ENERGY
State denies permit extension to Cape Wind
A state energy board Wednesday officially denied Cape Wind’s request to extend its permits for two power lines necessary to connect the offshore energy project to the mainland. The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board said extending the permits to May 1, 2017, would be “unreasonable’’ because the agency believes the project is years away from ever getting started. The project’s fate is uncertain after Cape Wind Associates lost power contracts needed to finance construction of the wind farm in Nantucket Sound. A spokesman said Cape Wind Associates is disappointed with the decision and will file a application for a new set of permits. — GLOBE STAFF
AUTOMOTIVE
Fiat Chrysler to lay off 1,300 in Michigan
Tumbling sales of Fiat Chrysler’s main midsize car have driven the company to indefinitely lay off 1,300 employees at a Detroit-area factory. Workers on the second shift at Fiat Chrysler’s assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., will be furloughed starting July 5 as the slow-selling Chrysler 200 started to stack up on dealer lots. Sales of the cars were down 61 percent through March, and inventory grew to a 150-day supply, according to Ward’s Automotive. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook changing mobile apps
Facebook is rearranging the notification panel on its mobile apps in an effort to widen the audience watching live video on its social network. The shift announced Wednesday is part of Facebook’s effort to turn its live video feature into a marquee attraction as more people use their smartphones to record and share snippets of their lives. Facebook is moving the button for its Messenger service so that the new video option can be highlighted on the notification panel. When pressed, the video button will show a directory of live streams from a user’s friends, as well as segments available to anyone on the world’s largest social network. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
SKI RESORTS
Expansion of Mount Sunapee approved
A years-long effort to expand a ski resort on Mount Sunapee got the green light Wednesday from New Hampshire’s Executive Council, but opponents of the plan are vowing to fight on. The council voted 3-1 in favor of the plan, with Democrat Colin Van Ostern voting against it and Republican Chris Sununu recusing himself because he runs another ski mountain in the state. The plan will add four new trails, a new chairlift, and new amenities, but also donates new conservation land to Mount Sunapee State Park and ensures certain areas cannot be developed. Jay Gamble, general manager of the resort, said the project is at least three to four years from completion as the business must now go through a permitting process. The ski mountain needed state approval for the expansion plan because it leases part of its land from the state through the parks system. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Italy’s biggest phone company to cut as many as 15,000 jobs
Telecom Italia SpA, Italy’s biggest phone company, is considering about 15,000 job cuts in response to competition from a state-controlled power utility that’s planning a fiber-optic broadband network, people familiar with the matter said. The move, amounting to almost 30 percent of the phone carrier’s Italian workforce, follows the March 23 announcement that Enel SpA will spend 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) on a network it will open to Telecom Italia’s competitors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The Enel network will make it easier for Telecom Italia rivals to provide faster Web access, potentially cutting into the carrier’s business, they said. — BLOOMBERG
RIDE HAILING
Uber and Lyft want to expand in upstate New York
Uber and Lyft are gearing up for a campaign to expand their ride-hailing operations into upstate New York to include Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany. New Yorkers for Ridesharing, a coalition of more than 50 groups that support the expansion, is launching a new effort this month to use letters, phone calls, and advertisements to encourage state lawmakers to allow the expansion. Uber and Lyft are currently limited to the New York City area and will need new state regulations in order to operate upstate. The coalition brings together Uber, Lyft, chambers of commerce, trade groups and local elected officials who say the ride-hailing services will be a boon to riders, businesses, and potential employees. More than 40 states now allow ride-hailing companies to compete with traditional taxis. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
INTERNATIONAL
Hungarian socialists want referendum on Sunday store closings
Hungary’s supreme court on Wednesday allowed the opposition Socialist Party to seek signatures demanding a referendum on a year-old law forcing most retail stores to close on Sundays. Organizers will have to gather 200,000 signatures within 120 days to force parliament into setting a date for the vote. Prime Minister Viktor Orban (left) has justified the deeply unpopular ban as a family-friendly initiative allowing employees in the retail sector to spend Sundays at home. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
REAL ESTATE
Sales of US vacation homes plummet
Sales of US vacation homes tumbled last year from record levels as buyers were held back by tight inventory and turbulence in financial markets. An estimated 920,000 vacation properties changed hands, down almost 19 percent from a high in 2014, according to a survey released Wednesday from the National Association of Realtors. By comparison, sales of primary owner-occupied homes jumped 16 percent to 3.74 million, the highest level since 2007, the group said. Second-home buyers — often baby boomers at or close to retirement — are competing for a dwindling number of properties, driving up prices and limiting transactions, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the Realtors group. Stock-market gyrations in the second half of the year also may have unsettled would-be purchasers. — BLOOMBERG
TECHNOLOGY
Nokia to cut 10,000 to 15,000 positions
Nokia will reduce as much as 14 percent of its workforce, cutting jobs across the globe as part of a plan to save more than $1 billion annually following its merger with networking hardware rival Alcatel-Lucent. The company is set to eliminate about 10,000 to 15,000 positions out of a combined staff of 104,000, according to people familiar with the plan, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. Nokia said Wednesday about 1,300 jobs will be reduced in Finland, without giving a global number. Slightly more than that will go in Germany, people said. — BLOOMBERG
FINANCE
Citigroup changes way executive bonuses are calculated
Citigroup Inc.’s board changed the way the lender calculates performance pay for executives after receiving some complaints. Executives can now earn more than 100 percent of their annual performance-based compensation only if shareholder returns are positive, the New York-based bank said Wednesday in a regulatory filing. The plan is designed to ensure executives don’t get bonuses that are bigger than those initially awarded if total shareholder returns fall over a three-year period. The changes are reflected in performance share units granted in February. — BLOOMBERG
