The Ticker

Demolition to make way for Millennium Tower

This weekend Suffolk Constructon will demolish the remainder of a 1905 building at the corner of Franklin and Hawley streets that housed part of Filene's. This will allow developer Millennium Partners to begin work on the 625-foot Millennium Tower, which will include 600 condominiums and apartments, about 218,000 square feet of office space and 231,000 square feet of retail.

SEC files charges against
 hedge fund founder Cohen

The Securities and Exchange Commission leveled its most direct shot against billionaire hedge-fund manager Steven A. Cohen yesterday by filing civil charges that accuse him of failing to prevent insider trading.

The SEC alleged that Cohen, who founded and runs SAC Capital Advisors, failed to prevent two of his portfolio managers from illegally reaping profits and avoiding losses of more than $275 million. Both managers provided information to Cohen that suggested they had access to inside information, the SEC said. But rather than raise any red flags, Cohen praised one of the managers and rewarded the other with a 
$9 million bonus, the SEC said.

Calif. judge finalizing deal
in Toyota acceleration cases

A California judge said yesterday that he's finalizing a settlement worth more than $1 billion in cases in which motorists say the value of their Toyota vehicles plunged after recalls over claims they unexpectedly accelerated.

U.S. District Judge James Selna said he was approving the deal that was announced in December and will affect 22 million consumers.

• Grossman Marketing Group, a print and promotional products company headquartered in Somerville, has announced the hiring of Al Maloney as an account executive who will work out of the company's Somerville office. Maloney's primary responsibility will be to generate new business opportunities throughout the Northeast, including Western Massachusetts and Upstate New York.
• Metabolix Inc. a bioscience company delivering sustainable solutions to the plastics, chemicals and energy industries, announced that Johan van Walsem has been promoted to the position of chief operating officer. In this newly created role, Van Walsem will be responsible for the management of the company's biopolymers, biobased chemicals and crops businesses, as well as the key functional areas that enable these businesses to perform.
• HomeStart has announced the addition of Kate Jordan as the new housing search director. In this role, Jordan will assist homeless individuals and families who are currently being housed in shelters with locating permanent and affordable housing. Jordan will work with HomeStart's management team to oversee the agency's long-term planning goals and assist with the development of programs.

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Value shoppers turn to used cars

With used-car prices falling and the quality of late-model cars improving, buyers are now getting a lot more bang for their buck.

Recent redesigns, especially in the midsize- and compact-sedan segments, have left the used-car market full of vehicles that were on the cutting edge several years ago, but at lower prices now.

Those cars have helped to create "some of the best product we've seen in the industry in years" said Alec Gutierrez, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "These vehicles are significantly improved over the models they are replacing."

"If the new-car prices are out of your budget and you're looking to buy used to save a few dollars, used cars the past few years are really good products," said Richard Arca, used car analyst at Edmunds.com. "If you take a look now, the manufacturers made huge strides in improving their product" in the past few years.

To make the deal even sweeter, used-car prices are down 6 percent from their peak in May 2011. The average price for a used car at auction was $11,031 in June, according to Manheim, an auction company, and experts don't expect prices to rise soon.

"Prices will continue to soften at a faster rate," Arca said.

"Now is definitely as good a time as any" to buy a used car, Gutierrez said.

Analysts said the quality of used cars has been instrumental in keeping the entire auto sales business afloat.

"Nearly every vehicle in the industry has so significantly improved that it's helped to shore up the industry," Gutierrez said.

Here are some of the top used cars that have been dramatically redesigned over the past few years:

2011 Hyundai 
Sonata

Replacing the fifth-
generation Sonata introduced in 2005, the '11 was introduced to rave reviews. Kelley Blue Book called the stylish mid-sized sedan a "towering home run" in its review. The redesign brought an entirely new look to the car, along with value, quality and a world-class powertrain.

2011 Kia Optima

The previous iteration of the Optima, a bland, boring car with few attractive features, was replaced by this heavy-hitter. Packed with amenities, this mid-sized sedan comes with improved styling over older models and new (at the time) tech features, including Bluetooth connectivity, an iPhone audio input and a glove box that will keep drinks cool.

2012 Ford Focus

This compact got a new look in 2012, but also packs more quality, features and options. Also available as a 5-door hatchback for the first time, the Focus boasts a stronger unit-body structure and a completely retuned suspension. Premium comfort features include MyFord Touch infotainment and standard dual-zone climate control.

2011 Chevrolet Cruze

The Cruze marked the beginning of Chevy's turnaround, and for good reason. While not technically a redesign, the Cruze replaced the Cobalt in Chevy's lineup. The compact has an impressive 36 mpg, and the price to back it up. Superficially, the car is attractive inside and out.

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Squantum home’s a day at the beach

If you want to feel like you're on vacation year round, this waterfront house for sale in the Squantum neighborhood of Quincy comes complete with deeded access to a private beach.

Built in 2008 by Realtor/owner Theresa Repoff, the three-bedroom single family at 173 Huckins Ave. in Squantum is about 100 feet from the ocean and has water views from most rooms. It's also one of nine neighboring houses that have deeded access to private Sunrise Beach.

The 3,100-square-foot home with Brazilian cherrywood floors throughout, a third-floor family room, three outdoor decks and a basement wine cellar is on the market for $1,195,000. The second-floor master bedroom and the entire top floor have unobstructed ocean views.

The house, which goes front to back from Huckins Avenue to Sunrise Road, has a three-vehicle garage underneath it, with doors opening out to both streets. It has bushes in front along with front, side and back lawns.

A granite paver walk leads to a covered porch and into a cherrywood foyer with a double-door closet.

To the left is a floor-through, recessed-lit living and dining area with crown molding and three large sets of triple windows with transoms above that bring in lots of light and have ocean views, although the house next door blocks sight lines. A gas fireplace with a granite surround separates the living and dining space. At the end of the dining area sit glass doors that lead out to a private rear deck that looks out to the beach.

The dining area segues into a recessed-lit kitchen with 25 white-painted beadboard-styled cabinets above and below greenish blue granite counters with a multicolored glass mosaic tile backsplash. There's a granite-topped central island with a four-burner Bosch stainless-steel gas cooktop. The refrigerator and dishwasher are also Bosch stainless-steel.

Also on this floor is a half bathroom with white marble floors and counters over an antique vanity.

The home's three cherrywood bedrooms are on the second floor, reached via a turning staircase.

The sunny master suite features a three-part window with unobstructed ocean views and glass doors out to a private deck. There's a large walk-in closet with built-in storage as well as a double-door closet. The en-suite ceramic-tiled master bathroom has a walk-in shower and double-sink vanity with creme marble countertops.

There are two other bedrooms on this floor — ideally sized for children — as well as another full ceramic-tiledx bathroom. Opposite the bath, behind a frosted glass door, is a laundry room with ocean views.

The entire third floor of the home is a cherrywood-floored family room, ideal for entertaining with its private outdoor deck with unobstructed ocean views. There's a vaulted ceiling here, lots of windows, a skylight and even a built-in electric fireplace.

The basement has a finished wine cellar and direct access to the garage. There's also a lot of extra storage space in the unfinished areas.

The home has two gas-fired heating and central air-conditioning systems.

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Eyeing Google's vision

OK Glass, I see you.

The technological love-child of a smartphone and glasses with a bit of "Star Trek" mixed in, Google's Glass is the pinnacle of possibly-before-its-time, always connected, wearable technology.

Its role in society and our lives is not quite clear yet, but it sure is cool. It is on the faces of thousands of select Glass Explorers right now, one of whom was generous enough to let me try it out for a bit.

Packed in a frame not much larger than bulky sunglasses, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi-enabled device feels like wearing a pair of glasses. The side unit, which includes essentially every important part of Glass, sits comfortably on the ear, despite its size.

Using Glass is surprisingly natural, after a couple minutes of adjustment time. Even when the display is on and active, the screen is in my vision if I want it to be and was easy to ignore. Google describes the view as looking at a 25-inch TV floating eight feet away, and that's about right. The speaker behind the right ear works well, but the touch panel menu takes a bit of use to adjust to.

The self-consciousness of using voice commands does go away, eventually. Triggering commands by saying "OK Glass," I was able to reply to an incoming text, take a picture and search the Web. Still, voice control was not as fluid and natural as it could be. Asking for "images" works fine, but "pictures" does not.

The camera likely will provide the most use for consumers. Given the popularity of Go Pro cameras and first person video, there is enormous potential. Google's original demo famously featured skydivers recording with Glass, but any parent sick of watching a dance recital through a phone will love the concept.

The most impressive feature right now is something long taken for granted: navigation. The screen shows a display similar to Google Maps on a smartphone, but the utility and ease that the map adjusts to your position and direction you face is simple, and brilliant.

There is an urge to actively use Glass constantly, but it excels when it passively sits on your head. Posting texts and calendar alerts via Google Now and breaking news alerts from news apps are all natural uses of the technology. The times when I felt slightly disappointed with Glass were when I was searching for a reason to use it. The future of Glass will depend largely on what apps are developed.

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Back Bay’s lobby in the sky

The John Hancock Tower's new neighbor will rise 33 stories and feature a hotel, condos, three restaurants and a roof terrace, under revised filings for 40 Trinity Place released yesterday.

"We've taken the original design and refined it to make it an even more sleek and elegant building," said Jordan Warshaw of Trinity Stuart LLC, which will replace the Boston Common Hotel and Conference Center at Trinity Place and Stuart Street with the 400-foot glassy tower.

The proposed $225 million building would feature three restaurants, 227 hotel rooms on the middle floors, 115 condos on the top 12 floors and a two-story sky lobby on the 18th and 19th stories featuring a "stunning" restaurant, lounge and roof terrace. About 100 parking spaces would be built into the first few stories.

While Mayor Thomas M. Menino endorsed the original plan as "a wonderful addition," some neighbors voiced concern about wind. Warshaw said developers put the original building through wind tunnel testing and made changes.

"We weren't 100 percent pleased with the results, so we went back to the drawing board," Warshaw told the Herald. "The final design is one that essentially has a wind-neutral effect."

Trinity Stuart, which still needs Boston Redevelopment Authority approval, hopes to break ground in late 2013. Developers estimated the project will generate $3.46 million in new tax revenue for the city and $2.09 million in new state cash. Trinity Stuart is comprised of developers Gary Saunders, Jeffrey Saunders and Jordan Warshaw, whose previous project included transforming the former Boston Police Headquarters into Jurys Hotel.

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Asian stock markets buoyed by Bernanke testimony

TOKYO — Asian stocks were mostly higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains in Europe and Wall Street after U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's suggested stimulus policies may continue for longer than expected.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.8 percent to 14,733.91 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2 percent to 4,989.20. Shares in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Singapore were also higher.

However, China-related shares were mostly lower, continuing to suffer after China on Monday reported a second straight quarter of slower economic growth.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed early gains to fall into negative territory and then was virtually unchanged by midday, at 21,376.72. Benchmarks in mainland China and Taiwan also were lower. The Shanghai Composite dropped 0.5 percent to 2,034.32.

"The slowdown of growth in China is still the main concern," said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong.

In prepared remarks to lawmakers in Congress, Bernanke said the Fed's timetable for reducing its bond purchases was not decided and that the U.S. central bank could even boost them if the economy fails to meet expectations.

The Fed wants to see substantial progress in the job market before scaling back its $85 billion a month in purchase of government bonds and other financial assets, he said.

Expectations the Fed might start tapering off its stimulus in September have been cast into doubt by recent disappointing economic data.

Wall Street was reassured by Bernanke's comments and also by stronger than expected earnings reports by big companies such as Bank of America, which reported higher profits in the second quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average was almost flat at 15,470.52 while the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.3 percent to 1,680.91.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of British shares rose 0.2 percent to close at 6,571.93 and Germany's DAX gained 0.7 percent to 8,254.72. The CAC-40 in France ended 0.6 percent higher at 3,872.02.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was down 14 cents at $106.34 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 48 cents to settle Wednesday at $106.48.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3092 from $1.3117 late Wednesday. The dollar rose to 100.14 yen from 99.62 yen.

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Antarctic talks fail on apparent Russia objections

BREMERHAVEN, Germany — Facing apparent Russian objections, the countries that regulate Antarctic fishing failed Tuesday to agree on proposals to create giant marine sanctuaries in the continent's oceans.

Talks in the German city of Bremerhaven ended with no result — the second time in less than a year that negotiations have stalled.

"The outcome is not what we expected or hoped for ... We did not reach a consensus," said Terje Lobach, the chair of the group deliberating the results.

Two plans were on the table: a proposal put forward by the U.S. and New Zealand to protect the Ross Sea, considered one of the world's most pristine, and an Australian-European plan for a sanctuary covering several areas of the Southern Ocean in the eastern hemisphere.

Russia, however, questioned whether there is a legal basis for the 24-nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to create the reserves, according to activists present during the talks.

"After two years of preparation, including this meeting, which Russia requested to settle the scientific case for the Ross Sea and East Antarctic proposals, we leave with nothing," the director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, Steve Campbell, said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed regret that the commission was unable to reach agreement on establishing marine protected areas, including in the Ross Sea. Despite the setback, he noted that the majority of commission members "were able to find common ground" and there will be another chance to work out a plan to protect Antarctica.

"I've seen firsthand how acidification, pollution, and sea level rise tear at the fabric of our economies, our communities, even our security," Kerry said in a statement released late Tuesday. "But this isn't just a personal priority. The Ross Sea is a natural laboratory. Its ecosystem is as diverse as it is productive, and we have a responsibility to protect it as environmental stewards — just as we do the rest of the ocean."

Scientists have said the ocean sanctuaries there would be ideal places to monitor climate change away from the influence of man, while conservations say the thriving colonies of seals and penguins should be left alone. However, several countries fear that the sanctuaries would have too much impact on their annual fishing haul.

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Law firm says it's suing Boeing over Asiana crash

CHICAGO — A Chicago law firm has taken steps to sue Boeing Co. on behalf of 83 people who were aboard the Asiana Airlines flight that crash-landed in San Francisco earlier this month, alleging that a malfunction of the plane's auto throttle may have caused the crash.

Ribbeck Law Chartered on Monday filed a petition for discovery, which is meant to preserve evidence, in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, where the aircraft manufacturer is headquartered. The firm said in a news release that additional pleadings will be filed against Asiana Airlines and several component parts manufacturers in coming days.

In addition to potential problems with the Boeing 777's auto throttle, some emergency slides reportedly opened inside the plane, injuring passengers and blocking their exit, and some passengers had to be cut out of their seatbelts with a knife, the firm contends.

Three people were killed when the airplane, carrying 307 passengers and crew on a flight from South Korea to San Francisco International Airport on July 6, approached the runway too low and slow. It clipped a seawall at the end of a runway, tearing off the tail and sending the plane spinning down the runway. The impact caused the plane to catch fire.

"We must find the causes of the crash and demand that the problems with the airline and the aircraft are immediately resolved to avoid future tragedies," attorney Monica R. Kelly, head of Ribbeck's aviation department, said in a written statement.

Boeing spokesman John Dern said the company had no comment.

The petition asks a judge to order Boeing to identify the designer and manufacturer of the airplane's autothrottle and its emergency evacuation slides. It also seeks information on the systems that indicate the airplane's glide slope and that warn how close it is to the ground. Kelly said the firm wants to protect the wreckage "from destructive testing" and to obtain maintenance records, internal memos and other evidence.

A passenger filed a lawsuit against Asiana in San Francisco federal court on Monday, saying the airline showed "wanton and willful disregard for the rights and safety of all passengers," the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Younga Jun Machorro and her 8-year-old son, Benjamin Machorro, were seated toward the front of the plane and both suffered back and neck injuries, their lawyer, Michael Verna, told the paper.

The pilots of Asiana Flight 214 have told investigators they were relying on automated cockpit equipment to control their speed. Inspectors found that the autothrottle had been "armed," or made ready for activation, but investigators are still determining whether it had been engaged, the National Transportation Safety Board has said.

Two of the plane's eight slides malfunctioned, opening inside the cabin and pinning two flight attendants underneath.

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World stocks waver ahead of Bernanke's testimony

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — World stock markets wavered between gains and losses Wednesday as investors remained cautious ahead of testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Bernanke's address to lawmakers in Congress could provide clearer guidance on when the Fed will start reducing its monetary stimulus.

The central bank is spending $85 billion a month buying financial assets in the hope of keeping long-term borrowing rates low and stimulating the U.S. economy. The program has been a major driver of gains in stock markets as investors sought higher returns in a low interest rate world.

In early European trade, France's CAC 40 dropped 0.2 percent to 3,842.43 and Germany's DAX shed 0.2 percent to 8,183.15. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.2 percent to 6,545.02. Futures pointed to losses on Wall Street with Dow and S&P 500 futures both down 0.2 percent.

In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 1 percent to 2,044.92 while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.1 percent to 14,615.04. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent to 21,371.87 and Seoul's Kospi added 1.2 percent to 1,889.50. Benchmarks in Singapore and Australia fell.

"There is partly caution ahead of Bernanke's testimony. I don't expect anything new. He is likely to reiterate that policies will remain accommodative for some time," said Mitul Kotecha, analyst with Credit Agricole CIB.

Bernanke last week said the central bank would not ease its stimulus before the economy was ready and that the U.S. needs "highly accommodative monetary policy" — or low interest rates — for the foreseeable future.

There is concern, however, over disagreement among Fed officials about when the central bank should start scaling back its purchases of Treasurys and other assets.

Esther George, the President of Kansas City branch of the Fed, and a voting member of the committee that sets the Fed's monetary policy, said Tuesday that the central bank should cut back on its stimulus as the labor market begins to recover.

"It is time to adjust those purchases," George said in an interview on Fox Business News. "Sooner is appropriate ... because we have a long way to go if we are going to do this in a gradual and a systematic way."

DBS analysts said in a report that as long as the U.S. recovery proceeds as expected, a reduction in the Fed's asset purchases will probably start with mortgage-backed securities later this year and that the stimulus could ideally end by mid-2014.

It said Bernanke was likely to reassure markets that if the U.S. economy stumbles, the Fed could increase asset purchases again.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.2 percent at 15,451.85 on Tuesday while the broader S&P 500 index ended an eight-day rally to fall 0.4 percent to 1,676.26, partly due to lackluster corporate earnings.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was down 74 cents at $105.27 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 32 cents to settle at $106.00 on Tuesday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3147 from $1.3149 late Tuesday. The dollar rose to 99.61 yen from 99.21 yen.

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South Korea blames North Korea for cyberattack

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean investigators say North Korea carried out cyberattacks on the websites of South Korean media companies and the president and prime minister's offices last month.

The attacks came on the June 25th Korean War anniversary.

South Korea's ministry of science on Tuesday said it was blaming North Korea based on analysis of codes, Internet addresses and personal computers used to launch the attacks.

The government-led team of investigators said the online assaults were planned for several months. The attackers hacked file-sharing websites in South Korea to find security weaknesses.

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European car sales down 6.6 percent in 1st half

PARIS — The European car industry showed further signs of distress Tuesday, as new data showed that car sales were down 6.6 percent for the first half of the year on the same time last year.

The European automakers' association, ACEA, said that there were 6.205 million new car registrations from January to June in the European Union, providing further grim reading for an industry that is struggling amid a deep recession and high unemployment.

The car industry also had its worst June since 1996, with demand falling 5.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.134 million cars. The figures do not include Malta, for which there was no data, or Croatia, with just joined the EU.

Car registrations fell for 18 months to April, when extra working days created a small bounce. But the slide has since picked up again.

The economy of the European Union is in recession again, with gross domestic product falling 0.1 percent in the first three months of this year. Unemployment stands at 11 percent. Europe's car industry has long struggled from overcapacity at factories and uncompetitive wages and labor laws, and the region's economic crisis has compounded these problems, as consumers put off big-ticket purchases.

One surprising bright spot was Portugal, which, though mired in recession, showed a bump in sales of 2.9 percent for the first half of the year. It could be that after putting off buying new cars for so long, some people are now simply forced to get rid of their wrecks. The market in Britain also seems to be gathering steam, up 10 percent for the year.

But most places clocked deep slides. For January through June, registrations fell 8.1 percent in Germany, 11.2 percent in France and 10.3 percent in Italy. Tiny Cyprus, which agreed to a bailout in March, saw the biggest slide, falling 42.7 percent this year.

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World stocks down after US retail sales ease

SEOUL, South Korea — Weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales sent most world stock markets lower Tuesday as investors awaited congressional testimony from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke later in the week.

Growth in U.S. retail sales eased to 0.4 percent in June from 0.5 percent the previous month. Americans bought more cars and trucks, furniture and clothes, but they cut back on many other purchases in a mixed sign for economic growth.

In morning European trade, Britain's FTSE 100 was flat at 6,588.38 and Germany's DAX dropped 0.3 percent to 8,206.59. The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.5 percent to 3,860.45. Futures augured sideways trade on Wall Street with Dow and S&P 500 futures little changed.

In Asia, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.5 percent to 1,866.36 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat at 21,312.38. China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 percent to 2,065.72. Markets in Singapore, Thailand, India and New Zealand fell. But Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.6 percent to 14,599.12.

Apart from doubt about the strength of consumer spending, which is a mainstay of the U.S. economy, an upcoming speech by Bernanke provided another reason for investors to hold back from stocks.

Investors will be looking for more clues about the central bank's commitment to its stimulus program and its outlook for the U.S. economy when Bernanke speaks to Congress on Wednesday.

Markets have largely shrugged off the latest evidence of China's economic slowdown. Beijing said Monday that the world's second-largest economy slowed to 7.5 percent growth in the second quarter from 7.7 percent in the previous quarter. But investors who feared below-7 percent growth were relieved.

In the U.S., stocks closed higher on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.96 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 15,484.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.31 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,682.50. Both the Dow and S&P are at all-time highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 7.41 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,607.49.

In energy trading, benchmark crude for August delivery was up 7 cents at $106.41 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 37 cents to $106.32 on Monday.

The euro rose to $1.3065 from $1.3054. The dollar fell to 99.67 yen from 100.01 yen.

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MGM, anti-casino group make final push before Springfield vote

A big-money casino and a grass-roots movement have entered full campaign mode in the days leading up to Tuesday's referendum in Springfield when residents vote on the $850 million casino proposed by MGM Resorts.

Both opponents and supporters of the casino proposal said they planned to be at the polls Tuesday, drumming up support for their cause.

"We've been working really hard for many, many months," said Mike Mathis, vice president of Global Gaming Development for MGM.

"There's much more support than we even expected to see," said Peter Swarr, one of the leaders of Citizens Against Casino Gaming, a local anti-casino group. "Our goal is to say Springfield is not sold on this."

Springfield election commissioner Gladys Oyola said she expects voter turnout to exceed that of the U.S. Senate special election last month. Everett voter turnout was 50 percent higher for the casino vote than the June 25 Senate race, just three days apart.

The months leading up to the vote have been marked by a massive spending gap between supporters and opponents of the casino. MGM has given nearly 
$1 million in the past month and a half in donations and in-kind contributions to Yes For Springfield, a pro-casino group, according to a campaign finance report. Yes for Springfield spent more than $800,000 in advertising and canvassing. MGM also brought in rap star Pitbull to perform at the MassMutual Center for another $173,000 in May.

Citizens Against Casino Gaming listed in-kind contributions worth just over $2,500 for bumper stickers, yard signs and printing since Jan. 1. The only other expenses listed are bank maintenance fees.

"It's like David and Goliath," Swarr said.

Voters will cast their ballots for or against a Host Community Agreement agreed upon by the City Council and MGM. The agreement lays out the terms of the project, including size and annual payments to the city. The agreement calls for an anticipated annual payment greater than $25 million, 2,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs, 90 percent of which must be from the Springfield area.

If the referendum is approved, MGM's proposal will be evaluated by the state Gaming Commission based on criteria including revenue projections, positive impact on the state and local benefit.

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Study: Locations key to gambling success in Mass.

If Massachusetts picks the right locations for its new gaming resorts, it will pull the plug on much of the $853 million Bay State gamblers spent last year in New England states while drawing gamblers from other states, a new study says.

"Where the commonwealth ultimately sites three casinos and the slot parlor will determine whether Massachusetts is able to reassert dominance over New England's gaming entertainment and tourism sectors," said study author Clyde W. Barrow of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby called the study "good news" and agreed that siting the Bay State's gaming venues will be critical both in competing with other states' casinos and slots parlors, but also in putting them in places where they will be most attractive to the maximum number of Bay State gamblers.

The study showed Bay State gamblers spent 
$853 million in 2012 in other New England states including Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine.

"The first criteria, although not the only one, when people choose a facility is convenience, and right now people in Massachusetts have been leaving the state for other facilities," Crosby said. "But convenience is not the only thing, and we're going to have very fancy, very high-end facilities . . . To maximize the economic benefit here in Massachusetts we need to maximize the convenience to people in Massachusetts, and we want to site them so they have the maximum draw for people from outside of the state."

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Drink detectors make a stir

Three years ago, Mike Abramson was at a Boston nightclub celebrating a friend's birthday when he ordered a gin and tonic that turned out to be both impossible to remember and impossible to forget.

"The next thing I recall is being shuffled over the arms of friends as they dragged me out the door," said Abramson, a 31-year-old patent attorney. "Most of the night is a blur. I was so nauseous, I was bedridden the next day. I know that my drink was drugged, but I have no idea by whom."

Because of that, he never reported the incident to police, but he did go on to found DrinkSavvy, a Boston startup and MassChallenge finalist that aims to eradicate drug-assisted date rape with cups, straws and stirrers that change color if a drink has been tampered with.

The U.S. Justice Department estimates that at least 400,000 people are drugged each year, but the number could be much larger because the department estimates that fewer than 5 percent ever report it.

Like Abramson, many don't remember the incident or are afraid of being accused of drinking too much.

Women in particular often are advised not to accept drinks from strangers, not to leave their drink unattended and not to drink from punch bowls.

"But it only takes half a second for someone to slip something in your glass," he said. "And it's difficult to detect because it's usually colorless, odorless and tasteless."

Abramson researched other drug-detectors such as coasters, but found them awkward to use because you have to pour some of your drink onto them and wait for them to dry and change color.

Other companies make testing strips, but they're only as good as the second you dip them into your drink.

So Abramson teamed up with chemists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and raised more than $52,000 from nearly 2,600 donors on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.com to develop plastic party cups, straws and stirrers that, when they are completed, will change color in three to five seconds if a drink has been spiked.

"We make invisible drugs visible without the user having to do anything," Abramson said. "It's discreet, effortless monitoring of your drink throughout the night."

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