The Boston Celtics held a press conference Monday to introduce their new head coach, Ime Udoka. The event came days after ESPN reported last week the team had hired Udoka to replace Brad Stevens as head coach. Stevens was promoted to president of basketball operations after Danny Ainge retired from the role. In a statement, the Celtics confirmed the hiring…

Seeking to boost Massachusetts’ economy, Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday proposed waiving the state’s sales tax for all of August and September, rather than the traditional weekend. The state has collected more revenue than it expected during the coronavirus pandemic, and its rainy day fund now has more money than it did before the arrival of COVID-19, according to...

Arguing that app-based companies such as Uber and Lyft shift costly burdens onto taxpayers by denying drivers employee status, a new coalition of labor, civil rights and racial justice groups launched an effort Tuesday to oppose the tech giants in their effort to rewrite state labor laws. Dozens of activists with the Coalition to Protect Workers’ Rights kicked off their…

Boston celebrated Juneteenth on Saturday for the first time as a federal and Massachusetts state holiday. June 19 commemorates the end of slavery. From Copley Square to Dorchester and Brockton, the now national holiday was celebrated across the Bay State. There was food, music and other entertainment at a large ceremony Saturday at Franklin Park, with other events also held…

The spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus will pose a serious risk this summer to people who are not fully vaccinated, according to Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. “If you have not gotten vaccinated, this is a potentially very dangerous time because the Delta variant is spreading,” Jha said Tuesday in...

The Boston School Committee will begin taking applications on Thursday for two new members after its chair and another person stepped down, Mayor Kim Janey said at a news conference Wednesday at City Hall. The two Boston School Committee members, both Latina, resigned last week amid criticism of racially charged texts they shared disparaging families of students. “More than 40%…

Gov. Charlie Baker announced a series of new efforts Wednesday aimed at supporting small business recovery in underserved communities across Massachusetts. He made the announcement at Springfield’s White Lion Brewing Company, which scored a $75,000 grant through the $700 million small business grant program the governor and Legislature created last year. Massachusetts’ State of Emergency officially ended on Tuesday, about…

For five Massachusetts adults and another five Bay State adolescents, the COVID-19 vaccine will prove to be an extra lucky shot. The Baker administration announced Tuesday that it will partner with Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and the Massachusetts Lottery to launch a “VaxMillions” giveaway in July, offering $1 million prizes to five adults 18 and older and $300,000 college scholarships to five adolescents…

The state of emergency that was in place in Massachusetts since March 10, 2020, ended at midnight, and with it, a batch of pandemic-era policies expired. The legislature failed to move legislation to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk that would keeping in place authorization for remote public meetings, eviction protections, and restaurant relief before those measures expired. But the Massachusetts House…

Harvard University professor Danielle Allen plans to announce her official bid for governor on Tuesday, making her the first Black woman to seek the state’s top office as a major party candidate, her campaign confirmed to the State House News Service. Allen, a Democrat who serves as director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, would be the...