Duke Energy buys majority stake in REC Solar

Duke Energy Renewables plans to invest $225 million over the next several years in building and operating solar projects for commercial customers after purchasing a majority stake in Southern California solar company.

Duke Renewables and REC Solar of San Luis Obispo declined to provide the financial details of the purchase. But Duke will use the $225 million to purchase about half of the projects REC Solar develops in the next several years.

Mark Manly, head of Duke Energy Corp.’s (NYSE:DUK) unregulated,…

United Steelworkers expand refinery strike to Whiting, IN

The United Steelworkers union has extended its ongoing oil refineries strike to the BP facility in Whiting, Indiana.

The initial work action covered about 4,000 workers at nine plants in multiple states and started on February 1. Those refineries have continued operations without the unionized workers, and a BP (NYSE: BP) representative issued a statement to Fox Chicago saying the Whiting plant would be no different. However, that report also quoted an energy market analyst saying that a long-term…

The letter W: Why it has the Nats, Cubs and HubWallet up in arms

District-based Evolution Finance is launching a media campaign to garner public support for its 2-year-old trademark fight with Major League Baseball, something the owner of website WalletHub casts as a David-and-Goliath battle.

At issue: the letter W, and whether people who see it will confuse the block-style W in WalletHub’s logo with the Washington National’s legacy W from the team’s days as the Senators, or the Chicago Cubs’ W, flown on a flag on those (ahem, too rare) occasions when the team…

Will you blow your tax refund? More of us will

One of the first of an annual wave of tax season surveys on what Americans plan to do with their tax refunds says more of us will simply spend it.

Bethesda-based Taxsoftware.com says 28 percent of taxpayers it surveyed plan to save their refund, down significantly from 59 percent in 2007. Likewise, the share of Americans getting a refund who say they’ll use it to pay down debt fell to 33 percent, down from 54 percent eight years ago.

Its survey says 12 percent will spend their refund on home improvements,…

Proposed business park seeks $9.5M in taxpayer funds

The developer of a proposed 900,000-square-foot business park in northwest Miami-Dade County wants to obtain $9.5 million in taxpayer bond funds.

The money would support infrastructure for Robert Saland’s Rosal Westview, which plans to build the business park on 180 acres of the former Westview Golf Course at 11700 E. Golf Drive and 11600 N.W. 22nd Ave. It paid $6.75 million for the site in 2011.

The money would come from the Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond Program, which has…