This year, 17 Rhode Island communities will go through the rite of passage known as the revaluation cycle. State law requires a full property revaluation by the tax assessor in each city and town every nine years with less-detailed updates every three years. These values are important because, absent additional improvements or damage to the property, the values will stay the same for the entire cycle even though the tax rate will change each year. For many of us, that means this spring we’ll learn that the tax assessor, or a company hired by the assessor, has come up with a new tax value for any real estate we own. more

BOSTON – Gov. Deval L. Patrick last week swore in Andrea Cabral as secretary of the Mass. Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. more

BOSTON – More than $2.8 million in insurance refunds have been returned to Massachusetts motorcycle owners, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week. more

BOSTON – The Mass. Department of Environmental Protection has fined a Fairhaven company for dumping waste paint-wash water into a storm drain at the Dartmouth Mall, the agency announced. more

BOSTON – Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office has fined National Grid $270,000 for various violations of the state’s wage and hour laws after complaints that hundreds of Massachusetts workers have gone unpaid for up to nine weeks. more

PROVIDENCE – After a monthlong cellphone-recycling drive held by the R.I. Office of Attorney General, Verizon Wireless made a $2,000 HopeLine contribution to the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The funding will provide financial assistance to local nonprofit organizations focused on supporting victims of domestic violence. more

BOSTON – Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week that Assistant Attorney General Patrick Hanley has been appointed chief of the new Mass. Gaming Enforcement Division. more

Like many Rhode Islanders, we are confused by the recent decision of Superior Court to require “mediation” of the Rhode Island Retirement Security Act of 2011. more

Most nonunion employers understandably pay relatively little attention to the National Labor Relations Board’s decisions and regulations. The NLRB administers the National Labor Relations Act and most often decides cases involving attempts to form a union or conduct of an employer dealing with its employees’ union. more

BOSTON – Chevron USA Inc. and Texaco Downstream Properties Inc. will pay $1.7 million to resolve allegations they received reimbursement payments from a state fund for gas-station cleanup projects even though both sought and received payments from their insurers, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week. These false claims allegedly involved service stations across Massachusetts, Coakley said in a statement. more