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By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — Two years after policymakers enacted mental health care reforms designed to mitigate the problem, the share of patients experiencing long waits in Massachusetts emergency departments remains elevated, according to new state research.

By ELLA ADAMS

BOSTON — The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously Tuesday to put its proposed competency determination regulations out for public comment, and to solicit comment about a second potential pathway to graduation that could still feature use of the MCAS exams.

By ALEXA LEWIS

NORTHAMPTON — Commemorating the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine, a handful of activists with Massachusetts Peace Action stood outside U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern’s Northampton office on Monday afternoon to demand peace negotiations. This standout mirrored another held by the organization at the same time in Boston.

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — Residents struggling to afford hefty energy bills this winter could soon see modest relief, after state regulators instructed utility companies to slash costs.

By CHINANU OKOLI

Applications are rolling in for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources’ new Farm Transfer Planning Assistance initiative that connects aging farmers and their successors with experienced planners to set retirement goals and figure out how management and assets will be transferred.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — According to Lt. John Girvalakis of the Massachusetts Environmental Police, all that has been required to legally take a boat out on a ride are two things: “money and a boat,” with few exceptions.

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — With residents facing skyrocketing energy bills, Gov. Maura Healey demanded Sunday that a state regulatory agency and utility companies provide urgent relief to customers.

By MICHAEL P. NORTON

Private sector efforts to seek and support diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible workplaces are not illegal, a coalition of state attorneys general said last week, and the federal government can’t prohibit such efforts in the private sector through executive order.

By CHRIS LARABEE

With a rise in reported cases of theft of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) is urging folks to take extra precautions to protect themselves.

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

WHATELY — A 53-year-old man from Chicopee was injured after he lost control of his 2021 GMC Canyon truck traveling southbound on Interstate 91 Friday evening, according to State Police.

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

GREENFIELD — The Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), the state’s regulatory body for marijuana products, said it will continue to raise its standards for testing after cannabis contaminated with mold and mildew was reported in more than 20 dispensaries, including those in Greenfield, Montague, Northampton and Easthampton.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Over the course of two hours Monday, legislators sitting on the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism presented numerous pro-Palestinian exhibits — resources that educators might use in their classroom — drawn from a members-only section of the Massachusetts Teachers Association website.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — The astronomical cost of housing for Massachusetts households across the income spectrum and a bleak outlook for the new units needed over the next decade underscore the focus of the Healey administration’s new housing plan for the next five years — more production.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

The Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) has recognized the towns of Leyden and Phillipston for their 2023 annual town reports.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Invoking Emily Dickinson, Phillis Wheatley, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Sam Cornish and Robert Frost, Gov. Maura Healey recently signed an executive order creating a position of poet laureate in Massachusetts for the first time.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey intends to run for reelection in 2026, she said Friday.

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Accessory dwelling units are now allowed by right in single-family zoning districts across most of Massachusetts, under a law Gov. Maura Healey signed in August. The rule went into effect on Sunday.

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Appeals Court has upheld a 2022 Hampshire County Superior Court ruling that found former Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. and the Police Department racially discriminated against former Officer Patrick Buchanan.

By CHRIS LARABEE

BOSTON — When flooding devastated the Pioneer Valley in summer 2023, it took an extraordinary partnership between the state, nonprofits and private individuals to quickly bring millions of dollars in aid to those affected.

By ALEXA LEWIS

During the last election cycle, voters in nearly a dozen legislative districts voted in favor of a nonbinding ballot question instructing their state representative to support a single-payer health care system in the state.