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By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Following years of a piecemeal approach to PFAS contamination and more than a year after a task force unanimously recommended 30 steps to deal with the problem, environmental groups, consumer advocates, firefighters and the Attorney General’s...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

While lawmakers continue to hash out a compromise budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, Gov. Maura Healey bought them some extra time Tuesday with the filing of an interim budget that would keep state operations going through July.The...

By MERCY LINGLE

NORTHAMPTON — Evie Hawley recalls seeing her daughter Alice taking pictures in front of her portrait and those of her friends when they were on display four years ago at the Northampton Center for the Arts as part of an exhibit titled “This is Me.”...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — With an eye on the state’s mid-century greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments, Gov. Maura Healey has announced the launch of a “green bank” that she hopes will attract private investment and federal money to pay for building retrofits...

By JULIA BLATT

When we think of climate change, the first images that come to mind are of hot temperatures, melting ice caps, and greenhouse gases clogging the atmosphere. A recent report by the United Nations, however, warns that most people will actually...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Lawmakers intend to schedule this year’s mandatory sales tax holiday for the weekend of Aug. 12-13, Senate President Karen Spilka said Monday.With a Thursday deadline to set the dates approaching, Spilka told reporters the Legislature intends...

By CHRIS LARABEE

SOUTH DEERFIELD — What began as a class project exploring students’ civic identities has found its way nearly 100 miles east, as three Frontier Regional School students testified at the State House Tuesday afternoon to support a bill they helped file...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

The Healey administration moved Wednesday to draft the state’s forests into the effort to address climate change, announcing a new initiative to invest in conservation, develop updated guidelines for state lands, and provide incentives for landowners...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — On college campuses, where drinking and drugs are often a pervasive part of student culture, students recovering from addiction face high risks of relapse and social isolation, according to supporters of a bill that would create a safety net...

By SYDNEY KO

When she was 13 nearly a decade ago, University of Massachusetts graduate student Maggie Buswick was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Her doctors informed her that she needed to receive the “highest level” treatment of radioactive iodine, which is a...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — As antisemitic attacks and white supremacist activity escalate in Massachusetts, the Anti-Defamation League is imploring Beacon Hill policymakers to pass legislation to crack down on hate crimes and online harassment.Massachusetts logged the...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

Sen. Anne Gobi will leave the Legislature to become the state’s first director of rural affairs, a newly created post in the Healey administration.Gov. Maura Healey announced Monday that she tapped the Spencer Democrat to serve “as a dedicated...

By MARISSA WALKER

BOSTON — “Pregnancy resource centers” are becoming increasingly prevalent in Massachusetts, outnumbering abortion providers 3-to-1 as these anti-abortion women’s health care centers push back against abortion rights advocates.Last month, Massachusetts...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — As Massachusetts moves toward its 2050 deadline to reach net-zero carbon emissions, climate activists had lawmakers’ attention on Wednesday, proposing a new idea to reduce an unlikely source of carbon in the state.A bill sponsored by Rep....

By SAM DORAN

BOSTON — A proposed pilot program for Massachusetts hospitals could be “game-changing” in identifying medical error cases and the causes behind them, the Betsy Lehman Center’s executive director said Monday, and several hospitals have expressed...

By Sam Drysdale

BOSTON — As the House and Senate prepare for budget negotiations to get underway in a few weeks, a coalition advocating for “debt-free” public higher education is making a final push for historic investments into the sector with the advent of newly...

By Chris Lisinski

BOSTON — It can be difficult to grasp all at once a sense of how dramatically the world seemed to change in March 2020.Now that the public health emergency order in Massachusetts has ended, as of Thursday, state health officials say the road out of...

By Sam Drysdale

BOSTON — Senate Democrats rolled out a $55.8 billion state budget bill Tuesday, leaving room for about $575 million in future investments in tax relief, which the Senate budget chief said will be hitting the chamber floor for debate soon.The Senate...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Tree canopies shading Massachusetts cities and towns could grow dramatically, particularly in environmental justice communities where there’s currently scant coverage, under a legislative proposal to launch a municipal reforestation...

By SYDNEY KO

Following the lead of New York and Maryland, veterinarians in Massachusetts are gathering support to ban procedures that declaw cats.A bill introduced by Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, aims to ban the practice, a move veterinarians in...