New England

As interest in cycling rises and electric vehicle sales drop off amid the pandemic, advocates are calling on Connecticut officials to extend the state’s rebate program to include electric bicycles.

In 2007, journalist Alan Weisman published The World Without Us. It was an international bestseller. The book tries to answer what is ultimately a simple question: What happens to the Earth if human beings disappear? Here's how Weisman puts it in the book: "Say a Homo sapiens-specific virus -- natural or diabolically nano-engineered -- picks us off but leaves everything else intact." Then what?

And over these last few months, we've gotten maybe a fraction of a percentage point there. Temporarily. Maybe not directly because of coronavirus, but indirectly because of our absence and scarceness due to stay-at-home orders and the like. And so... then what?

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states working on a regional compact to reduce vehicle emissions are still hoping to produce a final memorandum of understanding before summer, despite the pandemic shutdown. 

Meanwhile, plunging gas prices and the economic fallout from the coronavirus have put the partnership’s political odds and projected impact in flux.

A couple of months ago, the most talked-about public health epidemic in New England was opioid addiction. While the COVID-19 pandemic has since taken over, the drug crisis has not gone away. But addressing it has become much harder.

Rhode Island public health officials say they've identified the state's first and second positive cases of the new coronavirus disease. The Rhode Island Department of Health announced Sunday that an unidentified man in his 40s and a teenager who both had traveled to Europe in mid-February tested positive for the virus.

The Democratic presidential candidates criss-crossed New Hampshire for a final push ahead of the Tuesday primary. Rallies were held from Concord to Manchester to Londonderry, where supporters waited in long lines to fill halls, gyms, arenas and schools to catch glimpses of -- or shake hands with -- the candidates.  Here are some of the moments that show what it was like on the ground in the Granite State.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal is joining with lawmakers from New York and Massachusetts in asking big tech companies like Apple and Google to help truckers avoid accidents and collisions with bridges.

He wants GPS apps like Waze, Google Maps and Apple Maps to include height and weight restrictions for limited-access highways like the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways.

Cross-state cooperation on marijuana and on vaping issues headlined the latest meeting between the governors of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Ned Lamont, Gina Raimondo and Charlie Baker met in Providence Thursday.

The Northeast heating oil industry plans to begin pressing New England states to mandate certain standardized levels of biodiesel content in home heating oil.

At an industry summit in Rhode Island on Sept. 19, member companies of the New England Fuel Institute and related companies voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to work toward a 15% reduction in carbon emissions by 2023, 40% by 2030, and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Trevor Allard stands in the sawmill's observation deck at Allard Lumber with his sales manager, looking down on a dusty expanse of grinding saw blades and conveyor belts.

Allard's father co-founded the company, in Brattleboro, Vermont, nearly 50 years ago. It's located where Trevor's grandfather once farmed the land. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) now says it will reopen certain medical deferred action cases, including for a number of Boston-area immigrants who previously received denial letters.

The announcement comes after a tumultuous week in which federal agencies contradicted one another and severely ill patients feared a total end to the humanitarian process that allows immigrants to remain longer in the U.S. while they receive medical treatment.

Dismaying immigrants and advocates, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) sent out letters saying the agency will no longer consider most deferrals of deportation for people with serious medical conditions, documents show. 

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England has blasted a Trump administration rule which denies funding to healthcare providers who refer patients for abortions.

The funding comes from the federal Title X program, which provides family planning services such as contraceptives, testing for sexually transmitted infections and breast cancer screenings to low income residents. 

Eversource has officially pulled the plug on the Northern Pass transmission line.

The utility filed a notice with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday, a spokesman says, “reflecting our conclusion that Northern Pass has unfortunately been brought to an end.” 

The governors of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts say they’re looking forward to closer cooperation on transportation, renewable energy initiatives and perhaps on purchasing services like IT and healthcare.

Ned Lamont invited his fellow governors Gina Raimondo and Charlie Baker for an informal conference at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic Tuesday. 

A showdown over lobsters and whales appears to be brewing between Maine and the federal government.

Under direction from Gov. Janet Mills, the Maine Department of Marine Resources is telling federal regulators that the state will not accept their targets for reducing risk that endangered North Atlantic right whales will be entangled in rope the state's lobstermen use to tend their gear. 

It’s Sunday morning. The Reverend Stephen Blackmer is ringing two large handbells. He’s calling his congregation back from silent meditation. 

They gather to pray around the altar. It’s a small wooden table set on a sunny knoll beneath three white pine trees. On top of the table sits communion bread wrapped in foil, wine in a Nalgene bottle, and offerings of clover, mushrooms, and berries gathered from the surrounding forest. This is Church of the Woods.

Connecticut has parted ways with its "Still Revolutionary" slogan to the relief of some residents. Now many are left wondering: How will the state move forward marketing itself to tourists?

This hour, we take an in-depth look at this question and we also hear from you. What local attractions or attributes would you like to see highlighted as part of a campaign to draw visitors to our state?