Search Results

By Credit search: State House News Service

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 CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — The opioid epidemic has affected tens of thousands of people across Massachusetts, and later this year, vehicles on the state’s roads will be able to offer reminders that survivors and grieving families are all around us.

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 ALISON KUZNITZ and SAM DORAN

BOSTON — The three-day countdown for Beacon Hill lawmakers to comply with Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s probe of the Legislature started Monday afternoon, DiZoglio said, with her office now requesting specific records from the House and Senate.Meantime,...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON – Auditor Diana DiZoglio is returning to old fights in the new year, including reforming the use of non-disclosure agreements in state government, potentially suing the Legislature for defying a new voter law, and accusing top Democrats of retaliation by cutting her office’s role on a health care board.

By ALISON KUZNITZ

Concerned about negative public perception of the Legislature, House Speaker Ron Mariano pledged Wednesday at the start of the new session that his chamber will consider a “number of rules reforms” in February.He also warned his colleagues the state...

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 CHRIS LISINSKI

Top Democrats needed a few extra months to reach agreements on major laws this session, but wrapped up business for the term with almost a day to spare and New Year’s Eve plans intact.The House and Senate adjourned their last meetings of the 2023-2024...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

Democrats who have been negotiating separate health care industry oversight and pharmaceutical drug reform bills for months announced Friday night that they resolved their differences and plan to put the bills up for votes next week in the final days...

By COLIN A. YOUNG and SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — At the midway point of her term in office, Gov. Maura Healey said last week she’s comfortable with what she’s gotten done and is more focused on implementing what she sees as “transformational” accomplishments than on pondering her next...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — The percentage of Bay Staters readmitted to hospitals shortly after initial visits has stabilized in recent years, though the rate in 2023 was higher among western Massachusetts residents and older Black and Hispanic patients, according to a...

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 and SAM DORAN

BOSTON – Lawmakers dropped the controversial idea to pursue so-called safe injection sites in a compromise addiction and substance use disorder bill they filed Tuesday after months of private negotiations.Reps. Alice Peisch and Adrian Madaro and Sen....

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON – Reforms in a bill that could clear the Legislature soon would “dramatically” improve efforts to monitor street-level drug supplies for dangerous contaminants, according to one expert.As lawmakers prepare to send Gov. Maura Healey a...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

State officials are preparing for the rollout of expanded maternal health care services in 2025, stemming from a new law and recommendations they issued last year.Public health officials said the bevy of reforms were fueled by the controversial...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

President-elect Donald Trump continues to pledge large-scale deportations of foreign-born residents, stoking concerns about massive economic consequences and reigniting debate in Massachusetts about law enforcement cooperation.Trump spent much of his...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON – Thousands of older Bay Staters could lose access to home care services this spring or see support scaled back due to looming funding shortfalls totaling millions of dollars, elder advocates and providers say.Elder services organizations are...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

As promised, Auditor Diana DiZoglio sent another letter to top Beacon Hill Democrats on Thursday demanding they comply with her probe of the Legislature, with the Methuen Democrat largely recycling the missive that she delivered to them last month.She...

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 CHRIS LISINSKI

Running consistent passenger rail service for 140 miles through northern Massachusetts communities to connect North Adams and Boston could attract hundreds of riders per day, but would also require hundreds of millions of dollars in up-front capital...