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By BELLA LEVAVI

BOSTON — Local residents recently shared their opinions with the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government on proposed legislation that would allow for more local control over large-scale solar projects.S.1319/H.2082, “An Act Regarding...

By LIESEL NYGARD

As a way to help cities and towns retain police and firefighters longer, a local lawmaker has filed a bill that would allow them to work in public safety roles until age 72.Under state law, emergency services personnel such as police officers and...

HADLEY — U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern is calling on the federal government to establish a new, expansive conservation strategy for the Connecticut River.The Worcester Democrat joined with conservation advocates, lawmakers and others last weekend to promote...

By BELLA LEVAVI

Rural legislators and organizations are working hard to make sure they get a portion of Gov. Maura Healey’s five-year, $4.12 billion housing bond bill that was unveiled earlier this month.Since Healey took office in January, she has created the...

By CHRIS LARABEE

BOSTON — Educators, town officials and students from across the Pioneer Valley appeared before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education on Monday to share their support for bills that would codify several recommendations to ensure the stability...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Grieving family members who have watched the agonizing, slow deaths of their loved ones clashed Friday with members of the disability community and conservative groups over the prospect of legalizing medical aid in dying, resurfacing...

By MARY BYRNE

GREENFIELD — Following the encouragement of several community members at this week’s City Council meeting, councilors voted unanimously to back two resolutions supporting three pending state school funding bills. “Knocking on doors in Precinct 1, [the...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Most House Democrats lined up Wednesday in support of a major overhaul of the state’s firearms laws, easily hurdling over procedural complaints and sending the Senate a measure that has generated incendiary criticism from gun owners and...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

People could be paid to act as caregivers to spouses with disabilities under proposals promoted at a legislative hearing Monday to address the state’s shortage of personal care attendants.A slew of family members — including children, grandparents,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Weeks of research into a change they would like to see in the world prompted students at Fort River School in Amherst to champion the idea of Indigenous Peoples Day becoming a state holiday. This week, three sixth graders brought their expertise on...

By CHRIS LARABEE

In Conway, fire engines need to be retrofitted and parked bumper to bumper to fit into the garage. Ashfield’s police chief has a single office space in the basement and an emergency exit she can’t use. And in Royalston, the town cannot move to bigger...

By BELLA LEVAVI

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing will host a hearing for a bill that could vastly improve access to and increase funding for doula services.The hearing for bill H 1240/ S 782, “An act relative to Medicaid coverage for doula...

By MARY BYRNE

Franklin County advocates were among the 21 groups and 258 people to sign a letter sent to the Healey administration on Tuesday, encouraging passage of a bill that would provide funding for a Municipal Reforestation Program.The letter asks that the...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern has introduced a bill in Congress that could ban dozens of pesticides in the United States, including many banned in other countries. The bill, known as the Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act, would update...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — At Webster Hall on the University of Massachusetts campus, students last fall covered over the men’s and women’s designations for bathrooms with green tape in an effort to create more accessible gender-neutral bathrooms, at least on a...

By DOMENIC POLI

Area lawmakers are lauding Gov. Maura Healey for signing the Chapter 90 conference committee bill to authorize $375 million in reimbursements to municipalities for bridge and road maintenance and funding for transportation-related infrastructure...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Saying that now is the time to embrace the “enormous potential that plant-based foods have to strengthen our economy and our food system,” U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern has introduced a bill in Congress that aims to strengthen the American...

By MADDIE FABIAN

BOSTON — The Senate moved Thursday to give people the option to select a nonbinary “X” identification on their driver’s licenses and birth certificates, a choice LGBTQ allies have been advocating for years.The Massachusetts Senate unanimously voted to...

By MADDIE FABIAN

BOSTON — Food access and insecurity, farmland and economic development top the list of priorities for the current legislative session for the Food System Caucus, one of the largest caucuses in the Massachusetts Legislature that’s co-chaired by Sen....

By CHRIS LARABEE

Legislators, education association representatives, and school and town officials were briefed Thursday morning on bills proposing to codify numerous recommendations to ensure the long-term sustain ability of rural schools.Bills H.3567 and S.2388,...