Nstar News

A wintry wallop blanketed New England, causing about 7,000 homes throughout the Cape and Islands to lose electricity, crippling travel plans and devastating New England merchants the weekend before Christmas.

NSTAR , the Massachusetts investor- owned electric and gas utility, agreed to sell its Medical Area Total Energy Plant in Boston to a joint venture of Veolia Energy North America and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners for about $320 million.

Snow and high winds are lashing the Cape Cod region this morning with blizzard conditions, causing scattered power outages and widespread event cancellations.

Boston has won a $16 million tax fight with National Grid, a victory in a long-running case that could embolden cities and towns across Massachusetts to raise taxes on the utility as many communities face financial distress.

Excel Academy Charter School, known for its discipline and educational prowess, was thrown into chaos Monday morning following a gas leak scare at the schoola s Saratoga Street campus.

Brian Moynihan will succeed Kenneth Lewis as chief of Bank of America next month.

Apologies to Mother Nature and her offspring, but it was ugly out there yesterday, especially for those on the Upper Cape who got caught in an early morning storm that stomped in from the Midwest.

The snowfall is expected to be heaviest north and west of Interstate 495, where four to eight inches could cover the region before turning over to rain, said National Weather Service meteorologist Allan Dunham.

During this special time of year, NSTAR is offering important tips for safe and energy efficient decorating.

A power outage that hit a main power feed in Newburyport led school administrators to dismiss high school students earlier this morning, said police Lt.

Heavy rains and winds this morning contributed to a town-wide power outage in Provincetown.

The state ordered power company NStar to refund $20 million to customers who officials said were overcharged, and approved a rate hike for clients of National Grid yesterday.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has trimmed a proposed rate increase by National Grid.

This is the group of companies who raised their dividend during the week: Sysco Corp.

It's always a healthy sign when a company raises its annual payout to investors.

NStar and Premium Power Corp. were two Massachusetts companies named recipients of U.S. Department of Energy grants to deploy smart-grid technologies.

Twelve companies last week raised distributions. While this is positive news in comparison to the avalanche of dividend cuts that were occurring just a few months ago, it is important that investors dig deeper into the numbers before they find out the next big thing.

Bank of America Corp.'s board might extend its search for a permanent new chief executive officer into 2010 if directors can't settle on a candidate in the next three days, according to people familiar with the matter.

Close See a sample reprint in PDF format. Order a reprint of this article now INVESTING NOVEMBER 22, 2009 By BRETT ARENDS Wall Street has rallied a long way since the dark days last winter.

Analysts are talking it down, they are using the reduced guidance from larger retails to point to early indicators that are negative.