of play for the event," Tom Ballance, the Borgata's president and chief operating officer said Saturday.

"It is extremely unfortunate that the criminal actions of these individuals can have a detrimental impact on more than 4,000 other entrants," he said. "We fully understand and regret the disappointment this cancellation causes our valued customers, and we will work diligently with DGE investigators to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. The integrity of our games and the confidence of our players is of the utmost importance to us."

Ballance said the Borgata has thoroughly examined its remaining stock of chips, which were cleared by investigators for use in dozens of other events in the poker tournament, which will be played as scheduled.

It was not immediately clear what would happen with the entrance fees paid by people who participated in the tainted match. The Borgata said the state ordered "that all unpaid prize money be held in trust until more details and resolution can be determined."

New Jersey State Police said Saturday the investigation is ongoing and that no arrests had been made.

The event under scrutiny is the tournament's Big Stack, No Limit Hold 'Em event. It began on Tuesday and had a $560 buy-in. There were 27 people remaining in the contest when play was suspended.

Joe Lupo, the casino's senior vice president, said concerns arose during play Thursday night. The tournament was scheduled to resume at noon on Friday, but he said it was suspended before that could happen. He would not say what raised concerns about the integrity of the game, saying it was part of the ongoing investigation.

Customers wanting to participate in the tournament go to a registration area at the Borgata, pay the $560 entry fee, and go to a table, where they are given 20,000 chips to use in the poker games. By sneaking fake chips onto the table or otherwise introducing them into the game, a cheating player would benefit by having more chips than he or she had paid for, and is able to last longer in the game. The tables are watched by multiple security cameras, but casino and state officials would not discuss what, if any, evidence they have uncovered of cheating during the games.

The 18-day series of tournaments is a regular feature at the Borgata. The casino's website said the championship event, which starts Sunday, Jan. 26., would include a $3 million prize guarantee.

The investigation does not involve Internet gambling, which began late last year and which the Borgata has dominated in the early going.

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Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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Chestnut Hill attracts hip Back Bay shops

Newbury Street has long been the marquee address for posh brands to make their Boston debut. But lately a stretch of Boylston Street in Chestnut Hill is giving the Back Bay a run for its money with a slew of chic retailers opening new, bigger spaces.

The Street, 55 Boylston St.

Jonathan Adler

Slated to open in March, the new boutique is twice as big as the brand's original store on Newbury (2,600 square feet). The full collection of home decor from the offbeat designer will be available.

Exclusive Chestnut Hill perk: Custom-designed rugs, pillows and throws — and if none of Adler's fabrics suit your fancy, bring in your own for a fully personalized creation. jonathanadler.com

Skoah

Stylize blogger Peter Dziedzic just opened his third outpost of Canadian "skin care gym" Skoah. After expanding to Newbury Street last year, the Chestnut Hill location rounds out the trifecta of prestigious Boston addresses. The 1,007-square-foot space has three treatment rooms and a brow bar.

Exclusive Chestnut Hill perk: Find a sink in the product area — you can try on a product, rinse off and try again!

Intermix

Intermix's Newbury Street store is already a haven for fashionistas to try on designer duds (the shop is a favorite of Bruins wives, including Krista Ference). The 2,000-square-foot Chestnut Hill store opened in mid-November to rave reviews.

Exclusive Chestnut Hill perk: The buyers tailor their merchandise to the neighborhood, so expect to find a preppy-chic mix of items from designers such as Rag & Bone, Yigal Azrouel, Helmut Lang and more.

200 Boylston St.

Equinox

Boston's best-looking folks are already members of this luxe health club, which has locations in the Financial District and Back Bay. But when the new 33,000-square-foot club opened last month, city gym rats got a reason to trek out to the 'burbs for the signature classes, the spa and the shop stocked with Kiehl's products.

Exclusive Chestnut Hill perk: The gym is home to the company's first-ever barre studio.

Sweetgreen

Two Georgetown University grads united in 2007 to open an affordable, sustainable, healthy salad eatery that would actually, you know ... taste good. Last year the pair opened a spot on the other Boylston Street in Back Bay, and now they make the move to Chestnut Hill later this spring.

Exclusive Chestnut Hill perk: The storefront has a retractable front wall (at 20 feet tall!) that will open for outdoor seating in warmer months.

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Boston company Global Rescue guarding U.S. skiers at Sochi

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association is relying on a Boston company to get its team members out of a tight spot in the event of a terrorist attack or other crisis at next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

"When something does happen, it's our personnel who are going to respond," said Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue. "We're helping them prepare for not only medical but security (services)."

A company that describes itself as "AAA for your body," Global Rescue has been providing medical services for USSA for eight years, but will be bulking up to deal with any potential security concerns during the Sochi games.

They will have "up to a half dozen aircraft" to assist with medical and security-related evacuations, the company said.

"A disruption will involve hundreds of thousands of people wanting to go from one place to another," Richards said of a terrorist attack. "We have created plans that would create a mechanism for doing that."

Global Rescue's security team, made up of Special Forces veterans, has been involved in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, as well as other major crises, including the Arab Spring and the Fukushima earthquake, but Sochi is unique, Richards said.

"You've got this challenging environment and you've got this geo-political environment," Richards said.

Global Rescue's plans include taking into account the mountains that surround Sochi, and the Black Sea to the west of the city, he said.

"Global Rescue is a great company and we've had a long and productive relationship," USSA spokesman Tom Kelly said in an email. He declined to answer questions regarding security or "any details of our relationship."

U.S. Olympic team officials did not return calls for comment.

Concerns over the safety of the Games have increased in recent weeks, due to an ongoing conflict between Islamic insurgents and Russian security forces in the North Caucasus region, roughly 340 miles from Sochi. A rebel leader has called on his followers to attack the Winter Olympics.

Mark Galeotti, an NYU professor and Russian security expert, said the chances of an attack are higher because of the political dynamic in Russia.

"The games have become such a pet project of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's. Frankly, the insurgents would suffer a major blow to their morale and credibility if they didn't try to hit the games, whether directly or indirectly," Galeotti said.

Galeotti said he believes Russian authorities — who have committed as many as 63,000 police and military and $2 billion to increase security — will deter a direct attack on the Olympics.

"The greatest risk is probably in other southern Russian cities," Galeotti said. "I doubt the Olympic teams ought to have any special concerns."

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