Greater Worcester

Every student in Massachusetts would be able to attend community college for free starting this fall -- and take free regional public transit to get there -- and online Lottery sales would be legalized under a $58 billion compromise budget House and Senate negotiators filed Thursday evening.

For the first time since its founding in 2011, Worcester nonprofit Main IDEA Youth & Arts in Worcester has named a new executive director.

The Senate voted 38-2 on its rewrite (S 2871) of the wide-ranging, House-approved legislation, a measure that supporters believe will plug holes in oversight of hospitals, especially for-profit systems like the bankrupt Steward Health Care.

TD Bank has closed its branch in the Guaranty Building at 370 Main St. in downtown Worcester, leaving the 53-year old office building with another vacancy.

The franchise, operated by married couple Logi Vaidyanathan and Jobita Alukka of Shrewsbury, will operate from the pool at the DoubleTree Hilton-Milford.

The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts has awarded $890,455 through its Activation Fund grants program to eight local organizations addressing health issues throughout the community. 

UMass Memorial Health in Worcester has awarded nearly $5 million in grants to 18 Worcester County nonprofits, aimed at bettering health outcomes and increasing access to care for underserved community members.

The high number of applicants for the lottery showed the amount of demand for affordable housing in the area, said Rich Mazzocchi, principal of Tremont Development.

Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said Wednesday that officials are in the dark for now on how the bidding process worked out for Steward Health Care's hospitals in Massachusetts.

UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester fell one spot down in 2023 in the U.S. News and World Report’s list of best hospitals in Massachusetts but still stayed among the top five in the state.