Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Sunday, August 31, 2025
Watch "US Department of Education Budget and Impact of Spending Cuts" on YouTube (video)
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Media Nation: "Adopt A Station is an ingenious effort to help at-risk public radio outlets"
"The $1.1B cut to public broadcasting is less than $10 per taxpayer. (BTW, is that PER YEAR or over 10 years?) [Congress rescinded spending that had been approved over the next two years.]I plan on upping my yearly pledge to public radio in some form. Should I up my pledge to WHYY? Would that help the situation nationally? (My guess is WHYY is doing very well compared to, say, WYSO in Yellow Springs OH) Do you think there will be a mechanism from NPR or CPB that could funnel money from the bigger stations to the rural stations that will bear the brunt of cuts?"
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Adopt a Station -> https://adoptastation.org/ |
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
NY Times: "A New Era of Hunger Has Begun"
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NY Times: "A New Era of Hunger Has Begun" |
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Federal funding by state (chart)
Source: Visual Capitalist
https://www.voronoiapp.com/economy/Visualized-Which-US-States-Need-the-Federal-Government-the-Most-5485
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners attempts to deal with Federal funding cuts
On March 14, 2025 President Trump signed Executive Order 14238 eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." IMLS is the single largest source of critical federal funding for libraries. Through IMLS' Grants to States Program, for FY2025 the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) was allocated $3.6 million to support statewide library services and grants to local libraries. In the weeks that followed the executive order, IMLS staff were placed on administrative leave and in the President’s FY2026 budget, IMLS is eliminated (pg. 39 under Small Agency Eliminations).
At the annual Massachusetts Library Association conference, MBLC Director Maureen Amyot addressed the impact of ongoing federal uncertainty caused by the executive order and spoke about the MBLC’s efforts to preserve as many federally funded statewide services as possible. Director Amyot announced the FY2026 plan for statewide research databases, the statewide eBook program, and the Commonwealth Catalog.
"The federal impact cannot be overstated. In Massachusetts, over 1,600 school, public, academic and special libraries from across the state benefit from federal IMLS funding. Millions of people rely on federally funded library services,” she said. "Developing a plan for services in an environment of almost daily federal change has been challenging, but our goal has remained constant: to maintain services that are integral to the functioning of our system and heavily relied on by the people of the Commonwealth."
Starting on July 1, 2025, statewide research database offerings will be significantly reduced. However, the MBLC and the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), which jointly fund databases, will maintain several of the most heavily used. The MBLC spends close to $2.2 million of its federal allocation to fund statewide research databases, an amount that cannot be made up in state funding. For FY2026, the eBook content grant to Networks from MBLC’s state line 9506 will likely be funded at $500,000*, which will allow for $500,000 funding in that line to go towards databases. MLS will increase its support for databases by $18,575 to a total of $670,575. Overall, combined database funding from MBLC and MLS will go from $2.8 million to $1.17 million.
"The President has determined that the Institute of Museum and Library Services is 'unnecessary.' But we know the opposite to be true. We know that welcoming ALL, including diverse voices in our collections, and providing free and equitable access to library services make public libraries the cornerstone of a free democratic society,” said Director Amyot. "Libraries change people’s lives. That’s why these reductions in critical library services hurt. But we’re in this for the long game and in the year ahead we’ll continue to work with local, state and federal partners to stabilize library funding and services."
Databases provide every Massachusetts resident with trustworthy online content covering topics such as science, health, history, biographies and more. Last year, there were over 9 million full text downloads from research databases, an increase of 12% in just one year. Sixty percent of database usage comes from schools. The chart below details which databases will be available as of July 1, 2025.
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Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners attempts to deal with Federal funding cuts |
Friday, April 25, 2025
NYTimes.com: Trump Cuts Threaten Agency Running Meals on Wheels
"Trump Cuts Threaten Agency Running Meals on Wheels"
"A tiny division responsible for overseeing services for people with disabilities and older Americans is being dismantled as part of an overhaul by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary."
Read via gift link -> https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/health/meals-on-wheels-disabilities-aging-trump-cutbacks.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CE8.z03l.JCasR85eWVKx&smid=em-share
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
MASSter List: "Federal funding for libraries at risk, forcing tough decisions at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners"
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Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Fderal Government spending in one handy chart via USA Facts
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This new, searchable visualization displays government revenue from taxes and other sources |
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Boston Globe: "Five things to know about Trump’s school choice executive order"
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"5 things to know about Trump’s school choice executive order" |
"President Trump last week signed an executive order to expand school choice.The move has drawn praise from conservatives who have long-advocated for families to be able to use taxpayer dollars to support their children’s private or faith-based education.Critics, meanwhile, see Trump’s order as an attempt to dismantle public education, trampling student rights in the process."
Saturday, February 1, 2025
FYI: In the middle of school budgeting where Federal Funds do play a small role
"President Trump issued an executive order to find out what education funds he can legally rescind based on curriculum he doesn’t like. Existing law already answers that question —nothing."
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In the middle of school budgeting where Federal Funds do play a role |
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
USA Facts: What does the Department of Education do?
"The Department of Education (DOE) is a relatively new federal agency – it was founded on May 4, 1980 when legislation split the old Department of Health, Education, and Welfare into two new departments: Education, and Health and Human Services.The DOE has received 4.0% of all federal funding in 2024, totaling $268.35 billion. That makes it the sixth highest-funded federal agency.The Education Department has received 4.0% of all federal funding in FY 2024. (see chart)
It’s also the smallest of any cabinet-level department, employing about 4,100 full-time employees in 2023. The next closest was Housing and Urban Development with around 8,100 full-time employees in 2023.
According to the Department of Education, education is primarily a local and state responsibility rather than a federal one. Elementary and secondary education are mostly funded by local governments, while state governments support higher education, per the Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances. The Department of Education's budget makes up 21% of total education spending in the country. "
Saturday, November 16, 2024
MassBudget: 25% of the entire MA state budget is paid for with Federal dollars
💸In case you didn't know: a quarter of the entire MA state budget is paid for with Federal dollars.
While taxes make up most of the revenue, it's important to remember the budget's multiple funding sources, and how that context can affect the decisions the state makes. #mapoli
Shared from -> https://t.co/A9QaDOLlL0
Visit MassBudget for additional info -> https://massbudget.org/state-budget/
MassBudget: 25% of the entire MA state budget is paid for with Federal dollars |
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Boston Globe: "state to partner with feds to help migrants obtain work permits"
"The state is partnering with the federal government to help migrants apply for work authorization documents, directing resources toward an avenue state officials consider key to alleviating the strain on the state’s overwhelmed emergency shelter system.State and federal Homeland Security will co-host a clinic the week of Nov. 13 in Middlesex County, north of Boston. The state will organize appointments and provide transportation for migrants from shelter sites across the state to the clinic site.The announcement comes as the clock ticks down to Wednesday, Nov. 1, when Governor Maura Healey said she will begin limiting how many families it will place in its emergency shelter system.“We are glad that the Biden-Harris Administration is hosting this clinic with us, which will help process work authorizations as efficiently as possible,” Healey said in a statement. “This clinic will be critical for building on the work that our administration has already been leading to connect more migrants with work opportunities.”
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Boston Globe: "state to partner with feds to help migrants obtain work permits" |
Saturday, December 17, 2022
MassLive: "Federal judge rules in favor of Ludlow schools in lawsuit over treatment of transgender students"
“Since July 1, 2012, Massachusetts law has provided that ‘no person shall be excluded from or discriminated against . . . in obtaining the advantages, privileges and courses of study of [a] public school on account of . . . gender identity,’” his ruling quoted.His order also noted that while parents have the option to send their children to public schools, they do not have constitutional rights to dictate how those schools educate children. An attorney for the school system, David S. Lawless, applauded the judge’s decision in an area of law that continues to be challenged across the country.“Given the novelty in particular, he addressed both the legal issues in the complaint that was in front (of him) and that it’s an evolving area of the law,” Lawless said Thursday after the ruling came down. “School districts are put in a very difficult position; this is one more guidepost for them along the way.”
Sunday, July 10, 2022
"Only about one-quarter of PPP funds supported jobs that otherwise would have disappeared"
"The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) directed hundreds of billions of dollars to small businesses and other organizations adversely affected by the COVID-19 crisis, providing resources to maintain payrolls, to hire back employees who may have been laid off and to cover important overhead.But was this money well spent? A recent study offers evidence that the cost of each job saved was very high and that most of the program’s benefits flowed to small-business owners, their creditors and their suppliers rather than to workers. Other crisis programs, including unemployment insurance and economic impact payments, were targeted much more successfully to wage earners."
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"Only about one-quarter of PPP funds supported jobs that otherwise would have disappeared" |
Friday, April 15, 2022
"some weeks of overpayments will be waived"
"THE STATE’S DEPARTMENT of Unemployment Assistance will be in touch with Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Unemployment Insurance claimants in the coming days to detail state and federal relief options that the Baker administration said Thursday would resolve about $1.6 billion or roughly 71 percent of overpayments.
There are about 353,000 outstanding cases of workers who received more money in joblessness aid than they should have between March 8, 2020 and Jan. 31, 2022, to the tune of a cumulative $2.225 billion, according to the Baker administration, which has been working for months to untangle the convoluted situation."
"The Baker administration on Thursday laid out its most comprehensive effort yet to provide full or partial financial relief to nearly 288,000 people who received jobless benefits during the pandemic but were later told they may have to pay back the money.The state is aiming to end a financial nightmare for claimants facing $2.3 billion in repayment demands — money that many already spent on food, rent, and other basics. The plan will cover up to about 70 percent of those overpaid claims, or $1.6 billion. That’s because not everyone will qualify for a reprieve even as the state expands the eligibility criteria."
Thursday, April 7, 2022
“In the year 2022, this doesn’t just seem crazy. It is crazy."
"Here, at last, is the real reason your tax return is delayed: It’s not the pandemic. It’s that the IRS handles too much paper and has failed to adopt scanning technology that could have significantly reduced the current backlog of returns.
The way the agency processes paper is “archaic” and was a problem that was fixable long before the coronavirus shut things down, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins wrote in her latest blog about the 2022 tax season.
Last year, the IRS received nearly 17 million paper 1040 forms, more than 4 million individual amended returns and millions of paper business returns, according to Collins.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around it: Employees transcribe all of those millions of paper tax returns manually."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/04/01/irs-backlog-scanning-technology/
Friday, March 25, 2022
"housing assistance programs have been gradually scaling down"
"AS A FEDERAL rental assistance program winds down, housing advocates are looking to the state to help fill the gap. But the state assistance programs are not as generous as the federal program was, leading to concerns that struggling tenants – particularly tenants of color – could increasingly face evictions. Housing assistance will be up for debate Thursday as the state Senate considers its version of a $1.6 billion supplemental budget bill.
On Tuesday, Homes for All Massachusetts and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a report which found that evictions are disproportionately occurring in Black and Latino neighborhoods, neighborhoods with more single mother heads of households, areas with absentee and corporate landlords, and in central and southeast Massachusetts. Of all evictions filed between October 2020 and October 2021, 43 percent were in neighborhoods where a majority of residents are non-white, even though only 32 percent of rental housing is in these areas."
Monday, January 10, 2022
Franklin Housing Authority - Meeting - Agenda - Jan 10, 2022
Roll Call
Public Hearing to review the Franklin Housing Authority Annual Plan View at https://tinyurl.com/LHA-MA-AnnualPlan
Minutes
• Minutes of the Regular Meeting of December 6, 2021
Accounts Payable
• Accounts Payable for December 2021
• Capital One Charges for November 2021
Director Report
Operating Statements – November 2021
Community Preservation Committee (CPC) Update
Correspondence
• None
Old Business
• Norfolk Management Update
• 667-1 Building Fire Update
• Agreed Upon Procedures (AUP)-Review and accept
New Business
• Annual Plan – Vote to approve
• FISH #101160 Change Order request (CO) -
• FISH #101144 Certificate of Final Completion (CFC) –
Adjournment
Saturday, January 1, 2022
Boston Globe: "Massachusetts jobless fund is $115 million in the red"
"After months of delay, the Baker administration chose New Year’s Eve to deliver the news: The state fund that pays jobless benefits has a deficit of about $115 million.Trying to bury bad news just before the weekend or a holiday is standard PR practice for companies and politicians alike. But you know what? Governor Charlie Baker’s team chose a sleepy Friday and last day of the year to release news that is . . . not too bad.It’s no surprise the Massachusetts unemployment insurance trust fund is in the red after the state paid out a total of $22 billion in jobless benefits in 2020 and $11.8 billion in 2021. In 2019, payments ran about $1.6 billion."