Removal of fuel from the Costa Concordia, which ran aground last month off Tuscany, began last week and officials say that after it’s gone, it may take seven to 10 months to refloat the ship.

Don Margotta, a hostile takeover expert who is a finance professor at Northeastern University in Boston, said Martin Marietta’s investor presentation on Vulcan Materials is “compelling on one level,” but deals mostly with historical performance.

Mitt Romney is€” desperate to turn the campaign conversation back to the economy as social issues have roiled the GOP primary€” will try to keep the focus on tax reforms at tonight’s debate as he looks ahead to a must-win primary in his native Michigan, according to the former Bay State governor’€™s close advisers.

The jury pool for the trial of a former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate’s intimate encounter with another man was cut Tuesday after the judge reviewed answers from questionnaires.

One popular explanation for the stubbornly high unemployment rate is that businesses want to hire — but they simply can’t find workers with the right skills to take the jobs.

The case captured national attention over what seemed to be an obvious case of cyber-bullying. A former Rutgers University student used a webcam to spy on his roommate’s romantic tryst with another man in the days before the roommate’s suicide.

The number of Illinois workers who have been unemployed for more than six months continues to push record highs, according to a recent study from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

It looks like more and more high school seniors are hoping to flock to Boston come fall. Northeastern University has broken its freshman application record this year.

Many colleges and universities in the area are getting a record number of student applications this year. Northeastern University set another record this year with 44,189 applications for approximately 2,800 spots. Boston University also had a record with a 5 percent overall increase — and a 19 percent jump in international applications.

College applications are up at local colleges and universities, but more students are having a harder time keeping up with their college loans. There are signs of improvement, however, as WBZ New England Business Editor Anthony Silva learned during this morning’s WBZ Business Breakfast.

From clothing companies like Annie Mulz, Harper Lei and USHAgZ to the environmentally friendly Pure Pest Management, there were a variety of ventures who demoed at last night’s Northeastern Entrepreneurship Expo (NEXPO).

Dozens of local colleges and universities are seeing record numbers of freshman applicants this year, including Northeastern University, Boston University, Boston College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and three campuses of the University of Massachusetts.