North County

Sometimes banks opt to consolidate in order to offer their clients access to bigger loans and better resources, while other times they unite as a competitive strategy against banks with more assets.

Two years of pandemic-related enrollment declines are sure to have considerable impacts on colleges, but educators say the problem could be more long-term.

Fitchburg State University’s downtown revitalization project, ReImagine North of Main, received a $417,270 grant from the Gov. Charlie Baker Administration.

Planet Fitness, the exercise center franchise headquartered in New Hampshire, has opened its location in Worcester’s Lincoln Plaza at 535 Lincoln St.

The North Central Massachusetts Development Corp., the economic development arm of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, has approved $35,000 in financing for two small businesses in its region.

Precision Optics Corp., Inc., a Gardner-based optical instrument manufacturer, announced on Thursday that it received a $1.5-million production order from a defense/aerospace company.

Leominster restoration company SERVPRO will pay $67,000 in fines to settle claims of illegal asbestos work at a Fitchburg elementary school, according to a Monday press release from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.

After 94 years of ownership, the Hills family sold Kimball Fruit Farm in Pepperell for almost $1.2 million, according to the Middlesex South District Registry of Deeds and an announcement on the farm’s website.

The state plans to allocate $171 million for construction projects on 25 bridges in Central Massachusetts, according to an initial list posted by Gov. Charlie Baker.

The United Way of Central Massachusetts has been awarded $4.5 million, to be dispersed over two years, through the federally funded Afterschool and Out-of-School Time Rebound grant, the nonprofit announced Thursday night.