Blackstone Valley

<i>(UPDATED May 5 at 8:20 a.m.)</i> U.S. Rep. James McGovern has filed a bill that would give states and local communities the ability to regulate propane gas facilities that are operated by rail carriers, his office announced Monday.

The Foster hospital at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton will undergo an $8.6 million renovation that will boost exam and treatment areas, the organization announced Wednesday.

More than two years after Grafton selectmen sued to prevent the Grafton and Upton Railroad from delivering and installing four 80,000-gallon propane tanks at a planned North Grafton transloading facility, the dispute continues.

An $8.1 million expansion project at WGM Fabricators of Northbridge has been approved for the state's Economic Development Incentive Program (EDIP), the state's investment tax credit program for businesses.

The manufacturing industry in Central Massachusetts isn't as robust as it was decades ago. But there are still robust companies. That includes Lampin Corp. of Uxbridge. The maker of such products as pulleys and MITRPAK gearboxes said it enjoyed 22-percent growth in revenue last year, and an even bigger 70-percent jump in net profit margins. Bill DiBenedetto, a former executive with Digital Equipment Corp., is nearing the end of his third year as president of the employee-owned company.

A 128-year-old family-owned lumber company in Hudson has been sold to Koopman Lumber of Whitinsville and now bears the Koopman name.

Three solar-energy stations are expected to be completed in Uxbridge and will serve residential and commercial electric ratepayers for National Grid, according to the project developer.

Eleven nursing homes in Central Massachusetts received the top rating in U.S. News & World Report's annual list of best nursing homes.

Webster First Federal Credit Union (WFFCU), which is based in Worcester, is merging with Boston-based Industrial Credit Union (ICU), the two institutions announced.

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.