Latest Massachusetts Headlines

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

37 Massachusetts Communities Qualify for State Disaster Aid for December Flooding

Jan 22 2024 // Thirty-seven Massachusetts communities damaged by flooding last year will be getting a share of $10 million in disaster relief funding, the governor’s administration said Saturday. The funding being released is from...

Robinhood Settles Massachusetts Regulators’ Trading Case for $7.5 Million

Jan 19 2024 // Online brokerage Robinhood on Thursday agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine and overhaul its practices to resolve allegations by Massachusetts’ securities regulators that it encouraged inexperienced investors to place...

Grubhub to Pay $3.5M to Massachusetts Restaurants for Overcharging During COVID

Jan 17 2024 // Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced a $3.5 million settlement Friday with the online food delivery service platform Grubhub. The settlement resolves a 2021 lawsuit brought by Campbell alleging Grubhub...

Massachusetts Hospital Wins COVID-19 Claim Under Disease Contamination Endorsement

Jan 12 2024 // A federal appeals court has ruled that a Massachusetts hospital is entitled to coverage for losses due to COVID-19 under a health care endorsement in its policy from Continental Casualty Co. The First Circuit Court of...

Massachusetts Hospital Still Recovering From Christmas Cyber Incident

Jan 3 2024 // A cyber incident that reportedly began on December 24 disrupted the electronic medical records system and caused a Massachusetts hospital to redirect ambulances to other hospitals on Christmas day. Anna Jaques Hospital in...

Top East Insurance Journal Stories of 2023

Dec 29 2023 // Insurance Journal East readers showed keen interest in news about insurance agents’ responsibilities in 2023 including court cases involving an agent’s homeowner client with an unlisted dog; Harvard...

State’s High Court Asked to Define ‘Surface Waters’ Under Flood Coverage

Dec 22 2023 // Do “surface waters” covered by property flood insurance include rainwater that accumulated on an enclosed roof one or more stories above the ground? The landlord and operator of a suburban Massachusetts...

Massachusetts Farmers Get $20 Million in State Disaster Relief After Rough Year

Dec 15 2023 // It was a rough year for many Massachusetts farmers who experienced a deep February freeze, a late May frost event, and catastrophic flooding in July. To help them recover from the damage, the Healey-Driscoll Administration...

Police in Massachusetts Town Move Quickly, Recover 16 Stolen Vehicles in 36 Hours

Dec 12 2023 // Auburn, Massachusetts police report they recovered 16 cars within 36 hours of them being stolen from a local auto rental business. Three Boston men have been charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle and other...

IMA Financial Adds EBS Insurance Brokers in Massachusetts

Dec 6 2023 // Denver-based insurance brokerage IMA Financial Group reports it is expanding its employee benefits practice nationally with the acquisition of EBS Insurance Brokers of Newton, Massachusetts. EBS and its 30 employees offer...

Massachusetts to Remove 8 Aging Dams for Water Quality, Flood Mitigation, Safety

Dec 4 2023 // Eight aging dams in central and western Massachusetts will be removed as part of a $25 million initiative announced Friday by state environmental officials. The structures to be dismantled include the abandoned high-hazard...

Fishing Community Mayor, Top Officials Off the Hook in Retaliation Claims

Dec 1 2023 // The mayor and other city officials in the fishing community of Gloucester, Massachusetts are protected under qualified immunity against claims by the city’s harbormaster that they violated his First Amendment...

Massachusetts Climate Strategy Brings Together Its 78 Coastal Communities

Nov 30 2023 // Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has announced a plan to assist the state’s 78 coastal communities from Cape Cod to the North Shore, where 2.5 million live, with their development of long-term regulatory, policy,...

Lawsuit Blames Negligence by Plant Owner, HVAC Contractors for Cannabis Worker’s Asthma Death

Nov 29 2023 // A lawsuit has been filed over what has been identified as the cannabis industry’s first asthma workplace death. The mother of a worker who died from an asthma attack at a Massachusetts cannabis processing plant in...

Cannabis Industry Reports First Worker Death From Asthma Attack

Nov 20 2023 // The U.S. cannabis production industry’s first reported occupational asthma death took the life of a worker in Massachusetts, federal health and safety officials said. The woman, 27, was working in a cannabis...

Fifth Member of Catalytic Converter Theft Crew Pleads Guilty

Nov 17 2023 // A Springfield, Massachusetts man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Boston to his role in a regional organized theft crew that officials say stole catalytic converters from more than 490 vehicles as well as from...

OSHA Faults Pharmaceutical Manufacturer in Massachusetts Plant’s Fatal Explosion

Nov 17 2023 // A Newburyport, Massachusetts pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer and its parent company could have prevented an employee’s death from an explosion but lacked the required safeguards in a chemical manufacturing...

NOAA: U.S. Withstands Record 25 Disasters in 2023

Nov 15 2023 // Another billion-dollar disaster was confirmed in October, bringing the total to a record 25 such disasters in the first 10 months — the largest number of disasters for any year since NOAA began tracking the events. These...

Judge Upholds $24M Award in Suit by Employee With Social Anxiety Disorder

Nov 14 2023 // A federal district court judge in Massachusetts has upheld a $24 million jury award for a woman who sued her employer for retaliation and discrimination because of her social anxiety disorder. The employer, PPD...

GE Settles Claims a Massachusetts Plant Sold Improperly Inspected Parts to Army, Navy

Nov 13 2023 // General Electric’s aerospace unit agreed on Monday to pay $9.4 million to settle federal government claims that a Massachusetts plant sold parts to the U.S. Army and Navy that were not properly inspected or did not...