North County

Tuesday's bankruptcy court hearing on the sale of as many as five Steward Health Care hospitals in Massachusetts has been postponed until Friday.

Further beautification efforts may soon be underway in Leominster as the City’s Façade Improvement Program has been awarded $12,000 from the North Central Massachusetts Development Corp., the economic development branch of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce.

Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre was on vacation two weeks ago when his company revealed that it planned to close two hospitals in Massachusetts, but he didn't have a hand in the decision or any say in the timing of the announcement, a spokesperson for the embattled executive said Thursday.

With frustrations mounting over the closure of Carney Hospital at the end of August, the Boston City Council adopted a resolution Wednesday calling for a public health emergency and applying new pressure on the state to protect patient care.

"Things are moving quickly I think right now in the bankruptcy court," Healey told reporters at the State House. "I'm cautiously optimistic but it's right now in the hands of the lenders."

State public health officials have scheduled public hearings on Steward Health Care's plans to close Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer later this month.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Tuesday approved the agreement that Massachusetts state government made to provide $30 million in advance Medicaid payments to keep a handful of Steward Health Care hospitals here open through August as the company tries to sell them.

AMSC seeks to bolster its growing presence in the defense sector through the $61.4-million purchase of a NWL, a New Jersey-based firm.

Nine Worcester County nonprofits including healthcare organizations, schools, and places of worship received nearly half a million in state grants to finance security updates needed to protect them from potential hate crimes and terror attacks.

A Fitchburg-based cannabis cultivation is seeking to construct a new extraction lab to its facility, but lingering odor issues impacting neighbors near the site are creating complications.