Leominster

Run by the same family that launched popular juice company Veryfine Products Inc. of Littleton, which in turn traces its roots back to 1865, New England Apple Products is very much embedded in the apple-and-juice industry in northern Massachusetts.

Two Central Mass. companies have received nearly $800,000 in grant funding from the Industrial Rail Access Program, which aims to enhance rail and freight access, the Gov. Charlie Baker administration announced on Nov 19.

Nearly $16.4 million in MassWorks funding will be spread across nine Central Massachusetts towns and cities to help cover infrastructure projects during economic recovery, state officials announced on Thursday.

Roy Nascimento, CEO and president of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, joins The Weekly Business Report to discuss the results of the chamber's survey showing in-depth how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting the business communities in Leominster, Fitchburg and the rest of North Worcester County.

United Solutions, a Leominster manufacturer of buckets, bins and other storage goods, has paid more than $4 million for a sprawling warehouse just down the street from its current operations.

Mark Daigneault, a Leominster native and former men's basketball assistant coach at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, has been named the head coach of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.

Fidelity Bank of Leominster will dedicate $45,000 over three years to the Massachusetts nonprofit Entrepreneurship for All, known as EforAll, which launched a Worcester branch on Oct. 1, the bank announced on Friday.

From the high-end Natick Mall to Solomon Pond Mall to the Mall at Whitney Field and elsewhere, retail plazas already struggling with closing chains are now facing an even more uncertain future because of the pandemic.

When it comes to main streets in Central Massachusetts, town officials uniformly agree: A healthy main street is where foot traffic is king.

A firm registered in the North Shore town of North Reading has paid $2.2 million to expand its holdings of multi-family homes in Fitchburg and Leominster.