Banking & Finance

Natick-based Middlesex Savings Bank will distribute $1 million to local nonprofit organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced in a press release.

New hires and promotions at companies like AAFCPAs in Westborough, Bryley Sytems in Clinton, Concierge Physical Therapy in Sutton, Reliant Medical Group and Framingham State University.

CEO Eric Dickson said while UMass is grateful for the few million dollars in donations it garners each year, they don’t even compare to hospitals in Boston, who tend to generate tens of millions of dollars in philanthropy every year.

It isn’t heavily dependent on tourism or conventions, and it has relatively few hotel rooms. It isn’t home to any casinos and doesn’t host headquarters for any major airlines, energy companies, automakers or cruise lines, among others who have been hardest hit.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on and Central Massachusetts business owners adjust to a shifting economic and regulatory environment, area experts are cautioning company heads to stay abreast of ever-changing tides – and to make sure emergency plans are in place to protect work and cash flow.

The House of Representatives on Friday afternoon passed the $2-trillion economic stimulus package, which includes $367-billion in forgivable loans for small businesses, meant to help the economy as the country battles the coronavirus.

With a $2 trillion stimulus package one House vote away from President Donald Trump's desk, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday told small business owners that the coronavirus relief bill would make millions available to them, mostly through loans, as they try to weather the shutdown of economic life nationwide.

The bill includes hundreds of billions of dollars for emergency loans to small businesses.

Central One Federal Credit Union is staying put in Shrewsbury, where it has long been based. But the credit union has outgrown its space and is adding a new operations center in Auburn.

The $10-million fund set up Monday by the Gov. Charlie Baker Administration to provide relief to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus was open for three days.