Slice of the pie: Youngsville-based RedHawk Holdings has announced that it will increase its ownership stake in EcoGen Europe Limited by roughly 50%. According to a news release, the increase is subject to approval by RedHawk’s board of directors. The company says it hopes to complete the transaction by March 31. Earlier this week, RedHawk announced that it is expanding its medical device warehousing and administrative offices at LSU Innovation Park. The company hopes to complete the expansion by March 31 to address an expected increased domestic and international demand for its medical devices.
The first: New York state today announced new regulations requiring banks and insurers to meet minimum cybersecurity standards and report breaches to regulators as part of an effort to combat a surge in cybercrime and limit damages to consumers. Governing magazine says the rules are “first in the nation” regulations. In the works since 2014, the rules followed a series of high-profile data breaches that resulted in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. companies, including Target Corp., Home Depot Inc. and Anthem Inc. They lay out unprecedented requirements on steps financial firms must take to protect their networks and customer data from hackers and disclose cyber events to state regulators. Read more.
Forging ahead: U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says President Donald Trump’s administration is committed to getting major tax reform legislation through Congress by August. The Associated Press reports Mnuchin, in an interview with CNBC, predicted Trump’s economic proposals will be able to boost growth significantly to annual rates above 3%. Mnuchin says that tax reform is the administration’s top economic priority and the goal is to have a measure approved by the time Congress takes its August recess. During the campaign, candidate Trump had set a goal of achieving growth, as measured by the gross domestic product, of 4% or better. The country has struggled through the weakest recovery in the post-World War II period in terms of growth, with GDP averaging annual gains of just above 2% in the seven years since the recession ended in mid-2009. Read more.
