State House News Service

The Massachusetts State Senate on Wednesday went on record supporting the permanent adoption of COVID-era voting allowances like expanded early voting and voting-by-mail, and also adopted policies like same-day registration that go beyond the changes made to accommodate elections during a pandemic. The bill passed 36-3 along party lines after Democrats rejected an alternative the Republican senators offered to address many...

Potentially coming soon to a sliver of Allston land near you: four rail tracks, eight lanes of the Massachusetts Turnpike, four lanes of Soldiers Field Road, and a pedestrian boardwalk over the Charles River, all laid out side-by-side. Ten years after discussions on the project started, the Baker administration on Wednesday embraced a design for a once-in-a-generation, $1.7 billion infrastructure…

Hospital leaders sounded an alarm Wednesday about the workforce challenges plaguing them as they continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects. “I get that people fully want to go back to some semblance of normal, but our health care organizations don’t have that option,” Steve Walsh, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, said during...

The Baker administration has been quietly planning for a permanent “hybrid” work model for as much as half of the state workforce, and over the course of 2021 will be redesigning office space and equipping employees with the technology they need to be able to continue to work remotely after the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Charlie Baker last week sent an…

Gov. Charlie Baker will probably share information this week about the call center his administration is launching to help take some frustration out of the process of registering for a COVID-19 vaccine and questions about it are already starting to pile up. After a torrent of criticism last week about the decentralized nature of the state’s vaccine sign-ups for...

Encore Boston Harbor will replace some bartenders with automatic drink-dispensing machines in hopes of speeding up alcohol beverage service for gamblers under a set of alcohol license amendments approved by regulators Thursday.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration took steps Monday to maintain its retail ban on all vaping products. The Department of Public Health filed an emergency regulation with the secretary of state’s office to comply with a Superior Court judge’s ruling while keeping the first-in-the-nation ban on vaping products from lifting.

A judge ruled Monday that Massachusetts’ temporary ban on vaping can remain in place.

Officials in the Merrimack Valley said Tuesday much work remains to bolster the local economy following last year’s disastrous gas explosions, and called for continued efforts to assist small business owners. At a press conference in North Andover, government and business leaders launched a marketing campaign to encourage people to shop at business impacted by the explosions.

Officials in the Merrimack Valley said Tuesday much work remains to bolster the local economy following last year’s disastrous gas explosions, and called for continued efforts to assist small business owners. At a press conference in North Andover, government and business leaders launched a marketing campaign to encourage people to shop at business impacted by the explosions.

About 10 months after gas explosions and fires rocked the Merrimack Valley, more than 70 percent of the impacted locally-owned small businesses have returned to their pre-gas emergency levels of operations, business and civic leaders are expected to announce at a press conference Tuesday. Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera and Congresswoman Lori Trahan will join Sen. Barry Finegold, Rep. Christina Minicucci,...

About 10 months after gas explosions and fires rocked the Merrimack Valley, more than 70 percent of the impacted locally-owned small businesses have returned to their pre-gas emergency levels of operations, business and civic leaders are expected to announce at a press conference Tuesday. Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera and Congresswoman Lori Trahan will join Sen. Barry Finegold, Rep. Christina Minicucci,...

A mother from Connecticut is dead after she somehow fell down the stairs at a subway station in Manhattan while holding her baby secured in her stroller, police say.

Transportation officials have announced a costly plan to make major changes to the Massachusetts Turnpike and Soldiers Field Road in Boston. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation confirmed that the project will rebuild the Pike at the ground level in the city’s Allston neighborhood and create a new viaduct to elevate part of Soldiers Field Road over the highway.

After criticism from Braintree Mayor Joe Sullivan, MBTA management decided to limit the upcoming increases in parking rates for two South Shore Red Line facilities and push back by a month the effective date of the new rates, according to State House News Service.

There will be no legal recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts on July 1.

The MBTA’s Control Board approved a $1.2 million plan Monday to provide late night and early morning bus trips.

All three finalists for the University of Massachusetts Boston chancellor’s job have withdrawn from consideration.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker called Wednesday’s Red Line derailment “unacceptable” and said the MBTA needs to take a closer look at how it happened.