This Week’s Essential StateImpact

Alexandre Duret-Lutz

Welcome to our weekly roundup of the five posts you loved the most

It’s that time of Friday again!  As you’re taking stock of the work you’ve done (or, sadly, have yet to do) before we reach the weekend, we’re offering you a little break.  Here’s our weekly roundup of the business and economy news that drew the most comments and clicks–that Essential StateImpact you won’t want to miss!

1. Q&A: Outgoing Stonyfield CEO on the Organic Business Model, His Political Future and Agent Orange: Stonyfield co-founder and CEO Gary Hirshberg recently surprised the NH business community when he announced he’s stepping down from his long-time post.  In a discussion with StateImpact,Hirshberg discussed how Stonyfield’s managed to grow despite the recession, the challenges of the organic economic model…and yes, Agent Orange.
2. Feds Push For Big Fines And Safety Reforms Across Marketbasket Franchise: After a brief respite, Marketbasket’s back in the news for alleged labor violations.  Besides levying a $589,000 fine against the grocery store chain for specific store violations, OSHA is taking the highly unusual step of demanding systematic safety reforms across the franchise.  We dig into the coverage and give you the latest scuttlebutt.
3. Citizens Bank Workers Likely Untouched By Parent Company RBS Layoffs: This post has continued to have lively traffic action after we published it earlier this month.  With the Eurozone crisis intensifying, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group is restructuring via mass layoffs.  While it doesn’t look like subsidiary Citizen’s employees will be getting pink slips, it drives home how interconnected the global economy has become.
4. Best Of StateImpact: Why The NH Lottery’s Revenues Are Down–And Why It Matters:  Occasionally, we like to give you a look back at some of our best, and most relevant, coverage.  Our ongoing look inside the New Hampshire Lottery has proved to be one of our most popular series.  With this post, we’ve gathered it all in one place.  And, it seems, the crowd approves.
5. Q&A: Meet In-Coming Stonyfield CEO Walt Freese: The other half of our coverage of the changes at Stonyfield is our discussion with Walt Freese, the many who will be taking over for Gary Hirshberg.  Freese explains to StateImpact how he got the job, how Stonyfield is–and isn’t–like his old company, Ben & Jerry’s, and the direction he sees Stonyfield moving in the future.