Transportation

The bill, which mirrors laws in place in many other states, took years to come together after the state imposed a texting-while-driving ban that many have decried as unenforceable and ineffective.

Massachusetts voters support raising new revenue to make transportation investments, but a new poll shows they are divided over some of the key methods that lawmakers are weighing to generate funding.

Business group A Better City suggests Massachusetts leaders should commit to raising and spending $50 billion on transportation over the next two decades, all with new revenue from a range of transportation-specific sources like fees, tolls and taxes.

The former owner of Winchendon transportation company Rite Way has been sentenced to one year in prison and fined $4.2 million after pleading guilty to charges related to millions in Medicaid fraud, according to the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.

Natick Center Station, one of the stops on the commuter rail line between Boston and Worcester, will stay open during a 30-month, $36 million overhaul.

The MBTA board voted Monday to back substantial investment in the commuter rail, calling for electrification of the system and more frequent service through the most dense corridors in a step that transportation advocates praised as historic.

Two elected officials and two transportation advocates who studied potential commuter rail changes endorsed a $28.9 billion plan on Monday to transform the system.

The Boston Surface Railroad Co. announced Monday morning it would begin a bus service between Worcester and Providence in February as it ramps up to its commuter rail service between the two cities.

The MBTA will launch an effort to renovate 20 out-of-service commuter rail coaches, hoping to use the cars to supplement service and meet demand until brand-new trains currently in production arrive.

The House has given near-unanimous approval of a $723 million supplemental budget that would stash $400 million of last year's surplus in reserves and spend millions more on the MBTA and other priorities.