Melissa Buja

Gov. Charlie Baker has made the hands-free law official in Massachusetts.

Gov. Charlie Baker has signed the much-awaited hands-free driving bill into law in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed the long-awaited bill Monday that would make it illegal to hold a cellphone while driving in the Bay State. Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the hands-free driving bill with a 38-1 vote in the Senate and 153-1 vote from the House. Baker signed the bill just after 3 p.m.

We have the battle of airmasses right across the northeast this evening. Cold air to the north and more snow filling in across the North Country, mild air to the south and drier. Tonight the snow continues to fill in across northern New England, while southern New England stays mostly cloudy with a sprinkle and temperatures around 50.

Two people dressed as police officers, including guns in holsters, forced their way into a home in Lowell, Massachusetts, Friday and tied up the homeowners, authorities said. One person is in custody on armed home invasion charges but another is still at large, Lowell police said.

A California man became the first black patient — and oldest patient — to receive a full face transplant, Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital said Thursday, after a 16-hour procedure several months ago. Robert Chelsea, 68, of Los Angeles — who suffered burns to over 60% of his body and face after his car was struck by a drunk driver...

The murder trial of a man accused of stabbing his wife, a beloved local teacher, to death in their Revere, Massachusetts, home began on Tuesday. Andrew MacCormack was arrested following the Sept. 23, 2017 death of 30-year-old Vanessa MacCormack, who was found strangled with stab wounds to her neck and face. Authorities said she had a trash bag over head...

A woman has been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a man on Friday morning in Worcester, Massachusetts, police said. Officers responded to a home on Dixfield Street in the city’s Greendale area just before 9 a.m. after receiving a 911 call from the victim’s mother, according to police.

What sounded like an easy way to make money turned out not to be the case for a recent University of Massachusetts Lowell graduate when she fell victim to a secret shopper scam.

“I thought I had just made an extra $350 to do something easy, and then I find out that all my savings, everything I had is wiped out, and now I owe the bank $2,000.”

A person is dead after being stabbed in the chest Wednesday afternoon in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Officers responded to the 330 block of Yarmouth Road in Hyannis, where the victim was stabbed around 1:30 p.m., police said. Officers searched for evidence late into the night Wednesday at a strip of businesses.

A rapidly developing storm is bringing a slug of torrential rain and powerful winds to New England overnight, knocking out power to some just before midnight with damaging winds expected hours later. Heavy rain began to fall at night, strong east-southeast winds gusting 50-60 mph along the coastline. Inland, expect gusts 30-50 mph.

A neighborhood disturbance involving baseball bats, pipes and pepper spray led to the arrest of six people Monday afternoon in Rochester, New Hampshire, police said. Officers responded to the area of Heaton Street and Ricker Court at about 4:22 p.m. for the incident that involved up to 13 people.

A Boston-based U.S. Coast Guard crew recently returned home after helping to seize more than 12,000 pounds of cocaine in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The Cutter Seneca returned to Boston Sept. 27 after a 93-day patrol with three other coast guard vessels.

A pedestrian was killed Friday morning after being struck by a tractor-trailer truck in Everett, Massachusetts, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office. Police responded to the crash on Broadway at 5:20 a.m. where a man in his 30s was pronounced dead at the scene.

With the new hands-free driving law in Maine already one week in the books, motorists in the state are seeing signs of enforcement. The law prohibits the use of hand-held phones and other devices while driving and went into effect in Maine last week.

After the driver of a van allegedly tried to offer candy to children in Randolph, Massachusetts, police are asking for the public’s help in their investigation. The driver of a brown van had stopped in traffic on South Main Street, near Sam’s Gas & Auto Repair, at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and allegedly held out his arm — offering two...

More undelivered Amazon packages have been discovered in trash bins at least two more Massachusetts communities, according to police. About 15 packages were found in a trash barrel Monday evening in Swampscott. Authorities there said they notified Amazon of the incident and are urging anyone who didn’t receive their packages to contact the Swampscott Police Department.