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By CHRIS LISINSKI

Stress over the prospect of an economic downturn appears to have ticked higher due to dramatic trade and tariff machinations, but the Healey administration last week slightly upgraded its already-strained forecast for the state’s unemployment insurance system.

By MICHAEL P. NORTON

BOSTON – The state agency that oversees health insurance for 460,000 public employees, retirees and their dependents is on track to run out of money to pay claims on May 12, a full seven weeks before the end of the fiscal year.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Senate Democrats announced a bill Monday morning intended to shield reproductive and transgender care in Massachusetts from out-of-state threats, saying it was part of the response effort to the Trump administration.

By Mike Roche

By MAYA MITCHELL

Five years after the first case of what was then a novel coronavirus infection, health care professionals and state legislators worry Massachusetts isn’t ready if another pandemic were to happen.

By ADITI THUBE

Massachusetts gun rights advocates are pushing to overturn a 2024 update of the state’s already tough firearms law, collecting more than 90,000 signatures to place a repeal referendum on the 2026 ballot. Their efforts face opposition from mental health professionals and legal experts who argue the law’s regulations are necessary for public safety.

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

With all Institute of Museum and Library Services having been placed on administrative leave and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners announcing cuts to services and grants on Wednesday, local librarians are anticipating continued uncertainty heading into fiscal year 2026.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Most legislative committees are still getting organized and have not yet held their first hearing of the new two-year session. But for House members of the Committee on Public Health, the clock is already ticking on one of the most controversial matters that perennially comes before them.

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Progressive activists are growing impatient with what they view as a slow start on Beacon Hill, while the top House Democrat said lawmakers are “shooting in the dark” as they grapple with uncertainty from the federal government.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey has spent the last few weeks using her bully pulpit to warn of a brain drain out of Massachusetts, as a consequence of President Donald Trump’s cuts to research funding and the threat of foreign-born students being deported.

By Mike Roche

By CHRIS LISINSKI

A pair of western Massachusetts lawmakers made an urgent plea to their colleagues Tuesday to allow smaller farms to access property tax benefits currently available only to their larger peers.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Two weeks before the policies are set to expire, the House and Senate took the first steps Monday to once again temporarily extend pandemic-era laws allowing remote access for public meetings in Massachusetts.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

More than a half-dozen restaurants in Hampshire County are partnering with survival centers in Northampton and Amherst to provide free meals to those facing food insecurity in the region as part of a larger initiative taking place statewide.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Though Massachusetts is not one of at least six states that will lose out on $500 million in food deliveries promised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the leader of the region’s largest food bank remains concerned about future cuts.

By GABRIEL O’HARA SALINI

The Massachusetts cannabis industry is a billion-dollar enterprise, with over 700 retailers operating across the state. Yet stores are closing, companies are firing their workers and retail and non-retail licenses are being surrendered by former operators as business owners clamor for regulatory changes to transform an industry they see as unsustainable.

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Health care costs in Massachusetts surged at “unsustainable” levels in 2023, adding more pressure to already-strained household budgets, according to new state data.

By CHRIS LARABEE

BOSTON — As farmers prepare to head out to the fields for the season, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle sent a letter to the new U.S. agriculture secretary expressing concerns over uncertain federal funding and other actions taken by the federal government.

By MITCH FINK

President Donald Trump’s return to office has raised questions about the future of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding Massachusetts secured for its West-East Rail plan with suggestions the administration may place a greater emphasis on birth and marriage rates and immigration policy.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Massachusetts is losing $12.2 million in federal money that had been earmarked for Bay State schools to buy food from local farms and Gov. Maura Healey indicated that the state has no plans to backstop the funding for more than 200 school systems, including virtually every school in Hampshire County.

By DOMENIC POLI

A clause in the new state gun reform law preventing 18- to 21-year-olds from carrying certain firearms has gun enthusiasts, including those in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, asking a rhetorical question: Is there an age requirement for the Bill of Rights?