Transportation

A Shrewsbury man who owned auto repair shops in Everett and Worcester has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail over a fraud scheme during which prosecutors say he damaged customers’ cars with a sledgehammer in order to inflate appraisal repair quotes.

Arguing that app-based companies such as Uber and Lyft shift costly burdens onto taxpayers by denying drivers employee status, a new coalition of labor, civil rights and racial justice groups launched an effort Tuesday to oppose the tech giants in their effort to rewrite state labor laws.

The average price of regular unleaded gasoline remained the same as last week at $2.95 per gallon, according to a report Monday from the travel association AAA Northeast.

Weekend service will return in July to the entire MBTA commuter rail network, nearly six months after the transit agency stopped running Saturday and Sunday trains on several lines amid upheaval from the pandemic.

The Worcester Business Center has begun a 25-year lease agreement with Green Street Power Partners of Connecticut to build a 2 megawatt, 2.6-acre carport canopy solar array in the parking lot of its office space complex.

JetBlue Airways teased a Wednesday announcement related to the Worcester, but ahead of a midday press conference, direct flights from Worcester Regional Airport to New York City, as well as Fort Lauderdale, Fla. were already available for booking, beginning Aug. 20.

A key committee led by Rep. William Straus and Sen. Joe Boncore is recommending that the local road and bridge repair program known as Chapter 90 be funded at $200 million for another year, but the Democrats are also proposing to increase funding for three additional infrastructure grant programs by $75 million.

The Worcester nonprofit Seven Hills Foundation has partnered with the rideshare company Lyft and the City of Worcester to provide Worcester residents free and discounted rides to and from COVID-19 vaccination sites.

Central Massachusetts professionals are taking new jobs and getting promoted at companies like Estate Preservation Law Offices, Avidia Bank, AdCare Hospital and Banjo Health.

The board of the Worcester Regional Transit Authority public transportation system voted on Thursday morning to extend its fare-free system through Jan. 1.