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By ALEXA LEWIS

AMHERST — “Growing up poor, all I’ve ever wanted was financial freedom,” said Beatrice Rogers, a third-year psychology and holistic health major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. But that freedom might be far away for Rogers, whose college...

By ALEXA LEWIS

Without greater investment in salaries for faculty and staff at community colleges in Massachusetts, a free tuition program launched this summer to great fanfare may be “doomed to fail.”That’s the alarm some education leaders are sounding as they call...

By ALEXA LEWIS

CHICOPEE — Imagine waking up to find that electronic technology has stopped working.Cellphones are down, traffic signals are dark and navigation systems are offline. The infrastructure behind modern life would be completely shut down, eventually...

By ALEXA LEWIS

Election season is quickly approaching, but for some community members, making their voices heard at the polls can come with unexpected challenges.Among those at Transhealth, increasingly strict voter ID laws and a feeling of burgeoning national...

By ALEXA LEWIS

Fare-free bus rides could be here to stay now that millions of dollars have been set aside in the state budget that will allow regional transit authorities to waive fees, and politicians and others who support the idea say it has the potential to be...

By ALEXA LEWIS

SPRINGFIELD — When shift change rolls around at the Baystate Medical Center, across from the organization’s corporate offices, Peter Banko can be found sitting on a bench nearby. When physicians, nurses or other staff notice him there, they often ask...

By ALEXA LEWIS

An initiative that its supporters describe as “historic” and a “generational game-changer” is now reality — community college is now free for all Massachusetts residents without bachelor’s degrees.The new MassEducate program included in the state’s...

By ALEXA LEWIS

“Elation” is what Nathan Markee, vice chair of the Easthampton Democratic City Committee, felt when he opened his phone on Sunday to the news that Joe Biden rescinded his candidacy for a second presidential term.Other local Democrats — whether they...

By ALEXA LEWIS

Local policymakers and affordable housing advocates and developers are welcoming a bill that cleared the state Senate unanimously late last week authorizing $5.4 billion in state borrowing to spur housing production amid a mounting housing supply...

By ALEXA LEWIS

A leading veterans agent in the region says an expansive bill soon to become law designed to improve the lives of Massachusetts veterans is “monumental” for its expanded inclusion efforts, benefits, and health care provisions, but the measure fails to...

By ALEXA LEWIS

A statewide proliferation in recent years of intoxicating, illegal hemp-based products — gummies, energy shot-like drink bottles and seltzers, to name a few — has raised concern among state officials and the cannabis sector alike.While these products...

By ALEXA LEWIS

Public transportation services will soon expand and improve throughout the region thanks to an influx of state money that the two transit authorities that cover Hampshire and Franklin counties will use to buy new accessible vehicles and implement...

By ALEXA LEWIS

AMHERST — Student protesters at the University of Massachusetts began pitching tents near the W.E.B. DuBois Library Monday morning in solidarity with Palestinians, following the example of many of their peers at campuses across the country who have...