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By GREG VINE

ATHOL– A Proposition 2 ½ override aimed at increasing staff at the Athol Fire Department passed at Monday’s Town Election.By only 96 votes – 639 to 543 – voters said “yes” to a $286,000 override to fund the hiring of three paramedic/EMT/firefighters....

By DOMENIC POLI

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appeared to be holding her own in Franklin County on Super Tuesday, garnering votes from Republicans distancing themselves from Donald Trump and from Democrats hoping to soften the blow in the event that...

By Carla CharterIn the 1930s, Wendell ushered in events which later became known as the town’s “Stovepipe Politics Era.” This time period involved a 1931 race for selectman between challenger Ozro D. Baker and long- term Selectman Charles Ballou, a...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

In South Carolina, former President Donald Trump notched another primary victory Saturday as he seeks the GOP presidential nomination, declaring afterwards that he has never seen Republicans “so unified.”But do Republicans here in Massachusetts feel...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL and CHRIS LARABEE

SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Rep. Richard Neal touted a new tax relief bill passed by the House of Representatives this week, and shared his views on U.S. foreign policy during a gathering with the press on Friday morning.Speaking at the atrium inside the...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

After filing legal challenges in several other states to bar Donald Trump from ballot eligibility in this year’s primaries, a Massachusetts-incorporated advocacy group has now done so in its home state.Free Speech for People, an nonprofit led by...

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 DOMENIC POLI

Riding the commuter rail home to Haverhill from Boston in the early afternoon of Nov. 22, 1963, David Lewis couldn’t help but notice all the American flags he passed had been lowered to half-staff. This was peculiar, he recalled, “because they weren’t...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Patients would pay no more than $25 for certain name-brand medications to treat some chronic illnesses and face no costs whatsoever for similar generic options under the latest prescription drug legislation set to emerge in the Senate.Senate...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

After weeks of maintaining distance from Gov. Maura Healey’s handling of the state’s emergency shelter capacity crisis, the House is likely to approve a legislative directive that Healey establish a shelter overflow site — and the move is revealing...

By Chris Lisinski and Sam Drysdale

BOSTON — With the state’s emergency shelters on the verge of hitting a new capacity limit, House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a new plan to create an “overflow” option that would support families for whom space is not immediately available.Venturing...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

Former Gov. Charlie Baker has staked a claim in the ongoing race for Anne Gobi’s former Senate seat.Baker, who now leads the NCAA, endorsed fellow Republican Rep. Peter Durant of Spencer on Monday, just over two weeks ahead of the Nov. 7 special...

By Chris Lisinski

BOSTON — Pointing to a shooting in Holyoke last week that left a pregnant mother critically injured and killed her baby, House Democrats have resurrected their campaign to overhaul the state’s firearms laws, rolling out a redrafted bill that...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

As fifth graders at Fort River School in Amherst last spring, weeks of research into a change they would like to see in the world prompted students to champion the idea of Indigenous Peoples Day becoming a state holiday.On Tuesday afternoon, three...

By MAX BOWEN

ATHOL — Third time may be the charm for Bruce Chester as he seeks the Republican nomination in a race for Anne Gobi’s former Senate seat.Chester, a resident of Gardner, will face off against state Rep. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, in the Oct. 10 primary...

By MAX BOWEN

ATHOL — After many years in both local and state politics, Peter Durant is eyeing the Senate seat last held by Anne Gobi.Durant said he’s running for the seat with the goal of bringing back “common sense” to Beacon Hill, as well as more effectively...

By GREG VINE

GARDNER – A Special Election has been scheduled to fill the state Senate seat left vacant by the departure of former Sen. Anne Gobi, who left to take a post in the Healey-Driscoll administration. State Rep. Peter Durant of Spencer and Gardner resident...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

HOLYOKE — Speaking to a small crowd of supporters, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren lambasted the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade last year, saying the court had been taken over by “extremists” who threatened to curtail further liberties...

By SAM DORAN

Former House Speaker David Bartley, one of the youngest lawmakers ever to lead the House and a champion of education access, died Tuesday at the age of 88.Nearly half a century passed by since Bartley’s speakership, and he was still remembered this...

By DOMENIC POLI, MAX BOWEN and ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Video recordings and photos are prohibited inside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami, but that’s done nothing to quell public discourse around Donald Trump becoming the first former U.S. president to face federal criminal...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

AMHERST — Educational issues pertaining to schools across western Massachusetts — including transportation, rural inequities and a lack of sufficient state aid — peppered the discussion of a Joint Ways and Means Committee hearing at the University of...