Government & Politics

The House came around on the idea of expanding a tax credit program designed to encourage much-needed housing production, just not in the legislative vehicle that Gov. Maura Healey and the Senate originally envisioned.

The Retailers Association of Massachusetts is preparing for a majority of its members to either retire or sell their small businesses in the next decade, and the trade group's president said Wednesday that local franchise operations are going to be "key" to the future success of the small business sector.

House Democrats rolled out a major new spending initiative Wednesday, outlining a $693 million supplemental budget packed with funding for hospitals, collective bargaining agreements, special education and workers in the state's safety net system.

Having been pummeled by rainfall in recent days, residents of Franklin County were dealing Tuesday with flooded basements, washed out driveways, roads that have basically turned into rivers and the loss of entire farms' worth of crops.

MassDevelopment has expanded its Property Assessed Clean Energy Massachusetts program, once available only to existing buildings, to include new construction projects.

The U.S. EPA awarded $2 million to the Worcester Business Development Corp.’s nonprofit arm, New Garden Park, for environmental cleanup at a site formerly owned by manufacturer Saint-Gobain slated for redevelopment.

A group calling itself the Massachusetts for Mental Health Options committee filed paperwork with state campaign finance regulators signaling plans to pursue a ballot question that could decriminalize psychedelics.

Aspiring nurse aides should be allowed to take the certification exam in languages other than English, lawmakers and advocates said Thursday as they sought to revive support for a measure that died at the legislative finish line last year.

The City of Worcester is launching a pilot program to test a new crisis response model for emergencies involving mental health and substance abuse components.

Following a May announcement that UMass Memorial Health will shutter its maternity ward at the HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, Leominster Campus, community advocates continue to push for services to remain in place.