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By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — “Electronic cocaine.” “A youth behavioral health crisis on steroids.” “Nothing’s more aggravating to me as a parent.”

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

BOSTON — Bills proposing $60 million for rural schools are necessary to ensure their continued survival, Pioneer Valley residents told state legislators on Wednesday.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

BOSTON — Franklin County residents had their voices heard on Beacon Hill this week, telling legislators that Indigenous-themed mascots should not be allowed in Massachusetts public schools.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

BOSTON — Western Massachusetts residents called for legislative reform this week to prevent child sexual abuse.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

The House approved a significant overhaul of marijuana oversight in Massachusetts on Wednesday, passing a bill that would downsize and reorient the scandal-hounded Cannabis Control Commission that has kept tabs on the legal industry since it launched almost eight years ago.

By CHRIS LISINSKI

Representatives on one legislative committee are not ready to decide whether one of the most controversial proposals on their plate should move forward early in the lawmaking term.

By CHINANU OKOLI

Some local farmers hope bills to mitigate PFAS contamination in Massachusetts could safeguard their work and protect their lives.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Eight months after she started working in a Holyoke marijuana cultivation facility in 2021, 27-year-old Lorna McMurrey died from an asthma attack after inhaling ground cannabis dust — a death that drew national attention as it was the first to be traced to dust and mold deposits found within marijuana workspaces.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

BOSTON — At least one in every four girls and one in every 20 boys will experience childhood sexual abuse, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By ALEXA LEWIS

A bill allowing for medical aid in dying once again made it to a hearing before the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health on Wednesday morning. While versions of this bill have reached this stage before, local proponents are feeling hopeful as this is the earliest in a legislative session it has been brought to this committee’s hearing.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Most legislative committees are still getting organized and have not yet held their first hearing of the new two-year session. But for House members of the Committee on Public Health, the clock is already ticking on one of the most controversial matters that perennially comes before them.

By MITCHELL FINK

LEVERETT — Two years after a Leverett family released videos of motorists whizzing past their children’s stopped school bus, the Legislature has passed a bill allowing video monitoring to catch violators.

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

MONTAGUE — State Sen. Jo Comerford and state Rep. Natalie Blais met with the Selectboard on Monday to discuss a range of legislative priorities and concerns, such as regionalization of services, rural school challenges and economic development projects that would benefit Montague.

By EMILEE KLEIN

SPRINGFIELD — Most Massachusetts farmworkers whose hard work puts food on the dinner tables for Massachusetts families have difficulty affording the produce they pick and process.

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.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Less than three months after voters rejected a ballot measure to legalize certain natural psychedelic substances and introduce therapeutic care, legislators have filed 10 bills at the start of this legislative session hoping to push the cause forward.

By EMILEE KLEIN, ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL and DOMENIC POLI

Supporting K-12 public education, confronting climate change, and protecting health care and reproductive care are among the priorities this year for the legislative delegation representing Franklin County.

By CHRIS LARABEE

BOSTON — New legislation filed by state Rep. Natalie Blais seeks the development of minimum statewide quality standards for private wells, as well as the expansion of a financial assistance program for residents trying to remediate wells contaminated by so-called “forever chemicals,” or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Expectant mothers prescribed medication for substance use disorders can seek prenatal care without risk of being reported to the state’s Department of Children and Families, under the omnibus opioid bill signed into law this week.That...

By ZICHANG LIU

In an era where communication is no longer confined to one medium, Massachusetts’ wiretap law remains frozen in time, a 56-year-old statute that doesn’t entirely fit into the realities of today’s digital landscape, raising questions for lawmakers,...

By ADA DENENFELD KELLY

While the recent passage of a new clean energy law leaves details of implementation to be solidified over the next 15 months before it takes effect, Mass Audubon’s director of legislative and government affairs is feeling hopeful about one aspect...