FALL RIVER, Mass. — If Massachusetts was allowed to take the $9 billion in federal stimulus money they received and cut checks for everyone in the Commonwealth, your share would be about $1,300. But the stimulus money is meant to spur growth, by saving jobs, repairing roads and improving energy efficiency.

BOSTON — The Archdiocese of Boston has closed more than 60 Catholic churches in Greater Boston since 2004. It can be a painful and divisive process, but at one church in Jamaica Plain, it has been a community-building effort.

BOSTON — Thirty-five “underperforming” public schools in Massachusetts are facing an ultimatum under the state’s recently approved education reform effort. WBUR stopped by Hyde Park’s Elihu Greenwood, where progress has begun, to understand the challenges and possibilities the “underperforming” label presents.

BOSTON — Thirty-five Massachusetts schools — including 12 in Boston — have been tapped to undergo major restructuring because they are deemed underperforming, in accordance with the state’s recently-passed education reform package.

BROCKTON, Mass. — Many Haitian communities in the Greater Boston area have been welcoming new arrivals since Haiti’s devastating earthquake in January. And while that transition has been difficult for many students, that influx of new immigrants has also created a challenge in the schools.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Local residents are finding creative ways to put something other than money in the bank. Instead, they are banking time. Cambridge’s Time Trade Circle allows members to do work for someone, bank that time, and then cash in that time on a service provided by another member.

BOSTON — The state has requested a line of credit from the U.S. Treasury Department to borrow up to $250 million to cover the cost of unemployment benefits this month.

This week is Sen. Scott Brown’s first week of work in Washington. The Senate calendar has several nomination confirmations, one of them controversial, and the introduction of a jobs bill. To get up to speed on everything before him in the Senate, Brown will be relying on his new staff, which he is still selecting.

WASHINGTON — The new senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, already has celebrity status in Washington. Republicans filled the Senate chamber for his swearing-in Thursday and are hoping he uses his 41st vote to block some of the Democratic agenda.

WASHINGTON — Republican Scott Brown was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, the first GOP Senator from Massachusetts in 38 years. The little-known former state lawmaker rocked the nation with his upset victory last month over a favored Democrat. Brown’s arrival ends the Democrats’ supermajority and gives the GOP 41 votes they can use to block President Obama’s agenda.

WASHINGTON — A 5 p.m. swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for the Massachusetts Republican at the U.S. Senate after Gov. Deval Patrick officially signed and certified Brown’s special election victory on Thursday morning.

BOSTON — Reflecting the dire economic conditions for many in the state, the number of people in Massachusetts who use a food pantry, soup kitchen or pantry has jumped by 23 percent over the past four years, according to a new study by Hunger in Massachusetts.

FRANKLIN, Mass. — Massachusetts has more Catholics than any other state in the nation and religion has always played a significant role in politics. But very little is known about Sen.-elect Scott Brown’s religious beliefs. He belongs to the New England Chapel, a member of Christian Reformed Church in North America, which is of a Protestant Christian denomination and follows a conversational version of the Bible called “The Message.”

BOSTON — Many of the classic constituents of the Democratic Party are second guessing the role they played in the crucial Massachusetts Senate race, after Martha Coakley’s stunning loss to Republican Scott Brown.

BOSTON — Martha Coakley returns full-time Wednesday to her job as state attorney general. Coakley did not win the election that many Democrats believed would be an easy victory. Instead, Republican Scott Brown won 52 percent of the vote to Coakley’s 47 percent.

BOSTON — “Understand what’s at stake here, Massachusetts,” President Obama said at a Martha Coakley campaign rally Sunday in Boston. “It’s whether we are going forward or going backwards. It’s whether we are going to have a future where everybody gets a shot in this society or just the privileged few. If you were fired up in the last election, I need you even more fired up in this election.”

BOSTON — Thousands of people lined up along Huntington Avenue on Sunday afternoon, trying to get inside Northeastern University’s Cabot Center as they awaited President Obama’s appearance.

BOSTON — Some Democrats blame Martha Coakley for coasting out of the primary and allowing Republican Scott Brown to define himself and make the race for the U.S. Senate closer than expected.

BOSTON — A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring prosecutors to put chemists on the witness stand to certify their lab reports is causing delays and headaches in courtrooms across the state.

BOSTON — I’ve interviewed hundreds of people in my more than 10 years as a reporter at WBUR. Today alone I’ve interviewed three. But some people stick in my memory and Boston College professor and feminist Mary Daly is one of them.