HAMPDEN COUNTY

Health officials in Springfield say they're seeing COVID-19 related data continuing to head in the right direction.

Providence Hospital in Holyoke has responded to questions from Massachusetts state officials about its plans to close all its inpatient psychiatric units.

More than half the people who have died from COVID-19 in Massachusetts caught the virus in nursing homes, according to new data from the state. 

The Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese is forming a new panel tasked with looking at how the church deals with clergy sexual abuse.

On Monday, the nation’s first statewide ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes will take effect in Massachusetts. This is the final step in the state's prohibition of flavored tobacco.

Convenience store owners say the timing couldn’t be worse, given the coronavirus pandemic.

The attorney for suspended Holyoke Soldiers' Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh has released 19 documents that he claims proves his client did not try to cover up a deadly COVID-19 outbreak. Seventy-six veterans who were residents at the state-run facility have died while testing positive for the virus.

Democrats claimed victory in two Massachusetts special elections Tuesday, seizing state Senate seats that had long been held by Republicans in races that party chair Gus Bickford said reflected a rejection of President Donald Trump's politics.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has said he'll unveil a reopening plan next week for the state's economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a special election for a state Senate seat covering 11 western Massachusetts communities will be held next week. Democratic State Rep. John Velis and businessman John Cain, a Republican, are on the ballot.

The operators of MGM Springfield are warning Massachusetts labor officials they may have to layoff up to almost 1,900 employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese and three western Massachusetts prosecutors have reached a deal on how the church will report sexual abuse allegations.

The federal government opened up applications for another round of financial relief for small businesses on Monday morning. Several western Massachusetts companies said they have applied but aren’t confident they will receive money.

Some western Massachusetts sheriffs said people being released early from jail amid the COVID-19 pandemic are having difficulty adjusting after being let go.

The union representing some Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus drivers said five of its members have come down with COVID-19.

The Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke reported its first positive case of the coronavirus on March 22. Four weeks later, 63 veterans have died; 52 of them had confirmed cases of COVID-19.