Sarah Birnbaum

Grief stricken parents were on Beacon Hill pushing for legislation they say could have saved their daughter's life.

This week's congressional oversight hearing following the Boston marathon bombings highlighted tensions between civil liberties and security.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says he's glad the family of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has found a burial location, but says he doesn't know where that is.

Gov. Deval Patrick says even if the Boston Police had known about FBI inquiries into it wouldn’t have been enough to stop the bombing:

"Having been briefed thoroughly on the investigation, and, I believe, on the intelligence, I don't think it was enough, I think the term is, to be actionable," he said. "But obviously, we wish we had known."

Patrick was interviewed on WGBH Radio just hours after Davis’ testimony.

Patrick said information sharing between Russia and the United States has gotten a lot better since the bombings.

Massachusetts health officials have finalized the rules and the amount of medical marijuana allowed for patients.

The education charter school debate is raging at the State House and Boston Mayor Tom Menino is weighing in.

U.S. Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate Ed Markey has joined a chorus of critics, saying suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev should not be buried in Massachusetts.

The backdrop to the day was TD Garden, where Northeastern University held its commencement. As 20,000 people clapped and roared, Gov. Deval Patrick conferred an honorary degree on Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis for his handling of the marathon bombings investigation.

"Your extraordinarily united efforts made possible an investigation that moved with astonishing speed and focus, to identify the suspects, enabling millions to to feel of us to feel safer in our daily lives," Patrick said.

It's a decision that might have cost former Sen. Scott Brown re-election and one Republican U.S. Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez has no plans to repeat.

Three more suspects were taken into custody in the Boston Marathon bombing case, including two college friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who came to the U.S. from Kazakhstan.

Businessman and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez and veteran U.S. Rep. Edward Markey will face each other in a special election for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by John Kerry. Markey won the Democratic nomination, defeating U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch.

State lawmakers have launched an investigation into whether the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings improperly received public benefits.

Vice president Joe Biden joined thousands of police officers, students, family and friends at a memorial service Wednesday for slain MIT police officer Sean Collier.

The death penalty was abolished in Massachusetts in 1984. But now in the aftermath of the Boston marathon bombings, some lawmakers want it reinstated.

The tolling of church bells reverberated throughout Boston on Monday, commemorating one week since the bombings at the Boston Marathon. The attacks killed three people, injured more than 180, and terrorized the city for several days.

The Boston Marathon bombings and the week's manhunt put on hold the U.S. Senate Race. But now with one week to go before the special election primaries, the question is whether the 5 candidates can attract attention with the bombings dominating the news.

At an interfaith service honoring the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, our civic leaders struck a tone of resilience and hope.

"This is Boston," Mayor Tom Menino said. "A city with courage, compassion and and strength that knows no bounds."

Menino arrived to the church podium by wheelchair, as he recovers from surgery to a broken leg. And what followed proved to be symbolic for a city trying to heal, but not quite ready to rise again.

The Massachusetts Senate passed the latest version of a contentious transportation funding bill that would pump $800 million into the state's aging and debt-ridden transportation system.

On Beacon Hill, it's been a week of jockeying between Gov. Deval Patrick and lawmakers in the House. They're more than a billion dollars apart in funding transportation improvements, but could a compromise be brewing in the state Senate.

Amid an ongoing standoff between Gov. Deval Patrick and the Democratic leadership of the state House and Senate, the House released its annual budget, delivering the governor another blow.

The political fight to overhaul Massachusetts' transportation infrastructure is now a numbers game.

Four protestors were arrested at the State House Monday, minutes before the House of Representatives started debating transportation funding.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is filing a bill aimed at lowering unemployment insurance rates and health care costs for businesses. Patrick wants to prevent an automatic hike in the amount of money employers have to pay into the unemployment insurance trust fund for the fourth year in a row.

Patrick believes the bill will translate into big savings for businesses, saying, "This will save employers an estimated 500 mill this year.  In the aggregate over the last four years through steps like this we will have saved employers approximately 1.7 billion dollars."

Governor Deval Patrick announced plans to streamline government regulations Monday. The Governor hopes getting rid of unnecessary regulations will facilitate the growth of Massachusetts’ business community.

Patrick first ordered a review of all government rules last March.

“The objective was to get rid of those that no longer serve a purpose and update those that have gone stale over the years,” he explained.

State Representative David Linsky, a Natick Democrat and former prosecutor, says he plans to file a comprehensive bill to end gun violence by mid-January.

“Obviously the federal government needs to take action, the Federal government needs an assault weapons ban and to close the gun show loopholes,” Linsky said.  “But we as lawmakers in Massachusetts have the responsibility to do the best we possibly can in Massachusetts and there’s a lot we can do as well.”

Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman is planning to ask the Legislature to let the state lottery operate online gambling. Currently, under state law, consumers can only buy lottery tickets in person and only with cash. But Grossman plans to ask the legislature to remove those restrictions.

Ultimately, this is about more than just selling lottery tickets online.  If the legislature agrees, Grossman says the lottery could pilot a whole range of online games, like fantasy football or online poker.

Massachusetts U.S. Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren met with Gov. Deval Patrick, a first step as she prepares for her new Washington job.