North County

Affordable Interior Systems, Inc. of Leominster, Quest Diagnostics of Marlborough, and Pall Life Sciences of Westborough were among 18 companies from across the state honored by MassEcon this week for their contributions to the economy.

Voluntary separations of longer-term Tyco SimplexGrinnell employees in Westminster will reduce the company's local workforce 5 percent by the end of the year while keeping the number of employees above 700, according to a spokesperson for the manufacturer of security systems.

Three educators from outside Massachusetts have emerged as finalists to succeed the retiring Robert Antonucci as president of Fitchburg State University, the school announced.

Several banks and a credit union with operations in to Central Massachusetts have been honored by the state's office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for lending to businesses during the 2014 federal fiscal year, the federal agency announced.

The head of the chamber of commerce in the New Bedford area will move north and take on the same role at the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, its board of directors announced Monday morning.

Members of Westminster's board of health may have gotten more pushback than they expected when they proposed banning the sale of all tobacco products in the town. Last week, they dropped the plan.

Worcester city councilors next week are expected to hold their annual tax classification hearing, and the business community is again lobbying to shrink the gap between the residential and commercial/industrial rates. The council has done that in two of the last three years, and should do so again.

A business plan competition put on by Mount Wachusett Community College encourages entrepreneurs to develop their ideas and perhaps win a prize.

While the U.S. Senate narrowly defeated the proposed Keystone pipeline expansion from Canada to the Gulf Coast earlier this week, another pipeline project with local impact is still pending, and it's creating controversy for the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce. Groton Selectman Joshua Degen's recent decision to cancel his chamber membership has led its CEO, Melissa Fetterhoff, to defend Houston-based energy giant Kinder Morgan Energy Partners' status as a chamber gold sponsor, a designation Degen said he could not stomach. He recently wrote to Fetterhoff, asking his membership be canceled, just one month after he joined the Devens-based chamber.

Fitchburg State University graduates who plan to pursue studies in osteopathic medicine will be able to take advantage of a program with a Pennsylvania school after the two institutions signed an agreement.