The MIAA, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Western Mass. Sports Commission jointly announced plans today to hold the state finals at Springfield College as well as the Mass. Mutual Center. According to Jim Peters of the MIAA, they will wait until the conclusion of the state semifinals to determine which four games would be held at the Mass. Mutual Center and which four would go to Springfield.

The number of manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts has declined over each of the past two years, but the loss of jobs is slowing, according to state figures. A 2012 study by the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University projected the state would lose about 2,000 manufacturing jobs annually from 2013 to 2018, for a total of 10,000 fewer jobs. “The commonwealth has been doing better than ... projected,” Mark S. Sternman, a spokesman for MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, said yesterday at an early State House kickoff of October ...

The MIAA announced yesterday that, starting next March, all state finals for the boys and girls basketball tournaments will take place in Springfield, hosted by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Western Massachusetts Sports Commission. On Saturday, March 19, eight state championship boys and girls hoop games will be played in Springfield — four to be played at the MassMutual Center, and the other four at Springfield College’s Blake Arena. This move ends the run of State Final Saturday in Worcester, where the DCU Center would host six games in one day.

 Thirty-eight cities and towns across Massachusetts are set to receive $31 million in federal Community Development Block Grants. Gov. Deval Patrick says the money will help pay for housing rehabilitation, public service projects and local infrastructure. Patrick planned to officially announce the grants Friday in West Springfield.

Spokeswoman Marcia Blomberg says ISO expects to have enough power to meet demand, but there's a potential that a surplus of more than 2,000 megawatts could run thin. The Holyoke-based grid operator says it may seek emergency electricity from other regions or ask businesses to reduce power use. - See more at: http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/07/weeklong_heat_wave_taxing_new_england_power_grid?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bostonherald%2Fbusiness+%28Business+-+BostonHerald.com%29#sthash.ShgeO2Hf.dpuf

Massachusetts is considering allowing small manufacturers to use computers at the Green High Performance Computing Center in Holyoke to help make parts for larger manufacturers, state officials said yesterday. The plan, which is still in the conceptual stage, is part of a broader effort to help train workers and give them access to the hardware and software they need to make parts that large manufacturers increasingly are designing with computers, said Greg Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development.

The Economic Assistance Coordinating Council said today it approved nine projects for participation in the Economic Development Incentive Program, which are expected to create and retain 7,144 jobs, in addition to leveraging nearly $267 million in private investment and supporting construction projects across the Commonwealth.

UMass Amherst polymer scientists Kenneth Carter and James Watkins, collaborating with team leader Francesco Fornasiero of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, recently received a five-year, $1.8 million grant to design ways to manufacture the new material as part of a $13 million project funded by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

The region’s higher education institutions have a crucial role to play in influencing the region’s future supply of workers, the report indicates. Even though the number of students enrolled full-time in public two- and four-year institutions in the region has grown over the last decade, the rate of growth has trailed both the growth in the state and in the United States. The number of students earning post-secondary degrees at institutions in the Pioneer Valley also trailed the growth in Massachusetts for certificates, associate’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees.

Gov. Deval Patrick is heading the list of academic, political and business leaders who will celebrate the completion of the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Holyoke Friday.

Springfield-based global investment manager Babson Capital Management LLC said today it has formed a new Chicago-based Middle Market Lending Group to provider senior secured financing solutions to middle-market companies.

Bialecki said he is planning a new initiative to woo companies from the metropolitan New York area, targeting financial services and information technology firms. He hopes some of those companies will consider relocating customer service jobs outsourced abroad so they are closer to home, particularly in the lower-cost Springfield area.
A successful example, he said, is a Liberty Mutual customer service call center located in downtown Springfield, announced in 2008.

The purchase of Enfield-Conn.-based New England Bank by West Springfield-based United Bank announced Thursday will expand United’s presence into Hartford, Tolland, New Haven and Litchfield counties in Connecticut, where New England Bank operates 15 full-service banking offices and two administrative offices.