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| Hi Franklinites! You probably read, watch or listen to the news every day, and chances are you often do so online. How do you know whether news sources are credible? How do you know what to trust?
You can find more information and register for the series here. |
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Audience: All invited
In-person (@PressClubDC, D.C.)
🔗 to register: https://t.co/HAReDQwdpS
Newsroom leaders discuss past mistakes & what they've learned to build greater trust with their audiences https://t.co/er1meLeEbq
Audience: All invited
Virtual 🔗 https://t.co/aBNaAG1oO9
Untangle the threads in our heads & hearts that can cause us to accept & spread falsehoods even when we should know better https://t.co/qJLttRxB03
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| Your brain & misinformation: Why people believe lies & conspiracy theories |
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| Annual Report Of The Town of Franklin - FY 2021 |
The Massachusetts State Senate on Tuesday passed legislation to promote the wellbeing of senior citizens with disabilities by clarifying their right to create and access pooled trusts while also receiving MassHealth benefits. Pooled trusts can provide funding to help seniors with disabilities to pay for items and services which are not covered by MassHealth, such as home care services, uncovered medical, dental and pharmacy costs, transportation, clothing, and household items.
“MassHealth serves some of the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable residents,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “Senior citizens and people with disabilities deserve to be able to save and make smart financial decisions for their living expenses without having to worry about their eligibility for MassHealth. I want to thank Senator Jehlen for pushing for this legislation and Senator Rodrigues for his committee’s review.”
“The passage of this legislation today strengthens our support for our older disabled population by improving their quality of life and makes aging in Massachusetts a more caring experience for this population in need,” said Senator Michael J. Rodrigues (D-Westport), Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “I would like to thank the Senate President for her continued support, along with Senator Jehlen and others for their advocacy, ensuring we help to preserve funds for this vulnerable population, while protecting their eligibility for public benefits.”
"For decades, disabled people have been able to use special needs trusts to pay for important services not covered by MassHealth," said Senator Patricia B. Jehlen (D-Somerville), lead sponsor of the bill. "The trusts allow them to qualify for MassHealth while preserving enough assets to pay for items not allowed by Medicaid rules, such as home care, transportation, dental care, clothing, and personal care items. When the beneficiary of a special needs trust dies, any remaining assets are returned to the Commonwealth. Millions of dollars are recovered from these trusts each year."
Pooled trusts, which are managed by nonprofit organizations, combine the resources of many beneficiaries for the purposes of administrative cost-effectiveness and investment optimization. In Massachusetts, they have been used to give people with disabilities a way to access health care benefits, such as those offered by MassHealth, while depositing additional funds into the trust to pay for items and services not covered by those benefits.
Historically, disabled individuals of any age have been permitted to join pooled trusts without interfering with their MassHealth eligibility. In 2019 however, a federal court decision held that a Medicaid penalty may be imposed on a senior who creates a pooled trust account which is not regarded as a ‘fair-market value’. This makes it possible for MassHealth to penalize disabled individuals aged 65 and over who set up a pooled trust. This legislation would prevent this by requiring MassHealth to regard all pooled trusts as ‘fair-market value’.
Having passed the Senate this legislation now goes on to the House of Representatives for enactment.
Link to legislation -> https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/H4792
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| MA Senate Passes Legislation Supporting Special Needs Trusts for Disabled Seniors |
"In recent years, the number of nonprofits and initiatives that could be categorized under a concept called “bridging” has expanded in the U.S.: Millions of Conversations, The People’s Supper and Good Conflict are just a few. Some efforts build on conflict resolution practices at a large scale (think social psychology) or individual (think marriage counseling), and all aim to create strong conditions for talking and working together across various fault lines.Looking at this expanding list, it’s easy to wonder what journalists — who are faced with their own challenges in reaching people with shared conversation and facts — might learn from them. But why, amid all other pressures on their work and livelihood, might they want to?"
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| https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/articles/journalism-bridging-monica-guzman/ |
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| MÓNICA GUZMÁN - BRIDGE BUILDER | AUTHOR | JOURNALIST |
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| Franklin Annual Report - 2020: Municipal Affordable Housing Trust |
FM #558 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 558 in the series.
This session shares the Franklin, MA Municipal Affordable Housing Trust meeting held on Wednesday, June 2, 2021.
The meeting was conducted in a virtual format: some members were in the Municipal Bldg, other committee members and a small group of public participation were remote via the Zoom conference bridge, all to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.
The meeting was a public hearing on the draft Housing Production Plan. It is open from comment until June 25, 2021. At that time, the comments will begin to be incorporated into an update which will also be subject to public hearings in particular by the Planning Board and Town Council as part of their approval process before being submitted to the State.
The show notes contain links to the meeting agenda and to the presentation document used. Let’s listen to the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust meeting of June 2 Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/9fdbe6af-3f6b-4f3b-922d-bf85ba9af371
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Agenda document
Copy of the plan can be found https://franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/uploads/franklin_housing_production_plan_-_may_2021_public_draft.pdf
Link to presentation doc
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uNhzpp7CJn-a8iaCaV3_Ym72o9xrNTy4/view?usp=sharing
My notes from the meeting
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/06/recap-municipal-affordable-housing.html
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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit www.Franklinmatters.org or www.franklin.news
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
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| Planning Director Bryan Taberner |
As President of the @MA_Senate, I am proud to have authored this piece with @SpeakerDeLeo on the need for federal stimulus to help our residents face the economic impact of #COVID19 in Massachusetts. #mapoli 1/3
Even a state like Massachusetts, with a significant rainy-day fund, cannot unilaterally absorb all of the pain of an unprecedented public health crisis. #mapoli 2/3Congress must remember its duty to the American people and pass a bill that will provide states with much-needed funds. Our constituents facing unemployment and our struggling small-business owners deserve nothing less. #mapoli 3/3
#Scammers are taking advantage of fear and uncertainty during the #COVID19 pandemic to steal money and launder it through the complex cryptocurrency ecosystem. Protect yourself, and report #fraud to the #FBI at https://t.co/MWss57C5gI.
"The goal of Russian disinformation is not to make you believe in anything, but to destroy your trust in everything." Journalist Maria Ressa explains the real goal of disinformation operations—and how they're weakening democracy:
Alaska Airlines parodied an '80s song to promote COVID-19 safety https://t.co/r8CVKpLsRV https://t.co/2LF7U9nCir
Or directly to YouTube https://youtu.be/b9w_paUjzKs
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| What is the Role of the Town Council? |
The Metacomet Land Trust raised more than $30,000 in donations and grants to reach its 30th anniversary fundraising goal in 2018.
“We are pleased to be celebrating our 30 year milestone as a regional land trust serving 15 communities,” said the organization’s president, Lisa Mosczynski. “We started out 30 years ago with three towns and as more communities saw the need to partner with a land trust to preserve and protect their valuable open space we have expanded to help them.
Today we own 473 acres of conservation land and hold conservation restrictions that restrict development on an additional 343 acres. Among other partners, the trust works with individual owners, municipalities and the Commonwealth to preserve critical open space in the region.”
In 2018 the trust finalized the acquisition of another 32 acres through landowner donations in Mendon, Sutton and Upton.Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
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| “Preserving and protecting land comes at a cost" |
"I think these results seem very realistic and intriguing, but at the same time frightening, even to me. Our goal was to build an accurate model of a person, not to misrepresent them. But one thing that concerns me is its potential for misuse.
People have been thinking about this problem for a long time, since the days when Photoshop first hit the market. As a researcher, I'm also working on countermeasure technology, and I'm part of an ongoing effort at AI Foundation, which uses a combination of machine learning and human moderators to detect fake images and videos, fighting against my own work.
And one of the tools we plan to release is called Reality Defender, which is a web-browser plug-in that can flag potentially fake content automatically, right in the browser."
"Today, information moves around us in many forms, every hour of every day. Even if we do not seek out news on our own, we often receive it anyway, instantly, on our phones.
So how can we manage this mountain of information so that fake news does not mislead us?
We believe this requires news literacy. News literacy is the ability to use critical thinking skills to judge news reports. Are they credible? Can you rely on the reports to be true?"https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/news-litaracy-introduction-news-through-time/4387984.html
"Since 1988 Metacomet has worked with landowners, towns and state agencies to permanently protect land. MLT owns more than 350 acres across our member communities, protects another 162 acres through Conservation Restrictions, and has assisted in the conservation of another 900 acres---land that is now town open space, state parks and forests, and state wildlife management areas.
Follow us @MetacometLandTr on Twitter
Metacomet proudly serves the communities of Bellingham, Blackstone, Douglas, Franklin, Mendon, Millbury, Millville, Norfolk, Northbridge, Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, and Wrentham."Visit -> http://metacometlandtrust.org/
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| screen grab of the new Metacomet Land Trust webpage |
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| Franklin Municipal Building |
