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PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION

Barr: DOJ Has No Evidence Of Fraud Affecting 2020 Election Outcome

The Justice Department has found no evidence of widespread fraud in this year's election, Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press on Tuesday in remarks that directly contradict the President Trump's baseless claims that the vote was rigged. Trump has refused to concede his election loss to Joe Biden and instead has pushed unfounded allegations of systemic fraud to claim the vote was stolen. His lawyers have failed to provide evidence in court to back up the claims and...

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. — State House News Service

Massachusetts Policing Bill Votes Shift Focus To Gov. Baker

Six months after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, Massachusetts lawmakers on Tuesday night sent Gov. Charlie Baker a policing tactics reform and oversight bill, shifting the focus to the Republican governor whose views on qualified immunity and other thorny details of the legislation remain unclear.

Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse speaks at a press conference in the final days of his 2020 Democratic primary campaign for Congress. — Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican / masslive.com

Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse Says He's Not Seeking Another Term

Connecticut Hasn't Commuted A Single Prisoner's Sentence Since Before The Pandemic

MUSIC AND HISTORY

Annye Anderson visits the site of her family home in Memphis, Tennessee, where she lived with Robert Johnson. — Preston Lauterbach / Used with permission

Robert Johnson's Stepsister Tells His Story, And Her Own, In 'Brother Robert'

The first thing to know about Annye Anderson is unless you’re older than she is — and fat chance of that; she’s 94 — you better just call her Mrs. Anderson.

Massachusetts Lawmakers Strike Deal On Policing Bill, Punt On Qualified Immunity

By Chris Lisinski & Sam Doran • Nov 30, 2020

Massachusetts state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Sen. Will Brownsberger delivered their committee's compromise policing reform bill to Senate Clerk Michael Hurley on Nov. 30, 2020. — Sam Doran / SHNS

After contentious mid-summer debates followed by four months of closed-door negotiations, Massachusetts House and Senate Democrats reached a compromise Monday on a landmark police reform and racial justice bill.

2 Mass. Prisoners Hospitalized With COVID-19 Die A Day After Being Granted Medical Parole

By Deborah Becker • Nov 30, 2020

Criminal defense attorneys are criticizing how the Massachusetts Department of Correction handles medical parole cases and reports prisoner deaths from COVID-19 following several outbreaks of the virus inside state correctional facilities over the past six weeks.

Recreational Pot Delivery Moves Forward In Massachusetts

By Alden Bourne • Nov 30, 2020

Employees tend to marijuana plants in a grow room at the INSA marijuana dispensary in Easthampton, Massachusetts, on July 18, 2019. — Don Treeger / The Republican / masslive.com

Massachusetts marijuana regulators gave final approval Monday to the delivery of recreational cannabis within the state.

Enrollment Drop Could Financially Hinder Springfield Public Schools

By Adam Frenier • Nov 30, 2020

Springfield, Massachusetts, Schools Superintendent Dan Warwick. — Don Treeger / The Republican / masslive.com

Springfield's public schools have seen a dip in enrollment following a trend across Massachusetts during the pandemic. And the city's schools superintendent warned this could affect funding for the district.

With Several Bills In The Mix, Hard Deadline For Mass. Lawmakers Approaches

By Carrie Healy • Nov 30, 2020

The Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston. — William Zhang / Creative Commons

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Of all the deadlines Massachusetts legislative leaders have missed or postponed during the pandemic, the end of the session will not be one of them.

More Regional News

Disease

Coronavirus Was In U.S. Weeks Earlier Than Previously Known, Study Says

The coronavirus was present in the U.S. weeks earlier than scientists and public health officials previously thought, and before cases in China were publicly identified, according to a new government study published Monday . The virus and the illness that it causes, COVID-19, were first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, but it wasn't until about Jan. 20 that the first confirmed COVID-19 case, from a traveler returning from China, was found in the U.S. However, new findings...