Category: 3. Business

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine signed the groundbreaking “working waterfront” bill at the Greenport railroad dock — officially enacting unprecedented protections for the area’s commercial fishing and maritime heritage.

The ceremony to sign the legislation — attended by dozens of maritime business owners, as well as local politicos — marked the culmination of months of advocacy following the Suffolk County Legislature’s unanimous approval on Sept. 3.

“We need working waterfronts to encourage those in the oyster business, to encourage those growing kelp, to encourage those who are fishing — all those who earn their living by the sea,” Mr. Romaine told the assembled crowd. “If we do not have a working waterfront, if all that land is purchased and used for other things, we’re going to miss out on one of the heritage industries of this county.”

The new Chapter 26 of the Suffolk County Code establishes a framework for acquiring conservation easements on working waterfront properties, creating protections against development pressures that have threatened to transform commercial docks into residential properties.

Original reporting by Brendan Carpenter

The LCCA has established a steering group to lead the bid preparation.

It will involve representatives from all five universities connected to the county, major businesses such as BAE Systems, the Westinghouse nuclear power company near Preston, and small and medium sized supply-chain companies.

At a meeting of the LCCA last month, Blackburn with Darwen Council Labour leader Phil Riley said the pitch “plays to Lancashire’s strengths” and felt like “exactly the right thing that we should be getting started with”.

A total of £500m is available from the fund nationwide, but £360m has already been earmarked as uncontested “direct awards” that will be made to mayor-led combined authorities, leaving areas like Lancashire to make a case for a share of the remaining £140m.

Expressions of interest have to be lodged by mid-February and any completed bids by late June.

An appeal from a housing developer against a council’s decision to refuse plans for 100 homes in Leicestershire has been turned down.

The Planning Inspectorate has dismissed an appeal from Gladman Developments against Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s decision to refuse proposals for a housing development on land north of Shenton Lane in Market Bosworth.

A decision notice issued by the council in June said proposals to access the site through York Close would cause “significant harm” to residents on the street.

In appeal documents the developer said it did not agree that the development would “adversely impact” nearby residents, however following a hearing, the appeal was dismissed.

Wayne Grills, owner of Pizza Planet in Kingsbridge, has shut his restaurant due to its reliance on gas.

“We had to close, we cook on gas like many restaurants and takeaways,” he said.

“For us that was it, the minute we knew we didn’t have gas that was it, we were shut.

“Usually the last weekend before people go back to school and work is pretty busy, Saturday was looking to be just as busy, but the plug was pulled.

“I did know fairly early on what the situation would have to be.

“Knowing the thousands of properties that will have to be visited by engineers, it is going to be a big task.”

It’s the wee hours of the morning. Pitch-dark sky, hardly a murmur on these urban streets. Most of Kansas City tucked in their cozy beds.

But inside this tiny brick building on 12th Street earlier this week, the lights are bright, R&B music is buzzing, and the oven is blazing — ready to finish off freshly-made dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls, cakes and pies.

Owner Joyce Watts had a long stint serving up such treats with her sisters under Big Momma’s Bakery-Cafe and then as a home-based business as Boujee Baker KC.

Seven months ago, she opened a bakery and retail shop at 2311 E. 12th St.

“People say they are nostalgic. ‘This reminds me of my grandma, my mom,’” Watts said of her brand of baking business. “They say, ‘It just warms my heart.’”

When Watts was a youngster, she would pretend to bake, making mud pies outside, and “hosting” a cooking show. But she left the cooking to a sibling and her mother. It wasn’t until she picked up a church cookbook that she delved into cooking for her family, which includes her three children.

“It just spoke to me. The recipes were clear and easy. I would see one and want to taste it,” she said.

At the time, Watts worked at DST in accounting, billing and programming — experience that later helped as an entrepreneur.

Watts and her husband, Richard, usually start their business day about 4 or 4:30 a.m. — hours before Richard leaves for his full-time job. The business’ one full-time employee, Chesni Bivens, is her son’s friend from fourth grade. One of her granddaughters, Anya Handy, is on call.

Along with sweets, Boujee offers breakfast (breakfast sandwiches, biscuit and sausage gravy, quiche, breakfast panini, and more), and lunch (sandwiches, soup, salads, and wraps). Some customers — employees of the water department — requested the chicken taco soup be on the menu daily. Now there’s a big pot full simmering beside two rotating flavors — such as zuppa toscano, loaded baked potato, chicken noodle, chicken pot pie, steak, and lasagna.

Richard makes the melt-in-your-mouth corned beef and smoked chicken for the sandwiches and panini. Other meat choices include ham, chicken salad and roast beef.

Third party delivery orders have surged, and surrounding businesses often send new customers.

“They come in and they love seeing a Black-owned, woman-owned business,” Watts said. “People have been so gracious.”

Baking a full-circle confection

Watts started Big Momma’s two decades ago with her sisters — Jackie Buycks and Jill Arnold. The siblings took over a former Raytown doughnut shop where they whipped up homespun recipes that had been favorites in their family for decades. They named it after Arnold’s mother-in-law.

They expanded in Raytown, adding indoor seating. Watts said Jill left the business when she and Jackie relocated to the Crown Center Shops in 2009. The high-traffic location drew customers from across the metro, as well as tourists. One year, they sold 1,500 dozen buttery dinner rolls just for Thanksgiving.

But when they were renewing their lease five years later, Jackie decided she wanted to be a fulltime minister.

“I hated it when they left me. I begged them to stay,” Watts said. “I couldn’t be mad. But I was.”

Watts went on to open a church daycare before reopening Big Momma’s on Bannister with her former husband in 2018. They later divorced. He couldn’t be reached for comment.

Watts started Boujee Baker KC as a homebased business in 2020.

She signed a lease for the 12th Street spot in January, and after renovations, opened the brick-and-mortar location in May next to Wing Lovers USA and near Gates Bar-B-Q.

(In a full-circle note, a previous cupcake tenant, Cupcakin’ Bakery, moved into the former Big Momma’s space in Crown Center Shops three years ago.)

Refining the business recipe

She misses her sisters and the skills they brought to the business — such as marketing, hard for Watts who likes to be behind-the-scenes. But being the sole owner gives her the final say for introducing new items.

She spent several years perfecting her cheesecake recipe and only recently felt it was good enough for her customers. Now the goodies are Boujee’s bestsellers — strawberry, cherry, Oreo, Turtle, brownie, strawberry crunch, banana pudding and more.

She’s tweaked some of the longtime recipes and also has introduced new breads to sell as loaves and for her sandwiches — a white bread, an onion bread, strawberry cream cheese, Italian, and jalapeño cheddar.

Breads are baked in house, except for its sourdough which is made by her niece, Shyla Jones, known as The Bread Lady in Raymore.

Watts also has a new garlic Parmesan butter for the panini.

Boujee Baker is open for breakfast, and lunch from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

The mainstays are sweet potato bars, dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls (large, medium and mini sizes).

The bakery also sells a variety of cookies, including chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, strawberry lemonade, banana pudding, Ooey Gooey Butter, and peanut butter ($1.25 each or $15 a dozen).

Cupcakes are mostly by order. Flavors include chocolate heaven, banana pudding, and strawberry shortcake. Boujee also sells brownies, cakes, parfaits, muffins, peach cobbler, sweet potato pie and lemon meringue pie.

Watts also is expanding her catering operation for corporate meetings, birthday parties and showers, and other events. She also wants to do more pop-ups.

The gift shop at Children’s Mercy hospital recently ordered 1,500 of her treats for a two-day pop-up but sold out the first 750 by early afternoon. Watts had to bring in her two teenage granddaughters to make more.

“The flavors are great and I think the pricing is reasonable,” said Jennifer DiCarlo, director, gift shops. “We like to support local. And she was good to work with from a business standpoint, very professional.”

Watts called her husband her biggest cheerleader, “letting me shine,” she said.

She would tell others starting out to not get easily frustrated.

“Hang in there. Take on the task. Easier days are coming,” she said.

This story was originally published by Startland News, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.

US stocks had a stellar 2025, but global markets stole the show.

A major index tracking stocks outside the US, the MSCI All Country World ex-USA, gained 29.2% in 2025, handily outpacing the S&P 500’s gain of 16.39%.

The artificial intelligence boom has benefited markets in Asia, where tech companies and chipmakers have seen surges in demand. In Europe, markets received a boost from plans for government spending on defense and improved prospects for economic growth.

A weaker US dollar also provided a tailwind for international stocks. When the dollar weakens and other currencies strengthen, investments denominated in those currencies become more valuable when converted back into dollars.

The US dollar index, which measures the dollar’s strength against six major currencies, fell by roughly 9.4% in 2025, its worst year since 2017.

Heading into 2025, US stock valuations were already relatively expensive compared to the rest of the world, creating an incentive for investors to look for returns in different markets.

“A lot of things went right for international stocks in 2025,” Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede, told CNN.

“After a couple years of lackluster fundamentals, foreign equities put together a strong year of earnings growth,” Reynolds said. “This was highlighted by fiscal stimulus in Europe and AI-related growth in Asia.”

Markets in Asia have been riding the wave of AI enthusiasm.

Tech companies and chipmakers in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China all benefited last year from investor interest in AI.

South Korea’s Kospi index soared almost 76% in 2025 and posted its best year since 1999. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 26%, lifted by gains in tech companies and chipmakers.

In Japan, shares of memory chip maker Kioxia surged 536%. And in South Korea, shares of tech giant Samsung surged almost 130%.

“The AI trade has broadened materially over the past year,” said Arun Sai, senior multi-asset strategist at Pictet Asset Management. “That optimism has increasingly been priced in beyond the US, extending globally, particularly into markets such as Korea and Japan.”

In Taiwan, shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) gained 46.54% last year and hit record highs. Meanwhile, shares of China-based Alibaba (BABA) soared 75.81% as the company embraced AI and launched its own chatbot.

Growth and defense

Stocks in Europe rallied in early 2025 as the German government enacted historic reforms to boost spending on defense. European defense stocks rallied last year, with German manufacturer Rheinmetall gaining 154%.

Meanwhile, improving outlooks for the economies in Greece, Spain and Poland benefited those countries’ markets. European banks like Santander (SAN) and Deutsche Bank (DB) also had standout years, each rising about 126% and helping lift markets.

Spain’s benchmark IBEX 35 index gained 49% and had its best year since 1993. Italy’s FTSE MIB gained almost 32% and had its best year since 1998. Germany’s DAX climbed 23% and Greece’s ATHEX Composite gained 44%, each posting their best year since 2019. Poland’s WIG index rose 47%.

“In a year when the falling dollar sent investors scrambling for global exposure, Poland offered a unique mix of growth and value,” said David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation.

“Greece is finally recovering from a decade-long debt crisis,” Russell said. “The country recovered its investment-grade rating at Moody’s and enjoyed a tourism boom. It’s a classic comeback story following a period of bad loans and low multiples.”

The UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 index gained 21.51% and had its best year since 2009. The index then kicked off 2026 on a strong note, briefly rising above a record high 10,000 points on Friday for the first time ever.

For US investors, analysts say the dollar will be key to gauge international stocks’ returns.

“If the dollar continues to weaken, foreign stocks may continue to have the wind at their back,” Reynolds at Glenmede said.

While international markets had a year of outperformance, some investors say the fundamentals still support the United States.

“We still favor the US first and international second,” said Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “We feel the dollar will stabilize, which will help to dampen the advantage for emerging market equities.”

Wall Street remains optimistic about the outlook for US stocks as corporate profits have been resilient, and there is optimism that AI will continue to drive earnings growth. Still, investors last year looked overseas to diversify portfolios amid heightened uncertainty, and international — both developed and emerging — markets proved to be a strong pick.

“One of the biggest and most underappreciated surprises of 2025 has been the extraordinary outperformance of emerging market (EM) equities,” Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a December 15 note.

“Overweighting the US has served global investors well the past 15 years,” Shalett said. “That said, we believe shifting geopolitical, monetary and fiscal policy regimes amid technological upheaval and the constraints of developed world debt are creating a need for diversification beyond US stocks and bonds for long-term investors.”

Interveners in Halifax Water’s rate case are telling the regulatory board that the utility’s new proposal, which would cut its initial request by nearly half, is still inordinately high.

The board-appointed consumer advocate said Halifax Water “may be closer” to finding a balance between recouping necessary costs and keeping rates reasonable and affordable, but he still has concerns.

Halifax Water applied to the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board in the spring for two rate hikes amounting to more than 35 per cent between January and April 2026. The regulator said that would constitute “rate shock” and ordered the utility earlier this month to bring the figure down. 

Halifax Water returned with a new proposal for two smaller increases that would compound to about 18 per cent over the same time period.

“Arguably, this still amounts to ‘rate shock,’” consumer advocate David Roberts wrote in a letter to the board this week.

Roberts stopped short of suggesting whether the board should accept or reject the utility’s new proposal but said it’s clear “new rate strategies must be employed” if steep rate hikes are to be avoided in the future.

He pointed to several measures the board has ordered, including seeking relief from some payments Halifax Water is required to make to Halifax Regional Municipality, and exploring whether HRM can absorb some of the utility’s financial shortfalls that are driving up its deficit.

Halifax Water has said it’s been keeping rates artificially low since the pandemic and cannot continue doing so because it’s facing inflationary pressures and needs to make costly infrastructure upgrades.

Roberts acknowledged that infrastructure improvements and other expenses are necessary to keep water services at a level that “customers expect and deserve.”

“However, the rates customers are required to pay to generate that revenue must be reasonable and affordable,” he added.

The consumer advocate is not alone in lodging its concern about Halifax Water’s revised rate proposal.

The landlord-advocacy group Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia is calling on the board to cut the cumulative increase in 2026 to 10 per cent, and order Halifax Water to negotiate a settlement agreement on rates with stakeholders for 2027 to 2031.

Kevin Russell, the group’s executive director, told the board in a letter that the revised rate is “far too high and represents an increase more than six times the current rate of inflation.”

Killam Apartment REIT, one of the province’s largest landlords, said the revised rates would still strain household affordability.

The board is expected to release a decision about the revised rates in the first few days of the new year.

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The win marks the 24th time the lottery’s top prize has gone to Finland.

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A woman from Helsinki won more than 74 million euros in Friday night’s Eurojackpot draw, Finnish gambling monopoly Veikkaus said.

The Eurojackpot is an international lottery across Europe starting at 10 million euros.

Veikkaus confirmed that they had been in contact with the winner, who has chosen to keep her identity private and limit knowledge of the win to a small circle of people.

Publicity around major lottery wins can attract unwanted attention. Yle has previously reported on jackpot winners who received large numbers of requests for financial help after their winnings became public.

According to Veikkaus, the woman checked her ticket early on Saturday morning after hearing that the main prize had gone to Finland.

“I don’t think I fully understand yet how much money I’ve won,” she said in a statement released by Veikkaus.

“Maybe it will become clearer once the money is actually in my bank account.”

She said the moment she realised she had won was overwhelming.

“I could barely stay in my chair,” she said, adding that she struggled to sleep afterwards.

The winner told Veikkaus that she plans to renovate her home and expects her working life to change.

“I probably won’t be working on public holidays anymore,” she said.

Despite the life-changing sum, she said her immediate plans were modest.

“Now I’m going outside to clear snow,” she added.

The win marks the 24th time that the Eurojackpot’s top prize has gone to Finland.

Gambling remains widespread in the country. A study by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) found that 70 percent of Finns gambled in 2023, most commonly on Veikkaus games.

Estimates suggest Finns spent more than one billion euros on gambling in 2024.

A St. John’s ship repair company is considering a massive modernization that would cost an estimated $300 million and enable the company to take on bigger vessels.

Sean Leet, managing director of Newdock, told CBC News the redevelopment plan centres around the replacement of the graving dock in St. John’s harbour, a new ship lift system and the modernization of the company’s facilities.

“We’re at a point now where ships are getting larger and wider and the graving dock is limited from the perspective of the width of the ships that it can accommodate,” Leet said.

The plans are still being formulated, but Leet said he hopes a final investment decision will be made by the company’s board in the spring. If it’s approved, he said the work should take a little over two years.

The ship lift system is important for Newdock’s business, Leet said. A decade ago, the company had no problem accommodating its clients, he said, but as ships have gotten larger — too large for the current system to handle — the company has missed out on work.

“For instance, if you look at the Horizon Maritime fleet, the Horizon Arctic is a 23-metre beam ship and it had to go to Denmark to get dry  docked this year,” Leet said.

“We’d like to be able to service all of those customers at our facility. And we have an obligation to the customers to be able to do that into the future.”

Leet said Canadian Coast Guard vessels are also increasing in size, and if Newdock moves forward with the new ship lift system, it will be able to handle those larger vessels, as well as more defence work.

Leet said the strategy is about enhancing the asset for Newdock’s customers, which includes the federal government.

The expansion proposal comes during a push to support Canada’s sovereignty, Arctic sovereignty, and a focus on building more vessels in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Those have exhilarated our thinking and planning, and ultimately shifted our thinking and planning as to what this facility can be and how we can ensure that we’re doing our part to help the federal government with the significant challenges that we have in front of us,” said Leet.

In 2020, when the company was under previous ownership, Leet said it was already looking at modernization, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused business disruptions.

The new ship lift system can handle 28,000 tons and take multiple vessels at the same time. The current system can only handle 4,000 tons.

“This will be the largest ship lift system in the Western Hemisphere once it’s installed,” said Leet.

The modernization plans require Newdock to hire an additional 220 workers in the trades, as well as dozens of staff and management positions, which would more than double its workforce.

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London Underground trains on a section of the Northern line are due to finish early on weeknights for months due to engineering works.

From 12 January until late spring, there will be no service between Camden Town and Kennington via Bank between Monday and Thursday evenings after 22:00. Tubes will still run between Camden Town and Kennington via Charing Cross.

On Fridays and at weekends, services via Bank will run as normal. Night Tube services via Charing Cross will be unaffected.

Transport for London (TfL) has apologised for any disruption while it carries out the track renewal works and warned passengers to allow more time to make journeys.