GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

In part 2 of NEPM's series on newcomers entering politics, Easthampton, Mass., poultry farmer Karl Prahl reflects on how losing a campaign pushed him into community service.

In part one of NEPM's series on local candidates giving politics a try, Yakov Kronrod leans on his family's refugee history and his own past activism.

We speak with Governor Maura Healey and The Unlucky Shots join us for Live Music Friday

Chinese-owned CRRC manufactures rail cars in Springfield for the Boston-area transit agency, the MBTA, and for a system in Los Angeles. Necessary parts and materials coming from China have been held up by the government, leading to the furloughs.

Population growth is important for a thriving community. A recent UMass Donahue Wayfinders report projected population declines in all four WMass counties between 2020 and 2035.

This week, The Rundown unpacks local effects of the Iran War, explore a state budget hearing and plans to address health care needs in western Mass.

In this weekly check-in with U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, NEPM's Kari Njiiri asks him about the local effects of the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran and the state of health care for rural communities in WMass.

Healy sent a letter Friday giving the Department of Homeland Security one week to provide the legal basis of every ICE arrest in Massachusetts. She says most of those arrested had no criminal record.

The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.31 a gallon in Massachusetts this week, up 40 cents from a week ago. That's according to the weekly survey from the auto club AAA.

A Legislative budget hearing focused on the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Executive Office of Transportation and the Registry of Motor Vehicles will be held this week.