Amazon wants to launch Prime Air drone deliveries from a takeoff and landing area in Westborough. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has a message for the company: not before the state signs off.

In a letter dated October 22, MassDOT told Amazon that the FAA approves its drones as an air carrier, but the flights are commercial operations subject to state law. No takeoff and landing site can be established in Westborough or anywhere else in Massachusetts without a certificate of approval from the state’s Aeronautics Division.

What the state wants first

• An official notification and review request from Amazon, which the division says it has not received.
• Its own suitability review confirming the operation poses no safety threat.
• An environmental impact review.
• At least one public hearing before any certificate is issued.

The division said residents have already raised concerns about low-altitude flights over private property and possible conflicts with police, public safety crews and other drone operators.

The town has spoken, too

At a Special Town Meeting on Monday, October 20, Westborough voters overwhelmingly backed a bylaw restricting commercial drones. That bylaw still needs sign-off from the state attorney general and the Aeronautics Division.

Amazon spokesperson Lindsay Hamilton said the company remains committed to working with state and local officials and welcomes the chance to demonstrate the safety of its operations, noting Prime Air has flown in nine states with FAA approval.

Why it matters

Massachusetts is drawing a line that other states will watch: federal clearance gets a drone in the air, but the state decides where it can take off and land. For Amazon, the Westborough site is now a permitting process with a public hearing, not a launch date.

Source: Boston.com. Reported and written by the Ecosystem Intelligence Desk.

Background

Drone delivery sits at the meeting point of two very different kinds of rules. The Federal Aviation Administration regulates the national airspace, including the safety of aircraft, pilots and operators. Cities, towns and states have traditionally regulated land use, including where businesses can operate, what they can build and how they affect neighbors. A delivery drone touches both systems: it flies through federally regulated airspace, but it has to take off and land somewhere on the ground.

That split has been a recurring question as commercial drone programs have grown across the country. Federal approval typically focuses on whether the aircraft and the operation can fly safely. State and local reviews tend to focus on questions such as zoning, noise, environmental effects and how a facility fits into a community. How those layers fit together for drones is still being worked out in many places, which is why the Massachusetts approach described here draws attention.

What it means for Boston-area readers

For residents of Westborough and surrounding towns, the most practical point in the state’s letter is the process it describes. A suitability review, an environmental impact review and at least one public hearing all create moments when residents can learn details and share views. People who want to follow the matter can watch for official notices from the Aeronautics Division and from the town.

For businesses in the region, the case is a useful reminder that federal permission is not always the only permission an activity needs. Companies considering new technology, from drones to new kinds of vehicles or equipment, often face a mix of federal, state and local requirements, and the timing of those reviews can shape when a project can begin.

• Residents may want to know how the review process works and where hearing notices will be posted.
• Local officials are weighing how a town bylaw fits alongside state and federal rules.
• Other businesses can watch how the state applies its certificate process to commercial drone operations.

Key terms

• FAA: the Federal Aviation Administration, the federal agency responsible for civil aviation safety and the national airspace.
• Air carrier: an operator approved to carry goods or passengers commercially by air.
• MassDOT Aeronautics Division: the part of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation that oversees aviation matters in the state, including airports and landing areas.
• Certificate of approval: the state sign-off the division says is needed before a takeoff and landing site can be established.
• Bylaw: a local law adopted by a town, often through town meeting in Massachusetts.
• Special Town Meeting: a town meeting called outside the regular annual schedule to act on specific articles.

What to watch

• Whether Amazon files the notification and review request the division says it has not yet received.
• How the attorney general and the Aeronautics Division respond to the Westborough bylaw.
• When a public hearing is scheduled, and what information is made available beforehand.
• What the suitability and environmental reviews examine, and how their findings are shared.
• Whether other Massachusetts communities consider similar local rules on commercial drones.

Each of those steps will shape how, and whether, drone deliveries move forward in Westborough. Following the official record, rather than speculation, is the most reliable way to keep up. Public hearing notices, meeting minutes and published review documents are typically the clearest sources, and they allow residents to see the same information officials are weighing before any decision is made. Town and state websites usually post these materials, along with instructions for submitting written comments.

The post Before Amazon’s Drones Fly Over Westborough, MassDOT Says the State Gets a Say appeared first on Boston Made, Inc. | Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

TGI Fridays began 2024 with 13 restaurants in Massachusetts; since the Millbury location closed in July 2026, the chain’s website lists three, in Everett, Methuen and Stoughton, and the brand carries on as franchised restaurants even as a bankruptcy court winds down its former corporate parent.

Millbury was the latest to go

The TGI Fridays at The Shops at Blackstone Valley in Millbury announced its closing in a Facebook post on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, according to Patch and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The restaurant at 70 Worcester-Providence Turnpike was one of the early tenants of the open-air plaza, which opened in 2003, the Telegram reported. A sign in the window pointed diners to the chain’s other Massachusetts restaurants.

Both outlets reported that the company’s website had dropped Millbury and listed only Everett, Methuen and Stoughton in the state. A third-party store tracker, Mogean, counted the same three Massachusetts locations among 69 in the United States as of Oct. 11, 2026. The company has not announced any new restaurant for Massachusetts.

How 13 became three

The contraction came in waves. On Jan. 3, 2024, the Dallas-based company said it was closing 36 corporate restaurants nationwide that it described as “underperforming.” Six were in Massachusetts: Dedham, Danvers, Marlborough, Mansfield, North Attleborough and Seekonk, according to CBS Boston and Boston 25 News. Both outlets listed seven Massachusetts restaurants still open afterward: Boston, Braintree, Everett, Methuen, Millbury, North Dartmouth and Stoughton.

The same day, the company said it was selling eight corporate-owned Northeast restaurants to former chief executive Ray Blanchette, who would run them as a franchisee. Six were in Massachusetts, in Braintree, Boston’s Brigham Circle, Everett, Methuen, Millbury and Stoughton, and two were in Concord and Manchester, New Hampshire, Nation’s Restaurant News reported.

The North Dartmouth restaurant on State Road closed effective immediately on Oct. 24, 2024, the Fall River Reporter wrote, nine days before the corporate parent filed for bankruptcy. Braintree, at 60 Forbes Road, closed in the first week of January 2025, according to Patch and Boston Restaurant Talk. In a report republished by NBC Boston on Feb. 26, 2026, Boston Restaurant Talk said the chain’s only Boston restaurant, at 1626 Tremont St. in Mission Hill, had shut down and been removed from the company’s location list. Millbury followed five months later.

The company’s amended franchise disclosure document, filed in September and summarized by Fast Company, recorded one franchised closure in Massachusetts in 2025 and two so far in 2026. The filing does not name towns, but the timing lines up with Braintree, Boston and Millbury.

What is filling the empty buildings

Several of the former restaurants sit on prominent pads beside shopping centers, and at least two have been re-leased to regional chains. Tavern in the Square took over the Braintree building at 60 Forbes Road, across from South Shore Plaza, Patch and The Patriot Ledger reported; the Ledger said the new restaurant added a 1,200-square-foot patio. In Mansfield, Burtons Grill & Bar leased the former Fridays space at Mansfield Crossing, according to Boston Restaurant Talk and What Now Boston.

At Blackstone Valley, the exit comes while the plaza is adding tenants. Patch reported that nearly 35,000 square feet of new retail space was under development there, with Shake Shack, Sweetgreen and LaserAway among the announced tenants. No replacement tenant for the restaurant had been reported as of late October.

The bankruptcy is ending; the brand is not

None of this amounts to a total shutdown. TGI Friday’s Inc., the corporate entity that owned and ran company restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 on Nov. 2, 2024, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. Franchise-owned restaurants were not part of the case. Judge Stacey G. Jernigan approved a consensual liquidation plan at a hearing on July 23, 2026, Bloomberg Law reported; Nation’s Restaurant News dated the confirmation July 24. The plan distributes the estate’s remaining assets to creditors and winds down the old entity, and court documents show it calls for no further restaurant closures, NRN reported.

The brand now operates under Sugarloaf Hospitality, the investment group led by Blanchette, who returned as chief executive in 2025. Every U.S. restaurant is franchised, according to Fast Company and FSR magazine. Blanchette told NRN that Sugarloaf’s ownership is “independent of, and unaffected by, the parties in bankruptcy.”

The three Massachusetts survivors were all among the restaurants sold to Blanchette in 2024. FSR reported in January that the Methuen restaurant served as the test site for a holiday decor campaign later rolled out across the system.

The national picture

Massachusetts tracks the national decline closely. The chain peaked at 601 U.S. restaurants in 2008, according to Technomic data cited by the Associated Press; FSR also put the peak above 600. Franchise disclosure figures reported by Fast Company show 119 U.S. restaurants at the start of 2025 and 80 at the end of that year. A company spokesperson put the count at 76 in July 2026, the September filing showed 71, and the company’s website listed 69 franchised U.S. restaurants in October, FSR reported. The sources do not reconcile the 71 and 69 figures.

The September filing projected no U.S. openings in 2026. On Sept. 29, the company announced its first domestic development deal in more than a decade, with Bliss Bites LLC, for five restaurants in New York State over three years. Chief operating officer Ashley Kirkley told FSR the company expects about 20 U.S. openings over the next two to three years. None has been announced for Massachusetts.

The Newsroom Take

Going from 13 restaurants to three is a 77 percent drop in under three years, close to the chain’s national slide from 269 U.S. restaurants at the end of 2023 to 69 today. The Massachusetts closures arrived in clusters tied to corporate events: the January 2024 pruning of company stores, the abrupt closings around the 2024 bankruptcy filing, and then franchise closures in Boston and Millbury. The liquidation plan removes one risk, since it calls for no further closures, but it does not remove the ordinary one: a franchise operator deciding that a lease no longer pays. That is how the two most recent Massachusetts closures happened. The quick re-leasing in Braintree and Mansfield also shows that the big boxes remain valuable to landlords, which means a weak Fridays lease can be replaced. For now, Massachusetts is a holdout market, not a growth market, for the brand.

What it means for you

• Check the chain’s online locator before driving to a TGI Fridays. Everett, Methuen and Stoughton are the only Massachusetts listings, and recent closures were announced on local Facebook pages with little notice.
• When the corporate parent filed in 2024, the judge allowed the gift card program to continue; court papers showed about $49.7 million in outstanding cards, Fortune reported. Anyone holding an older card is better off using it at an open restaurant than waiting.
• Workers at the remaining restaurants are employed by franchise operators, not by the liquidating corporate entity. Anyone with a claim against TGI Friday’s Inc. can follow the case, No. 24-80069 in the Northern District of Texas.
• Shoppers near South Shore Plaza, Mansfield Crossing and Blackstone Valley should expect former Fridays pads to keep turning over to regional restaurant chains.

The post How TGI Fridays Shrank From 13 Massachusetts Restaurants to Three appeared first on Boston Made, Inc. | Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Fall is when many Massachusetts communities set their property tax rates for the fiscal year and send out bills reflecting those decisions. For homeowners and business owners, the numbers can be confusing. One state law shapes nearly all of them: Proposition 2½, approved by voters in 1980.

Where Property Taxes Fit

Property taxes are the single largest source of revenue for most Massachusetts cities and towns. They help pay for schools, police and fire departments, public works, libraries and other local services. Each community decides how much it needs to raise, called the levy, within the limits of state law. That total is then divided among properties according to their assessed values.

The resulting tax rate is usually expressed per $1,000 of assessed value. Many communities use a split rate, with a different rate for residential property than for commercial, industrial and personal property.

The Two Limits

Proposition 2½ gets its name from two separate limits, both set at 2.5 percent:

• The levy ceiling. A community’s total property tax levy generally cannot exceed 2.5 percent of the full cash value of all taxable property in the community.
• The levy limit. The amount a community can levy generally cannot increase by more than 2.5 percent over the prior year’s limit, plus an allowance for new growth, such as new construction and additions.

Importantly, the 2.5 percent limit applies to the community’s total levy, not to each individual tax bill. Your own bill can rise more or less than 2.5 percent, depending on how your property’s assessed value changes relative to others and on local tax decisions.

Overrides and Exclusions

Communities can raise more than the levy limit, but only with voter approval at the ballot box. There are several tools:

• An override permanently increases the levy limit, often to support ongoing costs such as school operating budgets.
• A debt exclusion temporarily raises taxes to pay for a specific borrowing, such as a new building, and ends when the debt is repaid.
• A capital outlay expenditure exclusion raises taxes for a one-time capital purchase.

None of these can push the levy above the 2.5 percent ceiling on full value.

Assessments and Abatements

Local assessors estimate the value of each property, and values are periodically reviewed and certified by the state. If you believe your assessment is too high, you can usually apply for an abatement with your local assessors within a set period after bills are issued. Deadlines are strict, so read your bill and your community’s official website carefully. Many communities also offer exemptions for certain seniors, veterans, surviving spouses and residents with disabilities.

Why It Matters

Proposition 2½ has helped keep property tax growth in check for decades, while also making communities rely more on state aid, local fees and voter-approved overrides to meet rising costs. Understanding the rules makes local budget debates easier to follow. For questions about your own tax bill or eligibility for exemptions, contact your local assessor’s office, and for personal financial planning, talk with a qualified tax professional.

Background

Proposition 2½ was a ballot initiative, a law proposed and approved directly by voters rather than passed first by the Legislature. It arrived during a period of widespread concern about rising property taxes across the country, and Massachusetts at the time had some of the higher property tax burdens in the nation. The measure set firm rules for how much communities could raise from property taxes, while leaving room for voters themselves to approve more.

In Massachusetts, the Division of Local Services within the state Department of Revenue oversees much of the technical side of local finance. It reviews and certifies local property values on a regular cycle, approves tax rates before bills go out and publishes guidance and data on municipal finances that residents can consult.

What it means for Boston-area readers

For homeowners and business owners, the most useful takeaway is that a tax bill reflects several separate decisions. The community decides its total levy within the limits. Assessors determine values. Local officials decide, where allowed, how to split the levy between residential and commercial property. And residents can apply for exemptions or abatements where they qualify. Understanding which piece changed helps explain why a bill went up or down.

• Read the assessment notice: check that basic facts about the property, such as size and features, are correct.
• Note deadlines: abatement and exemption applications usually have firm cutoffs.
• Follow the budget: local budget hearings and town meetings are where spending and levy decisions are made.
• Read ballot questions closely: overrides and exclusions differ in purpose and duration.

Renters are affected too. Property taxes are one of the costs that owners of rental buildings pay, and changes in those costs can influence rents over time, even though tenants do not receive a tax bill directly.

Key terms

• Levy: the total amount a community raises from property taxes in a year.
• Levy limit: the maximum a community can levy in a given year under Proposition 2½, before any voter-approved increases.
• Levy ceiling: the absolute cap of 2.5 percent of the full cash value of taxable property.
• New growth: added tax revenue from new construction, additions and other new value.
• Assessed value: the value assessors assign to a property for tax purposes.
• Abatement: a reduction in a tax bill granted after a successful appeal.
• Exemption: a reduction available to eligible taxpayers, such as certain seniors or veterans.
• Classification or split rate: the option to tax residential and commercial property at different rates.

What to watch

• Whether your community is considering an override or exclusion, and what the ballot question would fund.
• How assessed values in your community shifted this year compared with prior years.
• Decisions at the annual classification hearing, where communities that use a split rate set the shift between property classes.
• Changes in state aid in the state budget, which affect how much local communities rely on property taxes.
• Deadlines printed on your tax bill for abatements and exemptions.

The post Proposition 2½, Explained: How Property Taxes Work in Massachusetts Communities appeared first on Boston Made, Inc. | Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Drive twenty minutes out of Boston and you enter a different style of government. In much of Massachusetts, the legislature for a town is not a council of a few elected members. It is the town meeting, a gathering where voters themselves debate and decide on budgets, bylaws and local projects. It is one of the oldest forms of democracy still practiced in the country, and it is surprisingly easy to join.

Towns and Cities Are Different

Massachusetts communities are either cities or towns, and the distinction is about government, not size. Cities, like Boston, Worcester and Cambridge, are usually run by an elected council and a mayor or city manager. Towns typically use a town meeting as their legislative body, with an elected select board, formerly often called a board of selectmen, handling executive duties between meetings. Many towns also employ a professional town manager or administrator.

Open Versus Representative

There are two main types:

• Open town meeting. Any registered voter in the town can attend, speak and vote. This is the most common form, especially in smaller communities.
• Representative town meeting. Voters elect town meeting members, often by precinct, who attend and vote on their behalf. Larger towns such as Brookline and Arlington use this model, though any resident can usually attend and ask to speak.

Each town sets its own quorum and procedures through its bylaws and charter, within state law.

The Warrant and Its Articles

Every town meeting is governed by a document called the warrant. It lists the articles, or individual items of business, that the meeting will consider. Articles can cover the annual operating budget, capital projects like a new school roof, zoning changes, local bylaws, borrowing authorizations and more.

The select board prepares the warrant, and residents can also add articles by gathering a required number of voter signatures. Importantly, the meeting can only act on subjects that appear in the warrant, so reading it in advance tells you exactly what is on the table. Many towns also have a finance committee that reviews money articles and publishes recommendations.

Most towns hold an annual town meeting, usually in the spring, to adopt a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Special town meetings can be called during the year when other business comes up.

On the Night

An elected moderator runs the meeting, recognizing speakers, keeping order and calling votes. Each article is typically introduced with a motion, followed by presentations and debate. Votes may be by voice, show of hands, standing count, paper ballot or electronic clickers, depending on the town.

Some decisions need more than a simple majority. Borrowing money and certain zoning changes, for example, commonly require a two-thirds vote. Under Proposition 2½, raising property taxes beyond the usual limit requires a separate override vote at the ballot box.

How to Take Part

If you live in a town, start by confirming you are registered to vote, then find the warrant on your town’s official website or at the town clerk’s office. Read the finance committee’s report, note the articles that interest you and show up. Meetings can run long, so bring patience and maybe a snack. Speaking is usually as simple as going to a microphone when the moderator calls on you.

Town meeting can be slow, messy and occasionally contentious. It is also a rare chance to vote directly on how your community spends its money, and to do it alongside your neighbors.

Background

Town meeting has roots in colonial New England, where early settlements gathered residents to make decisions about shared land, churches, schools and local rules. The tradition survived as towns grew and remains a defining feature of local government in much of the region. Massachusetts law gives towns significant room to shape their own procedures, which is why town meetings can feel different from one community to the next.

Proposition 2½, a Massachusetts law approved by voters in 1980, sets limits on how much a community can raise through property taxes. In general terms, it caps a community’s total property tax levy relative to the value of property and limits how much the levy can grow each year, with allowances for new construction. To go beyond those limits, voters can approve an override, which permanently increases the levy, or a debt exclusion, which temporarily raises taxes to pay for specific borrowing. Both require a ballot vote in addition to any town meeting action.

Moderators often rely on established guides to parliamentary procedure. Many Massachusetts towns refer to a handbook called Town Meeting Time, which was written specifically for town meeting and covers motions, amendments and debate.

What it means for Boston-area readers

For residents of towns around Boston, town meeting is a direct way to influence local decisions. A few general tips help newcomers participate effectively:

• Read the finance committee report. It often explains the reasoning behind recommendations on budget and spending articles.
• Attend public hearings beforehand. Boards and committees often hold hearings on major articles before town meeting.
• Prepare brief remarks. Moderators may set time limits, so focus on a few key points.
• Understand amendments. Motions can be amended during debate, which can change what is ultimately voted on.
• Check the results. The town clerk records votes, and results are usually posted afterward.

Residents of cities can participate in similar ways by attending city council meetings, testifying at public hearings and contacting their elected representatives.

Key terms

• Warrant: The official list of articles to be considered at a town meeting.
• Article: An individual item of business on the warrant.
• Motion: A formal proposal for action on an article.
• Quorum: The minimum number of voters or members required to conduct business.
• Moderator: The elected official who presides over town meeting.
• Override: A voter-approved permanent increase in the property tax levy above the Proposition 2½ limit.
• Free cash: A Massachusetts term for certain unrestricted funds certified by the state that a town may appropriate.
• Stabilization fund: A reserve account a town can set aside for future needs.

What to watch

• The release of your town’s warrant ahead of the annual or special town meeting.
• Finance committee recommendations on budget and capital articles.
• Ballot questions on overrides or debt exclusions.
• Public hearings on zoning and bylaw changes.
• Posted results and minutes after each meeting.

The post How a Massachusetts Town Meeting Works: Warrants, Articles and the Moderator’s Gavel appeared first on Boston Made, Inc. | Boston, Massachusetts, USA.