Ayer

Ernie Herrman, president and CEO of The TJX Cos. in Framingham, was the highest-paid CEO among Central Massachusetts public companies for fiscal 2023.

Dressed in white lab coats, nearly 200 physician assistant students and providers on Thursday pitched their potential to help solve a health care workforce shortage that could worsen given the challenges facing Massachusetts hospitals owned by Steward Health Care.

Clark University, the Leominster East Side Community Center, and the MetroWest YMCA Regional Early Learning Center are among the 20 Central Massachusetts entities slated to benefit from $23.08 million in federal funding pending final approval by the U.S. Senate and President Joe Biden.

Angered over the serious financial challenges at Steward Health Care that could jeopardize the future of safety net hospitals in eastern Massachusetts, top House Democrats insisted Thursday they will not bail out the company.

The situation in Central Massachusetts, where 15.6% of named executive officers are female, largely mirrors the Massachusetts rate of 16.1% determined in a statewide census.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems of Devens purchased a 12-acre development site adjacent to its manufacturing and development facility.

An affiliate of Harvard-based North Atlantic Concrete purchased a 4.75 acre lot in Ayer for $1 million.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is one of eight companies nationwide to receive funding as part of an effort to produce a pilot-scale demonstration of fusion energy generation within a decade.

The Devens Eco-Efficiency Center is a nonprofit providing programs to help companies make more efficient choices, such as by creating The Great Exchange, a marketplace for the reuse of materials destined for the trash.

Electric Hydrogen is opening a manufacturing facility in Devens to begin building its advanced electrolyzers, which can run off of renewable energy thanks to technological advances the company has made.