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By Credit search: State House News Service

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...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Patients would pay no more than $25 for certain name-brand medications to treat some chronic illnesses and face no costs whatsoever for similar generic options under the latest prescription drug legislation set to emerge in the Senate.Senate...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

After weeks of maintaining distance from Gov. Maura Healey’s handling of the state’s emergency shelter capacity crisis, the House is likely to approve a legislative directive that Healey establish a shelter overflow site — and the move is revealing...

By SAM DRYSDALE and ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON—The House seeks to steer more funds to the state’s strained emergency shelter system as part of a spending bill it plans to consider on Wednesday.Gov. Maura Healey requested $250 million from the Legislature in September to supplement $325...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — As lawmakers look at regulating building and infrastructure materials in pursuit of the state’s emission reduction goals, the concrete industry wants to been seen as a partner, not a foe, in the effort to make Massachusetts greener.New York...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — While voters may have the final say, top House and Senate Democrats said a new decision from Attorney General Andrea Campbell reinforces their opinion that the state auditor lacks the “statutory or constitutional authority to audit any other...