LAW

In a letter sent to Governor Maura Healey, the legislators said four of the 11 Superior Court judge positions in western Mass. are vacant, and that a District Court position in the Berkshires is also unfilled, all of which is causing delays in legal proceedings.

Affordability is top of mind for Massachusetts residents. A new report showed that health care costs in Massachusetts surged last year strained household budgets.

Movement is expected on the mini-budget and shelter program reform bill that has been in play since early last month. The House and Senate passed similar versions.

A federal judge is set to hear arguments this week on the Trump administration's order to slash "indirect costs" for NIH grants. Scientists in Massachusetts and elsewhere say health advancements would suffer greatly.

Massachusetts state troopers, Berkshire County local police and other law enforcement officers arrested ten people on Friday as part of an effort to stop a large drug trafficking operation in Adams, North Adams and Pittsfield. Police seized about $200,000 worth of narcotics, along with $60,000 in cash and 20 guns, including large-capacity assault rifles.

Franklin County's Interim Sheriff Lori Streeter is a few weeks into her new job. While she is no stranger to Greenfield, Mass., her new role job makes her the face of the agency. That's something she says she is slowly getting used to.

This week, six weeks into the new Legislative session in Massachusetts, state senators are planning to consider setting the rules to govern the two-year session.

Although the results of the Massachusetts attorney general's inquiry into child sexual abuse at the Fall River, Springfield and Worcester dioceses have not been made public, an investigator told a survivor the AG's office focused on the church's response to allegations, rather than naming individual perpetrators.

The results of a Massachusetts attorney general's investigation into child sexual abuse at the Fall River, Springfield and Worcester dioceses have never been made public. The AG's office said it needs court approval to release the report. In other states, investigations like this have led to changes in the law and validation for survivors.

Even before Donald Trump became president again and signed several anti-LGBTQ+ orders, more than two dozen states had been building up their policies. Seeking a quality of life with less discrimination, some families with LGBTQ+ children decided to move to states with more protections in place. One family recently arrived in western Massachusetts from South Carolina.