Updates from Jo

Throughout the week of March 17, better known as Ag Week, my team and I partnered with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) to spotlight farms in the Hampshire, Franklin, […]

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic and our world flipped upside down.  As a first-term Senator, I learned lifetimes-worth of lessons in the […]

Throughout the second week of February, the State House rumbled with the advocacy of constituents from the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district and beyond. On Tuesday, my team met with waves [...]

There is a great deal of turbulence at the federal level making our work at the state level that much more important. And the need for the House and Senate […]

On January 24, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) published a DRAFT Water Quality Certification (WQC) decision for FirstLight Power’s Turners Falls Dam and [...]

On January 28, District Elena Cohen and I traversed the roads between Erving and Athol, and back again, as we met with nonprofit, state, and municipal leaders to speak about […]

On January 1, 2025, I was sworn in to the Massachusetts State Senate for my fourth term representing the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district.  During the moving opening ceremony, I was […]

The 2023-2024 legislative session officially closed on December 31, 2024. Before the clock struck midnight, my colleagues and I worked to pass important health care-focused bills and send them to [...]

A love letter to the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district Last week, days before the close of the current 2023-2024 legislative session, the Governor signed an omnibus substance use disorder [...]

On December 19, the Massachusetts Legislature approved omnibus legislation to combat the opioid crisis. H.5143 — An Act relative to treatments and coverage for substance use disorder and recovery [...]