GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

With most lawmakers headed home for the holiday break, members of the conference committee continue to try to work out differences between spending bills approved by the Massachusetts House and Senate. The bills hold funds for the state's emergency shelters.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said officials are seeing a "drop" in new arrivals seeking emergency shelter, but she said it's difficult to pinpoint the cause.

The March for the Food Bank continues on its second, longer, and far more uphill journey to combat hunger.

As family and friends come together for various holidays this and next month, will it be possible to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, as many people disagree so strongly about what's happening and what should happen next. Maybe, with some agreements in place, says John Sarrouf from Essential Partners in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Monte begins his march to Greenfield in support of the work of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts helming the March for The Food Bank 14 and speaks with a bevvy of folx on the importance of combating hunger everywhere.

Massachusetts House and Senate Democrats failed to negotiate a compromise before their holiday break that would send hundreds of millions of dollars to the state's emergency shelters. The spending bill was presented to the Legislature in September.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell created the unit and has appointed attorney Christine Doktor to lead it.

We mcgovern straight into the March for the Food Bank 14 with Rep. Jim McGovern who walks the whole way, discover another hidden population of hungry folx: students at public colleges, and speak with multi-instrumentalist Corn Mo.

We check out an exhibit of eccentric oddities at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, hear about the restorative and transformative justice of Pa'lante in Holyoke, and give a quick rundown of all the contested mayoral races in western Mass with NEPM's Adam Frenier.

We get down with Ed Bride about the Berkshire Jazz Sprawl, discover the origins of Earth's moon with Mr. Universe, and have a sit down with Chicopee mayoral hopeful, current city-councilor Delmarina Lopez.