Warehouse

HARTFORD - State officials have launched an investigation into an antiracism website set up by the mother of a man who killed eight employees at a Manchester beer distribution warehouse. Lillie Holliday's website, www.ostmemorialfund.com, is set up as a memorial for her son, Omar Thornton, and solicits donations to fight institutionalized racism. "As a mother, I do not want any other mother to experience what I did in losing a son as a result of the impact of racism in the workplace," she says in a statement on the website.

HARTFORD - State officials have launched an investigation into an antiracism website set up by the mother of a man who killed eight employees at a Manchester beer distribution warehouse. Lillie Holliday's website, www.ostmemorialfund.com, is set up as a memorial for her son, Omar Thornton, and solicits donations to fight institutionalized racism. "As a mother, I do not want any other mother to experience what I did in losing a son as a result of the impact of racism in the workplace," she says in a statement on the website.

The owners of a Plymouth furniture warehouse want to know the origin of a chunk of metal that apparently plunged through the roof of their building. No one was hurt when the six-inch long, cylindrical piece of metal weighing about five pounds came through the roof late over a storage closet either Wednesday or Thursday. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors determined that the piece of metal, broken at both ends, was not an airplane part, and could not say whether it fell from a plane.

A fire at a Bridgeport warehouse sent smoke billowing over Interstate 95 and damaged several vehicles, but officials say no one was injured. Firefighters say the blaze at the insulation manufacturing plant on State Street Extension began just before 3 a.m. Thursday and smoke hampered visibility for drivers on the highway and emergency workers. Authorities say the building and at least seven vehicles were damaged. The fire was brought under control by about 4 a.m., but officials remained at the scene later in the morning because the building was still smoldering.

A fire at a Bridgeport warehouse sent smoke billowing over Interstate 95 and damaged several vehicles, but officials say no one was injured. Firefighters say the blaze at the insulation manufacturing plant on State Street Extension began just before 3 a.m. Thursday and smoke hampered visibility for drivers on the highway and emergency workers. Authorities say the building and at least seven vehicles were damaged. The fire was brought under control by about 4 a.m., but officials remained at the scene later in the morning because the building was still smoldering.

Shares of Chefs' Warehouse are climbing after the supplier for restaurants, caterers and other food companies raised $135 million in an initial public offering. The company stocks gourmet foods such as truffles, caviar and fancy cheeses, as well as the usual staples needed by restaurants such as cooking oil, eggs, milk and flour. Chefs' and its shareholders had sold 9 million shares for $15 each, the middle of the expected price range. The Ridgefield, Conn., company's proceeds from the IPO were about $63.1 million after expenses, all of which is going to repay debt.

Today is the day that SciFi becomes SyFy. The cable network, home to space shows and paranormal comedy-dramas, is getting a new name that’s basically the same as the old name, if you close your eyes and don’t think too hard. Today is also the day that SciFi - sorry, SyFy - launches “Warehouse 13,’’ a new series that feels quite a bit like an old series, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The old series is “The X Files,’’ the seminal 1990s drama about what happens when law enforcement meets the unexplainable.

A Thai television station is reporting that a Lebanese suspect with alleged links to Hezbollah militants has led police to a warehouse housing materials that could be used to make explosives. Thai PBS television showed police confiscating boxes of urea fertilizer and liquid ammonium nitrate in Monday's raid. The raid comes after the U.S. and Israel warned Friday of a terror threat targeting their citizens in Bangkok. Officials say that threat has now been thwarted. The Lebanese suspect was detained Thursday.

Firefighters battled a four-alarm blaze in a warehouse complex on Norfolk Avenue in Roxbury Wednesday night, Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said. About 120 firefighters responded to 31-35 Norfolk Ave. shortly after 10 p.m., he said. Crews knocked down the blaze within an hour, and no injuries were reported, MacDonald said. He had no information about the cause of the fire and said it was difficult to tell Wednesday night if the complex was vacant or partially occupied. On Aug. 21, 2010, a nine-alarm blaze sparked by illegal fireworks gutted a vacant industrial complex on the same street.

MIDDLEBOROUGH - A sprawling warehouse built seven years ago off the traffic rotary here, from which delivery trucks have direct access to Interstate 495 and Routes 44 and 24, is already on its third tenant. Trader Joe's is the latest to take over the 123,000-square-foot space, recently abandoning its warehouse operation in East Bridgewater and subletting the Middleborough facility at 30 Commerce Blvd. for the next four years. Already, some are wondering whether the food store chain will enjoy more success there than its two predecessors.

Firefighters battled a four-alarm blaze in a warehouse complex on Norfolk Avenue in Roxbury Wednesday night, Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said. About 120 firefighters responded to 31-35 Norfolk Ave. shortly after 10 p.m., he said. Crews knocked down the blaze within an hour, and no injuries were reported, MacDonald said. He had no information about the cause of the fire and said it was difficult to tell Wednesday night if the complex was vacant or partially occupied. On Aug. 21, 2010, a nine-alarm blaze sparked by illegal fireworks gutted a vacant industrial complex on the same street.

If you didn't buy tickets for Saturday's Gilt Groupe Warehouse Sale before they sold out last week, you get another shot Thursday. At 10 a.m., a limited number of additional tickets will be released at www.giltcity.com/boston/warehouseboston. (The sale ends at 10 p.m. Friday; if tickets sell out earlier, you can add your name to a waitlist.) The warehouse sale will feature racks upon racks of shoes, jewelry, home wares, and covetable duds for guys, gals, and kids. Tickets are $5, $10, and $15; the higher the price, the earlier you can get in. (The first time slot is 10 a.m. to noon; the...

Gilt Groupe is selling tickets to its March 24th Boston Warehouse Sale online, and they are selling out fast. As of this second, $5-tickets for afternoon time slots (between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.) remain. The sale promises rock-bottom prices on designer tops, denim, shoes, jewelry, and more. It happens at the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter at 100 West 2nd St., Boston. Find all the other details here .

Holy leaky roof, Batman!!! Hundreds and possibly thousands of rare comic books were damaged at a comic museum's warehouse in western Pennsylvania last week. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ( http://bit.ly/wsQp70) reports that water leaks at the ToonSeum warehouse destroyed books, exhibition reproductions and probably thousands of comic books. Executive director Joe Wos says the most valuable comics weren't at the warehouse, but some of what was lost will be "very difficult to replace.

Excerpts from the Innovation Economy blog. CasePick Systems is a company I've been tracking since I had my first meeting with its founder, John Lert, in 2007. At the time, Lert did not want me to write about the company but he showed me some nifty animations of how robots might be able to move merchandise more efficiently around warehouses. I wrote about the company when it was acquired by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a privately held New Hampshire company, and when it named Jim Baum, formerly chief executive of the data warehousing firm Netezza, as its leader.

A company founded by Neil Young is facing a lawsuit over a fire in the San Francisco Bay Area that authorities say started in a vintage car the rocker had converted into a hybrid vehicle. The San Jose Mercury News reports (http://bit.ly/ytJtkW) that Unigard Insurance Co. sued LincVolt LLC this week, accusing the company of negligence for converting the 1959 Lincoln Continental to run on electricity and a biodiesel-powered generator. The suit seeks nearly $500,000 that Unigard says it paid to the owner of a building damaged in the 2010 blaze in San Carlos.

Excerpts from the Innovation Economy blog. CasePick Systems is a company I've been tracking since I had my first meeting with its founder, John Lert, in 2007. At the time, Lert did not want me to write about the company but he showed me some nifty animations of how robots might be able to move merchandise more efficiently around warehouses. I wrote about the company when it was acquired by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a privately held New Hampshire company, and when it named Jim Baum, formerly chief executive of the data warehousing firm Netezza, as its leader.

Ahead of its closing at the end of the year, Priscilla of Boston is hosting a liquidation sale at its Charlestown warehouse on Saturday from 9a.m. to 4 p.m. Gowns will be 75-90 percent off original prices and will start at $99. Brands will include Priscilla of Boston, Platinum for Priscilla of Boston, Jewel by Priscilla of Boston, Melissa Sweet, and Vineyard Collection. We're guessing lines will form early. The warehouse is at 40 Cambridge St., Charlestown. Find more sale details at www.priscillaofboston.com . -- Ami Albernaz

A Thai television station is reporting that a Lebanese suspect with alleged links to Hezbollah militants has led police to a warehouse housing materials that could be used to make explosives. Thai PBS television showed police confiscating boxes of urea fertilizer and liquid ammonium nitrate in Monday's raid. The raid comes after the U.S. and Israel warned Friday of a terror threat targeting their citizens in Bangkok. Officials say that threat has now been thwarted. The Lebanese suspect was detained Thursday.

STAR, N.C. - A gunman who opened fire at a North Carolina lumber company targeted four of his co-workers with a shotgun yesterday, killing three and critically injuring the other, police said. Ronald Dean Davis went home after the rampage at the warehouse and shot himself in the head, leaving him critically wounded, Montgomery County Sheriff Dempsey Owens said. Davis, 50, was described as disgruntled, but the sheriff did not say exactly what he was upset about. "He knew who he was after; he knew who he was going to see," Owens said.