New England News

Occupy groups and others plan to protest during the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Premiers.

Demonstrations are planned Sunday and Monday.

Organizers say they want the governors and premiers to focus on the human rights of the people in the region and a process that engages them in holding their governments accountable for protecting their rights.

The 36th annual conference will be co-hosted by Gov. Peter Shumlin and Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

Vermont's public safety commissioner says problems with the time reports of a former trooper charged with falsifying his reports for June appear to stretch back at least two years.

Commissioner Keith Flynn of the Department of Public Safety says preliminary reports on the investigation into alleged false swearing by former Sgt. James Deeghan stopped short of calling the earlier time sheets evidence of criminal activity, but said there are what he termed anomalies.

It was a record breaking year for the state lottery in Massachusetts, as we hear from WAMC’s Paul Tuthill

State Treasurer Steven Grossman said Tuesday that the lottery pulled in an estimated $981 million in net profit during the state fiscal year that ended June 30. That was the highest profit in the lottery's 40-year history, eclipsing by $30 million the previous record set in fiscal year 2006.

Education officials in Massachusetts are stressing the importance of early childhood literacy when it comes to closing the achievement gap.  A pioneering reading proficiency program in Springfield has been nationally recognized.  WAMC”s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.