New England News

Congressman Joe Kennedy is set to announce a Democratic primary challenge to U.S. Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts in 2020. A person with knowledge of Kennedy's plans told The Associated Press he will formally make the announcement Saturday. 

Following her preliminary election victory Tuesday, Pittsfield, Massachusetts mayoral candidate Melissa Mazzeo announced two endorsements on the steps of city hall Wednesday afternoon.

    Senior citizens in the largest city in western Massachusetts are putting pressure on City Hall as they call for improved transportation to the new senior center.

On Tuesday, two Vermont National Guard pilots left for Texas to pick up the first F-35A fighter jets that will be permanently assigned to the Air National Guard facility in South Burlington. The basing of the planes has been controversial since the Air Force announced the decision six years ago.

A Vermont town is abandoning a proposal to require people with target shooting ranges in their backyards to fill out a notification form and register their range with the town.

The mayor of Pittsfield has lost the city’s preliminary election to a city council rival.

The city of Burlington has removed a homemade crosswalk in a south-end neighborhood.

   Four companies looking to open the first recreational marijuana stores in the largest city in western Massachusetts have secured key first-step local approvals. 

     Out-of-state casino gambling declined significantly after Massachusetts opened its first casino in the summer of 2015.

The police chief in Vermont's largest city is back on duty after being gone for over a month on family and medical leave.

The Vermont Air National Guard is expected to take delivery of its first two F-35 fighter aircraft this week.

The Vermont Health Department says physicians have confirmed the first case of vaping-related lung disease in the state.

     The police department in Springfield, Massachusetts is moving closer to becoming the first big city police department in the state to equip all its cops with body cameras.

The Massachusetts Commission on LGBT Aging visited Berkshire County for the first time this week.

Concertmaster Malcolm Lowe is retiring after 35 years with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

On Tuesday, Pittsfield, Massachusetts voters will go to the polls for a preliminary municipal election.

    Springfield City Councilors are questioning terms of the proposed host community agreements with four companies looking to open the first marijuana stores in the western Massachusetts city.

The largest fair in the Northeast opened its gates in western Massachusetts to the public Friday morning.

Women have had the right to vote in the U.S. for a century — after a long and difficult battle that spanned generations. Barbara Berenson is the author of “Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement: Revolutionary Reformers.” The core of the book is an argument that Bay State suffragists have been given short shrift by history, and that their efforts were on the bleeding edge of a national struggle. Berenson spoke to WAMC about her book and the overlap between suffragists and abolitionists ahead of her September 17th talk at Williams College.

A Berkshire County women’s chorus celebrates its 50th anniversary with a concert in Pittsfield this weekend.

Hours after a 9/11 ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts Wednesday, a man was arrested for allegedly vandalizing the city’s 9/11 monument. 

Chris Connell has represented Ward 4 on the Pittsfield, Massachusetts city council for almost eight years. As he sets his sights on a fifth term in this fall’s municipal election, Connell faces challenger Mike Merriam, who criticized the incumbent in an interview with WAMC last week. Connell sat down with WAMC to tout his tenure, and responded to claims that he deliberately refuses to work with others on the council.

    The city of Springfield, Massachusetts held its annual September 11th remembrance ceremony today at a new venue. 

The Pittsfield, Massachusetts city council had a full slate Tuesday night as it ends its reduced summer schedule.

On Tuesday, Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington unveiled her office’s Juvenile Justice Initiative. The DA has convened community leaders to advise on the effort. A Democrat who ran on a reform ticket in 2018, Harrington spoke to WAMC about what the initiative will offer young people in the Berkshire criminal justice system, and who will sit on its advisory committee.

There have been two reported accidental releases recently of raw sewage into the Connecticut River in Massachusetts.

Last week, the commander of the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers toured Lake Champlain projects that improve water quality and prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.  Colonel Thomas Asbery tells WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley that his third visit to the watershed focused on invasive species prevention efforts.

Plans have been announced for the 25th anniversary season of one of the most popular attractions in the Northeast. 

Burlington officials have released a Net Zero Energy Roadmap, a plan that intends to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in the Vermont city by 2030.

Progress on combating the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts has been uneven. While the rate of drug overdose deaths decreased statewide from 2017-2018, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, there was a 73 percent increase in the four western counties.