Hudson

A Worcester-based packaging supply company signed a lease Friday for 66,800 square feet of space in Hudson.

Hudson-based New England Clean Energy, which designs and installs solar energy products for homes and businesses, has expanded into southern New Hampshire, its president Mark Durrenberger, announced Thursday.

After nearly a year of trying to sell its 1.3 million-square-foot Hudson campus with little luck, Intel Corp. has tapped a Philadelphia real estate firm to help push the property toward a sale.

News that Intel will halt manufacturing operations in Hudson after this year wasn't welcome — and it wasn't all that much of a surprise — but business and economic development leaders say it falls short of a blow to the local manufacturing landscape. In September, the computer chip maker announced that manufacturing would be phased out at the end of 2014, resulting in the loss of about 700 jobs in Hudson. Some of those employees have found work at other Intel locations elsewhere in the United States, according to Ann Hurd, a local spokeswoman for Intel. Research and development operations will continue at the Reed Road site, and Hurd said between 600 and 800 employees will remain.

A strength and conditioning facility has signed a lease for 4,000 square feet of space in Hudson.

A MetroWest community health initiative has secured a $75,000 grant in its efforts to encourage healthier eating and active living, according to the office of State Sen. Karen Spilka.

Hudson-based ResTech Plastic Molding has announced the acquisition of a Glastonbury, Conn., company.

The Worcester and MetroWest regions will each receive roughly $3 million to 4 million over the next four years to help fight chronic illness and reduce health care costs.

A newly-formed explosion protection company has signed a lease for 32,400 square feet of office space in a revamped Marlborough building.

In an era of competition from national and international institutions, pricey technology and uncertainty about coming regulations, what's a small local bank to do? The obvious answer, chosen by large numbers of banks across the country over the past couple of decades, is to merge with, buy, or be bought by, a rival. In Massachusetts, though, the situation is a bit different. Bruce Spitzer, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bankers Association, said 75 percent of the organization's members are mutually chartered banks. That means they can't be acquired by stock banks — which include big players like Bank of America — without going through a complex and lengthy conversion process.