LOWELL, Mass. — The two Democratic candidates in the state’s special U.S. Senate election defended their votes and vied for blue-collar credibility.

BOSTON — Daniel Winslow said a national lottery could help ease the financial burden facing students trying to pay for a college education.

BOSTON — U.S. Reps. Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch square off Monday night at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

BOSTON — The 97-55 margin fell just shy of the two-thirds needed to override a promised veto by the governor.

WASHINGTON — This week senators finalize a bipartisan bill to secure the border, allow foreign workers into the country and grant eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally.

BOSTON — Bill Walczak, co-founder of the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, said he wants to look at innovative ways to keep Boston growing across all neighborhoods.

Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the Middle East on Saturday, his third trip to the region in two weeks, in a fresh bid to unlock long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

WASHINGTON — But the president said it offers “tough reforms” to the nation’s benefit programs while closing loopholes for the wealthy, a mix that he argued will provide long-term deficit reduction without harming the economy.

BOSTON — The largest amount of money is going to support Democratic candidate Edward Markey.

BOSTON — A veto threat from the governor hangs over the House as a preferred legislative leadership tax plan takes shape.

NASHUA, N.H. — Asked whether he might challenge Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2014, Brown said: “I’m not going to rule out anything right now.”

BOSTON — He spoke with WBUR a day after saying he’d veto a transportation finance plan offered by legislative leaders.

WASHINGTON — The proposal aims for a compromise on the Fiscal 2014 budget by combining the president’s demand for higher taxes with GOP insistence on reductions in entitlement programs.

BOSTON — An investigation by House lawmakers into one of their own appears to be deepening.