Framingham

Some public colleges and universities in Massachusetts face the risk of cash shortfalls in the coming fiscal year, and the sector as a whole is expected to grapple with longer-term financial challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis presented Tuesday to the Board of Higher Education.

The new cases add to the 12,143 in Worcester county since the beginning of the pandemic. Throughout Massachusetts, there were a reported 149 new probable and confirmed cases bringing the total to 107,218.

Worcester County reported 80 new coronavirus cases between Friday and Sunday as its death toll reached 900, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. 

It wasn’t long ago CEOs were notably absent from such societal debates. For decades, business heads were advised not to talk about hot-button issues such as religion or politics.

At such a perilous time, the Worcester County business community is hampered by an uncomfortable problem: In the homogeneous world of business leadership in Worcester County, top officials at the area’s largest and best-known institutions are almost entirely white.

Framingham’s BERG, a clinical-stage biotech company using artificial intelligence to research diseases, has teamed up with the COVID-19 research team working on the Summit supercomputer at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In a flash this spring, Reliant Medical Group in Worcester was suddenly using video and phone technology to have patients meet with health providers for about a quarter of the visits that used to take place in person.

The City of Framingham has launched an accelerated application process for restaurants seeking temporary outdoor seating as the Massachusetts economy phases in its reopening, with outdoor seating the only option for restaurants right now.

Shareholders at Framingham retail parent firm TJX Cos., Inc. are requesting executive pay scales be changed to help close a company-wide earnings gap where the top executive makes nearly 1,600 times more than the average workers, according to a proposal published by Trillium Asset Management of Boston. 

The Worcester Business Journal asked area architects and preservation advocates: If you were mapping out an architectural tour of Central Massachusetts, which buildings would you include and why?