WBUR found a rise of dark money groups trying to sway local elections and influence policy. The nonprofits can raise and spend unlimited money from undisclosed donors. Watchdogs warn about their growing influence on Massachusetts politics.
Massachusetts has one of the shortest deadlines in the country for prosecuting rape, even when DNA could help prove the case.
The FBI brought a man from El Salvador to the U.S. to testify in a Massachusetts case against members of the notorious gang MS-13. The informant says he was promised refuge in the U.S. — but his identity was exposed, and now he faces deportation.
Of the 200 state agencies that must be audited every three years, WBUR discovered the Auditor's Office hadn’t examined nearly half of them by that deadline.
For years the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has urged companies with massive amounts of hazardous chemicals to keep backup generators to protect volatile chemicals. But there’s no federal requirement for backup power at these plants, despite climate change and the growing threat of natural disasters.
Clerks were more likely to approve criminal charges against women and people without a lawyer in confidential hearings, according to a WBUR examination of court data. The Mass. high court is slated to hear arguments this month on whether to open up the hearings involving 28 defendants accused of paying for sex.
Taxpayer-funded special ed schools have hired relatives and struck business deals with board members. Nearly three out of every four of the private organizations had possible conflicts. State oversight of the schools’ finances is lax.
As Massachusetts grapples with a housing crisis, 184,000 people have applied for a home in the state's public housing system. Yet, units sit vacant for years because of the state's inefficient central waitlist and a lack of funding to repair aging properties.
In Massachusetts, WBUR found an unregulated and opaque business where title insurers pay large, hidden commissions to attorneys — and homebuyers often unknowingly foot the bills.
After a WBUR and ProPublica investigation of Revere's policy that requires the city to hire a police chief internally, U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins and Sens. Ed Markey and Elisabeth Warren are criticizing the rule, saying it makes it harder for women and people of color to attain leadership roles.
The citations are numerous, including infractions related to speeding, attention to duty, preventable accidents and the safety of customers or MBTA property.
Boston police used a "slush fund" to pay for a surveillance device that can grab cell phone data from suspects — and also from other phones nearby. The department says it has no policy on using the controversial spy gear.
Under Massachusetts' civil forfeiture system, police can confiscate property they suspect is part of a drug crime and prosecutors could hold it indefinitely, even when criminal charges have been dismissed. Trying to get money back is so onerous, legal experts say it may violate due process rights.
MIT's famous linguistic professor Noam Chomsky was in regular and close contact with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a review of emails published by the U.S. House Oversight Committee....
“It's putting the public in jeopardy. It's putting firefighters in jeopardy,” said Rich MacKinnon, president of Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, which surveyed 182 unionized fire departments across the state....
After a 2023 WBUR and ProPublica investigation found that almost 2,300 state-funded apartments were sitting empty, the state promised action within 90 days. But it failed to fix key problems,...
The fines are one of the state's main tools to push local housing agencies to fill empty units, but they were largely meaningless for years because the state failed to...
Deb Libby applied for a place to live in the state's public housing system, which has many empty apartments, according to a WBUR and ProPublica investigation. The state has since...