Monica Benevides

The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Worcester Business Development Corporation released on Wednesday a new economic development and recruitment video for the City of Worcester.

Restaurant revenue in Central Mass. remained down in fiscal 2021, dropping 11.53% and showing the long-lasting impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the hospitality industry.

Massachusetts State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg announced on Tuesday five appointments to the Cannabis Advisory Board, a 25-person group which studies and makes recommendations to the state regulatory body Cannabis Control Commission.

Solvus Global, a technology solutions company founded by two PhD graduates from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, has received a $1.6 million grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to develop a new manufacturing center, according to a Friday announcement. 

Mass Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, has awarded a cumulative $90,508 in grants to nine Central Massachusetts organizations in an effort to support them in the face of ongoing challenges from the coronavirus pandemic.

Adult-use cannabis retail sales in Massachusetts surpassed $1 billion for the year by the start of business Thursday, according to updated data from the state Cannabis Control Commission.

BioLife Plasma Services, part of the Japanese biopharmaceutical company Takeda, will open its first Massachusetts plasma center in Worcester on Saturday, with plans to open an additional facility in Medford in the spring, the company announced on Wednesday.

A new L.L. Bean outpost slated for The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury will open its doors to customers on Friday, Oct. 22, the Maine retailer announced on Tuesday.

BJ’s Wholesale Club, a membership-based warehouse retailer based in Westborough, will close on Thanksgiving this year, reopening at 7 a.m. on Black Friday, the company announced Tuesday.

Clean energy company Ameresco, headquartered in Framingham, announced on Tuesday it has entered into a $43-million energy performance contract with the U.S. Coast Guard for a battery energy storage system project at Training Center Petaluma in California.