Keller: Should Massachusetts state workers be able to work from home?
It's a legacy of the pandemic: thousands of Massachusetts state employees working remotely, at least part of the time. But is it preventing businesses and taxpayers from getting what they need from the state?
It's time to return to the office, Tim Murray, the Massachusetts's former lieutenant governor who is now CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, claims in an op-ed for the Worcester Telegram and an interview with WBZ-TV.
"It's kind of a head-scratcher, I think, to me and to many others," Murray said, citing complaints about unresponsive state agencies from a health-care company seeking help processing a compliance review, a contractor looking for sign-offs on project permits but unable to get a return phone call or email, and a citizen trying unsuccessfully to communicate with the Department of Children and Families.
"Common sense shows me that having people in the offices where they can readily and quickly get in touch with one another, huddle when decisions need to be made, is the way that we can best serve taxpayers," said Murray.
The vast majority of American workers are back in the office at least part of the time since the work-from-home boom of the pandemic era. But Massachusetts state employees? Not so much.
Both former Governor Charlie Baker and current Governor Maura Healey chose to enshrine remote work in state policy - not contractually but in memoranda of understanding, a decision Murray claims has gummed up the works at a moment when efficient state government is needed most.
Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered all state employees back to the office in March. But just a few months after that ultimatum, he backed down in the face of backlash from unions and a state study that found remote work had improved service.
It was a similar story in California, where Governor Gavin Newsom traded some return-to-the-office demands for union wage concessions.
Did Massachusetts give away similar leverage to state-worker unions?
"Certainly, that could be argued when so many others, including the teachers, are back to work," said Murray.
Not true, said Theresa McGoldrick, of the National Association of Government Employees, a union representing 12,000 state workers. She said more than half her members do at least some remote work, adding, "telework saves money for the Commonwealth."
And in a statement to WBZ-TV, a spokesperson for Healey said the administration "values in-person work" and that the majority of state employees do come into the office.
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- Associated Press
Commerce Bancshares, Inc. Receives Regulatory Approval to Acquire FineMark Holdings, Inc.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 21, 2025-- Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) ('Commerce'), the holding company for Commerce Bank, announced it has received all regulatory approvals to complete its proposed merger with FineMark Holdings, Inc. (OTC: FNBT) ('FineMark'), the holding company for FineMark National Bank & Trust. The transaction has been approved by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and the Missouri Division of Finance and remains subject to approval of FineMark shareholders and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is anticipated to close on January 1, 2026, as previously announced. 'We are pleased to have received regulatory approval for our merger with FineMark,' said John Kemper, President and CEO, Commerce Bank. 'This is a significant milestone in bringing our organizations together.' Kemper continued, 'With combined assets of $36 billion and $86 billion in wealth assets under administration, this partnership represents a powerful alignment of cultures, values, and vision. Together, we will have a stronger foundation for growth and will deliver more seamless, innovative, and personalized experiences for our wealth management and private banking clients. This is more than a simple expansion; it's a shared commitment to excellence, growth, and long-term value for our clients, shareholders, and communities.' As of June 30, 2025, FineMark had assets of $3.9 billion, deposits of $3.1 billion and loans of $2.7 billion. FineMark's Trust and Investment business delivers a comprehensive suite of highly personalized services to approximately 2,000 clients with approximately $8.3 billion in assets under administration. ABOUT COMMERCE With $32.3 billion in assets 1, Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBSH) is a regional bank holding company offering a full line of banking services through its subsidiaries, including payment solutions, investment management and securities brokerage. One of its subsidiaries, Commerce Bank, leverages 160 years of proven strength and experience to help individuals and businesses solve financial challenges. In addition to offering payment solutions across the U.S., Commerce Bank currently operates full-service banking facilities across the Midwest including the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas, Springfield, Central Missouri, Central Illinois, Wichita, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Denver. Beyond the Midwest, Commerce also maintains commercial offices in Dallas, Houston, Cincinnati, Nashville, Des Moines, Indianapolis, and Grand Rapids and wealth offices in Dallas, Houston and Naples. Commerce delivers high-touch service and sophisticated financial solutions at regional branches, commercial and wealth offices, ATMs, online, mobile and through a 24/7 customer service line. Learn more at 1 As of June 30, 2025 ABOUT FINEMARK FineMark Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of FineMark National Bank & Trust. Founded in 2007, FineMark is a nationally chartered bank and trust company, headquartered in Florida. Through its offices located in Florida, Arizona and South Carolina, FineMark offers a full range of financial services, including personal and business banking, lending, trust and investment services. FineMark's common stock trades on the OTCQX under the symbol FNBT. Investor information is available on FineMark's website at CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, certain plans, expectations, goals, projections, and statements about the benefits of the proposed business combination transaction between Commerce and FineMark (the 'Proposed Transaction'), the plans, objectives, expectations and intentions of Commerce and FineMark, the expected timing of completion of the Proposed Transaction, and other statements that are not historical facts. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including statements about beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as 'may,' 'will,' 'should,' 'could,' 'would,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'estimate,' 'project,' 'believe,' 'intend,' 'anticipate,' 'expect,' 'target' and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties. There are many factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results described in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are intended to be subject to the safe harbor provided by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Factors relating to the Proposed Transaction that could cause or contribute to actual results differing materially from those contained or implied in forward-looking statements or historical performance include, in addition to those factors identified elsewhere in this press release the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the right of Commerce or FineMark to terminate the definitive merger agreement governing the terms and conditions of the Proposed Transaction; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Commerce or FineMark; the possibility that revenue or expense synergies or the other expected benefits of the Proposed Transaction may not fully materialize or may take longer to realize than expected, or may be more costly to achieve than anticipated, including as a result of the impact of, or problems arising from, the integration of the two companies, the strength of the economy and competitive factors in the areas where Commerce and FineMark do business, or other unexpected factors or events; the possibility that the Proposed Transaction may not be completed when expected or at all because required shareholder or other approvals or other conditions to closing are not received or satisfied on a timely basis or at all; the risk that Commerce is unable to successfully and promptly implement its integration strategies; reputational risks and potential adverse reactions from or changes to the relationships with the companies' customers, employees or other business partners, including resulting from the announcement or the completion of the Proposed Transaction; the dilution caused by Commerce's issuance of common stock in connection with the Proposed Transaction; diversion of management's attention and time from ongoing business operations and other opportunities on matters relating to the Proposed Transaction; and other factors that may affect the future results of Commerce and FineMark, including continued pressures and uncertainties within the banking industry and Commerce's and FineMark's markets, including changes in interest rates and deposit amounts and composition, adverse developments in the level and direction of loan delinquencies, charge-offs, and estimates of the adequacy of the allowance for loan losses, increased competitive pressures, asset and credit quality deterioration, the impact of proposed or imposed tariffs by the U.S. government or retaliatory tariffs proposed or imposed by U.S. trading partners that could have an adverse impact on customers or any recession or slowdown in economic growth particularly in the markets in which Commerce or FineMark operate, and legislative, regulatory, and fiscal policy changes and related compliance costs. These factors are not necessarily all of the factors that could cause Commerce's or FineMark's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by any of the forward-looking statements. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could harm Commerce's or FineMark's results. Further information regarding Commerce and factors that could affect the forward-looking statements contained herein can be found in Commerce's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2025 and June 30, 2025, which are accessible on the Securities and Exchange Commission's (the 'SEC') website at and at and in other documents Commerce files with the SEC. Information on these websites is not part of this document. All forward-looking statements attributable to Commerce or FineMark, or persons acting on Commerce's or FineMark's behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements set forth above. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and Commerce and FineMark do not undertake or assume any obligation to update publicly any of these statements to reflect actual results, new information or future events, changes in assumptions, or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. If Commerce or FineMark update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that Commerce or FineMark will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT In connection with the Proposed Transaction, Commerce will file with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4 to register the shares of Commerce common stock to be issued in connection with the Proposed Transaction that will include a proxy statement of FineMark and a prospectus of Commerce (the 'proxy statement/prospectus'), as well as other relevant documents concerning the Proposed Transaction. The definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be sent to the shareholders of FineMark seeking their approval of the Proposed Transaction and other related matters. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. INVESTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS OF FINEMARK ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE AND EACH OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENT FILED WITH THE SEC BY COMMERCE IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THOSE DOCUMENTS, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Shareholders will be able to obtain a free copy of the definitive proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about the Proposed Transaction, Commerce and FineMark, without charge, at the SEC's website, Copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and the filings with the SEC that will be incorporated by reference in the proxy statement/prospectus can also be obtained, without charge, by directing a request to Commerce's Investor Relations via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (314) 746-7485, or to FineMark's Investor Relations via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (239) 461-3850. PARTICIPANTS IN THE SOLICITATION Commerce, FineMark and certain of their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders of FineMark in connection with the Proposed Transaction under the rules of the SEC. Information regarding Commerce's directors and executive officers is available in the sections entitled 'Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance' and 'Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters' in Commerce's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, which was filed with the SEC on February 25, 2025 (available at ); in the sections entitled 'Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management,' 'Composition of the Board, Board Diversity and Director Qualifications,' 'Corporate Governance' 'Compensation Discussion and Analysis' and 'Executive Compensation,' in Commerce's definitive proxy statement relating to its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on March 14, 2025 (available at ); and other documents filed by Commerce with the SEC. To the extent holdings of Commerce common stock by the directors and executive officers of Commerce have changed from the amounts held by such persons as reflected in the documents described above, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC. Additional information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the Proposed Transaction. Free copies of this document may be obtained as described in the preceding paragraph. View source version on CONTACT: Public Relations Tiffany Charles (314) 746-8567 [email protected] Relations Matt Burkemper (314) 746-7485 [email protected] KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA FLORIDA MISSOURI INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BANKING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FINANCE SOURCE: Commerce Bancshares, Inc. Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 08/21/2025 01:29 PM/DISC: 08/21/2025 01:30 PM
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Markets like India and China have reaped the benefits of Walmart's international supply chain investments. In China, Walmart opened 33 one-hour delivery 'cloud depots' throughout the quarter, bringing its nationwide total to 455 locations, according to Kathryn McLay, president and CEO of Walmart International. With more than 50 percent of sales in China initiated online, Walmart can deliver more products to the customer in less than an hour. E-commerce sales in China expanded 39 percent in the quarter, while it scaled up 24 percent and 21 percent in Canada and Mexico, respectively. And in India, the company now operates 300 'minute FCs,' which enables Walmart to reach customers in less than fifteen minutes. Sixty of these MFCs are for Walmart-owned fashion retailer Myntra, which enables them to be able to get to the customer in under 30 minutes. 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