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By Credit search: State House News Service

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Nearly half of the Legislature signed onto a letter to Attorney General Andrea Campbell this week, imploring the state to join Worcester firefighters diagnosed with cancer in their lawsuit against companies that make firefighting gear alleged...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren threw her weight behind Gov. Maura Healey’s housing plan this week, and said the federal government will need to “step up” to help the state address its housing affordability and availability crisis.As many as...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Single-family home sales in Massachusetts were down markedly in November while housing prices set record highs for the month.And if that sounds familiar, it’s probably because it was the sixth consecutive month to post a double-digit...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Reining in gun violence, increasing access to housing and health supports for migrant families, and studying the health effects of decommissioning the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station are among the policies the Massachusetts Medical Society...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Seeking to remove more barriers to voting, the House approved legislation Thursday allowing employees to take paid time off on Election Day to cast their ballots in person.Without discussion, lawmakers passed the bill (H 4217) during an...

By Chris Lisinski

BOSTON—Nearly 4,000 criminal cases that were delayed during the pandemic are still awaiting trial as Massachusetts courts work through a sizable backlog, judiciary officials said Tuesday.Trial Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Locke said the volume of...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Pregnant and postpartum MassHealth members are slated to gain access to doula coverage this spring as state officials aim to tackle worsening maternal health outcomes.Doula coverage will be offered during labor and delivery, as well as for...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — While lawmakers on Beacon Hill have deliberated over sending aid to the state’s emergency assistance system, the number of families that are finding safe housing in those shelters has grown by 105 percent in the last 11 months, according to...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON – After weeks of delays, a $3.1 billion spending bill packed with money for the stretched-thin emergency shelter system and public worker raises landed on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk Monday and was immediately signed.House Democrats were able to...

By SAM DRYSDALE

On the route to decarbonization, the state is so far on target with its goals, the Healey administration says, but there is more work to be done with the most intense period of rapid decarbonization quickly approaching.Gov. Maura Healey’s...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The workforce shortage that has left employers across sectors scrambling to keep operations running in recent years isn’t likely to let up “any time, in the rest of anybody’s lifetime,” one of the nation’s leading economists said...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Most lawmakers seem to agree that something needs to be done about so-called “ghost guns,” but a fierce debate continues about the extent of additional gun regulation such as restricting where legal gun owners can carry and updating the...

By Alison Kuznitz

BOSTON — About 450 families have left the state’s emergency assistance shelter system since Sept. 1, and the state’s top housing official says there could be momentum in moving even more families out of the strained system.“We think we can...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The 23 schools in Massachusetts that use an image of an Indigenous person as their school mascot would have to start looking for new names and logos under a bill that advocates are hoping will get passed this session.After years of...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Allowing people younger than 16 to receive abortion care without a parent or judge’s consent, regulating so-called crisis pregnancy centers and permitting later-term abortions in more settings are coming into focus as the next fronts for...

By SAM DORAN

BOSTON — Nearly three years after the Legislature tasked a panel with recommending changes to the state seal and motto, the group prepared to disband this week by asking to shift its unfinished work onto Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.The...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Shawn Collins is resigning as executive director of the Cannabis Control Commission effective Dec. 4, Acting Chairwoman Ava Callender Concepcion announced Thursday, providing some clarity around one of the two leadership questions that has...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The House has added a provision to a spending bill that would reinstate a state policy repealed two decades ago to offer Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to immigrants in the country legally, but who are not...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Voters will not be asked next year whether Massachusetts should revive local-option rent control after organizers working on a 2024 ballot question suspended their campaign late Friday.After facing pushback from other housing justice and...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Calling it “historic,” Gov. Maura Healey unveiled legislation this week — timed to coincide with Veterans Day — that will increase benefits, modernize services and promote inclusivity for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts veterans.Filed...