Framingham

Cost of living in the nine-town stretch of MetroWest between Hopkinton and Natick ranks above that of Boston, according to a report released last week by Framingham State University. The school's MetroWest Economic Research Center (MERC) issued its cost of living index – which it gathers and shares with a national organization called C2ER that tracks national prices – last week at its 21st annual conference at the Verve Crowne Plaza in Natick.

Framingham-based office retailer Staples Inc. is hoping 3-D printers will catch on in the consumer and small business market.

New York-based GateHouse Media, which operates two daily newspapers in Central Massachusetts and 79 across the country, saw its revenue fall and its losses increase during its first fiscal quarter, ended March 31.

Framingham-based Staples unveiled a 685-kilowatt solar installation at its headquarters, the 37th solar array for the global office products giant, it announced.

The MBTA will add two express trains on the Worcester-to-Boston commuter rail line – one in each direction – weekdays starting April 29, according to Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail (MBCR), which operates the commuter rail lines for the “T.”

A five-story office building that sits next to the Framingham-Southborough line and formerly occupied by Genzyme Corp. was sold last week to a New Jersey firm that's planning a major expansion and renovation, according to a broker involved in the deal.

Cultural attractions are nice to have in every community, said Susan Nicholl, executive director of the MetroWest Tourism & Visitors Bureau in Framingham.

Five health care organizations have received grants totaling $65,000 from the Massachusetts Medical Society's Alliance Charitable Foundation for health care and medical services they deliver.

Citing "extraordinarily cold weather" across much of the U.S., Canadian and European regions where it has stores, TJX Cos. reported a dip in consolidated comparable store sales for March.

The office vacancy rate in Natick and Framingham dipped below 10 percent in the first quarter of 2013, according Boston-based Richards Barry Joyce & Partners, a favorable development for landlords in the two MetroWest towns.