New England News

Connecticut has taken the first step requiring corporations and other groups that independently spend money or run ads for political candidates to identify top donors. WAMC’s Lucas Willard has more…

The House of Representatives approved legislation 94-to-54 on Tuesday intended to bring more transparency to political financing.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has notified state officials that they plan to launch the federal Secure Communities program in Massachusetts over the objections of Governor Deval Patrick and immigration activists.  WAMC’s Tristan O’Neill reports…

Massachusetts Public Safety Secretary Mary Beth Heffernan described Secure Communities as an information sharing program between federal agencies that can only be implemented by the federal government.

The city of Springfield Massachusetts is facing serious financial problems, again. The city's mayor and members of his finance team met in Boston Monday with the Speaker of the Massachusetts House and the State Senate President to appeal for help.  WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

A retired Massachusetts state trooper who was a model for Norman Rockwell's 1958 Saturday Evening Post illustration, "The Runaway," has died.  WAMC’s Tristan O’Neill reports…

Massachusetts State Police said 83-year-old retired Staff Sgt. Richard Clemens Jr. died Sunday after a brief illness.

The state House of Representatives has approved a $20.5 billion budget deal reached between Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders that would address the growing deficit and increase future spending by $143 million.

The House voted 95-49 along party lines in favor of the plan at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. It now goes to the Senate.

The budget plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 would increase education aid to cities and towns by $50 million. But it also would trim about $28 million from Malloy's original $128 million education proposal.

The founding of the third oldest county in Massachusetts, Hampshire County, is being observed this year.  Officials are using the 350th anniversary to promote an effort to fund major repairs to the county's best known landmark.  WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.
       

With a new online criminal background check system launching Monday,  improvements to the Criminal Offender Record Information system, or CORI, come two years after legislation was signed to protect Massachusetts residents who have paid their debt to society.

The new CORI database provides easier access to the public including landlords and employees seeking background information on potential tenants or employees. At the same time the system overhaul will restrict their searches to information on convictions dating back ten years.