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By MICHAEL P. NORTON

Coyotes are present in every Massachusetts city and town, according to state wildlife officials, who are out Tuesday with new tips to prevent rare “negative coyote encounters” during their ongoing mating season.“Whenever you see a coyote in your yard,...

By SAM DORAN

BOSTON — The House and Senate seem to once again be on different tracks when it comes to legislative transparency, potentially teeing up the branches for a do-over of their 2021 negotiations on internal operating procedures, which ended in an...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

New England grid operators expect demand for and use of electricity to hit their highest points yet this winter on as bone-chilling cold takes over Friday and Saturday, but they also expect they will have more than enough power available to meet that...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

The day before he resigned as chair of the Department of Public Utilities last week, Matthew Nelson responded to nearly 100 state lawmakers who had written him with concerns about winter energy bill increases to tell them that the gas bill reductions...

By JIM and LISA MCGOVERN

You have cancer. Words nobody ever wants to hear — but each year, nearly two million of our fellow Americans hear them. More than 600,000 die annually after battling these diseases, including over 12,000 people in Massachusetts alone.But it does not...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

The share of Massachusetts students who take out loans to pay for public higher education has exploded in the past two decades while the combined pressure of inflation and a lack of investment have hamstrung the impact of state-funded financial aid,...

By CHRIS LISINSKI and SAM DORAN

BOSTON — The biennial increases in legislator pay always generate a hearty share of public attention and inevitable criticism of the automatic, inflation-adjusted raises required by state law. But it’s the supplemental pay on top of that where the...

By Bob Katzen

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week.The debate over the rules on how the House and Senate will operate during the upcoming 2023-2024 session will soon begin, as it does every year at the beginning of a...

By EMILY THURLOW

SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic Sarno made history at 10 o’clock Tuesday morning when he put $50 on the Philadelphia Eagles as they square off Feb. 12 against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57 in Glendale, Arizona.The Springfield mayor’s wager at...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Reviving debate on an issue that lawmakers left untouched at the end of last session, Gov. Maura Healey on Monday filed a $282 million spending bill she said is necessary to manage a surge in demand for emergency shelter and prevent the free...

By Bob Katzen

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Gov. Maura Healey told Poltico Playbook last week that she supports some tax cuts including raising the estate/death tax threshold from $1 million to $2 million and expanding the senior circuit breaker tax credit. She also said...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — After agreeing last summer to a $110 million one-year extension of a pandemic-era program, lawmakers, advocates and families are calling for the state to make school meals free for all Massachusetts students permanently.Supporters of the...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Of the over 7,000 bills lawmakers filed in the last month, anti-poverty advocates are pushing to ensure increases in direct cash assistance to low-income families is one of the few hundred that will cross the finish line this session.Over a...

By SAM DORAN

The Legislature’s Food System Caucus is getting ready to “fight like hell” for its priorities, co-chair Sen. Jo Comerford said Wednesday, and another caucus leader said money to combat hunger can be realized by the savings it will create elsewhere in...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Massachusetts could become the third state in the country to decriminalize the use of several psychedelic plant-based substances, such as psilocybin mushrooms, should state lawmakers approve bills recently introduced in the Senate and House.The bills...

STAFF REPORT

BELCHERTOWN — A Mega Millions ticket sold at Stop & Shop located at 40 George Hannum St. in Belchertown is the sole winner of a $31 million jackpot in the multistate game’s Tuesday 24 drawing. The cash option on the prize is $16.3 million.The winning...

By Sam Drysdale

BOSTON — In her first appearance before Massachusetts’ municipal leaders, Gov. Maura Healey said she would fully fund the Student Opportunity Act, seek supplemental funding to cover costs associated with serving migrant children in the state’s public...

By Sten Spinella

NORTH ADAMS — Gov. Maura Healey visited western Massachusetts on Thursday, with a stop in North Adams to announce the first legislation of her tenure, followed by a swing through Ludlow.The governor took the opportunity of an 11 a.m. news conference...

By Michael P. Norton

BOSTON — Citing progress in addressing children’s behavioral health as well as areas desperately in need of improvement, a new report suggests the potential for schools and pediatric primary care providers to play a more significant role in addressing...

By HANNAH BEVIS 

Since the NCAA removed the ban for student-athlete compensation in July 2021, the NIL era has quickly blossomed in college athletics. Student-athletes have now been afforded avenues to receive compensation for the use of their name, image or...