Maura Healey

Spartanburg County Council gave first-reading approval to a development agreement for Lightstone Group's 60-megawatt Jones Road data center, requiring at least $100 million in investment, 25 full-time jobs, and $9 million in community benefit payments over six years. The council, however, declined to advance agreements for the NorthMark/Valara data center on Pine Street and the AIB project in Tyger River Industrial Park, citing inadequate protections.

This followed weeks of confusion over the county's data center moratorium, initially a near-total ban, later amended to allow projects meeting size, location, noise, and landscaping requirements. NorthMark still needs a second permit to proceed, now subject to the stricter rules.

Gov. Maura Healey signed legislation extending the deadline for Easthampton, Massachusetts, to issue liquor licenses previously authorized under a 2020 special law. Many of those licenses, meant for downtown Easthampton, the Mill District and the Highway Business District, went unawarded after expiring under a three-year pandemic-era deadline. The new law, sponsored by state Rep. Homar Gómez and advanced in the Senate by John Velis, gives restaurants, bars and other hospitality businesses more time to apply. Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said the move supports the city's growing dining and entertainment scene. Licenses still require approval from the local licensing board and the state's Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

With under three weeks before Massachusetts voters head to the polls, the arrest and mounting legal troubles of former Gov. Maura Healey aide Lamar Cook have become a flashpoint in the gubernatorial race. Cook, previously arrested on drug and firearms charges, now faces new federal charges over alleged SNAP fraud; a Hampden Superior Court judge also revoked his bail for 90 days in the pending state case. Republican candidate Mike Minogue pointed to the episode as evidence of Healey's lack of accountability, criticizing her for faulting police over Cook's background check. Healey said she regrets hiring Cook but fired him immediately upon learning of his arrest. Cook returns to court Oct. 26.

Massachusetts' Board of Fire Prevention Regulations has voted to add new statewide fire safety requirements to the Comprehensive Fire Safety Code, expected to take effect in early 2025. The rules require annual sprinkler system checks for recalled sprinkler heads, mandatory notification to local fire departments when recalled equipment is found, and prompt replacement, with local departments empowered to require added protections until fixes are made. The changes follow the Gabriel House assisted living fire in Fall River, which killed 10 people and displaced more than 50 residents, and were proposed by Fall River Fire Capt. Joshua Hetzler.

The Board also tightened hot-work safety rules, streamlined permitting, and aligned the code more closely with national standards. The update follows earlier Healey administration measures requiring more frequent fire drills and inspections at assisted living facilities statewide.

Springfield's City Council voted 12-0 to advance a tougher ordinance targeting illegal dirt bikes and off-road vehicles, sending it to the public safety committee for further review. The move follows a surge in seizures—162 vehicles since the season began, including 17 by local police and 7 by state police in a single recent weekend. The revised rules raise fines to $100, $200, and $300 for repeat offenses, require riders to pay for damage caused, and allow police to impound vehicles and use camera footage to identify violators without high-speed chases. Councilors acknowledged enforcement remains difficult, as most seized bikes go unclaimed and are later auctioned rather than destroyed, since state law doesn't permit destruction.

Governor Maura Healey's administration is facing questions over a roughly $2 billion plan to replace Springfield's Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse with a new "regional justice center" built and owned by private developers under a 40-year lease, with two optional 10-year extensions. Under the arrangement, the state would not own the building for up to 60 years, if ever, though Healey says ownership terms are still being negotiated. Critics, including Republican gubernatorial challenger Mike Minogue and Pioneer Institute researcher Jeffrey Calabrese, question why the state would be responsible for major capital repairs in the lease's second half without gaining eventual title to the property. Healey defends the deal as the best value for taxpayers, citing the state's constrained capital budget and developer financing advantages, and dismisses criticism as political attacks and a "PR smear campaign." The bid award has also drawn controversy over developers' political ties and a pending amended legal complaint from losing bidders, which Healey predicts will be dismissed.

Lamar Cook, 46, a former deputy director of Gov. Maura Healey's western Massachusetts office who was fired in November 2025 after being arrested on cocaine and gun charges, now faces federal charges for SNAP and wire fraud. U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley announced the charges, and Cook was scheduled to appear in Boston court.

Prosecutors allege that in April 2026 Cook applied for SNAP benefits claiming zero income and a household limited to himself and a minor child, failing to disclose that his fiancée and his mother lived with him, that his fiancée earned more than $80,000 annually, and that he had nearly $9,000 in the bank. His mother had also recently won about $1 million in the Massachusetts Lottery and allegedly sent him roughly $12,000 via Zelle. Cook received about $546 monthly in SNAP benefits, allegedly spending them at retail stores and during a July trip to Florida. Separately, the state mistakenly paid Cook roughly $22,000 for accrued vacation time after his firing and could not recover the funds.

Cook faces up to five years in prison for SNAP fraud and up to 20 for wire fraud. Healey, running for re-election, said she was glad federal authorities acted; her opponent Mike Minogue has seized on the case politically.