The latest New England stories on topics like climate change and the environment, the economy, health, racial equity, culture and politics — as reported by newsrooms of the New England News Collaborative, a nine-station consortium of the region's top public media organizations.
How will lichen adapt to climate change?
This mysterious indicator species plays an important role of the bottom of the food chain, and is also a habitat for other microorganisms.
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'We feel very ready to move forward': Holyoke schools back to local control July 2025
State education officials announced today a "provisional decision" to remove Holyoke Public Schools from receivership, effective July 1, 2025. -
Without a shot fired: How the long battle to build a Cape Cod machine gun range ended
For more than a dozen years, the Massachusetts Army National Guard has been fighting to build a machine gun range on Joint Base Cape Cod. But in the past month, the project seems to have collapsed. So how did that happen, is it really over — and what happens next? -
Too many apples? Farms with surplus offer up produce to those in need
Some western Massachusetts farmers say the apple bounty is so good this year they're giving away thousands of pounds of the fruit. That's in stark contrast to last year, when a late frost decimated local apple crops. -
New solar development rules show tensions in Maine climate goals
The proposed regulations are intended to protect valuable farmland but solar power developers worry it will set back Maine's clean energy goals. -
Right whales and offshore wind: Reflections on an uneasy coexistence
Michael Moore has spent decades studying critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. But the veterinarian, author, and scientist emeritus from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution had never seen an offshore wind farm up close — until last week.