Small Business

Pretty soon, two of the Massachusetts most sinful industries will compete for the same kind of customers.

Marijuana regulators on Thursday approved two testing laboratories to inspect recreational marijuana sold in Massachusetts and approved a host of licenses for other Central Mass. cannabis businesses.

Seven nonprofits in Central Massachusetts will share $383,000 among more than $2 million statewide given by the Baker Administration to help small businesses.

If state marijuana regulators decide to allow people to use marijuana in specific public places, its consumption could be limited to vaping and edibles.

The first hearing aid authorized for use in the U.S. enabling users to fit, program and control the device on their own will be marketed by Framingham-based Bose Corp.

According to John Killam, the state's manufacturing industry is as robust as ever.

The Massachusetts Health Connector agreed to an alliance with a federal agency to help spread information to companies about its insurance program for businesses with 50 or fewer employees.

Fidelity Bank has set up microloan funds to help small businesses in Gardner and Winchendon, where Colonial Co-Operative Bank, with which Fidelity has merged, had branches.

Saying Massachusetts has missed out on $16 million in marijuana taxes, officials behind the 2016 legal marijuana ballot question on Monday pointed to staffing levels and bureaucracy at the Cannabis Control Commission as potential reasons for the slow rollout of retail sales in Massachusetts.

Millennials are the largest share of the workforce and by 2025, Millennials will be 75 percent of workers.