HOUSTON – A judge approved the sale of five Massachusetts hospitals owned by Steward Health Care on Wednesday during a long-awaited bankruptcy hearing in Texas.

Wednesday’s hearing had previously been postponed several times, which forced the state to spend millions of dollars to keep the medical centers open.

The hospitals that were sold are St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Morton Hospital in Taunton and Holy Family Hospital’s locations in Methuen and Haverhill.

Steward closed Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer on Saturday.

The Archdiocese of Boston had concerns about the sale, asking for the new owners to remove symbols of Catholic identity if they don’t plan to operate as Catholic health care facilities.

Wednesday’s hearing was held in Houston, Texas.

Steward filed for bankruptcy reorganization in May and began exploring plans to sell dozens of hospitals it owned across the country.

CBS News reported earlier this year that federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston are investigating Steward Health Care based on allegations that include fraud and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

“A bright new day for healthcare workers”

The Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents more than 2,800 registered nurses working in hospitals impacted by the Steward crisis, said it has already had conversations with the new operators.

“This is a long-awaited and very positive development for the communities and dedicated workforce at these facilities and we look forward to working with all parties to ensure a smooth transition for these facilities to new operators in the coming days and weeks,” the MNA said in a statement.

Tim Foley, Executive Vice President at 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, said “It’s a bright new day for healthcare workers and our patients.”

“With Steward finally on its way out of Massachusetts, the critical work of transitioning the hospitals to their new owners can begin,” Foley said in a statement. “Throughout this complicated process, patient safety and workers’ rights need to be protected, and new investments will be needed to help stabilize our fragile hospitals and their vital workforces.” 

Steward CEO will not testify

Ralph de la Torre, the CEO of Steward, was ordered to testify at a hearing in Washington next week led by a bipartisan group of senators looking into his bankrupt company. Instead, on Wednesday de la Torre responded to the subpoena with a scathing letter from his attorney, saying the senators appeared “determined to turn the hearing into a pseudo-criminal proceeding in which they use the time, not to gather facts, but to convict Dr. de la Torre in the eyes of public opinion.”

Gov. Maura Healey used the new powers afforded to her under law and picked the retired second-in-command of the New Jersey State Police to take over as the next superintendent and colonel of the Massachusetts State Police.

Geoffrey Noble, who retired as New Jersey State Police lieutenant colonel in 2022 and has been working as a regional president for a private security firm since, will take over command of the MSP in October, Healey’s office announced Wednesday afternoon.

Healey is the first governor able to take advantage of a provision of the 2020 policing reform law allowing the State Police colonel to be hired from outside of the department’s current ranks.

“Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Noble has dedicated his career to public service, rising to the highest levels of the New Jersey State Police and delivering results on some of the most pressing issues facing law enforcement. He is a principled, respected leader who is widely praised for his integrity, compassion and ability to bring people together,” Healey said. “I’m confident that he is the leader that our hardworking State Police team and the people of Massachusetts deserve.”

The State Police has been under the leadership of Interim Col. John Mawn Jr. since Col. Christopher Mason retired in February 2023. Healey praised Mawn on Wednesday as “a model for all of the men and women of the Massachusetts State Police and for the generations of troopers to follow.”

The State Police has been in the spotlight of controversy numerous times in recent years, with concerns about the force’s culture given new life this summer when a trooper’s crude text messages were read aloud on the stand during the widely-watched Karen Read murder trial. Healey said last year that she was looking for someone with “integrity and managerial competence” to lead the department on a more permanent basis.

Noble joined the New Jersey State Police in 1995, following two years as a summer police officer in Nantucket, according to Healey’s office. His time in New Jersey included stints as a uniformed patrol officer, a field training officer, detective, commander of the New Jersey attorney general’s Shooting Response Team, commander of the Forensic and Technical Services Section, chief of staff for the entire agency, and as deputy superintendent from 2018 to 2022.

Since 2022, Noble has been working for Inter-Con Security Systems, Inc. He was raised in Rhode Island and spent much of his childhood on Cape Cod, Healey’s office said.

Voters in the Massachusetts primary made their decisions about who to send to November’s general election on Nov. 5.

In the general election, residents will not only decide between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for president, but a variety of state-level races. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s challenger in the November election will be former Marine and attorney-at-law John Deaton a new Bolton resident.

“Massachusetts voters are ready for a change,” Deaton said, promising to bring that change into the state. He praised his primary challengers, noting that each has the potential to do well in politics.

Allison Cartwright and John E. Powers win clerk races

Allison S. Cartwright beat Erin J. Murphy in the Democratic primary for Clerk of Courts, Suffolk County- Supreme Judicial division. There is no Republican on the ballot in November’s general election. Cartwright received 33,022 votes from Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop voters, while Murphy received 22,9905.

John E. Powers III, the incumbent, beat challenger Faustina Kathy Gabriel in the Democratic primary for Clerk of Courts, Suffolk County- Civil Business division. There is no Republican on the ballot in November’s general election. Powers received 30,406 votes from Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop voters, while Gabriel received 19,278.

Cambridge race may require a recount

With 99% of the votes counted, the race for 25th Middlesex District race might require a recount, with only 40 votes separating the two candidates.

Incumbent State Rep. Marjorie Decker appears poised to lose her seat to union leader and graduate student Evan MacKay. At of this morning, MacKay has 3,354 votes, or 50.3%, and Decker has 3,314 of 49.7%, according to the Associate Press’s unofficial results with 99% of votes counted.

Massachusetts State law says recounts can be requested if the differential is not more than half of 1% of the total votes cast for office.

While the race is close, MacKay reportedly declared victory at his campaign party on election night, while Decker has not yet seceded the race, according to The Boston Globe.

What happened in the Democratic Governor’s Council races?

The Governor’s Council is a government body made up of eight members that meet to approve the governor’s judicial or administrative nominations, pardon recommendations or state treasury warrants.  

Three seats have races in the primary, with most eyes on the District 3 race between Mary Dolan and incumbent Marilyn Petitto Devaney, both Democrats. Devaney, who had held the seat for 10 years, lost to Dolan in the unofficial results. Dolan secured 52.2% of the vote.

Dolan said she will bring her experience as a public defender to the Council table, which her website says is important because the Council helps decide who judges are, who will be on the Parole Board and who receives commuted sentences and pardons.  

In District 2, a race between Democrats Tamisha Civil, Sean Murphy , Muriel Kramer, and David Reservit was won by Civil who secured 38.7% of the vote in the unofficial results. In the November election, Civil will face Republican Francis Crimmins.

In the District 4 race between Democrats Christopher Iannella and Stacey Borden, Iannella won with 56.5% of the votes.

What is the deadline to register to vote in the November general election? 

If you could not vote yesterday because you were not registered, here’s what you need to know for the next election. October 26 is the last day you can register to vote in Massachusetts for the general election. Here are you options: 

• In person at your local election office by 5 p.m. 
• Online on Oct. 26 by 11:59 p.m.  
• By mail, postmarked Oct. 26 

Massachusetts election results  

Polls close throughout the Commonwealth at 8 p.m. and as part of the USA Today Network in Massachusetts, we are covering it live. For your site’s election results, click on the link and find the race you want to know about.  

When do election results come out?  

Election results started coming out soon after the polls close at 8 p.m. The first results were available within the first 30 minutes after polls close; however, they represent a very small pool of the ballots cast and are not necessarily a reliable indicator of how the rest of the night will go as more votes roll in.   

As more votes are counted, the Associated Press will call races once candidates “no longer have a path to victory.” (You can read an explanation of the process here.)   Some results were not available until after 11 p.m. or this morning.

These are all considered unofficial results, because the final results need to be certified by election officials, which does not happen until a few days after the election.   

What’s on the ballot

To see a full list of the Democratic Party candidates, click here. To see a full list of the Republican Party candidates, click here. The offices on the 2024 ballot include the following, but there are not contested races in all of them.

• U.S. Senator
• U.S. Representative
• Governor’s Councillor
• State Senator
• State Representative
• Register of Deeds
• Clerk of Courts
• County Commissioner (certain counties only)