Business Week in Review

Emotions aired at Cape Wind project hearings

The massive Cape Wind energy project planned for Nantucket Sound drew emotional statements from supporters and critics at a series of four public hearings this past week.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service was accepting public comments on the 130-turbine project, which proponents say would provide a necessary jolt of renewable energy to the region and opponents say would amount to industrial pollution of scenic waters.

Developer Cape Wind Associates expects the federal agency will issue a final decision by the end of the year.

Bay State workers in unions down to 13.2 percent

The ranks of organized labor in Massachusetts saw a small bump in 2006, but the latest figures from the federal government shows that union membership resumed its slow decline in Massachusetts last year.

The number of Bay State workers who belong to a union fell by 8.5 percent to 379,000, or about 13.2 percent of the state's work force.

Take-Two takeover bid goes to shareholders

Electronic Arts Inc. stopped playing games with rival software developer Take-Two Interactive by taking its $2 billion unsolicited takeover bid directly to Take-Two's shareholders.

New York-based Take-Two wanted to wait to consider the bid until after the company's next "Grand Theft Auto" game hits the shelves.

The corporate machinations could have ripple effects in Quincy, where Take-Two's 2K Boston game development unit is based.

Investors focus on Talbots' good news

The good news for Talbots is that its fourth-quarter operating loss wasn't quite as bad as originally expected. The bad news for the Hingham-based retailer is that the $144 million impairment charge it needed to record for the drop in value of its J. Jill chain was much worse than expected.

Investors, however, chose to focus on the good news, driving Talbots' stock up by 11 percent in one day of trading.

Boston Beer posts heady triple profits

Boston Beer Co.'s investors should drink a cold Sam Adams to celebrate: The South Boston-based brewer nearly tripled its profits in the last quarter despite escalating ingredient costs.

Its shares rose by 26 percent on the day after the cheery earnings report became public.

The Patriot Ledger