News

Bank of America Corp. on Wednesday said it will make $100 million available for loans and investments, much of it slated for affordable housing, in Gulf Coast areas destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The Charlotte, N.C.-based BofA said it will set…

Shareholders of MCI Inc. yesterday approved the $8.44 billion takeover by Verizon Communications Inc., ending attempts by hedge funds to quash the deal. Some 88 percent of the votes cast supported the purchase. The vote was one of the biggest…

House Speaker Douglas Scamman, R-Stratham, will discuss the upcoming 2006 legislative session with Seacoast area small-business owners Oct. 20 at the Exeter Inn. Topics are expected to include reform of the state's workers' compensation system and reform to small-group health…

OneBeacon Insurance, a subsidiary of White Mountain Insurance, announced Oct. 4 that it has completed the $142 million sale of its National Farmers Union Property and Casualty Company subsidiary to QBE Insurance. The sale, first announced in July, includes NFU’s…

WellPoint and Walgreens have announced a strategic partnership to provide pharmacy services to Medicare Part D beneficiaries nationwide. "Through its variety of Medicare plans and programs, WellPoint is uniquely positioned to help seniors take advantage of the new Medicare Part…

The city of Berlin may turn a 215-acre parcel of land into a new industrial park. City officials seem poised to approve a feasibility study of the land, which is located directly north of the Maynesboro Industrial Park off East…

Community Bank and Trust shareholders will be collecting some pretty hefty dividends. The Wolfeboro bank (traded under the symbol CBNH.OB) announced yesterday that it will be paying a quarterly dividend of 35 cents a share, bringing the total for this…

Memorial Hospital in Conway plans to ask the state Health Services Planning and Review Board to approve a $17 million expansion project, including a new 20-room medical-surgical wing and a five-bed observation unit for short-term stays. Hospital officials say the…

New London Hospital has become the latest New Hampshire hospital to join the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Alliance - a move the hospital’s chairman said was "obvious." G. William Helm Jr., chairman of the New London Hospital board, said the affiliation brings "economies…

Cigna Corp., Wellpoint Inc. and eight other companies have been approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to offer Medicare prescription drug benefits to seniors starting in January. While some states will have more plans to choose from…