Greater Worcester

After nearly four years with a streamlined system in place to permit outdoor dining and permission to sell takeout alcoholic drinks, both practices lapsed Monday as the calendar flipped to April.

Four Worcester individuals have been indicted for their alleged involvement in a local personal care attendant and home health Medicaid fraud scheme, according to a Monday announcement from the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. 

In January, more businesses were incorporated in Central Massachusetts than in any other month since at least January 2017, outpacing the state as a whole, which also set a record for new business starts.

Larry Lucchino, the former president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox and the person most instrumental in moving the Pawtucket Red Sox to Worcester, has died at age 78, according to reporting by the Boston Globe. 

Grafton State Hospital operated as a mental health facility from 1901 to 1973, when it was shuttered as part of the state’s deinstitutionalization efforts.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council has awarded 53 grants, totalling in $246,844, to help fund Worcester-based arts and cultural programs through the City’s Worcester Arts Council. 

Central Massachusetts professionals are getting hired and promoted at Workers Credit Union, Spectrum Health Systems, Fidelity Bank, and Fallon Health

Developers and business owners expect that growth to continue, saying new businesses and even more residents will soon make the area home, creating the next chapter in the long history of the Canal District.

The Central Massachusetts housing market will see little immediate impact on prices or number of sales in the wake of a national $418-million settlement.

The Senate on Thursday passed a "compromise" version of legislation affecting debt collection practices in Massachusetts, and according to its sponsor, the bill has a shot at final passage thanks to industry representatives collaborating on the rewrite.