A floating dock, LBGTQ+ programming, community centers and the arts are just some of the areas that legislators have earmarked in the proposed state budget.

Asking the Legislature to support changes to its procedures has proven an uphill battle, leading to tense hearings and prickly exchanges this month.

November’s election may include 12 ballot questions. The bill would require more transparency around the money behind them.

The bill focuses on courthouse protection, due process rights, detention facility conditions and law enforcement regulations.

The ballot proposal may have limited impact on New Bedford. But it would significantly change zoning in parts of Dartmouth and Fairhaven.

Eighteen people testified at the Legislature’s Public Health Committee hearing on Tuesday in support of a bill to expand access to perimenopause and menopause care. 

At the sound of the sliding glass doors, I looked up to see a man in his 50s walk in, sporting a full suit. In his hands lay a small plastic box with a purple lid. He strode up to the front desk with all the confidence of an accomplished businessman and checked in his pet, Turtle Bob the turtle.

Less than four miles north of where a similar battle unfolded just a few months ago in Bournedale, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe is again fighting against a proposed development on their ancestral lands.