Policies may have changed, the science hasn't

Policies may have changed, the science hasn't

"RFK Jr. has officially changed the US pediatric vaccine schedule. Let’s be very clear about what this means:

Reduced recommendations will result in confusion.

Confusion will result in fewer vaccinations.

Fewer vaccinations (specifically for rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, RSV, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and hepatitis B) will result in an increase in disease, disability, and death.

Please ignore this unscientific nonsense and follow the @ameracadpeds schedule alongside your pediatrician.

Comment SCHEDULE to get larger and downloadable versions of these slides*."

Shared from -> https://www.instagram.com/p/DTI_5TQkijZ/

* Note: When the slides are available, I'll share them.

The Boston Globe also has an article assessing the recent changes to the vaccine policies and the impact to Massachusetts. Read via this "share link"   https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/05/metro/cdc-vaccine-kennedy-measles-polio-flu-rsv-children-shots-massachusetts/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Boston Globe: "Mass. municipalities & school districts hit hard by rising health insurance costs"

"Escalating health insurance costs turned into a budget nightmare this academic year for Pioneer Valley Regional School District Superintendent Patricia Kinsella. Between July and October, her district got hit with two double-digit increases, totaling nearly 40 percent.

Boston Globe: "Mass. municipalities & school districts
 hit hard by rising health insurance costs"

The double whammy forced the district to lay off a librarian and eliminate three vacant positions. Paychecks for teachers and other employees who earn below statewide averages also shrank as they shouldered their portion of the premium increases.

“These were heartbreaking cuts to make,” Kinsella said. “None of us felt good about it.”

Across Massachusetts, school districts and municipalities are grappling with hefty health insurance increases, typically between 10 and 20 percent, and sometimes even more. The higher costs are pushing up annual health insurance spending by hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars."

Continue reading the article with this "share" link -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/05/metro/health-insurance-costs-school-districts-municipalities/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Boston Globe Editorial: "Getting to yes on housing in Massachusetts"

"Over the next decade, state housing officials estimate that Massachusetts will need another 222,000 homes. These homes are necessary to attract young professionals, to prevent families with young children from leaving, to empty the homeless shelters, and to let seniors age in their communities.

"Getting to yes on housing in Massachusetts"

More housing is also needed to mitigate climbing prices that are hurting not only lower-income residents, but even those who are solidly middle class. The median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts this year, as of November, was an astonishing $640,000, according to The Warren Group.

Zillow ranked Greater Boston as the fifth most expensive rental market in the country, with average rent hovering just under $3,000 a month, according to the Boston Foundation’s 2025 Housing Report Card."

Continue reading the editorial with this shared link -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/28/opinion/housing-reforms-massachusetts/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Getting to "yes" on housing is a key issue for Franklin. Basic supply / demand economics are at play. Unless, and until, we increase the supply to meet the demand housing costs will continue to rise making it less affordable. 

Consider the Building Equitable Neighborhoods For Franklin (BEN 4 Franklin) group. They want to understand zoning to advocate for the right changes to make to enable sustainable and affordable growth.  Find out more at https://ben4franklin.org/

Boston Globe: "Trump administration suspends five offshore wind projects, including Vineyard Wind, escalating attack on renewables"

"Trump administration suspends five offshore wind projects, including Vineyard Wind, escalating attack on renewables"

The Boston Globe -> (share link) https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/22/science/trump-stops-vineyard-wind/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

"Trump Halts 5 Wind Farms Off the East Coast"

NY Times coverage -> (gift link) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/climate/trump-offshore-wind-farms.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-08.sUXl.MgnLfY60NDng&smid=url-share

Mass Govern Healey responds:

The complete Governor Healey press release can be found ->

https://www.mass.gov/news/governor-healey-responds-to-trump-administration-stop-work-order-for-vineyard-wind

Shared from -> https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ehb8BZSXP/

Boston Globe: 150,000 Massachusetts residents. What can the state do? Is increasing support to food banks enough?

"The farm store Gardening the Community sells locally-grown produce, eggs, and milk, with a special focus on making these items available to low-income residents. When food stamps were suspended during the federal government shutdown in early November, the store gave away eggs and milk for free.

The giveaways were enabled in part by a significant spike in donations, with food pantries and soup kitchens across the Commonwealth receiving a surge of support amid the unprecedented cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which more than one million Massachusetts residents rely on. In addition to private donations, the state released funds from the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program to support food banks across the state.

With the shutdown now over, SNAP payments have resumed. But thanks to new restrictions outlined in President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which took effect Nov. 1, the governor’s office estimates that over 150,000 Massachusetts residents could see their SNAP reduced or cut. Governor Maura Healey has made clear that the state won’t foot the bill for people who may lose their benefits due to the federal changes. She’s calling for sustained donations to food pantries across the state to address worsening food insecurity. But advocates warn: That won’t be nearly enough."

Continue reading the article via 'gift' link -> 

Pantry Elves campaign

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/07/metro/massachusetts-food-pantries-snap-cuts/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

The Franklin Food Pantry is working hard to handle the increased volume and you can help. There are a number of ways to get involved ->   https://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/get-involved/

You can get up to date with this recent conversation with Marsha, Jen and I ->

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/11/pantry-elves-play-important-role-in.html

R.I. launches launches first-time homeownership program touting ‘affordable’ mortgage options

“RI AnchorHome” will allow families in search of a primary residence in the Ocean State to obtain 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with a starting interest rate of 3.99 percent, officials said

"A new Rhode Island homeownership pilot program will expand access to “affordable, sustainable mortgage options” for first-time buyers, state officials say.

Rhode Island General Treasurer James A. Diossa on Thursday announced the launch of “RI AnchorHome,” telling reporters the initiative will allow qualifying families in search of a primary residence in the Ocean State to obtain 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with a starting interest rate of 3.99 percent.

R.I. launches launches first-time homeownership
program touting ‘affordable’ mortgage options

The program comes as Rhode Island, like many states, has struggled to slow the rising cost of housing. In October, the median sale price of a single-family home reached $505,000, while multi-family home sales prices reached a new high of $600,000, according to data released last month by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors."

Continue reading the article via this 'gift' link -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/05/metro/rhode-island-homeownership-pilot/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Franklin TV's visibility issue not unlike that facing local TV news stations

"Long a safe haven due to a reliable stream of retransmission fees and advertising dollars, local TV news stations are now facing a stark message as their industry faces the same financial pressures as the rest of media: adapt or die.

That’s the message in a new report from Northeastern University’s Reinventing Local TV News Project, which last month released a “survival guide” that urges local stations to prioritize digital-first programming to reach younger audiences that don’t tune into the traditional broadcast. Specifically, the authors urge stations to hire specialists to spearhead newsrooms’ digital strategy and coach their peers on how to bring their reporting to audiences online.

The guide doesn’t forge a silver bullet that will solve the local news crisis, especially in how to replace the decades-long reliance on advertising dollars that is slowly drying up as viewers flock elsewhere for news. But it argues that hiring a digital content producer — a role that the Reinventing Local TV News Project has piloted in three newsrooms, including WCVB-TV (Channel 5) — is a necessary step to avoid being tuned out by younger generations."

Continue reading the article with this 'gift' link ->   https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/02/business/local-tv-news-digital-report/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Franklin TV's visibility issue not unlike that facing local TV news stations

Healey-Driscoll Administration Releases Statewide High School Graduation Framework

"State leaders released on Monday the broad outlines of new educational standards students would be required to meet to graduate from high school, including mandatory courses, senior projects or portfolios, and financial literacy.

The proposed seven-part “framework” aims to replace the 10th grade test requirement voters did away with last year. But the framework included exam-like “end-of-course assessments.” The potential for new testing drew immediate criticism from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which helped lead the drive to repeal the prior MCAS testing standard.

Governor Maura Healey and other proponents of the plan presented it as a necessary step for the state to maintain its number one ranking in the nation on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a status jeopardized by a decadelong decline in achievement."

Boston Globe article on new high school graduation framework

portrait of a graduate

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/01/metro/mcas-replacement-test-high-school-graduation/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Governor Healey's press release -> https://www.mass.gov/news/healey-driscoll-administration-releases-statewide-high-school-graduation-framework

Franklin recently approved it's own graduation and competency requirements in lie of the State having this developed and finalized (which will still take time for the State to complete).  Meeting recap can be found ->   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/11/franklin-school-committee-reorganizes_22.html

Boston Globe: "Massachusetts considers regulations for home care agencies caring for elderly"

"Doug Hano has struggled for years to find reliable care for his wife, Kirsten, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Once a “rock star” in the advertising industry, Kirsten, 58, now needs help with most basic tasks, including dressing, taking a shower, brushing her teeth, and eating. A string of inexperienced or unreliable home care workers, one of whom was present when Kirsten tripped on a curb outside and fell, leaving her requiring stitches, have left Hano frustrated and heartbroken.

“Here I am trying to spend extra money for peace of mind or better service,” he said, “but it’s very clear that the availability of good folks is limited.”

Doug Hano helped his wife, Kirsten, in the kitchen of
their home. Doug has struggled to find home
care for Kirsten, who was diagnosed at
age 53 with early onset Alzheimer's. S
uzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

In a state where barbers, manicurists, and massage therapists must be licensed, home care agencies providing nonmedical support are subject to shockingly little oversight, despite the profound vulnerability of the people who rely on them.

Massachusetts is one of only four states without a licensing process for private, nonmedical home care agencies, said Harrison Collins, director of legislative affairs for the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts, an industry group representing about 200 agencies that provide help with the tasks of daily living, including bathing and toileting, household chores, and basic companionship."

Continue reading the article online with this link -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/30/metro/home-care-massachusetts-senior-alzheimers-regulate/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Boston Globe: "The majority of working-age people on food stamps have jobs"

"The problem isn't that we have 42 million participating on SNAP," FitzSimons said. "The problem is that we have 42 million people living in poverty in a system where the minimum wage is nowhere near the livable wage." 

"People who rely on government assistance are often subject to the same three-word admonishment: Get a job.

But many already have one.

In Massachusetts, 74 percent of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time.

Boston Globe: "The majority of working-age
people on food stamps have jobs"

At a time when the food-stamp system is under fire and more strict work requirements are starting to kick in, a Globe review of companies with the most SNAP recipients in the state shows many are employed by high-profile companies in retail, health care, and the gig economy.

Nearly 2,500 work for Amazon and another 2,300 work for Walmart. Uber, DoorDash, and Tempus Unlimited, a Stoughton developmental disabilities provider, each have more than 1,400 workers who rely on food stamps, according to data obtained from the state Department of Transitional Assistance, which administers the federal program."

Continue reading the article online ->

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/metro/snap-food-stamps-employers-massachusetts/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Boston Globe: "From Locke-Ober to the Franklin Public Library"

"That Locke-Ober, one of the most storied dining establishments from Boston’s past, should have a connection with the Franklin Public Library is surprising. That the connection involves the work of a Gilded Age painter from Italy, Tommaso Juglaris (pronounced YOO-glar-is), may be even more so.

Juglaris’s career offers further surprises. His own connections extend from the painters Camille Corot, who championed his work, and Childe Hassam, a Juglaris pupil, to the publisher Louis Prang, namesake of the Fenway street, who brought Juglaris to the United States, and the Rhode Island School of Design, where he was a founding faculty member."

Continue reading the Boston Globe article with this 'gift' link ->  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/21/arts/franklin-library-locke-ober-art-exhibition/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/21/arts/franklin-library-locke-ober-art-exhibition/?s_campaign=sharetool_copypaste_view

Boston Globe: "The Boston Foundation’s annual Greater Boston Housing Report Card outlines how the region’s housing crisis may only get worse"

"The cost of buying a home is growing for everyone

Home prices around here have been rising for decades, but the last few years have been particularly bad.

First, home prices soared in a pandemic-driven housing market frenzy. Then, when interest rates began to rise in 2021, the market effectively froze, driving prices higher still.

Prices have gone up everywhere and across the price spectrum. It’s in the communities where home prices were the lowest before the pandemic that prices have grown the most. In Brockton, for example, the median sale price of a single-family home has risen 72 percent since 2015. In Lawrence, it has more than doubled."

Franklin From 2015 to 2025, the median sale price of a single-family home rose 35%.

Median sale price for a single-family home in 2015 (adjusted for inflation): $510,002

Median sale price for a single-family home in 2025: $688,000

Continue reading the Boston Globe article -> 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/11/business/housing-prices-rental-construction-boston-foundation/

The Boston Foundation 2024 report is available for download. The 2025 is not yet available for public download.   https://www.tbf.org/-/media/tbf/reports-and-covers/2024/gbhrc-2024/2024gbhrc-digital-sm.pdf

Massachusetts towns face tax override debates: (ah, Franklin is not alone !!!)

"Across Massachusetts, municipalities are increasingly asking voters to raise their property taxes above a state limit of no more than 2.5 percent a year, with mixed results as local officials grapple with inflation and rising costs for utilities, health insurance, pensions, special education, and other items.

Over the last three years, the number of votes to raise property taxes over the state limit, established in the 1980s under Proposition 2½, has increased sharply, with more than 170 override votes held, according to a Globe review of state data. By comparison, roughly two dozen override votes occurred each year during the six previous years, except in 2018 when there were more than 40."

Subscription required -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/01/metro/melrose-stoneham-property-tax-overrides/

Communities that sought overrides are scattered across Massachusetts, representing less than half of the state’s 351 municipalities. Many of them held more than one vote

Also reinforcing this point is the MMA Report shared previously

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/10/explore-mmas-new-report-perfect-storm.html

Boston Globe: "Which Greater Boston towns have highest SNAP enrollments"

"Almost a month into the federal government shutdown, one of the largest concerns facing Massachusetts residents is cuts to SNAP, a program that provides more than 1 million people in the state with food assistance.

A demographic breakdown of the million-plus people who depend on food benefits shines a brighter light on who’s affected by food insecurity in Massachusetts.

The federal government was able to provide funding through October even with the shutdown, but starting Nov. 1 the funds will “run dry,” said the US Department of Agriculture, which funds SNAP, also known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The losses would ripple across the state: One in six Massachusetts residents, or about 667,000 households, receive SNAP benefits — including children, the elderly, and residents with disabilities."

Per the graphic, Franklin has almost 6% of its residents signed up for SNAP benefits

Also due to the Federal budget cuts, access thru the Library to Globe articles is no longer available.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/29/metro/boston-snap-enrollment/ 

Per the graphic, Franklin has almost 6% of its residents signed up for SNAP benefits

Visit the Franklin Food Pantry to contribute to help meet the needs of our neighbors -> https://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/

Boston Globe: "Drought conditions worsen across New England, especially up north."

"Another week has passed with little to no rainfall across New England, expanding “extreme” drought to nearly a quarter of New Hampshire as the dry weather worsens conditions in Maine and Vermont. Nearly all of New England is either in some stage of drought or abnormally dry, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, increasing the risk for groundwater shortages and wildfires across the region — very reminiscent of last fall.

Boston Globe: "Drought conditions worsen
across New England, especially up north."

Despite one night of rainfall this week that totaled over an inch or two in parts of Southeastern Massachusetts and the Cape, New England will need more than just one significant rainstorm to pull us out of a nearly yearlong water deficit in those regions.

“We’re approaching the peak of last year’s rainfall deficit and groundwater storage levels,” said David Boutt, professor of hydrogeology at UMass Amherst. “Plus, this is the time of year when we’re naturally in a negative water balance from the combination of growing season and little to no precipitation.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/19/metro/new-england-drought-rain/

Boston Globe: "State panel releases options for new Massachusetts state flag, seal"

"Four-plus years and two state panels later, the public is finally getting a slate of options to consider for a new Massachusetts flag and seal, moving the state closer to replacing a controversial symbol whose roots stretch back nearly 400 years.

Boston Globe: "State panel releases options
for new Massachusetts state flag, seal"

The Massachusetts Seal, Flag, and Motto Advisory Commission on Thursday released three designs for a new flag and three for a new seal it culled from more than 1,100 submissions as its “top selections.” It also released three proposals for a new state motto.

The flag and seal options feature various elements, including turkey feathers, an image of a whale or mayflower, and pictures of waves or water, among others. The top motto options include the phrases: “Many voices, One Commonwealth,” “We honor all life guided by the First Light,” and “We rejoice in the public good.”

Shared from ->  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/28/metro/massachusetts-state-flag-redesign-recommendations/

The full set of round 3 selections -> https://www.mass.gov/info-details/seal-flag-and-motto-round-three-selections

The commission page with additional info -> https://www.mass.gov/orgs/massachusetts-seal-flag-and-motto-advisory-commission

Boston Globe: "Massachusetts is getting a new state flag..."

"A jovial drawing of a Cod fish. A puppy sporting a tag that reads “small state, big heart.” And lots (and we mean LOTS) of drawings of pine trees.

Residents across Massachusetts tapped into their creativity when they submitted ideas for a new state flag, which comes after a multi-year push to replace Massachusetts’ current controversial state seal that depicts an Algonquin warrior with a bow and arrow standing beneath a raised broadsword held by a disembodied arm. Around the figure, a Latin motto roughly translates to: “By the sword we seek peace, but peace under liberty.”

But the state’s decision to replace the flag has sparked a heated debate about the erasure and sanitization of history. On one side, critics say the placement of the broadsword above the Native American figure valorizes the violence inflicted on Native American populations. But others, including some from Massachusetts’ indigenous communities, call it a true depiction of what happened to Native Americans in the state and said that removing the seal allows the Commonwealth to forget about past atrocities committed against this group."

Boston Globe: "Massachusetts is getting a new state flag..."

Continue reading the article online -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/19/newsletters/starting-point-massachusetts-flag-redesign/

You can find all the submissions at this link ->    https://www.mass.gov/doc/massachusetts-seal-flag-motto-submissions/download

The Great salt lake is no longer "great", and soon may not even be a lake

"On a recent flight home to Salt Lake City, I gazed out the window and shuddered. The ground below was riddled with cracks. Sporadic green pools dotted the dry earth where vast water had once been.

I was flying over what used to be an outlying stretch of the Great Salt Lake — the largest lake west of the Mississippi River. Growing up, I used to row there with my crew team. I came to love the brilliant sunsets, along with the migratory birds that stopped there each year.

This was not the lake I once knew.

For years, Great Salt Lake has been shrinking due to water overuse and rising temperatures. It has gone from a high of 3,300 square miles in the 1980s to a record low of 888 square miles in 2022. Though a few years of heavy precipitation have helped, it is still in grave danger. Without meaningful change, the lake could vanish altogether in a matter of years.

This is not just a disaster for Utah, where the lake is a cornerstone — it could have wide-reaching impacts that could reach New England."

Shared from -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/14/magazine/great-salt-lake-sparks-new-england-concern/ 

Last August, I also shared an article on the disappearing Great Salt Lake ->   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/08/utahs-great-salt-lake-rings-climate.html

The Great Salt Lake, near Salt Lake City, Utah, has lost more than 70% of its water. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

Boston Globe All-Scholastics - Spring 2025

"The Globe salutes the region's best high school athletes and coaches in eight spring sports. Click here to meet the athletes and coaches of the year.  ->   https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/11/sports/boston-globe-all-scholastics-spring-2025/ 

And don't miss the print section in the Sunday, July 13 paper."

Boston Globe All-Scholastics - Spring 2025

Boston Globe: "See the latest rent estimates and trends for cities and towns in Greater Boston"

"When you live in Greater Boston, it can feel like the rent never stops climbing. Each year, the price of signing a new lease, or resigning an old one, grows more expensive — whether it be by $50 or $200 — than it was last year.

Indeed, there’s some truth to that.

In many metropolitan areas across the US, rents have trended down over the last year or so, particularly in places where an abundance of new housing has come online.

Not Greater Boston.

See the latest rent estimates and trends

Rent in this housing-starved region has grown more expensive in nearly every community over the last year, according to a new monthly rent tracker launched by the Globe that compares rental trends at the local level"

Shared from -> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/12/business/greater-boston-apartments-rent-price-tracker/ 

How to access the Globe articles via the Franklin Library with your library card

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/how-to-access-online-resources-with.html