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Members of the Joint Ways and Means Committee listen to testimony from Gov. Maura Healey on her fiscal 2025 budget proposal on Feb. 7, 2024. (SHNS)

Local Coverage

1 hour ago

Shelter funding fading among legislative disagreement on spending bill

House and Senate Democrats broke for another long weekend Thursday without announcing any deal on a spending bill that would replenish shelter funding for the remainder of the fiscal year. While negotiators remain at odds, emergency shelter funding could run out in less than two weeks, a Healey administration official...

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Google has a contract with the Israeli government where it provides the country with cloud computing services. Not all Google employees are happy about that. (Getty Images)

Google worker says the company is 'silencing our voices' after mass firings

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference following the arraignment of former U.S. President Donald Trump in New York City on April 4, 2023. (The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's district attorney, draws friends close and critics closer

The answer is in the stars. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images; Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images; Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

What's going to explode in space? Find out in the quiz

The busy halls of North Community High School in Minneapolis in between classes. (Caroline Yang for NPR)

Where gun violence is common, some students say physical safety is a...

The CDC and FDA are investigating reports of patients in nearly a dozen U.S. states being injected with counterfeit Botox. (picture alliance via Getty Images)

Fake Botox has sickened patients nationwide. Here's what to know — and...

House speaker Mike Johnson speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on April 16. (AFP via Getty Images)

Here's what's in the House foreign aid bills

More Boston Headlines

The author, headed out the door to a Boston Celtics game in her New York Knicks jacket. (Courtesy Viktoria Shulevich)

It's college decision season: Take the leap, get the rollerblades

Viktoria Shulevich emigrated from Moscow to New York when she was 11, then graduated from a tiny high school in Brooklyn. When she visited and fell in love with Boston...

Cognoscenti

2 hours ago

Buying weed at Boston's first Black woman-owned dispensary

Massachusetts legalized recreational cannabis in 2016. According to the state, the industry here has grossed nearly $6 billion from hundreds of dispensaries across the state. As part of WBUR's Field...

The Common

13:412 hours ago

Boston Dynamics latest splash in the world of robotics could have ripple effects in Mass.

Radio Boston talks about the latest humanoid robot from Boston dynamics and what it means for the future of automation and employment in Massachusetts.

Radio Boston

13:05Apr 18, 2024

A rendering of the Parcel 12 development. (Samuels and Associates)

Coming soon: towers and a shopping plaza over the Pike in Back Bay

A major new shopping plaza set to open at the western end of Newbury Street this summer. Ted Landsmark, director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at...

Radio Boston

30:07Apr 18, 2024

Passengers board a free fare WRTA bus at Union Station in Worcester. (Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Worcester Regional Transit Authority extends fare-free buses for another year

Leaders of the Worcester Regional Transit Authority voted Thursday to keep its buses free through June 2025. The bus system has not charged riders since the pandemic began in the...

Local Coverage

Apr 18, 2024

Michael Kruzich holds a photo of his late mother Donna during an interview in Lansing, Mich. Donna Kruzich was one of dozens of people in the U.S. who died after being injected with tainted steroids made by a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts. (Mike Householder/AP)

Former Mass. lab chief faces sentencing 12 years after fatal meningitis outbreak

Barry Cadden, the former head of New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts, will be sentenced in Michigan for 11 deaths more than a decade ago that were tied to tainted...

Local Coverage

Apr 18, 2024

Coats and boots in a preschool classroom. (Getty Images)

Report finds preschool access expanded in Mass. and across country last year

Massachusetts state-funded preschool programs met six out of 10 of the research institute's quality standards and ranked highly when it comes to 3-year-old preschool access.

Education

Apr 18, 2024

Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum drives past Sacramento Kings' Davion Mitchell during the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, April 5, 2024, in Boston. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

The Celtics have dominated the NBA. Only a championship will make season complete

The Celtics know this franchise is judged by championships. And for the buckets of success this year’s team has had, it will mean nothing if it doesn’t end with the...

Local Coverage

Apr 17, 2024

Somerville City Hall (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

Somerville homeowners hit with soaring water bills

The city is replacing aging and faulty water meters and sending out bills for underpayments amounting to thousands of dollars in some cases.

Local Coverage

Apr 17, 2024

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) announced late last week it is terminating its $185-million contract for 45 train cars for its commuter railroad.

Union concerned for future of Springfield jobs after Philadelphia cancels train contract

CRRC recently reworked a contract with the MBTA. That project is also years behind schedule and has been beset with vehicle reliability issues.

Local Coverage

Apr 17, 2024

Radio Boston

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The garment area at Ahead Manufacturing facility in New Bedford. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Newly-arrived migrants, advocates and state leaders push for expedited permission to work

Radio Boston

15:29Apr 17, 2024

Loss of federally-subsidized internet program will affect hundreds of thousands of Mass. families

Mary Magner, an ACP participant in Brighton, and Virginia Benzan, of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, join Radio Boston to discuss.

Radio Boston

12:47Apr 17, 2024

Lawrence mayor, city council locked in battle over urban renewal plan

Radio Boston details a contentious battle between the mayor and city council of Lawrence over the city's urban renewal plan.

Radio Boston

10:20Apr 17, 2024

Straightening a highway and creating a neighborhood in Allston

Christian MilNeil of StreetsBlogMass and Kate Dineen of the nonprofit A Better City join Radio Boston to discuss the Allston Multimodal Project, which recently received...

Radio Boston

12:24Apr 16, 2024

More Boston Headlines

A “For Rent” sign outside the front of a house in Cambridge. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

What was the point of Massachusetts' new tax break for renters?

Thanks to an increased deduction included in last year's tax cut package, Massachusetts renters can claim an extra $50 on their tax returns in 2024 and beyond. But some experts...

Local Coverage

Apr 17, 2024

Boston Bruins television play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards, center, holds up a golden stick in honor of his announced retirement, before the Bruins' NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Boston. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Bruins play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards to retire at end of playoffs

Jack Edwards is retiring after 19 years as the Boston Bruins’ play-by-play announcer. Edwards has described the position broadcasting for the Bruins on NESN as his “dream job.” He started...

Local Coverage

Apr 17, 2024

Musette Jean-Pierre packs a box of hats to be shipped out on the floor of the garment area at the Ahead Manufacturing facility in New Bedford. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Immigrants want faster permission to work. So do Mass. leaders and businesses

"The people out on the floor are the heart of the operation; without them, we can't get our product out the door," Ahead's Tracy Silvia said. "They don't deserve the...

Local Coverage

06:48Apr 17, 2024

Here are the 2024 graduation speakers appearing at Mass. colleges

Universities across Massachusetts will welcome many impressive luminaries to speak during this commencement season. From Governor Gov. Maura Healey to award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, graduates of 2024 will receive their...

Education

Apr 16, 2024

A house for sale, in North Andover, Massachusetts. in 2017. (Elise Amendola/AP)

New data show Mass. home prices keep rising as inventory remains low

The median sale price for a single-family home in Massachusetts climbed to $609,900 last month, about 9% higher than the same time last year, according to new data from the...

Local Coverage

Apr 16, 2024

A bin of just caught lobster at Fisherman’s View Seafood Market in Sandwich. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

New Englanders, with their love of seafood, may be at higher risk for PFAS exposure

The study's author said the results make a case for setting PFAS limits on seafood, not to stop eating seafood.

Local Coverage

Apr 16, 2024

Buoys made from mycelium. (Courtesy of Nantucket’s Natural Resources Dept.)

Why Nantucket is testing out mushroom-based buoys

Nantucket's Natural Resources Department plans to put 135 new “MycoBuoys” — made from mushrooms — along shellfish spat lines this summer. Tara Riley, the town's shellfish and aquatic resources manager,...

Local Coverage

Apr 16, 2024

Lawrence City Councilor Jeovanny Rodriguez recently visited the Merrimack Paper mill site. (Simón Rios/WBUR)

Urban renewal battle in Lawrence pits mayor against city council

Officials are locked in fight over who has the power to transfer city-owned properties. It could be up to a judge to decide who's right.

Local Coverage

04:53Apr 16, 2024

Boston Marathon men's division winner Sisay Lemma, of Ethiopia, and women's division winner Hellen Obiri, of Kenya hold up the trophy at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2024. (Charles Krupa/AP)

The winners in the 2024 Boston Marathon

Hug finished in 1 hour, 15 minutes, 33 seconds, breaking his previous course record to win his 14th straight major marathon and his 24th overall. Britain's Eden Rainbow-Cooper won the...

Local Coverage

Apr 15, 2024

Runners cross the start line in the rolling start to the 125th Boston Marathon. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Boston Marathon start times and how to track your runner

The Boston Marathon starting heats are staggered, kicking off with the elite runners and then moving into the qualified racers and then those raising money for charity. Here's the schedule...

Local Coverage

Apr 15, 2024