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By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Forty years after the state added a 5-cent deposit on some plastic bottles to encourage recycling, climate advocates say it’s “the right moment” to expand the state’s bottle redemption law.Proposals before the Committee on Telecommunications,...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Anyone with a cellphone in their pocket can likely be tracked — to the grocery store or the gym, to work or school, to religious services or health care appointments. With prolific data available on Bay Staters’ day-to-day lives, a bill seeks...

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 BELLA LEVAVI

ASHFIELD — Inspired by a model being used in Clifton Park, New York, Dalton resident Tom Irwin is going across Massachusetts to drum up support for a bill that would create a statewide paint recycling program.The bill, H.823 and S.551, has been...

By DOMENIC POLI

BOSTON — At least three Greenfield residents and the state senator representing 25 communities in Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester counties have submitted testimony to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary to express support for a bill that would...

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 MARY BYRNE

BOSTON — Officials from across the Pioneer Valley testified at the State House on Thursday in support of a bill seeking to resolve what they called an “inequitable system” of providing public health services that was only further magnified amid the...

By MARY BYRNE

GREENFIELD — Ranging views on gun control were aired at Greenfield Community College Tuesday evening as part of the state Legislature’s listening tour on the controversial topic.Before introducing a panel that included representation from law...

By JULIAN MENDOZA

LEVERETT — Outraged by videos she described as “horrific,” state Rep. Natalie Blais joined state Sen. Jo Comerford at a family’s Leverett home on Tuesday afternoon to draw attention to the importance of school bus safety. Wes and Audra Goscenski, who...

By SAM DORAN

Anti-child abuse advocates on Thursday lined up behind bills they said would crack down on sexual exploitation of children in school settings.Speaking at a webinar held by Massachusetts Citizens for Children and the Enough Abuse Campaign, Sen. Joan...

By CHRIS LARABEE

TURNERS FALLS — Legislative advocacy for parents with intellectual and developmental disabilities and increased funding for service workers were the focus of The United Arc’s virtual Coffee & Conversation event on Friday.United Arc staff members were...

By SYDNEY KO

Brittainy Simpson grew up in the hearing world but was considered an oral deaf, a person who is born deaf or becomes deaf before they learn how to speak. Despite getting by with a hearing aid and lip-reading, Simpson only learned how to sign at age...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Two Newton lawmakers are hoping to begin to stamp out abusive coaching practices and the toxic culture of some middle and high school sports teams with a piece of legislation that would help districts emphasize self-awareness, self-control,...

By MARY BYRNE

Local public health officials are asking for the community’s help in garnering support for its list of priorities this legislative session. “We have an extremely narrow group [of legislative bills] that we’ve identified, and we’re hoping to track the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern is using his participation in a listening session of Amherst’s African Heritage Reparation Assembly as the basis for calling on President Joe Biden to create a presidential commission to study reparations for...

By JULIAN MENDOZA

MONTAGUE — Red Fire Farm’s Ryan and Sarah Voiland joined hundreds of farmers from across the U.S. for a climate rally in Washington D.C. last week, marching to the Capitol before meeting with legislators to ask for climate change policy to be a...

By BELLA LEVAVI

WASHINGTON — With new legislation, U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) hopes to permanently increase the federal reimbursement for school meals.“This is one piece of the puzzle, but it is an important piece,” McGovern said in a phone interview. His bill,...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — What’s the first step in dealing with an overflowing bathtub? That’s the question MASSPIRG Legislative Director Deirdre Cummings asks to make her pitch for a sweeping new bill aimed at wrangling the presence of PFAS chemicals in food...

By CHRIS LARABEE

DEERFIELD — U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern and Sen. Ed Markey reintroduced a bill Wednesday that would begin the process of designating the Deerfield River as a National Wild and Scenic River.First introduced by McGovern, D-Worcester, in a July 2022...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

The $15 minimum wage that kicked into effect Jan. 1 was years in the making and took more than five more years to be implemented. Now, with the new rate just setting in, key power players have set their sights on making Massachusetts the first state...