Isabel Tehan

The North Central Massachusetts Development Corp. in Fitchburg loaned $100,000 loan to MK Dance Center in Leominster. The owners will use the funds to renovate and build out their new space at Gateway Business Center at 435 Lancaster St.

African Community Education, a Worcester nonprofit serving African immigrants and refugees, will receive $3 million from the new federal budget to renovate its new center in Worcester.

Nominations for the Worcester Business Journal’s Business Leader of the Year and Hall of Fame awards are due this Friday, Jan. 20.

The LGBT Asylum Task Force has purchased its second property in Worcester. Able to accommodate up to 40 asylum seekers at a time, the group owns one other property in Worcester, and rents a third for its shelters.

Central Mass Physical Therapy & Wellness opened its third location in space owned by United Health and Performance gym in Lancaster. Previously, the company had been seeing clients out of its West Boylston and Westborough locations.

Framingham clinical research firm Alira Health, which is anticipating a spike in demand as more patients have control over their data, has raised $58 million in capital funding.

Hologic Inc., a Marlborough medical technology company, reported a 41.2% decrease in diagnostic testing revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2023.

Months after Heywood Healthcare, one of the few Central Massachusetts independent community healthcare systems, entered formal non-binding discussions to affiliate with UMass Memorial Health of Worcester, the merger has been called off.

The settlement resolves claims that Aspen Dental used a series of bait-and-switch tactics on thousands of Massachusetts consumers, according to a Thursday release from the attorney general. 

Worcester State University and Quinsigamond Community College will split grants totaling $1.6 million intended to build nursing talent and create career pathways in Central Massachusetts.