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By SAM DORAN

BOSTON — With the state’s family shelter system under pressure from mounting costs and violent on-site incidents, Gov. Maura Healey is recommending statutory changes to the decades-old Right to Shelter Law, asking House and Senate leadership to fold the reforms into a supplemental budget.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — As visitors from throughout the country toured ServiceNet’s successful Prospect Meadow Farm in Hatfield on Monday to learn about “care farming” — a therapeutic approach that combines agriculture and health care — Shawn Robinson shared the story of an employee who was thriving while working at the 18-acre property.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON – The state’s top education official pledged Tuesday that Massachusetts schools would protect transgender students, even after a federal judge scrapped President Joe Biden’s expanded Title IX protections of LGBTQ students last week.

By JANE KAUFMAN

It looks so benign.

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON – The opioid epidemic has affected tens of thousands of people across Massachusetts, and later this year, vehicles on the state’s roadways will be able to offer reminders that survivors and grieving families are all around us.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

A new bill signed by Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday will ban the practice of declawing cats in Massachusetts, a victory for animal rights activists who view declawing as inhumane.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — When he was growing up, Daniel Nye says the presence of World War II vets had been “pretty ubiquitous.” Now he says, “they seem to have disappeared.”

By CHRIS LARABEE

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) is seeking information about weather-related losses in 2023 and 2024 from farmers across the state as it prepares to report damages to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which will split up $220 million in relief funding among eight states.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Massachusetts has the second-highest family health insurance premiums in the country, according to the Health Policy Commission, and the state Division of Insurance is investigating medical inflation as average premium rates across the individual and small group markets increased by 7.9% over the course of 2024.

By Bob Katzen

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Last week was full of activity on Beacon Hill. The Legislature approved and sent to Gov. Maura Healey several bills passed on voice votes, without roll calls, prior to the end of the 2023-2024 session on Wednesday, January 1.

By JAMES BUCKSER

It’s cold in Massachusetts, and as the cost of living rises, some families will have trouble paying to keep their homes warm. One option they may not have considered is the Home Energy Assistance Program.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey filed a supplemental spending bill Monday, seeking another $425 million from a reserve account to keep the maxed-out emergency assistance shelter program running for the next six months.Healey’s office announced in November...

By ALISON KUZNITZ and SAM DORAN

BOSTON — The three-day countdown for Beacon Hill lawmakers to comply with Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s probe of the Legislature started Monday afternoon, DiZoglio said, with her office now requesting specific records from the House and Senate.Meantime,...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Pro-immigrant nonprofits, organizers, and politicians from across the state are bracing for a second Trump presidency as they seek to protect the state’s undocumented population — and a letter recently addressed to Gov. Maura Healey may give...

By BOB KATZEN

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. The 2024 legislative session ended on Jan. 1. There was a flurry of activity on Beacon Hill last week as sponsors of dozens of bills attempted to get final approval on...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Fresh off winning another term leading the Massachusetts Senate, President Karen Spilka quickly set her sights on a combination of new and old priorities, including one that will have significant interest in the Pioneer Valley — reexamining...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Top Democrats needed a few extra months to reach agreements on major laws this session, but wrapped up business for the term with almost a day to spare and New Year’s Eve plans intact.The House and Senate adjourned their last meetings of the...

By AUSTIN CHEN

Massachusetts has long been at the forefront of providing and protecting access to reproductive health care. Its role in doing so — in a national context — will likely increase once President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.Throughout...

By MOLLIE DOYLE, AMI DEL BENEand MAEVE KEENAN HAFF

NORTHAMPTON — Becca Frank, a clinical social worker at ServiceNet in Springfield, keeps careful boundaries in place to prevent career burnout.“My phone is off at 5, which is why you couldn’t get ahold of me,” Frank says. “And then I have a...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Maura Healey, reflecting midway through her first term as governor, noted the many investments she is making in the state, such as access to free college and free school lunches and breakfasts, the results of which aren’t fully known as...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

Just less than half of the roughly 3.5 million voters who cast a ballot in November’s elections here did so in person on Election Day, Secretary of State William Galvin’s office said in a new report on the roughly $8 million costs associated with the...