North County

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.

The U.S. Department of Energy credits, combined with the other federal and private funds, will assist the company to begin production at the facility faster, said Jason Mortimer, Electric Hydrogen’s senior vice president of global sales.

The joint venture will own and operate two planned EV battery recycling plants, with one in Poland and the other in Germany.

This Bob’s location will be the company’s fourth in Central Massachusetts, with other locations in Franklin, Natick, and Worcester.

As the Massachusetts cannabis industry battles declining cannabis prices, lawsuits, and a number of other growing pains, a new business association has emerged.