Regional digest

FITCHBURG -- A program for improvements to signs and awnings in the city has been expanded to cover a wider area and to include commercial building facades, Mayor Dan H. Mylott said.

By using Community Development Block Grant money, the city will pay 70 percent of these improvements within limits, Mr. Mylott said.

There is an application fee of $1,000 for facades and $500 for signs and awnings, and the amount becomes part of the applicant’s match of 30 percent, said David Streb, the city’s planning coordinator.

Applications for signs and awnings will be accepted on a rolling basis, but there is an Aug. 4 deadline for facade applications, he said. The city will review the facade applications to choose the most suitable ones.

There is a maximum reimbursement of $2,000 for signs and awnings and $20,000 for facades.

The area eligible for the program hugs the downtown area and extends to most of the city’s major entrances.

Applications are available in the Planning Office and the Economic Development Office.

LEOMINSTER — The North Central Massachusetts Development Corp., an affiliate of the regional chamber of commerce, is celebrating a $250,000 appropriation that survived in the fiscal 2007 state budget.

The nonprofit organization, founded in 1987 to foster economic opportunity in the region, credited the local legislative delegation for its support for the appropriation during the budget season.

“Senator (Robert A.) Antonioni and our representatives have a steadfast commitment to the economic welfare of this region. This appropriation of state resources for development programming is just the latest demonstration of that priority,” the group’s treasurer, David L. McKeehan, said in a prepared statement.

Mr. McKeehan also is president of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce.

WORCESTER — Police were looking for a man who robbed the Millbury Street Honey Farms yesterday morning.

A man walked into the 98 Millbury St. store around 3:45 a.m. and asked for a pack of Newport cigarettes, police spokesman Sgt. Gary J. Quitadamo said. The man held a knife up to the female clerk when she turned around and he demanded she open the register, the sergeant said.

The man stole cash from the register and ran south on Millbury Street.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Detective Bureau at (508) 799-8651.