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By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — The state is soliciting proposals from artists, historians, designers, “culture bearers” and anyone else who has an idea for a new Massachusetts state seal, flag and motto.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey is proposing to repeal a law put in place by voters as part of a worldwide nuclear freeze movement, a bid to open the door to greater deployment of newer nuclear energy facilities as part of a push to save ratepayers $10 billion over a decade.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — One representative called it a “wonderful, reefer-smelling bag” and another worried a drug-sniffing dog might alert to him at the airport later as he passed the bundle of products down the Cannabis Policy Committee dais.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — The House chairman of a key committee said that policymakers are reevaluating all of Massachusetts’ climate and emissions mandates, plans and goals in light of changes in federal energy policy, cracking open the door to the possibility of changes to the state’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON – Gas companies were told late Wednesday night they need to immediately begin ratcheting down the amount of money they can bill customers for efforts to replace old and leaking natural gas pipelines until reaching the lowest level allowed under state law in two years.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — The number of antisemitic incidents reported in Massachusetts was essentially unchanged in 2024, though officials with the Anti-Defamation League said the total is “part of a troubling long-term trend” of heightened harassment, vandalism and assault.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

A recommendation from a task force the Legislature created a decade ago resurfaced last week before the Revenue Committee, which took testimony related to the machinations involved when a farm wants to use a portion of its land to generate both renewable electricity and supplemental income.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Most legislative committees are still getting organized and have not yet held their first hearing of the new two-year session. But for House members of the Committee on Public Health, the clock is already ticking on one of the most controversial matters that perennially comes before them.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Two weeks before the policies are set to expire, the House and Senate took the first steps Monday to once again temporarily extend pandemic-era laws allowing remote access for public meetings in Massachusetts.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

Sen. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, expects to decide “relatively shortly” whether to run for governor in the 2026 contest and explained his early outlook on the race in an interview that aired Sunday.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Massachusetts is losing $12.2 million in federal money that had been earmarked for Bay State schools to buy food from local farms and Gov. Maura Healey indicated that the state has no plans to backstop the funding for more than 200 school systems, including virtually every school in Hampshire County.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

More than six years in, the legal cannabis industry landscape in Massachusetts has had a chance to evolve, and a new industry report examines some of the trendlines.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

The Trump administration’s ongoing push to slash the federal workforce and spending is continuing to raise angst, with recent rounds of cuts drawing the ire of a leading local veterans organization and the New England Aquarium.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — If President Donald Trump puts a 25% tariff on products coming from Canada starting next weekend, as he said this week he is considering, electricity costs in Massachusetts could increase by as much as $200 million a year, Gov. Maura Healey told business leaders Thursday morning.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

Gov. Maura Healey announced a plan Tuesday to pump at least $2.5 billion into facilities at the University of Massachusetts, state universities and community colleges by the middle of the 2030s.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Drawing from Massachusetts history while also peeking into the future, Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday night took stock of the state’s strengths and challenges in a speech that focused more on following through on past work than on announcing new initiatives.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

Democrats who have been negotiating separate health care industry oversight and pharmaceutical drug reform bills for months announced Friday night that they resolved their differences and plan to put the bills up for votes next week in the final days...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON – Facing softening non-surtax revenue collections, spending demands inflated by pandemic-era initiatives and a mountain of uncertainty about the direction of key federal policies, state budget managers and economic analysts agreed Monday that...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON – Attorney General Andrea Campbell plans to stay on the sidelines in the donnybrook between Auditor Diana DiZoglio and the Legislature, at least until the two sides wind up in a “legal dispute” if DiZoglio seeks to exercise her new auditing...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON – There is a clean energy bill sitting on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk and Beacon Hill’s calendar for this week includes an array of energy-related events and reports. But there are also mounting indications that the federal government could change...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

Gov. Maura Healey cast her ballot at an Arlington elementary school Tuesday morning, and after dropping off Dunkin’ coffee and donuts for poll workers turned north to spend most of Election Day in her native — and more electorally active — New...