Boston Herald - Evergreen Solar Inc., the Massachusetts clean-energy company that received millions in state subsidies from the Patrick administration for an ill-fated Bay State factory, has filed for bankruptcy, listing $485.6 million in debt. Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March and cut 800 jobs, has been trying to rework its debt for months. The cash-strapped company announced today has sought a reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and reached a deal with certain note holders to restructure its debt and auction off assets.
The Massachusetts Republican Party called the Patrick administration’s $58 million financial aid package, which supported Evergreen’s $450 million factory, a “waste” of money.
“The bankruptcy of Evergreen Solar is another sad event for the Massachusetts company and highlights the folly of the Patrick-Murray Administration which has put government subsidies into their pet projects instead of offering broad based relief to all Bay State employers,” said Jennifer Nassour, head of the state GOP. Greg Bialecki, Patrick’s economic development czar, defended the administration’s support for the once-promising Evergreen. The state is still trying to recoup about $4 million in cash from the Marlboro-based company. “Not every company is going to be successful ... but we still believe the approach of providing business incentives to create and maintain manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts is an important strategy,” he said. Evergreen — hurt by lower-cost competition in China and plummeting prices for solar panels — also said it will cut more jobs — 65 layoffs in the United States and Europe, mostly through the shutdown of its Midland, Mich., manufacturing facility. That would leave Evergreen with about 68 workers according to a head count listed in the bankruptcy filing. To cut costs, Evergreen shifted some of its production to Wuhan, China, last year. That joint venture will remain operating subject to financing talks with Chinese investors. In January, after Evergreen announced it would close the Devens factory, Patrick told the Herald he was disappointed in the job losses but did not regret making the investment. “I think we did what we could have and should have,” he told the Herald. Read the full story here:
News New Mexico
Evergreen Solar Goes Belly Up - Governor Patrick Does NOT Regret Losing $58 Million of Taxpayer Dollars
From KRQE-TV.com - The 6-year-old girl was taken by a stranger from a playground right outside her South Valley home. The girl lives at the Vista Del Sol mobile home park near Blake and Unser SW. Police say she was on the playground at around 4 p.m. Monday when a man in a green van pulled up. An alert neighbor says the man tried to coax the little girl into his van. “The child was being resistant to his enticement, and that is what caused him to get out of the car and actually push her into the van,” said Officer Robert Gibbs with the Albuquerque Police Department. The neighbor then jumped into his own car and chased after Phil Garcia, the suspected kidnapper, while calling 911. Officers say Garcia realized he was being followed and tried to drive onto the mesa to lose the neighbor. Instead he ended up crashing about a mile and a half from the kidnapping scene. Garcia ran. The neighbor jumped out of his car and pulled the little girl from the van. Police showed up seconds later and caught Garcia on the mesa. Officers say the neighbor is a hero and without him this story could have ended horribly. Read more
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