Government & Politics

Central Massachusetts will not receive its September or October unemployment rates this month due to the ongoing effects of the longest federal government shutdown in history.

Even though inflation is cooling off, the cost of living remains high here and consumers are expected to curb spending this holiday season, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts said Wednesday.

A proposed bill aimed at protecting hospital employees from surging rates of workplace violence is one step closer to being signed into law as it has passed the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

The rental registry program was implemented in 2024 and after being passed by the City Council in 2022.

Mark Stewart, with the National Association Against iGaming, told a cautionary tale of states that have already legalized internet gambling. Almost 40% of those who internet gamble in Pennsylvania – where it’s legal – were “pathological gamblers,” he said. Also, studies show Pennsylvania lost 3,700 casino workers since the state launched internet gambling.

Former State Rep. James Leary has established a law firm in Worcester focusing on government relations and public policy.

Another seat has opened up on the Cannabis Control Commission.

Across Central Massachusetts, demand has risen for legal representation in asylum and removal proceedings, putting strain on the region’s limited resource pool of attorneys who are themselves facing burnout as they attempt to keep pace with Trump’s rotating door of policy changes.

Where the House bill sprawls into other areas — such as regulating hemp-derived beverages — the Senate version stays more narrowly focused. 

The Massachusetts state auditor is calling into question UMass Memorial Health’s use of $6.2 million it received in COVID relief grants.