Greater Worcester

The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency (MassHousing) has awarded $290,000 to support sober housing programs in Worcester, Boston, Dartmouth and Norton, the quasi-public affordable housing agency announced Wednesday.

Germany-based life sciences company Eppendorf has agreed to donate equipment to Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center (BETC).

United Way of Central Massachusetts has received one of its largest-ever single donations, the organization said.

Worcester's economy is expected to grow at about 1.5 percent on an annualized basis for the first three to six months of 2014, according to a report by an Assumption College economics professor.

Antigen Express, the Worcester-based subsidiary of Toronto's Generex Biotechnology Corp., said a Phase II clinical trial of a cancer vaccine corroborates earlier tests.

AbbVie has announced plans to build a $320 million manufacturing plant in Singapore, its first in Asia.

A federal audit found errors in more than two-thirds of UMass Memorial Medical Center's (UMMMC) sampled Medicare claims from 2010 and 2011, resulting in nearly $1.65 million in overpayments to the health care system.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Wednesday announced a $2.5-million training grant for software and educational materials that will teach Massachusetts vocational students new skills in advanced high-tech machinery.

A Worcester-based investment firm has purchased the mercantile buildings that are home to the Maxwell Silverman's Toolhouse restaurant for $2.85 million.

The Hanover Insurance Group of Worcester on Thursday released its fourth-quarter earnings report, posting net and operating income gains over 2012 thanks to strong price increases in both commercial and personal lines, according to the company.