BOSTON (WWLP) -- Lawmakers are back on Beacon Hill after their summer hiatus, and had to contend with issues at both the state and federal levels this week.

There was a switch up at the Cannabis Control Commission... two years after being suspended and subsequently fired, former CCC leader Shannon O'Brien won a wrongful termination lawsuit. She will finish the two years left in her term and be awarded back pay and benefits.

Also this week, 22News spoke to Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi about a new policy allowing inmates to have phone calls at no cost to the recipient. Call frequency and length have increased five-fold in Hampden County, increasing the amount of money the system needs to spend on the phones.

"It is not the apocalypse. It is not time for doom and gloom," said Hampden

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