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By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey has spent the last few weeks using her bully pulpit to warn of a brain drain out of Massachusetts, as a consequence of President Donald Trump’s cuts to research funding and the threat of foreign-born students being deported.

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — A pair of western Massachusetts lawmakers made an urgent plea to their colleagues Tuesday to allow smaller farms to access property tax benefits currently available only to their larger peers.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL,EMILEE KLEIN and SCOTT MERZBACH

In a state that prides itself on its educational prowess, Massachusetts school districts across the commonwealth are facing a crisis of ability to adequately fund their schools. Hampshire County has proved to be no exception.

By BOB KATZEN

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local senators’ votes on roll calls from recent debate on the joint House-Senate rules. There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week.

EMILEE KLEIN

NORTHAMPTON — Cities and towns in Hampshire County are facing spikes in health insurance costs between 10% and 20% for fiscal year 2026, an increase in a normally stable cost that promises to eat into bottom lines during an already tight budget season.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — More than a half-dozen restaurants in Hampshire County are partnering with survival centers in Northampton and Amherst to provide free meals to those facing food insecurity in the region as part of a larger initiative taking place statewide.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — About 3.1 million people in Massachusetts already have a Real ID-compliant driver’s license or identification card and demand for the Registry of Motor Vehicles appointment required to get one is high ahead of a long-awaited May deadline.

By GABRIEL O’HARA SALINI

The Massachusetts cannabis industry is a billion-dollar enterprise, with over 700 retailers operating across the state. Yet stores are closing, companies are firing their workers and retail and non-retail licenses are being surrendered by former operators as business owners clamor for regulatory changes to transform an industry they see as unsustainable.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Two weeks before the policies are set to expire, the House and Senate took the first steps Monday to once again temporarily extend pandemic-era laws allowing remote access for public meetings in Massachusetts.

By BOB KATZEN

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local representatives’ votes on roll calls from recent debate on the House rules. There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week.

By MITCH FINK

President Donald Trump’s return to office has raised questions about the future of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding Massachusetts secured for its West-East Rail plan with suggestions the administration may place a greater emphasis on birth and marriage rates and immigration policy.

By CHRIS LARABEE

BOSTON — As farmers prepare to head out to the fields for the season, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle sent a letter to the new U.S. agriculture secretary expressing concerns over uncertain federal funding and other actions taken by the federal government.

By ALISON KUZNITZ

The Healey administration has launched a new website to connect fired federal workers with job opportunities and training resources in Massachusetts.

By CHRIS LISINSKI

BOSTON — The Healey administration hopes to save residents billions of dollars in energy costs over the next five years by pulling a host of executive-branch levers, including redirection of some clean energy development funding to shave $50 off electricity bills in April.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Massachusetts is losing $12.2 million in federal money that had been earmarked for Bay State schools to buy food from local farms and Gov. Maura Healey indicated that the state has no plans to backstop the funding for more than 200 school systems, including virtually every school in Hampshire County.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — “Nobody knows how to start a revolution better than us” said U.S. Sen. Ed Markey Sunday afternoon at Pulaski Park, where more than 800 came to collectively ignite the sparks of revolution against what they described as President Donald Trump’s “technocratic dictatorship.”

By MITCH FINK

BOSTON — In his 14 years as an officer with the Hadley Police Department, David Bertera never had to worry about his heart health coverage. Massachusetts’ Heart Law guaranteed it.

By Sam Drysdale

BOSTON — With unusually high levels of uncertainty circling around the federal funding that buoys more than $16 billion of the state budget, Gov. Maura Healey’s finance secretary said that federal cuts would be too big of a problem for the executive branch to solve on its own.

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — More than six years in, the legal cannabis industry landscape in Massachusetts has had a chance to evolve, and a new industry report examines some of the trend lines.

By ALISON KUZNITZ

BOSTON — In the wake of last session’s clean energy development law, Gov. Maura Healey intends to pursue executive action and legislation in the new term to crack down on steep energy bills that are straining Bay Staters’ wallets.

By BOB KATZEN

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local senator’s votes on roll calls from recent sessions in which the Senate debated the rules by which it will operate in the 2025-2026 legislative session.