Central Mass. South

In a special town meeting on Thursday, residents of Sturbridge voted 449-325 to deny zoning bylaws for a $25-million equine center that would include sports betting.

Massachusetts-based, vertically integrated cannabis company Local Roots opened an adult-use dispensary in Marlborough last week, with plans for a ribbon cutting and grand opening this Friday and Saturday, the company announced on Wednesday.

UMass Memorial Health -- Harrington Behavioral Health Department announced Friday it has opened a new Adult Psychiatric Unit at its Webster campus on Thompson Road.

The Town of Sturbridge was one of eight municipalities in the state to receive funding from a $1.15-million grant allotted by the Gov. Charlie Baker Administration for waterway pollution control, according to a Tuesday press release from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Valentin Gapontsev, founder, chairman, and former CEO of IPG Photonics in Oxford, has died at the age of 82, the company announced Monday morning.

Fueled by communities near I-495 and the Massachusetts Turnpike, the Central Massachusetts region grew 8.1% in population from 2010 to 2020, outpacing both the state (6.0%) and nation (6.5%), according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Decennial Census of Population and Housing.

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.

Webster Five Cents Savings Bank sold its former Auburn offices at 10 A St. for $2 million in a sale closed on Sept. 13, according to the Worcester South District Registry of Deeds.

Eight women from around Central Massachusetts have earned the honor this year.

People are on the move at Greater Worcester Community Foundation, North Brookfield Savings Bank, Reliant Medical Group, and more.