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By GREG VINE

ROYALSTON – The Selectboard Tuesday night closed the warrant for the upcoming Annual Town Meeting and have recommended passage of all 30 articles. The town’s Finance Advisory Committee will decide which articles it will support at its meeting tonight...

By GREG VINE

PHILLIPSTON – Earl Sweat, a member of the Board of Assessors, has thrown his hat into the ring for a one-year term on the Selectboard.He joins fellow resident Nicole Gough in the contest to serve out the remaining year of former board member Dan...

By CHRIS LISINSKI, COLIN A. YOUNG, MICHAEL P. NORTON

BOSTON – The House voted 117-36 and the Senate 29-9 to approve a supplemental budget steering $251 million more into the family shelter system and calling for new limits on how long families may stay in shelters.The agreement announced Wednesday...

By Allison Kuznitz

BOSTON — With an array of more than 50 state financial aid programs available to college students, public higher education officials are embarking on an effort to simplify those offerings by 2026.The Department of Higher Education plans to evaluate...

By GREG VINE

ATHOL – After a year’s absence, Lee Chauvette wants to re-enter the world of local politics, which he has been a part of for many years.Chauvette, who previously served 20 years on the ARRSD School Committee and nine years on the Selectboard, is...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Over more than three hours of discussion about a proposal to stop using MCAS exam scores as a high school graduation requirement, lawmakers kept returning to one specific question: If the ballot measure were passed, how would Massachusetts...

By BELLA LEVAVI

GREENFIELD — The Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) is asking the public to complete an online survey with an interactive mapping component to provide information for a new Franklin County Bike Plan.By updating the bike plan for the...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

Filling in some blanks on her economic development plans, Gov. Maura Healey said Thursday she wants to reauthorize the life sciences initiative at $1 billion for the next decade, and launch a separate $1 billion, 10-year climate tech initiative that...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

Gov. Maura Healey’s push to overhaul local procurement procedures, rethink post-employment benefits and make permanent some pandemic-era policies won over many city and town leaders, but points of friction in her bill could create some tricky...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Having already made mid-year budget cuts and dimmed the outlook for tax collections through June based on six consecutive months of underwhelming receipts, the state reported Monday that tax revenue came in below even downgraded expectations...

By MICHAEL P. NORTON

The Healey administration plans to close the state’s medium security prison in Concord by this summer.According to an Executive Office of Public Safety and Security spokesperson, the incarcerated population at the prison stands at about 300 men, or...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE – Voters at the Special Town Meeting on Thursday opted to table a proposed animal bylaw until more people have had an opportunity to contribute input.Residents in Town Hall voted overwhelmingly to take no action on a warrant article prohibiting...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — A Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Treasurer Deborah Goldberg can go ahead with the meeting that could lead to the firing of suspended Cannabis Control Commission Chairwoman Shannon O’Brien and also cautioned the parties that “political...

By SAM DRYSDALE and CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Her first year in office is winding down, and Gov. Maura Healey is enthusiastic to point out where she thinks she has succeeded: signing into law a billion-dollar tax relief package, overseeing a hiring blitz at the MBTA, and creating a...

By GREG VINE

ATHOL – Nearly three dozen Athol High School students spent Wednesday morning talking with area legislators about the challenges faced by American democracy in the 21st century.Joining them on issues such as the nation’s social problems, privacy and...

By GREG VINE

ATHOL — Athol Town Manager Shaun Suhoski met with the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee on Dec. 12 to work on amending the town’s fiscal management policies in hopes of further improving the town’s overall financial health, while also enhancing...

By STELLA TANNENBAUM

BOSTON — Massachusetts would become the second state in the nation to ban discrimination based on body size under a proposal aired at a recent hearing of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.During a seven-hour hearing in which over 230 people...

By DOMENIC POLI and CHRIS LARABEE

Towns across Franklin County are starting to adopt flag policies after being approached by an anti-abortion group wanting to fly its banner on public grounds.The Pro Life Legal Defense Fund Inc. emailed towns and cities across the state late last...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — Town officials are looking to include short-term rentals in the local zoning bylaws though without burdening people who rely on income from stays at their properties.  Walker Powell, the community development director, explained to...

By GREG VINE

ATHOL — The state is planning to remove a deteriorating and more-than-century-old dam in the Millers Wildlife Management Area that was originally built to create a drinking water reservoir for the town but now serves no useful purpose.The state...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

Leaders of at least a half-dozen initiative petition campaigns working toward the November 2024 ballot said Wednesday they had collected at least enough signatures to meet an end-of-the-day deadline and to put their policy ideas in front of the...