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Keyword search: Massachusetts

By MADDIE FABIAN

For farms across western Massachusetts, the effects of climate change were tangible during the 2023 growing season.At Red Fire Farm in Granby, co-owner Sarah Voiland said that after the May frost event, the farm’s full harvest on multiple acres of...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Pregnant and postpartum MassHealth members are slated to gain access to doula coverage this spring as state officials aim to tackle worsening maternal health outcomes.Doula coverage will be offered during labor and delivery, as well as for...

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 Colin A. Young

BOSTON — After more than three years of considering the future of the natural gas industry in Massachusetts and what role it can play in the state’s efforts to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades, the...

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 Lindsay Shachnow

Laura Kleiman was running a research center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute when her mother was diagnosed with cancer.In exploring potential treatment options, Kleiman said she discovered that repurposing drugs — particularly generic ones that are...

By Alison Kuznitz

BOSTON — About 450 families have left the state’s emergency assistance shelter system since Sept. 1, and the state’s top housing official says there could be momentum in moving even more families out of the strained system.“We think we can...

By EDEN MOR

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Education Reform Act, a landmark piece of legislation that made the commonwealth a leader in education. It was deemed the “most dramatic change in generations” by Mitchell Chester, the then-commissioner of...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — There are significant gaps in the expectations parents have for their children’s futures after high school, divided sharply by race and income demographics, according to poll results released earlier this month.The statewide poll of...

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...

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 CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Allowing people younger than 16 to receive abortion care without a parent or judge’s consent, regulating so-called crisis pregnancy centers and permitting later-term abortions in more settings are coming into focus as the next fronts for...

By Alison Kuznitz

BOSTON — A new State Police unit will work with other law enforcement agencies and community partners as Gov. Maura Healey’s administration looks to bolster strategies for addressing hate-based incidents tied to race, ethnicity and religion, among...

By BELLA LEVAVI

SHELBURNE — With many multi-generational family farms harvesting timber but only 2% of the wood harvested being used in the local economy, Massachusetts has a long way to go to bolster the timber industry, according to local business representatives...

By BELLA LEVAVI

BOSTON — Local residents recently shared their opinions with the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government on proposed legislation that would allow for more local control over large-scale solar projects.S.1319/H.2082, “An Act Regarding...

By JAMES PENTLAND

NORTHAMPTON — While extremist Republicans in Congress are trying to gut programs that provide food to those in need, Massachusetts could become the first state to end hunger, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern told a special state commission on agriculture...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Shawn Collins is resigning as executive director of the Cannabis Control Commission effective Dec. 4, Acting Chairwoman Ava Callender Concepcion announced Thursday, providing some clarity around one of the two leadership questions that has...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — A third of all UMass students will qualify for free tuition paid for by the new income surtax on the state’s highest earners under a plan the Healey administration rolled out Wednesday on an expansion of state financial aid.The governor...