Harvard on the move in Allston

City officials have backed Harvard University's plan to shift some of its campus support services across Western Avenue in Allston to make way for a residential project at Barry's Corner.

The plan to relocate Harvard facilities such as mail, IT, campus police training, furniture storage and fleet management won favor only after the school agreed to a list of nine conditions pushed by the neighborhood and formalized by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

The conditions on the move to 28 Travis St. included keeping traffic away from homes, limiting hours of operation, funding local charities and creating a park. The Boston Redevelopment Authority board signed off on the plan last night.

"We will comply and are pleased with all of the obligations that the mayor and the BRA have suggested," said Kevin Casey, Harvard's associate vice president for public affairs. "So we are all on the same page on this."

Paul Berkeley, president of the Allston Civic Association, said the most important condition was that Harvard agreed to incorporate its campus services into its master planning. He said the neighborhood has been "fighting off" certain uses since Harvard started buying up Allston land in 1989.

"After 24 years, hearing that it's now going to be part of the planning process, is a huge victory for us," Berkeley said at the BRA board meeting. "It gives us a way forward."

State Rep. Michael Moran (D-Brighton) explained that Allston residents have "angst" about Harvard's ambitions because of all the back and forth in community task force meetings, broken promises and stalled developments such as the massive life sciences facility near Barry's Corner.

"All we've seen is a hole that was capped, and that's it. And the first thing out of the gate since that happened was a garage with a fleet of trucks that they want to move closer to the community," Moran said. "So as you can imagine, the community is a little bit disappointed."

"That's necessary to say, but it's also necessary to understand that this move will hopefully spur a whole bunch of other development that will be extremely positive and good for the community," Moran added.

Hub developer Samuels & Associates, in a partnership with Harvard, is planning an 11-story building with 325 apartments and 45,000 square feet of retail at Barry's Corner, a prime spot where Western Avenue meets North Harvard Street. The BRA board is expected to take up the project at next month's meeting.

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Revised Fenway residential project approved

Another major development in the Fenway is ready to go.

The Abbey Group's revised residential project at 1282 Boylston St. won approval last night from the Boston Redevelopment Authority's board. The number of units in the $305 million complex, located on the site of a former McDonald's fast-food restaurant, has been increased to nearly 350.

"The design phase is winding itself down and we're getting ready to get this started," said Bill Keravuori of the Abbey Group. "We are hopeful that within the next few months we will be starting with the construction of this project."

The BRA originally approved the project last fall, after about 100,000 square feet of office space was removed from the plan to make way for more residential. A more recent change made the units a bit smaller to accommodate additional apartments and condos.

The number of affordable units at 1282 Boylston will increase by two to 38, Keravuori noted.

In other business last night, the BRA board approved:

* a $145 million apartment project at 275 Albany St. in the South End. Co-developers Normandy Real Estate Partners and Gerding Edlen are planning 380 units in two buildings, including a tower on the north side of the former Teradyne parking lot. The project originally called for two hotels.

* a 41-unit rental housing development at 37 North Beacon St. in Allston. Developer Sebastian Mariscal had planned a zero-car "green" building but agreed to include 35 parking spaces after neighbors objected, saying some tenants would likely own cars and end up using spaces on nearby streets.

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Unitarian Universalists selling Beacon Hill base

The Unitarian Universalist Association announced today it will sell its historic Beacon Hill properties and move its national headquarters to Boston's Fort Point neighborhood."

After considerable research and analysis, we came to the conclusion that our current facilities on Beacon Hill were ill-suited to a contemporary, forward-looking organization," said Tim Brennan, UUA's treasurer and chief financial officer. "Remaining in these buildings would have required millions of dollars in renovations over the next few years."

The Unitarian Universalists have been based at 25 Beacon St., next to the State House, since the building's construction in the 1920s. The UUA also will sell its office building at 41 Mount Vernon St. - home to publishing company Beacon Press - along with 6 and 7 Mount Vernon Place.

The group will open new headquarters at 24 Farnsworth St., leasing three floors in the six-story brick-and-beam building that the Davis Cos. bought for $14 million last summer.

The UUA has an option to buy the property, located in what's known as the Innovation District, in January 2015.

"Our headquarters needs to be flexible, use high technology and foster collaboration of groups of varying size," said the Rev. Peter Morales, president of the UUA. "This new facility will help us realize these important functions in a way that our current headquarters is unable to do."

The UUA was formed in 1961 with the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and Universalist Church of America.

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Hostess picks McKee as buyer for Drake's cakes

NEW YORK — Hostess is moving forward with the sale of Devil Dogs, Yankee Doodles and Yodels to the maker of Little Debbie cakes.

The bankrupt company says it picked McKee Foods as the buyer for the Drake's cakes after nobody stepped forward with a qualifying bid to top its $27.5 million offer.

The auction scheduled for Friday will be canceled as a result, according to a filing in bankruptcy court. A hearing to approve the sale is scheduled for April 9.

McKee Foods, based in Collegedale, Tenn., isn't projecting when it plans to have the cakes back on shelves.

"McKee Foods is a family-owned bakery, similar to how Drake's was established as a family bakery 125 years ago," CEO Mike McKee noted in a statement. "We have generations of experience in baking, and we will strive to bake the Drake's cakes, not just for taste and quality, but also to deliver on the memories of the loyal Drake's fans."

Separately, Metropoulos & Co., which is teaming up with Apollo Global Management to buy Twinkies and other Hostess cakes such as CupCakes, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos, said it hopes to have the cakes back on shelves by this summer. Metropoulos owns Pabst beer. Apollo's investments include fast-food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's.

A source who requested anonymity because the sale process is private had said the pair of investment firms had expressed interest in Drake's as well but that the offer ultimately did not qualify.

Hostess Brands Inc. had also canceled auctions for Twinkies and its major breads after nobody stepped forward with competitive offers for those brands. Flowers Foods was picked as the buyer for the breads, including Wonder. Grupo Bimbo, which makes Thomas' English muffins, was picked to buy its Beefsteak bread. A hearing to approve those sales is set for March 19.

The company plans to go ahead with an auction for its Sweetheart, Eddy's, Standish Farms and Grandma Emilie's breads on March 15. United States Bakery was chosen as the lead bidder for those brands for $30 million. That includes four bakeries and other equipment.

Hostess shuttered its factories in late November following a strike by its second biggest union. The company had been struggling financially for years.

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Energy drink producer says it is being blackmailed

VIENNA — Energy drink producer Red Bull says it is being blackmailed, with the perpetrators threatening to place cans of its product contaminated with feces on supermarket shelves.

The company says the threats started several weeks ago. But Marcus Neher of the Salzburg Public Prosecutor's office said Friday that "up to now there has only been a claim of contamination," and the company also says that supermarket checks have shown no signs that the product was tampered with.

The company sells its energy drink worldwide. In a statement, it says it is "cooperating closely" with police but offers no details on the perpetrators' demands.

There was also no information on the location of the stores named by the blackmailers.

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Survey: Facebook’s Zuckerberg is top-rated CEO

Apple CEO Tim Cook, the highest-rated chief executive according to Glassdoor last year, dropped to the 18th position this year on the jobs and career database's annual survey of the 50 top U.S. CEOs.

Cook saw his approval rating drop four percentage points to 93 percent. The survey, released today, is based on insights from company employees.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took top honors this year, followed by SAP co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, McKinsey & Co. CEO Dominic Barton, Ernst & Young CEO Jim Turley, and Northwestern Mutual CEO John E. Schlifske.

Three area CEOs also made the list — Joe Tucci of Hopkinton-based EMC Corp., who ranked No. 7; Edward "Ned" Johnson III of Boston-based Fidelity Investments, who ranked No. 31; and Alan J. Herrick of Boston-based Sapient, who ranked No. 35.

Chief executives new to this year's list include S. Truett Cathy of Chick-fil-A (26); Sharen Turney of Victoria's Secret (42), the only woman on this year's report; and Michael S. Dell of Dell (49).

"While anyone can assume a position in leadership, not everyone garners their employees' support for how they lead the company. The CEOs who are most successful in gaining employee approval are those who paint a clear vision of what the company is setting out to achieve and how it's going to get there," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor CEO and co-founder. "To be recognized by your employees as a strong leader also comes as a result of having a solid company culture that helps employees foster the skills necessary to move business forward and meet the needs of customers."

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SideCar ride-sharing app expands to Boston

Mobile ride-sharing app SideCar said today it is adding Boston, Chicago and Brooklyn to its growing roster of cities, mere days after competitor Uber was accused of violating state and city laws with its own services in a lawsuit filed by the Hub's taxi industry.

Launched in San Francisco last year, SideCar currently operates in eight U.S. markets, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Austin and Seattle.

Unlike Uber and recent Hub service Hailo, SideCar is neither a taxi nor a limo service, but rather a ride-matching app "that connects people who need rides with vetted drivers from the community who are able and willing to share a ride," according to its website.

The company added all payments are "completely voluntary and are handled via a cashless, donation-based system between smartphones," and that all drivers are pre-vetted for safety and are free to give rides whenever they want.

On Tuesday, members of Boston's taxi industry filed a nine-count lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court against San Francisco-based Uber, accusing the company of operating a car-for-hire service that violates state and city laws, and deceives consumers about fees, drivers, safety and insurance.

"Uber pays none of the substantial capital costs and expenses required to operate a legal taxi and livery car business in Boston," said attorney Sam Perkins, who filed the suit on behalf of Boston Cab Dispatch Inc., and EJT Management, this week. "It uses a dispatch system that is not approved, ignores regulations that are essential to public safety and uses a payment system that illegally overcharges customers."

Michael Pao, general manager of Uber Boston, called the charges "baseless," adding Gov. Deval Patrick reversed a prior ban on the service in the Hub last summer.

"The Uber app is changing the transportation industry. In jurisdictions such as California, New York, Washington, D.C., and — yes — Massachusetts, there has been a steady drumbeat of progress in which pro-consumer, pro-innovation policymakers have recognized that everyone wins when new technology that fosters efficiency, affordability and choice in transportation is allowed to flourish," Pao said in a statement. "Hundreds of thousands of people all across the country and the world are embracing the convenience and reliability of the Uber technology."

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Obama wants research to wean vehicles off oil

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to authorize $200 million a year for research into clean energy technologies that can wean automobiles off oil.

Obama proposed the idea of an energy security trust last month in his State of the Union address, but he was putting a price tag on the idea during a trip Friday to the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago — $2 billion over 10 years. The White House said the research would be paid for with revenue from federal oil and gas leases on offshore drilling and would not add to the deficit.

The money would fund research on "breakthrough" technologies such as batteries for electric cars and biofuels made from switch grass or other materials. Researchers also would look to improve use of natural gas as a fuel for cars and trucks.

The proposal is modeled after a plan submitted by a group of business executives and former military leaders who are committed to reducing U.S. oil dependence. The group, called Securing America's Future Energy or SAFE, is headed by FedEx Corp. Chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith and retired Marine Corps Gen. P.X. Kelley. The nonpartisan group says its goal is to "break oil's stranglehold on the transportation sector" through alternatives such as electric cars and heavy-duty trucks fueled by natural gas, but it had proposed a much larger $500 million annual investment.

Creation of the trust would require congressional approval at a time of partisan divide over energy issues. Republicans have pushed to expand oil and gas drilling on federal land and water, while Obama and many Democrats have worked to boost renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

Obama tried to appeal to both parties by pitching the trust plan not just as an environmental issue but as a job-creation plan that would help the United States remain a technology leader.

"If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we," Obama said in his State of the Union address. "Let's take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we've put up with for far too long."

David Pumphrey, co-director of the Energy and National Security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the proposal is likely to meet resistance in Congress, especially among Republicans who have disparaged the 2009 economic stimulus law.

Obama was shrewd to frame the issue in terms of energy security and reducing oil imports, rather than as an effort to address climate change, Pumphrey said, but the plan "still takes a revenue stream and directs it into this usage" for clean energy, Pumphrey said. "That's $2 billon that could go to other uses or deficit reduction."

Still, there were signs agreement may be possible. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has called it "an idea I may agree with."

Murkowski, senior Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, did not fully endorse the plan, which is similar to one she has proposed to use revenue from drilling for oil and natural gas on public lands that previously were off-limits to energy production to pay for research on new energy technologies.

White House officials said the president's proposal would not require expansion of drilling to federal lands or water where it is now prohibited. Instead, they are counting on increased production from existing sites, along with efficiencies from an administration plan to streamline drilling permits. The government collects more than $6 billion a year in royalties from production on federal lands and waters.

Obama's push for the energy trust came as the Environmental Protection Agency released a new report Friday indicating that fuel economy standards rose last year by 1.4 miles per gallon — the largest annual increase since EPA started keeping track. The agency said the improvement was due to better availability of high-performing cars and more options for consumers.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers suggested that rather than encouraging research on fuel-efficient cars, the government should focus on making diverse fuels more available and improving transportation infrastructure.

A spokesman for the energy security group SAFE welcomed Obama's plan, even though it does not call for expanded drilling. A plan released by the SAFE group in December recommended using revenues from expanded offshore drilling and increased production in Alaska in areas where it is now blocked.

"At the end of the day, we still think it's a proposal that can have bipartisan support and that can help reduce oil dependence," SAFE spokesman Brad Goehner said Friday.

Argonne is one of the Energy Department's largest national laboratories for scientific and engineering research, staffed by more than 1,250 scientists and engineers. White House officials said it was chosen as the site of the president's speech because of its tradition of research into vehicle technologies.

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Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nedrapickler and Matthew Daly at https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

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Royal Dutch Shell CEO to speak in Boston

Peter Voser, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, will be the keynote speaker at Boston College's Chief Executives' Club of Boston luncheon on March 21 at the Boston Harbor Hotel.

Voser is expected to discuss the future energy challenge, climate change, renewable energy and the impact the North American shale revolution will have on the United States and the world for years to come, officials said.

Royal Dutch Shell, which employs 90,000 people worldwide, reported revenue of $467 billion last year, officials said.

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Ex-JPMorgan exec says Dimon withheld data from US

WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon held back showing federal regulators reports in May that revealed the bank had accumulated billions of dollars in trading losses, according to congressional testimony Friday from the firm's former chief financial officer.

Douglas Braunstein, who is now a vice chairman at the bank, told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that Dimon did not submit the daily reports for two weeks because he was concerned about "confidentiality."

Dimon ultimately acknowledged later that month that the firm had lost $2 billion on risky trades out of its London office. The losses have since been revised to more than $6 billion.

The Senate hearing was held a day after the subcommittee issued a scathing report that ascribed widespread blame for losses to key executives at the firm. The report said that the executives ignored growing risks and hid losses from investors and federal regulators.

After reading the report and hearing executives testify that they didn't know who was responsible for informing regulators, members of the panel questioned whether the nation's biggest bank had become too large to manage.

The "trading culture at JPMorgan ... piled on risk, hid losses, disregarded risk limits, manipulated risk models, dodged oversight and misinformed the public," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the subcommittee's chairman, said Friday at the hearing.

On Thursday, JPMorgan acknowledged it made mistakes but rejected any assertions that it concealed losses or risks. A spokesman declined to comment directly on the accusation that Dimon knew of the trading loss in April.

Dimon was not a witness at Friday's hearing.

In April, news reports said a trader in JPMorgan's London office known as "the whale" had taken huge risks that were roiling the markets. Dimon immediately dismissed the reports as a "tempest in a teapot" during a conference call with analysts.

But Dimon acknowledged the losses a month later. And he told a separate Senate committee in June that the bank showed "bad judgment," was "stupid" and "took far too much risk." He also had his compensation last year reduced by 50 percent, as did Braunstein.

The hearing featured testimony from Braunstein and Ina Drew, who was the firm's chief investment officer overseeing trading strategy at the time of the losses.

Both were asked about information that bank executives gave to federal examiners in April that significantly understated losses for the first quarter of 2012. The numbers they gave the regulators were well below what was known inside the bank, said Levin.

"The number I reported (to the regulators) was the number that was given to me," Drew testified.

Drew blamed the losses on executives under her watch who failed to control risks out of the London office. She said that undermined her oversight and kept her from preventing the losses.

Braunstein acknowledged that risk models for the trading operation were changed in a way that was improper early last year. The changes made the bank's trading losses appear smaller than they were.

After the trading loss came to light, Drew resigned after 30 years with the firm and voluntarily paid back two years of salary.

She said Friday that while she doesn't believe she bore personal responsibility for the losses, she decided to step down to make it easier for JPMorgan "to move beyond these issues." Her comments were her first public remarks since leaving the firm.

The loss came less than four years after the 2008 financial crisis and hurt the reputation of a bank that had come through the crisis known for taking fewer risks than its competitors. Three employees in the London office were fired — two senior managers and a trader. It also led to Drew's resignation.

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