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By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey is proposing to limit spending on a rapidly growing home care program that is popular among the state’s expanding senior population but has become one of the state’s most expensive budget items.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — As nonprofits across Massachusetts face uncertainty over the future of federal funding, some are also expressing concern over a proposal from Gov. Maura Healey that they fear could further strain their budgets.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Accessory dwelling units are now allowed by right in single-family zoning districts across most of Massachusetts, under a law Gov. Maura Healey signed in August. The rule went into effect on Sunday.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey intends to run for reelection in 2026, she said Friday.

By SAM DRYSDALE

The astronomical cost of housing for Massachusetts households across the income spectrum and a bleak outlook for the new units needed over the next decade underscore the focus of the Healey administration’s new housing plan for the next five years – more production.

By SAM DRYSDALE

Any selective criteria used to admit students to vocational technical schools must be actually essential to the success of the school, per new regulations the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is drafting for their board’s review in February.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Campbell wants to stop students from using cell phones in schools, but education regulators seem unsure how far they should go – especially when that power lies not in the state’s hands, but with local school districts.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Though Gov. Maura Healey maintains that she is not raising taxes, the budget she rolled out Wednesday could apply existing taxes to some purchases, or decrease how much residents are able to write off on their tax returns.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON – As enrollment at community colleges booms under the state’s new free tuition program, the faculty that teach and support the burgeoning population are asking for their first wage equity adjustment in 25 years.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON – The state’s top education official pledged Tuesday that Massachusetts schools would protect transgender students, even after a federal judge scrapped President Joe Biden’s expanded Title IX protections of LGBTQ students the previous week.

By SAM DRYSDALE

Gov. Maura Healey on Friday discussed an interest in realigning the state’s right-to-shelter law “with its original intent,” opening up a possible area of debate in talks over her shelter spending bill.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Massachusetts has the second-highest family health insurance premiums in the country, according to the Health Policy Commission, and the state Division of Insurance is investigating medical inflation as average premium rates across the individual and small group markets increased by 7.9% over the course of 2024.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Fueled by the highest immigration levels in decades, Massachusetts saw its largest population increase in 60 years between 2023 and 2024, and the rate of domestic outmigration has significantly slowed, according to U.S Census data released last month.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON – Senate President Karen Spilka won another term leading the chamber with no speedbumps Wednesday and quickly set her sights on a combination of new and old priorities.During her inaugural speech, a newly reelected Spilka previewed some of her...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON – A new coalition of organizations is threatening to file a lawsuit in January to try to force the Legislature to comply with a new voter law giving the state auditor the authority to investigate the House and Senate.The Mass. Fiscal Alliance,...

By SAM DRYSDALE

Following two years of significantly increased funding for public higher education resulting in a tripling of state-offered financial aid and making community colleges free, the Board of Higher Education wants to keep its foot on the gas next year for...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON – The Governor’s Council on Wednesday certified the results of Massachusetts’s electors for the U.S. offices of president, vice president, and U.S. senator and representative.All 50 states had to certify their votes in the federal election and...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The head of the state’s K-12 education board expects the state will be sued for failing to assure there’s adequate and equitable learning taking place in schools, after voters overwhelmingly supported a new law this November that got rid of...

By SAM DRYSDALE

The state’s emergency assistance shelter system cannot insist that families provide third-party verification of certain information – like proof of their family ties or whether at least one of them is a Massachusetts resident – before immediately...

By SAM DRYSDALE

After voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots to eliminate the requirement that high school students pass the MCAS exam in order to receive a diploma, the question of whether the state will pursue a new statewide standard in the exams’ place – and...

By SAM DRYSDALE

The state’s top elections official anticipates record voter turnout in Massachusetts this November, exceeding the almost 3.7 million voters who went to the polls in 2020.“We have 1.7 [million] almost having already been returned, we expect more votes...