Lucas Willard

The owner of a Massachusetts magic store has been sentenced to two years in prison for making more than $560,000 disappear from a longtime customer's credit card account. WAMC’s Lucas Willard has more…

Harry Levy of Lexington was also sentenced in federal court in Boston on Thursday to two years of probation and was ordered to pay full restitution.

Prosecutors say the 61-year-old Levy tried to cover up the fraud by lying to federal investigators and submitting false records to the grand jury.

A weak jobs report is providing fodder for Massachusetts’ contested U.S. Senate race, with each candidate using the numbers to fault their rival. WAMC’s Lucas Willard reports…

Republican Senator Scott Brown says the addition of just 96,000 jobs across the country in August shows the economy is weighed down by skyrocketing debt and the threat of tax hikes.

He says his Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren would make the problem worse by pushing for higher taxes.

Warren faults Brown for voting against bills she says would have supported thousands of jobs in Massachusetts.

The results of the Massachusetts Democratic primaries are in, and incumbent Congressman Richie Neal has won the seat 1st Congressional District seat held by retiring Congressman John Olver. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

Springfield Congressman Richie Neal faced off in a three-way race for the democratic nomination against former state senator Andrea Nuciforo, Jr. of Pittsfield, and Alford writer & activist Bill Shein. With all 277 precincts in the newly drawn 1st Congressional District reporting, Neal won handily with roughly 65% of the vote.

Springfield Congressman Richie Neal the three-way race for the democratic nomination for Massachusetts 1st Congressional District against former state senator Andrea Nuciforo, Jr. of Pittsfield, and Alford writer & activist Bill Shein in yesterday’s Democratic Primary.  WAMC’s Lucas Willard has more…

With all 277 precincts in the newly drawn 1st Congressional District reporting, Neal won handily with roughly 65% of the vote.

A Federal judge has ordered the Massachusetts Department of Correction to provide a sex change operation for a convicted murderer suffering from gender identity disorder. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

Voters across Massachusetts are heading to the polls today to vote in the Democratic Primary. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard took a look at the races in Western Massachusetts, and filed this report…

In Pittsfield’s Ward 5A polling place, warden Fran Lysonski said that voters were coming in steadily throughout the day, and though participation is generally lower in primary elections than general elections, she expects a pickup before the polls close this evening.

Connecticut death row inmates who have sued the state to get their sentences overturned argue that race and geographic bias played a part in their prosecution. WAMC’s Lucas Willard has more….

Five of the 11 men on Connecticut's death row are plaintiffs. They claim their penalty was arbitrary and discriminatory.

Their lawsuit went to trial Wednesday at the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers.

A Massachusetts group has released their annual ratings of state lawmakers on taxpayer friendliness. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard has more on how the legislative session stacked-up…

The Citizens for Limited Taxation rate each lawmaker on how they performed, according to the group’s philosophy, on, as Associate Director of CLT and Director of CLT’s political action committee Chip Faulkner says...

Tomorrow, Massachusetts voters will head to the polls to vote in the September 6th Democratic Primary. And in Berkshire County, primary voters will also choose a new Middle Berkshire Register of Deeds. WAMC's Berkshire bureau Chief Lucas Willard has an eye on the closely watched race....

The Register of Deeds position itself manages and records all deeds, land titles, and land records for a district within the Commonwealth. It is an elected and not appointed position. 

State health officials are confirming a ninth human case of West Nile virus in Massachusetts.

The Department of Public Health said Wednesday that the most recent case is a Middlesex County woman in her 30s who has recovered. Six other cases have been reported in Middlesex County this year, and one each in Hampden and Berkshire counties.

The health department said the mosquito-borne illness also has been confirmed in a horse in Hampden County.