The Ticker

Back Bay parking space sells for $125G

An off-street parking space behind 349 Marlborough St. in the Back Bay went for a cool $125,000 yesterday at auction.

That's a relative bargain compared to two tandem parking spaces just a couple of blocks away that sold for $560,000 in June.

One potential bidder, who declined to give his name, said the spot was "completely different" from the ones that sold in June.

The space behind the Marlborough Street building is the inside part of a tandem spot, and requires cooperation and coordination with the owner of the outside space, who was present at the auction.

"You're only going to control half the tandem spot here, and it was the inside half," said auctioneer Michael Saperstein. "I think it really makes a difference.

The identity of the buyer, an investor represented by auction company Paul E. Saperstein Co., was not disclosed, nor was the identity of the seller.

Piano maker Steinway sold for $499M

Steinway has been sold for about $499 million and will again become a private company.

The company struck a deal with Paulson & Co., the investment firm founded by John Paulson, for $40 per share. That topped an earlier $35 per-share offer from Kohlberg & Co.

Steinway will discard its sales agreement with Kohlberg and pay a termination penalty of about $6.7 million.

TODAY

 Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims and Consumer Price Index for July.

 Federal Reserve releases industrial production for July.

 Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.

 National Association of Home Builders releases housing market index for August.

TOMORROW

 Commerce Department releases housing starts for July.

 Labor Department releases second-quarter productivity data.

 New Boston Fund, Inc., a private equity real estate investment, development and management firm, announced the promotion of David Walker to vice president of construction in the Northeast. Walker's primary responsibility will be as the owner's representative in managing the Suffolk Construction team for the construction of One Greenway.

 Skanska USA Building, a provider of construction management, preconstruction and design-build services, announced the hiring of Jim Maguire as vice president and project executive for its Boston office. Maguire brings 29 years of experience to Skanska.

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Karen Spilka flips tech tax vote

An Ashland state senator running for Congress is trying to lead the charge to repeal the so-called "tech tax" just weeks after she voted at least three times to support the measure — a flip-flop her rivals say is a conveniently timed attempt to score "political points."

State Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) joined fellow Democrats to slap a 6.25 percent tax on software sales and services last month as part of the Legislature's transportation bill. Spilka voted to enact the bill and at least twice voted against Republican-sponsored amendments to strip the tax from the bill.

But after weeks of pushback from the tech industry, Spilka yesterday filed a bill to repeal the tax, saying new information has surfaced since the vote.

"I've heard from a lot of tech businesses and a lot of people — more than I think we normally hear from," said Spilka. "There's a lot of information that has come to light about the tech tax and the potential impact. ... It's the opposite message we want to send the tech industry."

Asked if she still would have introduced the bill even if she weren't running for Congress, Spilka replied, "Absolutely," but also denied having any regrets for voting for the tax.

"No, I voted on the best information I had at the time," said Spilka. "There wasn't the human outcry that there is now."

Spilka, former chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, is squaring off against Democrats Peter Koutoujian, Carl M. Sciortino, William N. Brownsberger and Katherine M. Clark for the congressional seat vacated by U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey.

"While others try to score political points off of this issue, I have said from day one that I preferred a reform of our tax code to make it more progressive for families and small businesses," said Sciortino in a statement.

But a spokesman for Brownsberger said, he, too, now supports a tech tax repeal and believes Spilka is right.

"It's not lost on me that she's a candidate for Congress and that we found out about her filing this bill in the media as opposed to an email to her colleagues," said House Minority Leader Brad Jones.

Critics of the tax accused lawmakers of not doing their homework.

"We were on a very dangerous path of tax-first, ask questions later," said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, whose two amendments Spilka voted against. "There was such a rush to increase taxes that a lot of time was not taken to fully consider this."

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said Spilka's position change reflects the epiphany other lawmakers are having on the tech tax.

"It's certainly striking that a tax of this enormity could be passed without having a greater scrutiny and understanding in advance," he said.

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Finish line cos. struggling

Four months after the Boston Marathon bombings, some Boylston Street businesses are still struggling to return to a sense of normalcy, even as the one that was closed the longest marks a welcome milestone with its relaunch today.

Forum General Manager Christopher Loper called the brass band processional that will make its way from the site of the marathon finish line to the renovated bar and restaurant at 5:15 p.m. "a relief and a show of strength."

"It's the light at the end of the tunnel for a lot of us who work here and for the city of Boston," Loper said.

But while the Forum officially will reopen to the public tomorrow, other businesses that reopened within days of the bombings have met with varying degrees of success.

Joy Lee, manager of Samurai Boston, said the eatery lost about $45,000 in the 10 days it was closed, but insurance covered only $20,000 of that. Lee had to replace one dishwasher who left because he couldn't afford to go that long without pay. And business is down, she said, by about 25 percent.

"Hopefully next month, when students come back, business will be better," Lee said.

Farther down Boylston Street, Bangkok Blue lost about $18,000 in sales in the 10 days it was closed, but insurance covered only $5,000, said Pornsri Lawton, the restaurant's owner.

Business generally has been flat.

"I'm doing my part, trying to make quality food," Lawton said. "We just need more business."

The Back Bay Association is joining with other groups and businesses to encourage more diners and shoppers to visit the area with "Back Bay on Display," which will include two neighborhood-wide events.

"Back Bay Night Out" will be held Sept. 12, when stores and restaurants will offer special discounts. "Back Bay Holly-Days," a holiday decorating competition, will be held in November and December.

"The bottom line is, neighborhood-wide, we are still struggling," said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the association. "It's not over. It's ongoing."

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German economy grows by 0.7 percent in 2nd quarter

BERLIN — The German economy, Europe's biggest, gained steam following a weak start into the year, growing by 0.7 percent in the April-June quarter compared with the previous three-month period, the country's Federal Statistics Office said on Wednesday.

The country's strong growth is another sign that the eurozone may have inched out of recession after six quarters of falling output.

Growth was spurred mainly by domestic demand, with the quarter-on-quarter increase in exports larger than the rise in imports, the statistics office said.

Just across the border, the French economy is officially out of recession with its strongest quarterly growth in two years, France's national statistics agency also said on Wednesday.

In recent months, the picture has brightened in Europe as governments have shifted their focus away from debt reduction. Industrial production is rising. Consumer spending has stabilized. Exports have increased as key trade partners, including the United States and Japan, strengthen.

Confidence has also recovered as stock and bond markets have rallied. That's partly due to the European Central Bank's pledge a year ago to do "whatever it takes" to save the currency union and its decision to cut its main interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent.

In Spain and Italy, for example, government borrowing rates have sunk in the past year, a sign of investor confidence.

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Gov't uses airline executives' words against them

NEW YORK — In making its case against an American Airlines-US Airways merger, the government relies heavily on an unusual source of evidence: the airlines' own executives.

Throughout the 56-page lawsuit filed Tuesday, Department of Justice lawyers quote internal emails, investor presentations and public comments by top executives noting how consolidation allowed the industry to raise fares and charge passengers ever-increasing fees for checking a bag or changing flights.

The suit recalls how US Airways President Scott Kirby noted in 2011 that industry consolidation had paved the way for the airlines to push through three airfare hikes that year. The next year, speaking at an industry conference, Kirby noted that it's "impossible to overstate the benefit" of mergers in giving airlines the ability to impose new fees.

At the same time, US Airways and American Airlines said their merger would lower fares through "unspecified or unverified 'synergies,'" regulators say.

"By making claims about the benefits that are at odds with their prior statements on the likely effects of this merger," the government says American and US Airways executives are "saying what they believe needs to be said to pass antitrust scrutiny."

Mergers hurt fliers in several ways, the government says.

With fewer choices, consumers can't protest added fees or higher prices. That means one airline often quickly follows the other in raising prices or charging new fees.

For example, when American announced a charge for a first checked bag on May 21, 2008, United and US Airways introduced their own luggage fees just three weeks later.

"Similarly, over a period of just two weeks this spring, all four legacy airlines increased their ticket change fee for domestic travel from $150 to $200," the suit notes.

But the real damage from five years of industry consolidation shows up in airfares.

The average cost of a roundtrip domestic ticket — including baggage and reservation change fees — grew to $378.62 last year, up from $351.48 in 2008, when adjusted for inflation.

American and US Airways only overlap on 12 nonstop routes, mostly between each other's hubs. Seven of them have no competition.

Even more worrisome to the government is the unfair advantage the new airline would have on connecting routes, where most fliers find the cheapest airfares.

For instance, American and US Airways are the only two airlines to offer one-stop service from Fresno, Calif. to Tampa, Fla. American offers three daily flights connecting in Dallas; US Airways has three connecting in Phoenix. In a merger, some of those flights are likely to disappear and fares could increase.

US Airways also often deeply undercuts other airlines on nonstop flights with cheaper, connecting tickets.

For instance, from Miami to Cincinnati, American recently offered a nonstop flight for $740. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines had connecting flights for the same price — $762. US Airways however offered a connecting flight for $471.

Even here, the government uses the airlines' own research to make its case that such cut-rate fares would disappear. The lawsuit cites an October 2012 internal analysis at American predicting that those fares would go away or else the airline would be "susceptible to reactionary pricing from Delta and United."

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Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott.

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Cathay ekes out 1H profit as air cargo stays weak

HONG KONG — Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. scratched out a small first-half profit as weak global demand continued to batter its air cargo business.

The carrier said Wednesday it earned 24 million Hong Kong dollars ($3.1 million) in the January-June period. That's a turnaround from the restated HK$929 million it lost in the same period last year, but much less than the HK$934 million forecast by a FactSet survey of analysts.

Hong Kong's biggest airline said cargo revenue fell 5.2 percent to HK$11.3 billion from the year before. Demand has been weak since April 2011, Chairman Christopher Pratt said in a statement.

"There is still no sign of sustained improvement," Pratt said.

Cathay, the world's biggest international air cargo carrier, said it faced stronger competition on cargo routes to Europe. It halted service to Brussels and Stockholm in February because of the weak demand.

The company said it also faced strong competition for shipments from Shanghai. It cut its schedule to the mainland Chinese city of Zhengzhou in half because of reduced demand from major high-tech manufacturers.

Demand for air freight from Japan was "significantly weaker," with the slide in Japan's yen not yet helping to revive export volumes.

The company is adjusting to the lower demand by carrying more air cargo in the bellies of passenger jets rather than in dedicated freighters. It expects to save more money once its new HK$5.5 billion air cargo terminal at Hong Kong's airport is fully operational later this year.

The passenger business saw a slight improvement as the number of passengers carried by Cathay and its Dragonair affiliate rose 1.3 percent to 14.5 million. Passenger revenue rose by 0.8 percent to HK$35 billion.

But it earned less money from passengers in North Asia as travel was hurt by the outbreak of bird flu in China and North Korea's war rhetoric in response to U.S.-South Korea military drills.

The high price of jet fuel continued to have an "adverse" effect, especially on long-haul routes.

Cathay said the amount it spent on fuel fell 8.5 percent to HK$18.7 billion, but it still remained the airline's single biggest expense.

The airline also lost HK$155 million from associated companies, reflecting a poor performance at Beijing-based Air China, in which Cathay has a 20 percent stake.

First-half revenue slipped 0.6 percent to HK$48.6 billion. The company will pay a dividend of 0.6 cents a share.

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Online: www.cathaypacific.com

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Oil extends gains above $106 a barrel

BANGKOK — The price of oil rose modestly Tuesday as traders waited for more economic news from the U.S.

Benchmark crude for September delivery was up 20 cents to $106.31 a barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 14 cents to close at $106.11 on Monday.

"Everything is in a bit of a wait-and-see approach," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia, as traders waited to see whether the U.S. Federal Reserve would begin winding down its massive stimulus program.

The Fed launched a major bond-buying program more than four years ago to help the U.S. economy weather the fallout from the global financial crisis. Recent data have shown that the economy is strengthening, raising expectations that the Fed could start tapering off its purchases as early as September.

The Fed's strategy, which has depressed returns on bonds, has made stocks and commodities more attractive to investors. If the program is drawn down, that could cause a bit of weakness in energy commodities, Shamu said.

"But it's always positive to see the U.S. economy is ticking along," he said. Traders were also waiting for the release of U.S. retail sales data later in the day to gauge consumer demand, a key driver of growth.

Brent crude, traded on the ICE Futures exchange in London, rose 10 cents to $109.07 a barrel.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Heating oil rose 0.9 cent to $3.03 a gallon.

— Wholesale gasoline rose 0.8 cent to $2.912 a gallon.

— Natural gas rose 2.2 cents to $3.332 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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Comcast expands low-cost Internet plan, ups speed

LOS ANGELES — Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, is expanding the number of low-income families that can automatically qualify for its $9.95-per-month Internet access. It's also boosting download speeds on the service to 5 megabytes per second from 3 Mbps to attract more subscribers.

The price is a big discount from a typical plan, which costs around $50 a month. The speed is good enough to watch online video.

"We don't want this product to be perceived as a second-class product," says Comcast executive vice president David Cohen. "Our goal is to make this product more attractive. We really want to keep moving the needle."

Comcast first began its Internet Essentials program in 2011 as a voluntary condition of its $13.5 billion takeover of NBCUniversal.

The Federal Communications Commission, which ultimately approved the deal, has been pushing for affordable high-speed Internet access across the country.

Cohen says Internet access is essential to educate children, to look for a job and to stay informed and entertained.

So far, 220,000 households with an estimated 900,000 people have been connected by Comcast under the program.

While it's doing a public service, Comcast benefits in the long run if families that never had access come to see the value of an Internet connection at home.

About 2.6 million families in Comcast's coverage area are eligible. Families qualify if they have children in school who get subsidized or free lunches. Starting immediately, students at about 25,000 schools with large low-income populations are automatically qualified, up from 20,000 previously.

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Japan's Nikkei leads global stocks higher

BANGKOK — Japan's Nikkei stock index posted solid gains Tuesday on hopes for more monetary stimulus and helped pull markets up elsewhere.

The Tokyo benchmark rose 2.6 percent to close at 13,867, rebounding from a moderate drop Monday sparked by weaker-than-anticipated economic growth.

Economists had expected to see more than an annualized growth rate of 2.6 percent for the April-June quarter, given the size of the Bank of Japan's stimulus program and public spending called for under "Abenomics," the aggressive program undertaken by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to jumpstart the moribund economy.

By Tuesday, however, analysts saw the glass as half full. Disappointing data meant it was more likely that the Bank of Japan might step up its already massive government bond buying program.

The BOJ is expanding the monetary base by about 60 trillion yen ($606 billion) to 70 trillion yen ($707 billion) over two years by mopping up Japanese government bonds.

"Fading expectations of more aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan have been perhaps the most important factor behind the recent partial recovery in the yen and associated weakness in the Nikkei," said analysts at Capital Economics in a market commentary.

"However, we continue to expect Japan's central bank to step up its asset purchases," Capital Economics said.

In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.6 percent to 6,616.35. Germany's DAX advanced 0.9 percent to 8,430.83. France's CAC-40 added 0.4 percent to 4,087.06.

Wall Street futures also headed higher, with Dow Jones industrial futures up 0.4 percent to 15,445. S&P 500 futures gained 0.4 percent to 1,693.20.

Asian stocks posted solid gains. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.2 percent to close at 22,541.43. South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.5 percent to 1,913.03. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore, mainland China, Indonesia and the Philippines also rose.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 1 percent to 5,157.70 as investors geared up for company earnings season. Mining services companies rose. Bradken Ltd. surged more than 12 percent after the engineering company said it would reduce costs and spending following a steep fall in full year profit.

Despite rising commodities prices, some Australian mining stocks fell as investors sold off shares that have enjoyed recent gains, said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia. Newcrest Mining Ltd. dropped 2.3 percent a day after surging nearly 8 percent.

"We are getting a little bit of profit-taking after a pretty big run in miners," Shamu said.

Benchmark crude for September delivery was up 73 cents to $106.83 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 14 cents to close at $106.11 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

In currencies, the euro rose slightly to $1.3294 from $1.3292 late Monday. The dollar rose to 97.81 yen from 97.19 yen.

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Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

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Handy pebble rocks a little

With the flood of Apple iWatch and Samsung Galaxy Gear rumors, it would be easy to see a future where everything we need is in a mobile device on our wrist, or in frames around our eyes. Still, that literal version of a constantly connected society isn't here yet — Google Glass notwithstanding. Until then, there's Pebble smartwatch.

The waterproof watch is not the most fashionable thing that can go on a wrist, but does look much better than other smartwatches, which tend to have massive faces to accommodate touchscreens, something Pebble does not have.

Instead, three physical buttons on the right and one of the left are used to navigate through Pebble's simple menu interface.

It is a simple approach, and it's one that I didn't fully appreciate until I had worn it for a couple weeks. We're all flooded with unwanted emails, but you still have to take your phone out and have a look.

Pebble receives emails and texts, showing the sender, subject and the first few lines. It also can show who is calling your phone and control your phone's music, through a phone app.

One of Pebble's most promising features is app integration. The watch automatically pairs with the popular fitness app Runkeeper, for example, and support for a golf range-finding app has been promised. For Android phones, apps now send breaking news alerts and Twitter notifications to the Pebble.

You can get custom watch faces — Star Trek-inspired, "Beer O'Clock" (hint: it's always beer o'clock) and Etch A Sketch among them.

Pebble has released software updates every couple weeks to improve performance and make improvements, so many of early gripes have been addressed.

Pebble, the California-based company that sells the watch — it's their only product — made news last year when their Kickstarter campaign shattered the record for a crowd-funding effort, topping $10 million in contributions and selling more than 85,000 watches. This happened before any watches had been produced, based entirely on the concept.

The fact that an essentially unknown company pulled that off speaks to the desire for wearable devices, but the backlash against Google Glass also speaks to the lack of acceptance for an always-on, always-connected, piece of hardware that is an intrinsic part of our lives. Pebble is not a five-to-10-year jump ahead like Glass, but it is a step toward what seems to be the next generation of devices.

Available for pre-orders in red, white, orange, gray and black from getpebble.com and in stores now in red and black at Best Buy, Pebble will set you back $150.

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White House calls for increased grid spending

NEW YORK — The cost of weather-related power outages is rising as storms grow more severe and the U.S. electric grid gets older, an Obama Administration report says. It calls for increased spending on the nation's electric power system.

Power outages cost $18 billion to $33 billion per year, according to the report, a figure that has been rising steadily over the past 20 years. That can rise to $40 billion to $75 billion in years with severe storms such as 2008's Hurricane Ike and last year's Superstorm Sandy.

The White House report says spending to make the grid stronger and more flexible will save the economy billions.

Thunderstorms, hurricanes, blizzards and other extreme weather caused 58 percent of all outages since 2002 and 87 percent of outages affecting 50,000 or more customers.

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Japan economy up sluggish 2.6 percent for quarter

TOKYO — Japan's economy grew a slower-than-expected 2.6 percent last quarter as companies wary over the prospects for a sustained recovery kept a tight rein on investment.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the world's third-largest economy grew 0.6 percent in April-June from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said Monday in its preliminary estimate.

Japan's public debt surpassed the 1 quadrillion yen ($10.4 trillion) mark last week and the country needs a strong recovery to boost tax revenues enough to begin reducing its debt burden.

Analysts had forecast annualized growth of 3 percent or higher for the quarter. The economy expanded at a revised 3.8 percent pace in January-March.

The weaker data will likely raise pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to push ahead with reforms he has promised to help improve Japan's competitiveness and sustain growth in the long run. It might also encourage the government to postpone a planned increase in sales tax.

Masamichi Adachi, an economist at JPMorgan in Tokyo, said public spending did not rise as quickly as planned in the April-June quarter so extra money for projects in the pipeline will likely boost growth in the coming months.

"We can expect accelerated spending in the latter half of the year," he said. "This is decent enough to say the Japanese economy is maintaining solid momentum."

If forecasts for a continued fall-off in growth in the current quarter are accurate, however, the calls for more radical reforms are bound to build, as investors watch for signs that Abe's "Abenomics strategy" can really fuel a lasting recovery from years of stagnation.

The data show the strongest contribution to growth last quarter came from public spending and exports, while private investment weakened.

Many of Japan's corporations have enjoyed higher profits due to the yen's fall against other currencies, boosting the value of their overseas earnings when they are counted in yen terms. The recovery in exports has been a boon for big global corporations such as Toyota Motor Corp.

But corporate investment has remained flat, falling 0.1 percent in April to June. Residential investment also weakened, despite signs of a recovery in housing construction.

Meanwhile, wages have risen only for some workers, accentuating concerns over whether household income will keep pace as prices rise under the government's campaign to end deflation through extreme monetary easing.

Abe and some of his advisers have expressed uncertainty over a government commitment to raise the sales tax by 3 percentage points in April. A decision on that is due within months, and it appears increasingly likely Abe might opt for a more gradual approach to raising the tax, which now stands at 5 percent, to help improve public finances.

"The GDP data is a good figure," said Economics Minister Akira Amari, who has been quoted as saying that raising the sales tax is "not optional."

The government has said it is considering increasing tax incentives for corporate investment, among other options, to spur private spending.

"Personal consumption is expected to continue to rise gradually, but given that investment is weaker than consumption, we need to support a recovery in capital investment," he said.

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Follow Elaine Kurtenbach on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ekurtenbach

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Raynham joins group to organize casino worker training

The Massachusetts Casino Careers Training Institute has added Raynham Park to the list of prospective slots parlor and casino operators agreeing to collaborate on workforce development issues with the consortium of community colleges.

As the would-be operators complete license applications to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, they must identify workforce development resources they'll tap, according to Jeff Hayden, vice president for business and community service at Holyoke Community College, one of the state's 15 community colleges that formed the institute.

"They need to show when they have jobs, how they're going to fill them with local Massachusetts residents," Hayden said.

A slots facility and three casinos in Greater Boston, southeastern Massachusetts and western Massachusetts are expected to create 10,000 jobs.

The basic memorandums of understanding require the proposed operators to supply information about the types of those jobs and needed qualifications and training.

They're expected to be replaced with more detailed, formal agreements once the commission chooses operators.

The institute also has agreements with prospective casino operators MGM Resorts, Mohegan Sun and Hard Rock International, and proposed slots parlor operator Penn National.

The institute signed an agreement with the Gaming Commission in December to work together to create training, certification and licensing plans for workers.

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Biotechs push to save tax credit for rare-disease medicine makers

Some of the Bay State's biggest biotech companies are teaming up with drug makers and patient advocacy groups across the country to wage battle to protect the crucial federal tax credit that provides a key incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs for "orphan diseases."

The measure, slated for debate as part of upcoming tax reform discussions in Congress, allows pharmaceutical companies to claim a tax credit of 50 percent of research and testing costs for drugs meant for diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. — such a small market that they would not otherwise be worthwhile for large pharmaceutical companies to target.

Development of the so-called orphan drugs has skyrocketed since the tax credit was approved in 1983, with some of Massachusetts' powerhouse biotechs specializing in the market.

"We believe it provides an important incentive for companies to pursue research into serious diseases that despite affecting a small number of people are often life-threatening and have few available treatments," said Nikki Levy, a spokeswoman for Cambridge-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals, maker of Kalydeco, a drug for people with cystic fibrosis who have a specific genetic mutation.

The cost and limited potential for profit would make such drugs difficult to develop without the tax credit, pharmaceutical companies say.

"The Orphan Drug Tax Credit has been a crucial incentive to those companies as they have made significant breakthroughs in areas such as cystic fibrosis, Parkinson's disease and sickle cell anemia," said Massachusetts Biotechnology Council President and CEO Robert K. Coughlin.

There are roughly 7,000 rare diseases, and around 50 percent of those affected are children.

"We strongly urge you to keep this critical tax credit in place," the National 
Organization for Rare Disorders, which represents a number of health organizations, said in a letter to congressmen who have questioned the credit.

"Repeal of the tax credit would cause irreparable harm to the goal of promoting development of therapies for patients with rare diseases," said Lori Gorski, a spokeswoman for Genzyme, a Cambridge-based company that spent 12 years developing 
Kynamro, which targets an inherited high-cholesterol condition that affects one in a million people.

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City eyes authority on liquor licenses

A Boston city councilor is making a fresh push to wrest control of Boston's liquor licensing process from the Legislature, arguing that giving the city the power to increase the number of licenses issued would help revitalize neighborhoods by reducing costs for prospective restaurateurs.

"This is not about changing Main Street into New Orleans' Bourbon Street," City Councilor Ayanna Pressley said. "One of the critical factors I see for thriving neighborhoods are successful restaurants."

State lawmakers have had control of the number of liquor licenses in the city since the 1930s. Pressley's home rule petition seeking the change is scheduled to be vetted at a public hearing Wednesday.

Pressley also wants to stop licenses being moved from empowerment zones, urban renewal districts and transit-oriented developments.

"The current law is hurting small business," Pressley said. "There's a limited number of licenses, so there's not enough to go around, and they just go to the highest bidders."

Restaurants can sell their licenses for as much as $350,000 for an all-alcohol version — and $500,000 in the Back Bay, where residents oppose adding new licenses.

Boston's 1,030 liquor licenses are given out with wide divergences in neighborhoods. Of 99 North End licenses, 91 are for restaurants and bars while 17 of Roxbury's 26 licenses are for liquor stores.

"There's a disparity issue," Pressley said. "The city should be able to work with neighborhoods and decide how best to allocate them. Clearly, a restaurant cannot be successful without a beer and wine or full alcohol license. Most of your profit margin is not going to come from your food, it's going to come from your bar."

She will face some pushback from the restaurant industry, which is concerned about disruption if more licenses are given out, with a resulting drop in the value of licenses.

"Existing restaurants have based their whole business model ... on an asset with a certain value," said Massachusetts Restaurant Association CEO Bob Luz. "To negate that value now would be unfair to existing businesses."

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