Library Hours
The Library's hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This Holiday season the Library will be open Saturday December 23rd and 30th from 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM. The Library will be closed December 24th, 25th, 31st, and January 1st.
Franklin Reads!
This winter's community-wide read is Tracy Kidder's Rough Sleepers, a real-life portrait of Boston's homeless population and those on a mission to help them.
About the book: After Jim O'Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency at Massachusetts General, the hospital's chief of medicine made a proposal: Would he defer a prestigious fellowship and spend a year helping to create an organization to bring health care to homeless citizens? That year turned into O'Connell's life's calling. Tracy Kidder spent five years following Dr. O'Connell and his colleagues as they work with thousands of homeless patients, some of whom we meet in this illuminating book. We travel with O'Connell as he navigates the city streets at night, offering medical care, socks, soup, empathy, humor, and friendship to some of the city's most endangered citizens.
Where can I get a copy of Rough Sleepers? Beginning December 1st there will be many extra print copies available at the library and it is also available on Libby and through interlibrary loan.
Museum Passes
Now is a great time to reserve passes to the area's most popular museums, aquariums, and more! Passes are available to be reserved up to thirty days in advance.
Franklin Library Book Sale
Friday, December 8th, 1:00-5:00 p.m. Saturday December 9th, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon
All books are just one dollar!
Bag Sale - $5 A Bag—Saturday, December 9th, from 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Come fill a brown bag with all the books you can!
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program
In our second year of providing free tax preparation assistance through the VITA IRS program the Franklin Public Library is looking for volunteers! While tax season starts in February; planning, training, and scheduling can begin today! To sign up or to find more information please email Site Coordinator Mitzi Gousie at mgousie@minlib.net!
Franklin Library ESL & Adult Literacy Program
Volunteer tutors needed! To volunteer please be at least 18 years old, have a High School diploma, & speak English clearly. No prior teaching experience needed! Volunteer tutors and students do not need to be Franklin residents. If interested, please fill out the registration form on the library's website.
Massachusetts Center for the Book 2023 Reading Challenge
December: A Book Published in 2023
Do you have a cozy reading corner you've been wanting to spend more time in? Do you have a group of friends who like to select books together? Maybe a little constraint helps you choose what to read next. If you are looking for a fun, unique reading challenge to take on in 2023, Massachusetts Center for the Book has you covered. Check it out today! https://www.massbook.org/readingchallenge
Shared from -> (Read the full newsletter here) https://www.franklinma.gov/franklin-public-library/news/december-2023-franklin-library-news-events
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| Franklin Public Library News & Events for December 2023 |
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| Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) |
Shared from Franklin High School -> https://www.franklinps.net/fhs/news/school-news-important-information-and-dates
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| Franklin High School: Important Information and Dates for October to December 2022 |
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| Helping Voters with Disabilities Participate in Our Democratic Process |
"THE STATE is preparing to pay out $1.4 billion in “illusory” funds under the tax cap law, giving wealthy taxpayers a huge windfall, according to a report from the left-leaning Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
Officials at the center say they are not accusing state officials of doing anything wrong or making a math error. Instead, they are saying a set of unusual circumstances are combining to inflate the amount of taxes collected in excess of the tax cap, and doing so in a way that shortchanges the state and allows wealthy taxpayers to gain an even bigger benefit than they normally would.
“The affluent win in every way,” said Phineas Baxandall, senior policy analyst and advocacy director at the Budget and Policy Center.
The broad outlines of the situation have been raised before, but the Budget and Policy Center report is the first time the dollar impact has been spelled out. The report calls on state leaders to address the situation, but they have shown little interest so far in intervening to change the tax cap law."
Reading between the lines, if the Governor wasn't so hasty in trying to the funds returned by check and used the tax rebate process, the 'illusion' might work itself out.
The State House News Service, shared via Franklin Observer, tries to focus on the issue as party based:
Q1 State Tax Take Surpasses Record FY `22 Pace, but No Tax Relief in Sight
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| The golden dome of the State House. (Photo by Andy Metzger) |
In this episode, the group is joined by Stephen Sherlock of Franklin Matters, Alan Earls of the Franklin Observer, and Martin Luttrell, former long-time reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, to dive into the issue of "The Local News Desert" - the dissolution of smaller local news outlets, discussing the decline of readership seen by newspapers, the economics of small businesses, the importance journalism plays in your community and the online future for regional reporting.
If you'd like to learn more about Steve Sherlock and the news Franklin Matters brings to the Franklin community, you can visit their here: https://www.franklinmatters.org/
If you'd like to learn more about Alan Earls and the reporting done from Franklin Observer, you can visit them here: https://franklinobserver.town.news/
Audio file -> https://more-perfect-union.captivate.fm/episode/057-the-local-news-crisis
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| Franklin.TV: A More Perfect Union (audio) |
"When I'm on social media I see a lot of misinformation. Sometimes I think [it's] true. It really mixes up my train of thought." - Ande McMorris, a Sr & 🏈 captain at Cedar Falls HS, IA
But using @NewsLitProject's #Checkology has made a big diff 4 Ande ⤵️ Video link -> https://t.co/X3Fc7rewpc or https://youtu.be/im-xg0zK8mk
"This week we showcase the National Art Honors Society, Gymnastics Coach Paula Lupien, and senior Mack Gulla. Panther News, Dec. 10, 2021!"
Video link -> https://youtu.be/9QaWfXfTHa0
We're all excited for our full reopening on Monday!!! This show has all you need to know to make your first day back a good one. @FHSPantherbook @FranklinPSNews @FranklinHS
https://t.co/O8joVqUrIV via @YouTube
Friday's Panther News...a day early! Check out all the latest news and announcements, plus an interview reflecting on our full in-person return coming in just a few weeks! @FHSPantherbook @FranklinPSNews @FranklinHS
Panther News, March 26, 2021 @FranklinPSNews @FHSPantherbook @FranklinHS
https://t.co/KBp9SP6mxo via @YouTube
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| President Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff observe a moment of silence at the White House Monday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) |
Terrific article by @KamiRieck with insight from @dankennedy_nu @BrendanCrighton & @jasonpramas. TY Speaker @RonMariano for this important new law and for appointing me to the new 23-member commission. I look forward to digging in! https://t.co/unm9Wgo3jF
"The growth of “news deserts” in Massachusetts and the possible solutions to improving local journalism in underserved communities will be the focus of a new commission approved in the final hours of the last legislative session.The initiative by Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, and Sen. Brendan Crighton, D-Lynn, was part of the massive economic development bill approved by lawmakers and sent to Gov. Charlie Baker last month. It will examine the sustainability of local press business models and the sufficiency of news coverage in communities across the state.“Local journalists tell the community stories that bind us together,” Ehrlich said. “They tell us who we are, and where we’ve been and where we’re going. Local news is also essential to ensuring a healthy democracy.”
"There was one story Neil Sheehan chose not to tell. It was the story of how he had obtained the Pentagon Papers, the blockbuster scoop that led to a 1971 showdown between the Nixon administration and the press, and to a Supreme Court ruling that is still seen as a milepost in government-press relations.
From the moment he secured the 7,000 pages of classified government documents on the Vietnam War for The New York Times, until his death on Thursday, Mr. Sheehan, a former Vietnam War correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, declined nearly every invitation to explain precisely how he had pulled it off.
In 2015, however, at a reporter’s request, he agreed to tell his story on the condition that it not be published while he was alive. Beset by scoliosis and Parkinson’s disease, he recounted, in a four-hour interview at his home in Washington, a tale as suspenseful and cinematic as anyone in Hollywood might concoct."
Via Boston25 News
"Alison Caruso left her part-time job earlier in 2020 to care for her teenage son, who she said had become depressed after the death of a family member and spending months trying to learn from home. She relies on the food pantry in Franklin as well as food stamps to survive, she said.
The state has seen food insecurity rise significantly, according to a study by Feeding America.
Norfolk County was cited as the area with the highest child food insecure rate at 163%, which is also the country’s highest mark, according to Feeding America."
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| screengrab of FFP Executive Director Lynn Calling |
From the Pew Research Center comes a study on measuring news consumption:
"Given the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of this news landscape and concerns around overreporting of news consumption, Pew Research Center wanted to explore how best to measure news consumption: Where do currently used survey practices still work and where might changes be in order?
This report is the culmination of this effort and is organized into three sections: Chapter 1 looks at the U.S. public’s familiarity with newer concepts related to news; Chapter 2 examines possible ways to improve survey-based measures of news consumption; and Chapter 3 compares survey results to the use of passive data that comes straight from tracking software news consumers downloaded to their digital devices.
Americans are largely familiar with new technologies but often don’t think of them as news sources."
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| "Survey-based measurement of news consumption is not without its own problems" (Pew Research photo) |
