North County

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has fined three individuals and businesses with ties to Central Massachusetts, with the fines totaling $168,413. 

The independent watchdog keeping an eye on care at Steward Health Care hospitals urged the state, the company, and its lenders and creditors to take action to lessen the devastation that the looming closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer is having, and will continue have on people who live in the Central Massachusetts region.

UMass Memorial CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said he hopes to work with the state to provide some healthcare facility for the Nashoba Valley region, although no formal discussions have taken place.

Gov. Maura Healey's plan to rescue five bankrupt Steward Health Care hospitals could cost Massachusetts taxpayers $700 million by 2027, the Boston Globe reported Saturday, citing "people with direct knowledge of the bailout plan."

The fatal incident drew a wide variety of first responders to the scene, including multiple local fire departments, the Massachusetts State Police, and officials from the U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration. 

Slamming an "impotent charade of oversight," the state's largest nurses union renewed its call for the Healey administration to prevent the closure of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center after regulators said both facilities provide "essential service."

Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center each provide an "essential service necessary for preserving access and health status" in their areas, public health regulators concluded this week.

Unemployment rates in Central Massachusetts’ metro areas in July reached their highest points in a year and had steep year-over-year increases.

July brought another month of high home prices to Central Massachusetts.

"Enough is enough," Gov. Maura Healey declared Friday as she announced that all the bankrupt Steward Health Care hospitals still up for sale have new owners lined up and that the state is going to assist in the transitions with financing and, in one case, the use of its property-taking powers.