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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...

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 GREG VINE

ATHOL – Whether it was the rain or the MLB playoffs that kept people at home, no one knows, but the annual Fall Town Meeting, scheduled to take place this past Monday night, failed to attract the number of voters required under the Town Charter.As a...

By Max Bowen

Peter Durant has bested challenger Bruce Chester to claim the Republican nomination for the Senate seat formerly held by Anne Gobi in a special election.Durant, the state representative for the 6th Worcester District, will now face Gardner state Rep....

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 MADDIE FABIAN

WASHINGTON — After a historic week in Washington, D.C. involving a near government shutdown and the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, both western Massachusetts representatives in the U.S. House criticized the former speaker and the Republican...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Aiming to foster more connected communities across Massachusetts and staunch the negative health outcomes that can result from social isolation, dozens of service providers and advocacy groups gathered virtually Thursday as part of their...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Cannabis Control Commission Chairwoman Shannon O’Brien was suspended from her position Thursday by Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who chose her for the job a year ago, as upheaval continues to collide with the CCC’s hefty regulatory and policy...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

More than 200 farms across western and central Massachusetts started receiving checks last week from the Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund launched by the Healey administration and United Way of Central Massachusetts after devastating flooding in...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

Nearly $2 million in federal dollars will flow into Massachusetts and Boston city coffers to tackle the migrant housing crisis, with the money arriving just over a week after Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency due to strained shelter...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — The town’s health agent has signed on to become the new town administrator, putting to bed a four-month saga that saw two previous candidates have their offers rescinded for undisclosed reasons.Matthew Fortier will take the reins on Aug. 21,...

By SHAUN A. SUHOSKI

Dear Athol residents: On Monday, less than 10% of Athol’s registered voters turned out to vote in a special election that sought approval of a Proposition 2½ override to increase staffing in the Athol Fire Department by two additional firefighter/EMTs...

By SAM DORAN

BOSTON — A federal judge hadn’t even ruled yet on suspending approval of the abortion pill mifepristone in April when Gov. Maura Healey orchestrated a major reserve shipment of the drug through the state’s flagship university. But despite pledges of...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE – The Selectboard voted Wednesday to offer the town administrator job to Orange’s health agent and tasked two members with recommending a contract, all while hoping to close a frustrating chapter in which two previous candidates had their...