Latest Massachusetts Headlines
All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Massachusetts, New Hampshire Nonprofit Insurer Sues Over Federal Assessment
Aug 3 2016 // A nonprofit health insurer with 25,000 customers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire has filed a federal lawsuit claiming it is being illegally punished for offering lower-cost products. Under the Affordable Care...
Massachusetts Lawmakers Pass Ridesharing Bill
Aug 1 2016 // Massachusetts lawmakers over the weekend passed a bill regulating transportation network companies, or ridesharing firms like Uber and Lyft, that includes requirements for background checks on drivers, vehicle safety...
2 State AGs Refuse House Republicans’ Subpoenas Over Climate Change
Jul 28 2016 // The New York and Massachusetts attorneys general are refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas seeking records about their investigations into whether Exxon Mobil misled investors about man-made climate change. In an...
Drought in Northeast Could Last Through October
Jul 27 2016 // At Lavoie’s Farm in New Hampshire, beans and corn haven’t broken through the ground yet and fields of strawberries are stunted. The drought that has taken hold in the Northeast is especially felt at John...
Mass. AG Says FAIR Plan to Pay $350K for Wrongly Cancelling Policies
Jul 26 2016 // The Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association (FAIR Plan) has agreed to pay $350,000 to resolve allegations that it wrongly cancelled homeowners insurance policies over a four-year period, according to...
Massachusetts Lawmakers Negotiating Ridesharing Bill Compromise
Jul 20 2016 // Massachusetts House and Senate negotiators are set to begin hammering out a final version of a bill aimed at regulating ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. A six-member conference committee was scheduled to begin...
3 States Sue Volkswagen, Charge Cover-Up of Diesel Fraud Went on for Years
Jul 20 2016 // Senior executives at Volkswagen AG including its former chief executive covered up evidence that the German automaker had cheated on U.S. diesel emissions tests for years, three U.S. states charged on Tuesday in civil...
States to Sue VW Over Diesel Scandal
Jul 19 2016 // New York and Maryland are among several states planning to sue Volkswagen AG over the environmental damage done by devices that were designed by the carmaker to cheat on pollution-control tests. Maryland Attorney General...
Massachusetts Lowers Employer Assessment for Workers’ Compensation
Jul 19 2016 // The Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) reduced the assessment that private employers pay to the state on workers’ compensation policies to 5.6 percent of the policy premium for the new fiscal...
Massachusetts Man Indicted for ‘Working While Collecting’ Under Workers’ Comp
Jul 12 2016 // A Milford, Massachusetts man has been indicted on larceny and workers’ compensation fraud charges in connection with allegedly collecting more than $18,000 in disability benefits while he continued to work, according...
Comma Doesn’t Get Massachusetts Workers’ Comp Scofflaw Off the Hook
Jul 11 2016 // A Massachusetts company has lost its argument that it should not have been prevented from participating on state or municipal contracts for three years due to its its failure to have workers’ compensation insurance...
Massachusetts Auto Insurers Hiking Rates
Jul 10 2016 // More than a million Massachusetts drivers will see their auto insurance bills increase by as much as 9 percent this year. Insurance companies and industry officials told The Boston Globe that cheaper gas and an improving...
Pot Legalization Question Cleared for Massachusetts Ballot in November
Jul 8 2016 // Massachusetts’ highest court has cleared the way for a question that calls for legalizing recreational marijuana in Massachusetts to appear on the November ballot. The Supreme Judicial Court in Wednesday’s...
Massachusetts City Settles Coerced Confession Claim for $2.1M
Jul 7 2016 // The city of Worcester, Massachusetts has agreed to pay $2.1 million to a mother who said police officers coerced her to confess to suffocating her 13-month-old son with a teddy bear. The Telegram & Gazette reported...
23 States Get Funds for Injury, Violence Prevention Programs
Jul 6 2016 // The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded $30 million to 23 state health departments over the next five years as part of the Core State Violence and Injury Prevention Program (Core SVIPP). The program will...
Guiding Massachusetts Teen Drivers Through ‘100 Deadliest Days’
Jul 6 2016 // One thing that James Butcher tells Massachusetts high school students is that he’s sure they want to enjoy a great life and come back for reunions after graduation. But that won’t happen if they “drive...
Death of Lifeguard Trainee on Cape Cod a Reminder That Saving Lives Requires More Than Being Fit
Jul 5 2016 // On the Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, Jack Jakubek, 22, was in the middle of the swim portion of the Nauset Beach lifeguard test that should have been a walk in the park for him. Jakubek was supremely fit, a...
Massachusetts Ridesharing Bill Moves into Final Stretch
Jul 1 2016 // Transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft would be legally sanctioned to operate in Massachusetts, under a set of mostly reasonable regulation, under legislation approved this week in a 34-2 vote of the state...
Mass. Senate Passes Ridesharing Bill; Lawmakers Must Reconcile with House Bill
Jul 1 2016 // The Massachusetts Senate has passed a bill to regulate ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. The legislation approved Wednesday on a 34-2 vote would require drivers to undergo criminal background checks and carry...
How Medical Schools Are Altering Their Training to Address Opioid Epidemic
Jun 30 2016 // At first, the woman tried to hide her painkiller problem. She told the doctor that she still had pain from her past pregnancy, and that she just wanted a refill on her pain medication. After a few questions, though, she...
