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The City of New Bedford may soon join a host of other Southcoast communities in shopping for better utility rates. In light of recent rate hikes from companies like NStar, municipalities like Fall River and New Bedford are banding together with smaller towns to form a municipal aggregation, pooling their purchasing power and getting better rates from other suppliers...

Many Massachusetts households are going to see their electric bills shoot up 37 percent this winter. State regulators have approved a 37 percent increase for National Grid household customers that would mean an average of $33 per month more for the typical residential customer...

A bill that would raise Massachusetts' $8 per hour minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2017 could soon be law. The House of Representatives approved a compromise measure on Wednesday on a 124-24 vote after a brief debate. It was passed by the Senate on a 35-4 vote last week...

MBTA fares are on the way up. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation's board of directors voted Wednesday to increase the price of bus, subway, and commuter rail passes. The fare increases, first announced in March, will take effect July 1...

The state Senate is set to again take up a proposed increase in the minimum wage in an effort to break a procedural logjam with the House over the issue. Senators are expected Thursday to debate a bill that would raise the minimum wage from $8 to $11 per hour over three years, while tying future increases to the rate of inflation...

Massachusetts is reporting July tax collections that were up 9 percent compared with what the state took in last July.

Younger people are pleased with, while senior citizens are balking at the bus fare changes proposed by SRTA. Southeastern Regional Transit Authority administrator Erik Rousseau explained the changes as a flat fee with one free transfer for $1...

The fare to ride SRTA buses may be going up.

Fishermen and others on Nantucket say a large increase in seals is fouling ponds and crowding out fishing. The Cape Cod Times reports that Crocker Snow Jr., whose family has owned a portion of a small island since 1948, says the number of adult seals on the island has increased to more than 3,500 last year, from 19 in 1994. He calls it a complete explosion in the population.