North County

Central Massachusetts has experienced a decrease in unemployment rates from February to March as the four local metropolitan areas reported on by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development all saw drops. 

Applewild School, a private, co-ed boarding and day school located in Fitchburg and Devens, has received an $11-million tax-exempt bond from MassDevelopment to upgrade its Fitchburg campus. 

A Clinton-based cannabis dispensary permanently closed its doors in April, as the company faces a lawsuit from a vendor regarding alleged missed payments over HVAC work done at its building.

A Fitchburg property owner is involved in two separate proposals to see a Main Street property host a new retro arcade bar and eight residential units. 

Current rules require two employees to be in any vehicle that is transporting cannabis, but commissioners voted in December three to one to approve a change to eliminate that requirement. Business owners are waiting for the commission to formally rewrite and approve the regulations, a process that has taken four months.

The move will not impact the Wachusett brand, said Kevin Brick, vice president of regulatory and community affairs for Utz.

Prospective home buyers in Central Massachusetts are still largely dealing with record high prices and limited inventory, as the average cost of a home purchase in Middlesex and Worcester counties is up around 10% in the last year. 

Just as cannabis businesses are gearing up for the holiday known as 4/20, an unofficial celebration of marijuana where dispensaries see some of their largest crowds of the year, eleven companies in Central Massachusetts received $430,000 from the first grants from the Massachusetts Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund.

Founded in 2013, Freight Farms now has more than 600 farming units in 41 countries around the world, according to the company’s website.

Once a production desert, Central Massachusetts has seen a large increase in Hollywood-related activity in the past 15 years. Then, the strikes came.