New England News

A former Springfield Massachusetts police officer has been ordered by a judge to serve 18 months in jail for pummeling a man on the face with a flashlight after a traffic stop.  WAMC's Paul Tuthill reports…

Judge Maureen Walsh, said Jeffrey Asher had failed to uphold his oath to protect and serve all when in November, 2009, he assaulted Melvin Jones III, who sustained numerous broken bones and was left partially blind in one eye.

With high temperatures around 80 last week, and lows below freezing the next, the abrupt changes in weather could have lead to irreversible changes in the area’s agriculture.

 The warm weather and little snowfall has shortened the maple sugaring season and set conditions right for brushfires. Frost has damaged fruit trees in this week’s return of overnight temperatures below freezing.

 John Vittori, owner of Hilltop Orchards in Lenox, Massachusetts, has said that because of the mild spring his apple trees budded about 5 weeks ahead of schedule.

Connecticut utility regulators have given preliminary approval to a settlement with the state that would help clear the way for Northeast Utilities to purchase Massachusetts energy company NStar for $4.9 billion.  WAMC's Tristan O'Neill reports...

The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority said Monday it believes the deal is good for ratepayers. It expects to give final approval next week after allowing the parties time to raise any final issues.

BOSTON, MA (WAMC) - The unemployment rate in Massachusetts was unchanged in February even as a report said the state's economy added jobs. WAMC's Paul Tuthill reports...

The unemployment rate in Massachusetts has been stuck at 6.9 percent for three consecutive months, according to the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. 

Kevin Lynn of the FutureWorks Career Center in Springfield says it's a sign people who'd given up looking for work are returning to the labor market.

HARTFORD, CT (WAMC) - Connecticut is receiving a federal grant that will allow the state to improve its solar capacity and lower some installation costs for homeowners and small businesses that put in rooftop solar power systems. WAMC's Lucas Willard reports...

Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced the over 480,000 dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday afternoon.

The funding, to be used by the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority and its partners, aims to improve both the permit process and connectivity with Connecticut utilities.

BRATTLEBORO, VT (WAMC) - Dozens of protesters were arrested in Brattleboro for trespassing on Entergy property during a demonstration against the continue operation of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Reactor. WAMC's North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley reports...

Seven others were arrested after entering the headquarters of the plant's owner, Entergy Corp., in New Orleans.

Thursday marked the first day of the plant's operation after its initial 40-year operating license expired a day earlier. 

Massachusetts teens as young as 16 would be allowed to "pre-register" to vote under a bill being backed by a key legislative committee on Beacon Hill. WAMC's Ian Pickus has more...

If the bill passes, the names of 16 and 17 year olds who pre-register would be added to the voter rolls after they turn 18.

Supporters say the bill is geared to help boost voter participation by getting teens involved in the electoral process even before they can cast a ballot.

The bill won the backing of the Legislature's Committee on Election Laws on Wednesday.