Latest Massachusetts Headlines

All the headlines from our Massachusetts Topic Page, ordered by recency.

For Groups Fighting Opioid Crisis, Settlement Money Can Be Hard to Come By

Jun 19 2023 // Companies accused of fueling the U.S. opioid crisis have so far paid out more than $3 billion to compensate states, but has any of the money reached the people who need it? It depends where you live. Yes, if you’re...

Study Blames Climate Change for Summer Wildfire Rise in California

Jun 15 2023 // A study out this week shows that nearly all of the observed increase in summer wildfires in California over the past half-century is attributable to man-made climate change.An international team of scientists looked at...

Dave & Buster’s to Pay $275K Over Claims of Meal Break, Child Labor Violations

Jun 12 2023 // Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office has reached a settlement with Dave & Buster’s, which includes $275,000 for workers, to resolve meal break and child labor violations.Dave &...

Massachusetts City Faces Lawsuit Alleging Police Misconduct at George Floyd Protest

Jun 6 2023 // Eleven people have filed a federal lawsuit saying they were assaulted by police or wrongfully arrested while peacefully observing a June 2020 protest in Massachusetts’ second-largest city over the killing of George...

Lightning Strike Cited in Fire That Destroys 160-Year-Old Massachusetts Church

Jun 5 2023 // A fire that burned down a 160-year-old Massachusetts church was likely started by a lightning strike, a fire chief said.The First Congregational Church in Spencer caught fire Friday afternoon, when a storm was moving...

Massachusetts Agency Owner Accused of Stealing Workers’ Compensation Premiums

Jun 1 2023 // The owner of a Gloucester, Massachusetts insurance agency has been indicted and arraigned in connection with an alleged embezzlement scheme that left client companies uninsured. The scheme included the agent transferring...

New England Health Insurer Still Dealing With Ransomware Attack

May 24 2023 // Point32Health, the parent company of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, is still dealing with a ransomware attack it first reported on April 17. The company has now disclosed that patient information has...

Fraudulent Filings in Massachusetts Could Be Distorting U.S. Jobless Claims Reports

May 18 2023 // Fraudulent filings for state unemployment insurance aid in Massachusetts could be distorting U.S. weekly unemployment claims data, economists warned on Wednesday, making it harder to get a clear picture of the labor market...

Massachusetts AG Reports $6.15M Settlement With CVS Over Workers’ Comp Drugs

May 16 2023 // Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office reports it has reached a $6.15 million settlement with CVS Pharmacy, Inc. to resolve allegations of overcharging for prescriptions for workers’...

Seafood Company Denies Discrimination Claim by Immigrant Worker

May 16 2023 // A Massachusetts seafood business said Thursday that it did not discriminate against an immigrant worker who complained to the state.The worker, Paula Fortes, is a Black woman who immigrated to the U.S. from Cape Verde, an...

Massachusetts Lawmakers Consider Limiting Zip Code Weight in Auto Rates

May 11 2023 // Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a measure that would curtail the use of geographical location in the rating of private passenger auto insurance, a factor that critics say now penalizes urban and minority...

Philip Morris Must Pay $37M to Cancer Victim, Massachusetts High Court Rules

May 10 2023 // Tobacco company Philip Morris USA must pay $37 million to a Massachusetts woman who developed cancer from smoking Marlboro Lights cigarettes, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled in a unanimous decision.The...

Wrongfully Convicted Massachusetts Man Gets $13M Settlement

May 5 2023 // A Massachusetts man who spent 32 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of setting a fire that killed eight people will receive $13 million from the city where he was arrested.“One of the things for me to...

Worker’s Body Recovered at Site of Explosion at Massachusetts Plant With Fire History

May 5 2023 // The body of a worker who died in an explosion at a Newburyport, Massachusetts chemical plant has been recovered and identified.The deceased has been identified by his family as Jack O’Keefe of Methuen. The body was...

One Worker Missing After Explosion at Massachusetts Chemical Plant

May 4 2023 // One worker is missing and the building is severely damaged after an early morning explosion at a pharmaceutical chemical plant in a business park in Newburyport, Massachusetts.Five workers were in the building at the time...

Massachusetts Man Sentenced in Luxury Car Insurance Fraud Scheme

May 3 2023 // A Holbrook, Massachusetts man has been found guilty and sentenced to two and a half years in the Norfolk House of Correction for damaging luxury cars bought under false pretenses in order to collect insurance...

Securities Broker Robinhood’s Fight Against Fiduciary Rule Before Massachusetts Court

May 3 2023 // Massachusetts’ highest court on Wednesday will consider whether to revive a state fiduciary duty rule that was central to an enforcement action securities regulators filed against the online brokerage Robinhood.A...

Massachusetts Hospital Lacked Workplace Violence Protections, OSHA Judge Finds

Apr 28 2023 // A federal administrative law judge has determined that the manager of Fuller Hospital in Attleboro, Massachusetts exposed employees to workplace violence without adequate protections in 2019, particularly at times when...

Massachusetts High Court Opens 27,000 Drunk Driving Cases to Reconsideration

Apr 26 2023 // The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that 27,000 people who pled guilty or were convicted of drunk driving from June 1, 2011 to April 18, 2019, are entitled to have their cases reconsidered due to the state...

World Insurance Acquires TJ Woods Agency in Massachusetts

Apr 13 2023 // Insurance broker World Insurance Associates reports that it has acquired the business of Thomas J. Woods Insurance Agency, Inc. of Worcester, Massachusetts. TJ Woods was founded in 1949, and is a property/casualty agency,...