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By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Signaling the potential for more change in the transportation and energy sectors, Senate President Karen Spilka revealed Monday that the Senate plans to tackle a major climate bill before formal sessions come to a close in just over three...

By SAM DRYSDALE

Senate Democrats plan this week to make a big push for reforms to the state’s motor vehicle “Lemon Law,” insurance coverage for home heating oil leaks and the controversial competitive electric supply industry.The Senate on Monday formally added a...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON – Moderate-income white students could gain the most under a proposal that top Senate Democrats are weighing to make community college free for all Massachusetts residents, according to a report, which urges lawmakers to make adjustments with...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — More Massachusetts families would become eligible for subsidized child care and “transformational” grants that kept the early education system afloat during the pandemic would be made permanent, under a bill the Senate unanimously passed on...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Despite a tightening state budget picture, the Senate this week plans to take up a pricey early education and child care bill aimed at expanding access to education for the state’s youngest learners and making it more affordable for families,...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Although they would not explicitly commit to fulfilling a funding request for Head Start, two of the most powerful players at the State House indicated Wednesday that funding the early education program is at the top of their priority list in...

By SAM DRYSDALE

Senators next week will vote again on a bill to update the state’s sex education guidelines, something the chamber has already approved four times without getting buy-in from the House.The Senate Committee on Ways and Means polled the so-called...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Massachusetts voters may get the chance to cast ballots to legalize access to some psychedelic substances this fall. And though advocates say the Oregon psilocybin therapy program that would be used as a model for Massachusetts is beneficial...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey has signed an executive order to create a task force meant to study artificial intelligence and to advise her administration on the state’s role in implementing and encouraging private sector use of the new technology.The...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley plans to step down on March 15 after six years leading Massachusetts’ K-12 school system, according to a letter he sent to the state’s education board Thursday.Riley plans to...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Last month’s Boston Tea Party anniversary celebration was “just the tip of the iceberg” as Massachusetts prepares to leverage a series of upcoming historical anniversaries to market the state and draw in millions of tourists, the state’s top...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — “Keep your eyes peeled,” for free community college funding in the Senate’s version of the fiscal year 2025 budget, Senate President Karen Spilka said Wednesday.Making community college free for every Massachusetts resident could cost the...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON—Despite top officials’ claims this fall that the number of migrant families coming into Massachusetts was decreasing, thousands of families continue to apply for placement in the state’s emergency shelter system.Since Nov. 10, 1,393 families...

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 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 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 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 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 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...