Birmingham News (Alabama) (05/14/13) Stan Diel

Recruitment and staffing firm HIM Connections Inc. has merged with the Coding Center LLC, a coding outsourcing firm and division of Doozer Software Inc. HIM Connections and the Coding Center are both based in Birmingham, AL, and specialize in coding and information services management for the health care industry. The resulting firm will operate as HIM Connections LLC. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

NBC News (05/13/13) Kelley Holland

There are likely to be more openings in the upcoming summer job market, according to the most recent annual summer jobs survey by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The report found that even after a sharp increase in teen employment last summer, more openings are likely this year. There are also plenty of entrepreneurial opportunities, says John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray. “Teens that have technical skills, programming skills, even PowerPoint skills, can do tech service and support. They can really find some high paying jobs that used to not really be available to teens.”

A second survey, by snagajob.com, an hourly employment network, found that 19% of the hiring managers who responded plan to hire summer help, up from 9% in 2012, and more of them think it will be “easy” for teens to find work. High school and college students are not the only ones looking for summer employment. With so many people over 60 out of work for lengthy periods or looking for supplemental income, the jobs competition between teens and older workers may be heated.

Boston Globe (05/14/13) Jarret Bencks

Charles Toomajian, a former Malden, MA, mayoral aide and city solicitor, could face seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty on May 13 to charges stemming from a money laundering scheme with ties to organized crime.

According to the indictments, Toomajian served as an intermediary for Charles Davis, who worked for staffing company Randstad Professionals in Wakefield, where he had access to the corporate checkbook. To pay off his gambling debts, Davis wrote company checks, which were deposited into an account at Toomajian’s private law practice. In all, Toomajian’s law practice account received 47 checks totaling $659,525 from Randstad between 2006 and 2009.

Toomajian was one of 31 people charged in what investigators called the “Rossetti Criminal Organization,” which was connected to heroin and cocaine trafficking, marijuana distribution, loan sharking, extortion, embezzlement, and gambling. The money connected to Toomajian’s account is about one-third of the total $1.86 million that prosecutors say Davis embezzled from Randstad.

Newsday (05/11/13) Lisa Du

Huntington, NY-based startup Work Market Inc., which provides an online tool for businesses to manage professional freelance and contract workers, has received a $10 million investment from a trio of venture capital firms in New York City and Massachusetts. Companies use Work Market’s platform—which is cloud-based and accessible through any Internet browser—to hire, pay, and manage freelance and contract workers and oversee workflow. Freelancers and independent contractors and consultants can use Work Market to find work.