Mass. is on track to meet its near-term climate goals, but the hardest work lies ahead | WBUR News

"Massachusetts is legally required to zero-out planet-warming emissions by mid-century, and to get there the state must do several critical things: Replace fossil fuel-powered vehicles and home heating systems with ones that run on electricity; develop more renewable resources like wind and solar; and use nature-based solutions to sequester and store as much carbon as possible.

So how is the state doing on all of this? On Friday, the Healey administration revealed in its first annual climate report card that the state is on track for its 2025 goals.

But, when it comes to meeting the 2030 and 2050 goals, a lot more work (and funding) is needed. And success is far from a sure thing.

“Overall, this report card is an honest assessment of where Massachusetts is and where it needs to go. And it shows that there is a ton of work that needs to happen in a very short period of time,” said Jeremy McDiarmid of Advanced Energy United, a clean energy trade association group."

Continue reading the article at wbur.org ->    https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/12/01/report-card-climate-change-clean-energy-heat-pumps-ev-emissions 

You can find the MA Climate Report Card ->  https://www.mass.gov/report/massachusetts-climate-report-card

You can find the Making Sense of Climate series here (where we discuss the global report card, MA progress, and issues) ->   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/02/making-sense-of-climate-collection.html

Mass. is on track to meet its near-term climate goals, but the hardest work lies ahead | WBUR News

"Beyond slashing carbon emissions, the grant-funded work will make living in these renovated units more comfortable"

Miriam Wasser (@MiriamWasser) posted on Tue, Nov 21, 2023:

"The first installment of Massachusetts' $50m grant to decarbonize affordable housing developments went out today.

The money will be used to electrify and retrofit over 700 units across the state. "

Full article -> https://t.co/sypqvNKjgq

Shared from -> https://twitter.com/MiriamWasser/status/1727087328181751961

MASS.gov press release -> https://www.mass.gov/news/healey-driscoll-administration-awards-27-million-to-decarbonize-affordable-housing-across-massachusetts

Mass. awards $27 million to help ‘decarbonize’ hundreds of affordable housing units

wbur.org: "Special education planning form gets revamp in Mass. for first time in 20 years"

"It’s all about perception of self," he said. "If the system does not view you in a positive way how are you going to succeed?"

But now, for the first time in 20 years, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has updated its suite of IEP resources, starting with forms that invite more student input about their educational goals and plans. That feedback will be critical to developing the student's IEP, which lays out the services the student receives in a school year.

Advocates and educators across the state say they're optimistic that the new IEP forms and process it generates will lead to a more high-quality IEP and improve the overall educational experience for students with disabilities.

The overhaul is the result of a nine-year effort led by the state department of education and guided by teachers and administrators, as well as advocates like Gabovitch and Julia Landau, a senior project director with the Massachusetts Advocates for Children."

Continue reading the article at wbur.org/ 

https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/03/24/special-education-improved-forms-process

wbur.org:  "Special education planning form gets revamp in Mass. for first time in 20 years"

WBUR: What's the future of gas in Mass.? Utilities and critics have different visions (audio)

"New reports from the state's five investor-owned gas utilities offer roadmaps to the companies' future — and, in many ways, our own.

The plans call for a radical transformation of the Massachusetts energy and heating sector, betting heavily on the successful development of new, clean energy technologies.

Environmental groups were not permitted to participate in the drafting of the future of gas reports and warn that if the utility roadmaps fail, or alternative plans aren't successful, the state will not meet its ambitious, existential climate emission goals."

 

The Dorchester Gas tank in 2021. (Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

Listen here -> https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/03/18/massachusetts-natural-gas-net-zero-plan

or here

wbur: "One Challenge To Reopening Schools: Finding Enough Teachers"

Franklin Public Schools has not been able to fulfill all their open positions during this pandemic period. This wbur report confirms that Franklin is not alone in finding qualified teachers.

"Just after Thanksgiving, Falmouth High School Principal Mary Gans got a call: the school had a positive case. Twelve of her staff members were considered “close contacts” and had to quarantine immediately.

"I just [did] not have the ability to cover all of their classes, even for the rest of the day," Gans said. "There just weren’t the bodies that we could pull to satisfy that kind of puzzle."

Substitute teachers are very hard to come by this year, so the school decided to go fully remote for a week. The hybrid model is back up and running at Falmouth High School, but Gans said having enough teachers is an ongoing challenge.

"We’ve been so short that I’ll go and sub in classes when teachers are out," she said. "And I’ve done that in the past, but not like this year.""

Continue reading the article online

https://www.wbur.org/edify/2020/12/21/massachusetts-teacher-shortage

From the Re-opening Report on the School Committee agenda for Dec 22, 2020

Personnel 

1.Staffing.​  As case numbers rise, we continue to have an increase in staff absences.  Coverage continues to be a challenge at all levels. Many are wondering what metrics we are using in terms of numbers of staff absent prior to switching to a remote day. 

a.Actions taken (noted in the last update): Principals and assistant principals are providing coverage as needed. This takes away from their other responsibilities, which at this time include contact tracing (see below) in addition to other customary responsibilities. We are recruiting additional subs and monitors as college students return home for the next several months. We are requiring negative COVID tests for employment. 

b.Additional actions taken: Like many districts, I do not have  definitive quantitative metrics on attendance to determine whether or not to move a school into remote learning for a day. Beyond an overall number of staff out, more needs to go into the decision including looking at which staff are out and their responsibilities within the school setting. We are also taking into consideration the duration for which coverage is a challenge for the school. The building administration and central office team discuss the coverage plan for a particular school and, when coverage can not be adequately provided, we have made the decision to go remote.

Read the full re-opening report here

https://www.franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/uploads/reopening_schools_status_update_dec_18_2020-2021.pdf

wbur: "One Challenge To Reopening Schools: Finding Enough Teachers"

"Speaker DeLeo Signals He May Leave House, Discloses Talks With Northeastern"

The Boston Globe has the following:

"Massachusetts House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo on Friday filed a much-anticipated ethics disclosure notifying officials he is in talks for a job with Northeastern University, potentially marking the beginning of the end of his tenure as the longest-serving House leader in Massachusetts history.

“I write to disclose that I intend to begin negotiating prospective employment opportunities with Northeastern University,” wrote DeLeo in a letter to the clerk of the House, Steven James.

The terse document — hand-delivered by DeLeo’s chief of staff, and also submitted to the state Ethics Commission — is the first official sign DeLeo is preparing to resign from the top House post he’s held since January 2009. As of Friday, DeLeo said, he had not “personally” had any discussions with anyone from the school."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/18/metro/representative-holmes-challenge-majority-leader-mariano-sparking-race-succeed-house-speaker-deleo/

 

Related articles on the DeLeo transition:

• From CommonWealth Magazine: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/deleo-sets-in-motion-mariano-handoff/
• From wbur  https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/12/18/robert-deleo-speaker-house-disclosure-northeastern 
  

 

Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo speaks at a bill signing ceremony at the State House in Boston in 2016. (Elise Amendola/AP)

“He kind of perfected it sitting around this table”

One of our family traditions on Thanksgiving is to listen to the 18+ minute classic Arlo Guthrie performance of Alice's Restaurant. Usually while driving to one of the family gatherings. This time, pandemic induced, no drive but still time to listen. 

And then across the Twitterverse comes this article about the real Alice, yes that one.

"Arlo Guthrie's rambling, spoken-word tune “Alice's Restaurant” is a Thanksgiving Day tradition on radio stations across the country. Over the course of about 18 minutes, the folk singer unfurls a true tale involving himself and his hippie friends in 1960s Western Massachusetts.

Now — more than 50 years after the iconic song hit the airwaves — its namesake has fallen on hard times. But Alice's friends have launched a crowdfunding campaign to help her stay in the only place she's ever really wanted to be: Provincetown on Cape Cod.

But first, it helps to find out how she got there."

Continue reading about Alice online =  https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/11/26/arlo-guthrie-alice-help

YouTube link for "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" = https://youtu.be/WaKIX6oaSLs

wbur: "Getting The Band Back Together: How One Marching Band Is Practicing During The Pandemic"

From WBUR we share the following article of interest to Franklin:

"On a blustery Thursday afternoon, 13 students are spread out across the practice marching band field and parking lot at New Bedford High School.

The color guard is off in one corner, practicing some figure eights with bright orange and black flags, while the brass players and drum majors are running through a series of marching drills and rehearsing a new song.

This is only the fourth time this group of students has played together since March, when school buildings closed state-wide due to the coronavirus pandemic. In-person rehearsals are smaller now. This is only about 1/7 of the full Whaler marching band. But most of the kids don't seem to mind.

"The rehearsals were optional but we came here because we all want to do what we love," said trombone player Danny Lopez."

Continue to read the article online

https://www.wbur.org/edify/2020/10/08/new-bedford-marching-band-practice

wbur: "Getting The Band Back Together: How One Marching Band Is Practicing During The Pandemic"

WBUR: 'COVID Is A Real Thing': Revere Survivors Tell Their Stories To Help City Fend Off Next Wave

WBUR shares some of the social media campaign being used in Revere to explain "COVID Is A Real Thing"

"My father was in the ICU for 45 days. He ended up having pneumonia; [he was] severely sick," she said. "My mother ended up catching it, too."

The city of Revere is using the experiences of COVID-19 survivors like Sao to help stave off an anticipated resurgence of the disease this fall and winter.

Revere is one of the communities the state considers to be at high risk. So far, more than 2,660 people have become sick and 103 Revere residents have died from COVID-19.

In a new public health campaign by the city and RevereTV, people who were ill describe their recovery and share thoughts about public health precautions like covering your mouth in public, washing your hands, and socially distancing."

Continue reading the article online

https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/09/26/covid-revere-campaign-next-wave

The RevereTV channel on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGl4hREwgcCQxKA52C7Y_Bg 

Brittany Sao's story =   https://youtu.be/u9Nqg4bfcH4

 

Marvin Pena's story =    https://youtu.be/9r3Pb3kvWOY

 

In the News: "Two officials charged in Holyoke Soldiers’ Home COVID outbreak"

From the Milford Daily News, an article of interest for Franklin: 

"Two of the top officials at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, where 76 veterans died of COVID-19 during an outbreak in early spring, have been criminally charged with neglect and causing serious bodily injury in a case that may be the first of its kind in the country.

“They risked their lives, from the beaches of Normandy to, some, the jungles of Vietnam,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, in a press conference Friday morning. “To know that they died under the most horrific circumstances is truly shocking.”

Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director David Clinton face 10 felony counts each, five counts related to criminal neglect and five counts related to causing serious bodily harm. They face up to three years in prison for each criminal neglect count and 10 years in prison for each count tied to serious bodily injury."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required) https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200925/two-officials-charged-in-holyoke-soldiers-home-covid-outbreak?rssfeed=true

Related articles on this story:

Commonwealth Magazine: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health-care/two-at-holyoke-soldiers-home-face-criminal-charges/

WBUR: https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/09/25/maura-healey-criminal-charges-holyoke-soldiers-home-bennett-walsh-clinton

Attorney General Maura Healey answers questions about her lawsuit that challenges a Trump administration policy that would kick international students out of the country for taking online-only courses at their universities. (Photo by Sarah Betancourt)

Franklin students feature in WBUR story on reopening schools

WBUR (@WBUR) tweeted at 5:15 AM on Thu, Sep 10, 2020:

"As students get ready for a pandemic school year, WBUR checked in with a few about how they are feeling and what they want:  

Virginia and Henry Bernstein, rising seventh- and fifth-graders in Franklin Public Schools"

 

   

Henry and Virginia Bernstein. (Photo Courtesy Camille Bernstein)

Audio link = https://t.co/j92o8FYWbO

Shared from Twitter: https://twitter.com/WBUR/status/1303985474520920069?s=03

"qualified immunity isn’t just invoked in excessive force cases and not just against police"

WBUR has a real good article on the details of qualified immunity and how it has worked here in MA. I learned a few things in this article. One: that the law currently isn't a specific law in the 'books'; it is the result of judicial doctrine developed over time by individual court cases.

"When officers use excessive force and someone sues, police are not always held accountable in a civil lawsuit. That can be, in part, because of a controversial defense known as qualified immunity. 

Lawmakers at the State House this week are weighing a massive compromise police reform bill that could change that legal avenue, making it slightly easier for people to successfully sue police officers and other public officials who violate people’s constitutional and civil rights. 

Qualified immunity isn’t a law on the books passed by elected officials. It’s a judicial doctrine developed over decades, through court decision after court decision. 

Essentially, qualified immunity says a government official can only be held liable for unconstitutional actions if it’s “clearly established” in existing case law that the conduct was unlawful. Plaintiffs need to point to another, similar case already decided by a court that the action in question was illegal in order for the lawsuit to go forward."

Continue reading the article online
https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/08/03/qualified-immunity-police-massachusetts-overview

WBUR has a real good article on the details of qualified immunity

“We didn't have weeks to act. We barely had days and we might be too late”

When the pandemic is by us (and no one know how long that will take), this story will be one of the contemporary pieces to go back to for the analysis of what happened and what could have happened. We will need to develop the 'lessons learned' from this pandemic for next time. The pandemic is a reminder that while it was predicted, it is likely to repeat until we change.

WBUR shares this reporing: 'We Knew The Inevitable': Why Mass. School Leaders Had To Close Schools On Their Own

“I said, ‘I think we have a kid,’ ” he said. “You could just see that everyone's face was like, ‘OK, this just got real.’ ”

And it got critical. Classes were starting at the school in less than 30 minutes. Immediately, Tremblay divided everyone into smaller groups and assigned tasks. Track down all students and staff who might have had contact with the symptomatic student. Inform those families and advise them to self-quarantine for 14 days. Tell bus drivers to stand by in order to bring kids home.

Some of the Framingham families who needed to quarantine didn’t speak English. Tremblay brought translators into the room. They wrote all official messages into Spanish and Portuguese simultaneously, working in Google docs.

“This escalated, as you can imagine, pretty quickly,” Tremblay said.

Continue reading the article online
https://www.wbur.org/edify/2020/03/30/behind-school-closure-decisions

“We didn't have weeks to act. We barely had days and we might be too late”