AM Briefing: Beacon Hill Revs Up; BU Crash Charges; Teen Killed In New Bedford

Happy Friday. Top local stories and what we're watching today:

-- The Massachusetts Senate passed its version of health care cost-containment legislation.

-- The Senate also passed the heavily lobbied "right-to-repair" auto bill. [State House News Service, via MassLive]

-- The House approved legislation that would allow grocery stores to stop individually pricing items. [SHNS, via Wicked Local Lakeville]

-- New Zealand police have charged the 20-year-old driver of the fatal van crash that killed three Boston University students and injured five others.

-- Amid an altercation, New Bedford police officers shot and killed a 15-year-old boy after the teen stabbed a cop.

-- The state's highest court has banned officials from increasing sanctions against drivers whose drunk-driving cases are dismissed. [Boston Globe]

-- The Boston City Council hosts a hearing this morning regarding NStar's two recent blackouts stemming from a Back Bay substation. [Universal Hub]

-- With the vacancy rate down to the lowest level in a decade, Boston's residential rents are soaring. [Boston Herald]

-- With an extended contract, Plymouth's Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant has allowed all workers to return. [Herald]

Sports:

-- The Red Sox, led by Cody Ross' hitting, topped the Rays, 5-3

-- Tonight in Philly, the Celtics will try to go up 3-1 in their series against the Sixers.