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Mercury emissions down but mercury in Massachusetts fish remains high
Mercury emissions from major Massachusetts sources have declined by 90 percent over the past two decades, but mercury levels in the state’s freshwater fish hold stubbornly high, with many species too contaminated for pregnant women and children to eat. Meanwhile, languid summer days and the lure of Massachusetts’ 3,000 freshwater bodies – from the Berkshire's Lake Pontoosuc to Boston's Jamaica Pond – send many anglers casting for a good fish dinner. -
Scituate house — repeatedly rebuilt with taxpayer help — gets $180,000 more
A vacation home damaged at least 10 times by Atlantic storms will be elevated with money from a federal grant for the second time in a dozen years – this… -
Genetic tests’ online claims may not give the full story
Cancer patients or their families often arrive at oncologists’ offices holding printouts about genetic tests that they found on the Internet. The tests… -
Doctors’ muddled statistical knowledge may harm patients
Doctors are the first line of defense in ensuring women receive sound advice about a new generation of prenatal screens and other complex tests. But many… -
To regulate or not: FDA hears arguments on medical tests
Anyone who has ever gotten a medical test – to detect cancer, determine fetal health or even figure out food allergies - may want to pay close attention… -
Unusual experiment raises concerns about prenatal testing labs
An unusual finding in an experiment by two Boston-area doctors is raising questions about a new generation of prenatal screening tests used by an… -
Despite new anti-trafficking law, effort to shift focus to Johns struggles
When six men were arrested in downtown Boston in the fall of 2012 for allegedly seeking underage prostitutes in a police sting, Suffolk County District… -
Huge gender divide in prostitution-related arrests
From Worcester to Boston, Lawrence to New Bedford, police officers last year arrested vastly more women than men for prostitution-related offences, new state police data shows. -
Number of children placed in Mass. foster care rises sharply
The number of troubled children in Massachusetts taken out of their homes and placed under state supervision rose steeply in the past year, according to a… -
Appeal filed for federal government to release addresses of vulnerable coastal homes
The New England Center for Investigative Reporting earlier this year spent two months piecing together the story of a Scituate, Mass. house that collected taxpayer-financed flood claims at least nine times in the past 35 years. Its owner was in the process of applying for her second taxpayer-funded grant in a decade to elevate the $1.2 million home. But we don’t know if she got it.