Search Results

Keyword search: GOVERNMENT

By JAMES PENTLAND

NORTHAMPTON — Governor’s Council member Tara Jacobs met with Deepika Shukla about a year ago, and was impressed by the assistant U.S. attorney’s breadth of experience.“Where she started you wouldn’t necessarily guess from where she is now,” Jacobs...

By Colin A. Young

BOSTON — Without a single Republican vote, the Massachusetts House and Senate sent the governor a massive overhaul of the state’s gun laws late last week, crossing one of the most significant items off of the Legislature’s rest-of-July to-do list. The...

By Bob Katzen

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local representatives’ and senators’ votes on roll calls from the week of July 8-12. PROTECT PRIVACY OF PEOPLE SEEKING REPRODUCTIVE AND GENDER AFFIRMING CARE (H 4844): House 159-0, approved and sent...

By JAMES PENTLAND

CUMMINGTON — Plans for the reuse of the town’s old elementary school are at a pivotal stage, with a $1 million state grant hanging in the balance and another $1 million federal grant set to fund the first phase of redevelopment.Select Board members...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

The shock waves from the shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday have continued to reverberate across the country, including in western Massachusetts.Local politicians reacted to the shooting, which resulted in the death of an...

By JAMES PENTLAND

HADLEY — Elements Massage studio in Hadley closed recently after it was issued a stop-work order by the state for operating without workers compensation insurance.The state Department of Industrial Accidents ordered the studio at 379 Russell St....

By SAM DRYSDALE

After the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a landmark $6 billion opioid settlement last month that would have steered up to $110 million to the Bay State for prevention, treatment and recovery programs, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said...

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — Edward Wall rushed down Pynchon Street one morning in June to find his little white Maltipoo no longer white.“I arrived on the scene 20 minutes afterwards and it was just carnage. My wife had blood all over her. My daughter had blood...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

Lawmakers from both parties signaled Tuesday they share a government watchdog’s concerns about upheaval at the Cannabis Control Commission, but Democrats who wield decision-making power stopped short of indicating what kind of response they might...

By EMILEE KLEIN

A bill moving through the Legislature will require all new vehicles sold in the state after Jan. 1, 2026 to include adaptive headlights that illuminate the road without shining into the windshields of oncoming drivers.According to the U.S. Department...

By SAIJEL KISHAN

President Joe Biden’s trio of legislative packages designed to revive U.S. manufacturing prowess is already helping regions from upstate New York to West Virginia. To the frustration of its local development agency, one that’s getting left behind is a...

By JAMES PENTLAND

HOLYOKE — After a disabling truck crash left Jocephus Grant unable to work, his wife moved out and the bank foreclosed on the Springfield home he had bought in 2009.The bank sold his home to an investor “for pennies on the dollar,” the investor moved...

By JAMES PENTLAND

SOUTHAMPTON — A former Southampton water chief has admitted he violated the state conflict-of-interest law by accepting gifts of a golf outing and lodging and meals at a ski resort from a water meter vendor, and has agreed to pay a $6,000 fine, the...

By GRACE FIORI

In 2023, Hampshire County received almost $1 million from the settlement payments of pharmaceutical companies and drug distributors involved in the opioid crisis. While Amherst received upward of $162,000 in fiscal year 2023, the town has yet to spend...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A Quincy-based temporary shelter that includes transitional housing, along with a resource center for people to find jobs, medical care and permanent homes, is being eyed as a model for how Amherst might redevelop the former VFW site at 457...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Jake Hulseberg won’t let his children play on the swing set he built them in their backyard on Mountain View Drive because of bullets that shattered glass doors on two houses on the street.Instead, Hulseberg keeps his kids in the front...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The tiny number of emergency dispatch calls directed to the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service since mid-December, when the department began taking 911 calls, is prompting worries by members of the Community Safety and...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — A joint meeting between the Northampton City Council’s Committee on Legislative Matters and the city’s Planning Board heard public comments on a petition to ban further automobile dealerships near the city’s downtown, an issue that...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — An Amherst developer is proposing to construct a new commercial building on Route 9 that will become the headquarters for a Holyoke metal roofing and gutter company.At Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting, Thomas Reidy, an attorney at Bacon...

By Sam Drysdale

HOLYOKE — Almost a decade after the state took control of Holyoke Public Schools through the controversial and rarely used receivership model, the district is now on the path back to local control.The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education...