Search Results

Keyword search: Massachusetts

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Single-family home sales in Massachusetts were down markedly in November while housing prices set record highs for the month.And if that sounds familiar, it’s probably because it was the sixth consecutive month to post a double-digit...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Reining in gun violence, increasing access to housing and health supports for migrant families, and studying the health effects of decommissioning the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station are among the policies the Massachusetts Medical Society...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Seeking to remove more barriers to voting, the House approved legislation Thursday allowing employees to take paid time off on Election Day to cast their ballots in person.Without discussion, lawmakers passed the bill (H 4217) during an...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The state’s drug overdose crisis is persisting at record high levels, exacerbated by a “poisoned drug supply” that isn’t just affecting those who use opioids anymore.There were 2,323 confirmed and estimated fatal opioid-related overdoses...

By Chris Lisinski

BOSTON—Nearly 4,000 criminal cases that were delayed during the pandemic are still awaiting trial as Massachusetts courts work through a sizable backlog, judiciary officials said Tuesday.Trial Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Locke said the volume of...

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...