Politics

The Baker-Polito Administration today announced plans to begin distribution of $500 payments to 500,000 low-income workers as part of the COVID-19 Essential Employee Premium Pay program. These payments represent the first round of funds to be distributed as part of the $460 million program, which was enacted in December when …

Project Beacon’s appointment-based COVID-19 testing at New Bedford Regional Airport—part of the state’s Stop the Spread program—is scheduled for its regular dates next week, Sunday through Thursday. Appointments for free COVID-19 tests can be made at beacontesting.com. Airport officials ask that people reach the site via the airport’s side entrance …

Longtime Assistant Solicitor Will Take Over for Mikaela McDermott, Who Steps Down After Exemplary Service. Assistant City Solicitor Eric Jaikes will take the leadership role in the City’s legal office effective Sunday, Feb. 6, when City Solicitor Mikaela McDermott steps down after more than a decade of exemplary service. Jaikes …

By Katie Lannan State House News Service Supporters of reinstating happy hour in Massachusetts haven’t had much cause to raise a glass recently. In December, voters lost the chance to weigh in on whether the state should overturn its decades-long ban on discount drink promotions, when petitioners behind a proposed …

Colin A. Young State House News Service The first Black member of the Massachusetts Senate, Bill Owens of Mattapan, died Saturday night after a period of declining health and a recent COVID-19 diagnosis, his family said. He was 84 years old. A Harvard-educated owner of neighborhood dry cleaning businesses, Owens …

By Michael P. Norton State House News Service Gov. Charlie Baker again plans to propose $200 million in new local road and bridge repair funding, a level that falls below what cities and towns have asserted is required to address needs. Municipal officials have consistently sought a $300 million annual …

COVID-19 testing clinics at New Bedford Regional Airport, former Fire Station 11 in the South End and PAACA on Coggeshall Street will resume their regular schedules this week, after recent shifts in dates and hours due to winter weather and the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Project Beacon’s appointment-based …

The New Bedford Fire Department has received a state grant of nearly $50,000 that will fund new water rescue suits and related equipment, Chief Scott Kruger said today. The grant award will allow the Fire Department to buy new structural firefighting gear, 10 new ice and water rescue suits, and …

By Katie Lannan State House News Service One bill unanimously passed by the state Senate on Thursday would revise Massachusetts’ adoption laws to remove a section prohibiting adults from adopting younger siblings, aunts or uncles, and another aims to make it easier for homeless youth and adults to secure state …

The Baker-Polito Administration today announced $5 million in grant funding awarded to 306 Massachusetts fire departments from the FY22 Firefighter Safety Equipment Grant Program – New Bedford will receive $49,994.60. This program enables fire departments to purchase a variety of equipment that will make firefighters’ jobs safer. This is the …