The proposed and controversial expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline possibly through Franklin County might not be a bad idea, said the head of the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department. The Northeast needs additional natural gas pipeline capacity, said James M. Lavelle, manager of the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department (HGE).

Health New England, the Springfield-based health insurer, is moving forward .  The company, which has $550 million in revenue, has plans to expand into Worcester County, a planned expansion in Connecticut and innovative programs like 'Hospital at Home,' which could let some patients be monitored from home instead staying in the hospital.

On Friday morning, a handful of University of Massachusetts student farmers dressed in dusty shorts and T-shirts, were busy harvesting yellow squash, zucchini and eggplants that would soon be on the shelves of two Big Y World Class Market stores. This is the first summer the students from the UMass Student Farm have been supplying summer crops to the Springfield-based chain. In the past two years, they sold fall crops there, said farm manager Amanda Brown. But the partnership with Big Y has grown and both hope it will continue to flourish.

Four representatives fielded questions during a joint meeting of the Franklin County Regional Council of Governments and the Franklin Regional Planning Board. The representatives discussed process specifics and reasons behind the proposed expansion to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, which would cut about 180 miles across the state through northern Massachusetts, not including lateral lines. Spokesman Allen Fore said the route is not yet set in stone, and he called it a survey corridor rather than a proposed route. “Not a single permit has been filed,” he said. When asked why Kinder Morgan doesn’t build the pipeline along an existing ...

The electricity that Greenfield hopes to soon buy in bulk and resell at a discount to residents and businesses helped give  the city the power to land the Kennametal expansion. "Obviously the cost of energy is one of the biggest impediments in trying to attract manufacturers to New England,"  said Robert Pyers, director of economic development for Greenfield. This week,  Kennametal has announced that it will expand its operations here, adding 70 new jobs and $4.65  million worth  in private investment including $3.4 million in equipment and renovations to its plant at 34 Sanderson St. here.

The town's Community Development Department has received $900,000 from federal Community Development Block Grant funding that will be used for sidewalk replacement in the Memorial Avenue neighborhood and housing rehabilitation assistance for 13 resident housing units. Gov. Deval L. Patrick announced last week that 54 cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth will receive funding from a total of $27.5 million in federal CDBG money. “These are very important dollars to the enhancement of quality of life in West Springfield,” said Mayor Edward C. Sullivan.

Boston's Grantham Group LLC has been selected to develop an 83-unit assisted living complex on land once part of the Belchertown State School. The Belchertown Economic Development and Industrial Corporation and MassDevelopment announced the selection of Grantham on Thursday. Grantham Group also developed the $13.4 million, 50,000-square-foot Christopher Heights of Northampton Project in the Village Hill neighborhood of Northampton. Village Hill, once part of the old Northampton State Hospital, is owned by MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development agency.

Springfield-based MassMutual announced Thursday that it has formed MassMutual Ventures, a $100 million corporate venture capital firm focused on backing startups and businesses whose technologies could transform core insurance, retirement and asset-management industries. The new fund is managed by Doug Russell, MassMutual’s senior vice president, strategy and corporate development; Eric Emmons, who joined the firm after serving as the head of Siemens Venture Capital North America for the past five years; and Mark Goodman, who founded and managed two technology focused venture capital funds, Terawatt Ventures and Brookline Ventures. The new firm will manage its worldwide investments from its ...

Casey is the principal at Marketing Doctor in West Springfield, a marketing and advertising agency specializing in advertising in bariatrics, the elective medical procedure space and political campaigns. Before establishing Marketing Doctor, Casey served as a senior sales account executive for LIN Media and advertising account executive for Guy Gannett Broadcasting.

The Fort is quiet, for now.  There was no murmur of conversation, no bursts of laughter, no clinking of knives and forks, no hubbub or rushing waitstaff at the downtown Springfield restaurant Wednesday.  'I can get more work done in an hour than I used to be able to get done in eight hours,' said Barbara B. Meunier, a managing partner and part of the Scherff family that has run the Student Prince Cafe and The Fort Dining Room, the downtown Springfield icon, for two generations.