Regional News

It took Rich Scalora and his crew four days to drive from Connecticut to the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in northwest California. Normally they’d hop on a plane and be there in a day. But this year COVID-19 forced the 10-person crew onto the road, for a drive out west that contained hints of what they’d face in California. 

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday afternoon that certain communities defined by the state as “lower risk” for COVID transmission will soon be permitted to loosen several mandatory restrictions on gatherings and recreational activities.

The Baker administration released its decision in a statement minutes before his coronavirus press conference.

Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington earlier this week became the latest Massachusetts DA to publicly release a list of police officers her office tracks whose past conduct may raise questions about their credibility in court.

Harrington sent her office’s newly compiled list to staff in a memo Friday evening, and provided it to WBUR in response to a public records request.

The list contained the names of eight officers, from four different departments.

Governor Ned Lamont has called Connecticut lawmakers back to the state Capitol for a special session this week to consider allowing local election officials to begin processing absentee ballots the Friday before Election Day.

Mass. Attorney General Maura Healey is bringing criminal charges against the former superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, Bennett Walsh, and the facility’s former medical director, Dr. David Clinton, for their roles in the deadly COVID-19 outbreak that swept through the facility earlier this spring and killed 76 veterans.

Despite New England's progressive reputation, residential segregation still exists in communities throughout the region. 

In this second episode of a special radio series on "Racism In New England," we look at how housing laws and discrimination influence where we live — from the predominantly white states of northern New England to cities and suburbs in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

A video featuring a police encounter with a Black person -- this time a Hartford woman -- is again highlighting the tense relationship between law enforcement and the communities it serves.

A proposal buried at the end of Connecticut’s so-called “take back our grid” legislation would potentially make utilities compete for control of the energy efficiency programs they’ve operated for more than 20 years. 

And that has some lawmakers and contractors asking: Why?

Union officials are raising concerns that retail giant Amazon is unnecessarily exposing Connecticut residents to COVID-19 -- as well as taking jobs they believe should go to local workers.

State officials are stepping up pressure on school districts to resume in-person schooling as soon as possible this fall, even as they have signaled deference to local control.

Local authorities say the latest escalation poses a threat to months of detailed planning, and could force risky changes even after the school year has begun.

Legalizing recreational marijuana in Connecticut could generate nearly $100 million in four years. That’s according to the latest study by an economics professor at UCONN.

Kevin O’Connor is picking up where Rep. Joe Kennedy III left off: hoping to convince Massachusetts voters that Sen. Ed Markey has been in Washington too long and spends too little time in Massachusetts.

“He’s been there for 44 years,” O’Connor told WBUR. “Congressman Kennedy presented to the Massachusetts voters — and I will present to the Massachusetts voters — that relative to the amount of time he’s lived in the Washington bubble, he’s accomplished very little.”