Blackstone Valley

The private company that provides water to Millbury and Oxford is passing along savings from a revised tax classification to nearly 19,000 households, including customers in those two Central Massachusetts towns.

The Grafton News and its website are being bought by the Holden Landmark Corp., publisher of several Central Massachusetts newspapers and websites. The sale is expected to close at the end of January.

Insurers, small business advocates and local chambers of commerce are asking House lawmakers to put the brakes on a late-moving bill that would require health insurance carriers to cover services from licensed education psychologists for students.

National Grid will more than triple its solar-power generation capabilities in Massachusetts with an additional 16 megawatts of energy at 19 sites to be built in the next year, the utility announced Monday.

In a move that will have funding and tourism implications at historic sites throughout Central Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Congress has voted to create a new national park in the Blackstone River valley.

Edward J. Kelly, the president of Milford Regional Medical Center, will also become the CEO of the health care organization in 2016, Milford Regional announced Thursday.

The House of Representatives Thursday approved legislation to make the Blackstone River Valley National Historic Corridor a unit of the National Park System.

The fate of casino gambling in Massachusetts is far from certain as a ballot question that could nix it looms closer. But developers of the Plainridge Park Casino aren't faltering. “We are already underway with construction … In fact, we are a little more than halfway done,” said Eric Schippers, senior vice president of public affairs for Penn National Gaming, the Pennsylvania-based firm that was awarded the state's single slots parlor license by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

Central Mass. companies were among more than 1,600 manufacturers that opened their doors across the country for the third-annual Manufacturing Day , according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which is spearheading the day of events along with several other national organizations.

A controversial bill that proponents say would solidify sales of foreclosed homes could be up before the Senate soon, after action planned for Thursday was delayed for Rosh Hashanah, according to Sen. Michael Moore, a supporter of the legislation.