"the combined pressure of drought and overconsumption is proving to be more than it can bear"

"Without dramatic cuts to water consumption, Utah’s Great Salt Lake is on track to disappear within five years, a dire new report warns, imperiling ecosystems and exposing millions of people to toxic dust from the drying lake bed.

The report, led by researchers at Brigham Young University and published this week, found that unsustainable water use has shrunk the lake to just 37 percent of its former volume. The West’s ongoing megadrought — a crisis made worse by climate change — has accelerated its decline to rates far faster than scientists had predicted.

But current conservation measures are critically insufficient to replace the roughly 40 billion gallons of water the lake has lost annually since 2020, the scientists said."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/06/great-salt-lake-utah-drying-up/

Access the report directly at -> https://pws.byu.edu/great-salt-lake   

or this PDF ->  https://pws.byu.edu/GSL%20report%202023

Figure 5. Great Salt Lake water budget, including a breakdown of consumptive water use. The reported numbers represent estimates from 2020-2022, the period of accelerated decline1,3,25,60,62,66,67. Because of inadequate monitoring and data availability, many of these estimates are uncertain.

Wine Barre 02038 scheduled for Jan 12 & 19, 2023

Happy New Year! 

Join us for Wine Barre 02038 January 12 & 19 from 7:00-9:30 PM!  

Adults are invited to stop by Intermission for wine and charcuterie boards by Kim Rezendes! (21+ welcome)

Wine Barre 02038 scheduled for Jan 12 & 19, 2023

Shared from Instagram ->  https://www.instagram.com/p/CnCd-YPu6Qr/

Follow up on Supreme Court report "What Went Unsaid in the Chief Justice’s Report on the Judiciary"

 

“A judicial system cannot and should not live in fear,” Chief Justice Roberts added as he thanked Congress for passing a law last year to protect judges. The new law was named in honor of Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas of the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, who was murdered in 2020 in an assault meant for the judge at her home. The law screens from the public the personal information of federal judges and their families, including identifiers such as license plate numbers and addresses. Leaders like the chief justice deserve praise when they highlight the dangers all public officials now face.

Focusing on the Brown decision was nonetheless surprising. After all, the court appears poised to reverse a decision upholding affirmative action in school admissions, one of the very remedies that the Brown decision spawned, and which all nine members of the court stood squarely behind in 1954 and reaffirmed in a subsequent case in 1958.

In past years, the chief justice sometimes used his year-end report to describe substantive reforms in the federal courts, like the task force created in 2018 in response to allegations that federal judges had harassed their staffs sexually and in other ways. Not so in his latest report, which was four pages long with a five-page appendix. Chief Justice Roberts did not mention any of the many issues that made the news about the court last year — the lack of an effective recusal requirement for justices whose actions or those of family members raise questions about impartiality, the leak of a draft of the court’s decision overturning abortion rights, the insufficiency of financial disclosure and questions about fund-raising for the Supreme Court Historical Society."

Continue reading the article in the New York Times (subscription may be required)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/opinion/supreme-court-chief-justice-report.html

The original article linking to the report itself ->

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2023/01/chief-justices-year-end-reports-on.html

J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

US House of Representatives minority and majority leader initial speeches as the 118th Congress opens

Franklin is where we are, and a recipient down the 'food chain' so to speak from the Federal level, to the State (actually Commonwealth in our case), to the local. While Congress is not a direct influence, there is plenty of indirect influence. 

Hence it does matter for us to be aware of what happens there. Here are the two opening speeches of the newly elected House of Representatives. What they say, how they say it, and what they don't say, will effect us in ways we will find out as it happens.

House minority leader H Jefferies -> https://youtu.be/JLOAQjjKJbM

 

House majority leader K McCarthy -> https://youtu.be/pb_gA0009b4 

 

For more about the US Congress visit their page -> https://www.congress.gov/

https://www.congress.gov/

Franklin, MA: School Committee Agenda for Meeting Jan 10, 2023

Franklin School Committee 

January 10, 2023- 7:00 PM

Municipal Building – Council Chambers 

Call to Order Ms. Spencer

Pledge of Allegiance 

Moment of Silence

I. Routine Business

A. Review of Agenda

B. Payment of Bills Mr. McNeill

C. Payroll Ms. Spencer

D. FHS Student Representative Comments

E. Superintendent’s Report

II. Guests/Presentations

A. Greece Field Trip – Ms. Cullinan & Ms. Reilly

B. Special Education Presentation – Ms. Marano, Ms. Graveline & Mr. Duquette

III. Discussion/Action Items

A. Policy First Readings

I recommend moving the following policies to a second reading as discussed:

1. JLCD - Administering Medicines to Students

2. JLCD-1 - Anaphylaxis Procedure

3. EBCD - Emergency Closings

4. GBI - Political Activities of Staff

B. FY23 Capital Improvement Requests

IV. Discussion Only Items

A. None

V. Information Matters

A. School Committee Sub-Committee Reports

B. School Committee Liaison Reports

VI. Consent Agenda

A. Approval of Minutes

I recommend approval of the minutes from the December 13, 2022 School Committee meeting as detailed.

B. Surplus Food Service Equipment

I recommend declaring the attached list of food service equipment as surplus.

C. Art Gift

I recommend acceptance of a check for $41.55 from the Square 1 Art Fundraiser for in-house enrichment and supplemental supplies at Oak St. as detailed.

D. District Wide Gift

I recommend acceptance of a check for $285.00 from BJ’s Wholesale Club for in-house enrichment.

E. General Scholarship

I recommend acceptance of a check for $5,000.00 from Thomas A. Wagner fo the Thomas A. Wagner Jr. Scholarship.

F. Overnight Travel- DECA State Competition

I recommend approval of the request of Frank Wood to take the FHS DECA Students to Boston, MA from 3/9/23 to 3/11/23 for the DECA State Competition as detailed.

G. Overnight Travel- DECA International Competition

I recommend approval of the request of Frank Wood to take FHS DECA Students to Orlando, FL from 4/21/23 to 4/25/23 for the DECA International Competition as detailed.

VII. Citizen’s Comments

VIII. New Business

To discuss any future agenda items

X.    Adjournment

The agenda doc contains info on remote participation

https://www.franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/uploads/scagenda_1-10-23.pdf

All the documents released for this meeting (some after the meeting) can be found in one folder -> https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/january-10-2023-school-committee-meeting-packet

Franklin, MA: School Committee Agenda for Meeting Jan 10, 2023

Discussing the 50th Anniversary of the Hockomock YMCA (audio)

FM #911 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 911 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my recorded conversation about the Hockomock Area YMCA celebrating its 50th Anniversary. We had our conversation via the Zoom conference bridge on Tuesday, December 20, 2022. 

At a high level our topics were:

• Introductions and background on their Franklin or Y ‘story’

• Scott Martin, Executive Director

• Jim Downs, President & CEO of Hockomock Area YMCA

• Mary Clermont, Franklin resident & critical volunteer with multiple roles over the years

• Capital campaign and growth of services

• COVID response with Food distribution first responders day care

• Good stories of folks growing with the Y

The recording runs about 44 minutes. Let’s listen in to the discussion about the Hockomock YMCA’s 50 years. Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-911-hockomock-area-ymca-50th-anniv-12-20-22

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Hockomock YMCA homepage ->  https://www.hockymca.org/ 

Bernon branch in Franklin -> https://www.hockymca.org/franklin/ 

50th Anniversary page -> https://www.hockymca.org/50-years/ 

Membership page -> https://www.hockymca.org/ymca-membership/ 

Donation are welcomed -> https://www.hockymca.org/franklin/social-responsibility/giving/  

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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 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"

hockymca.org

Both FHS girls and boys basketball teams post wins vs. Taunton on Friday

Via HockomockSports.com, we share the results of the fall sports competition for Franklin High School on Friday, January 6, 2023. We also provide the link to the full set of Hockomock League results below.

Boys Basketball = Taunton, 53 @ Franklin, 61 – Final 

– Franklin erased a first quarter deficit with a big second quarter, nearly pulled away in the third quarter, and then held off a late comeback bid from Taunton to stay undefeated on the year. Taunton senior Chris Perault (16 points) hit a pair of first quarter threes to give the Tigers a 14-8 lead after one but Franklin’s offense cashed in for 18 points in the second as junior Sean O’Leary started to get going. O’Leary had 10 of his career-high 34 points in the second to jump start the offense and Franklin also got points from Andrew O’Neill (10 points), Bradley Herndon, Justin Allen, and Hansy Jacques to stake a 26-21 halftime lead. An 8-1 start to the second half presented the Panthers with their first double-digit edge but the Tigers clawed back into it got it down to 47-38 going into the fourth. Taunton rallied with a 9-2 run inside the final four minutes and cut the deficit down to five in the final moments but Franklin pulled away for the win. O’Leary finished 10-for-14 from the line and hit 11 field goals — nine from 2-point range. Taunton junior Troy Santos scored 15 of his team-high 22 points after the break to keep the Tigers close.

Girls Basketball = Franklin, 59 @ Taunton, 39 – Final 

– Franklin got off to a strong start, jumping out to an 18-8 lead after one quarter, extended the lead to 15 at halftime and handed Taunton its first league loss of the season. Chloe Fales scored a career-high 19 points to lead the Panthers. She scored 13 of her points in the first half and went 8-for-10 from the line. Katie Peterson added 13 points, eight in the first half, and Lizzie Newman and Caelyn Leonard each scored seven for the Panthers. Taunton was led by Cali Melo, who scored all 11 of her points in the first half. Taryn Campbell chipped in with six points for the Tigers, who also got five points apiece from Jillian Doherty and Aaliyah Yera.

For other results around the Hockomock League

https://hockomocksports.com/fridays-schedule-scoreboard-01-06-23/

FHS Panthers

Are you subscribed to Town of Franklin alerts and notifications? It is easy to set up

Residents are encouraged to subscribe to the Town's Regroup public safety notification system! 

Visit the link to subscribe and become aware ->   https://franklintown.regroup.com/login

Public Safety alerts are used when there is some emergency situation to bring awareness to the community of part of it. The alerts are geographically targeted so a street, or your neighborhood, or the whole Town can get an alert for something happening nearby. Accidents that close roads, or a response to a fire, or street flooding are the most common uses for these type of alerts.

You create an account for your address and sign up for notification via one or more methods; phone call, text, or email. You can choose to receive the alert in more than one way. Once the account is created, you can change the method, or add an alert to the notifications.

For example, the Health Dept now uses this service for a weekly alert on a health topic. I choose to receive these via email. The public safety alerts I choose to receive via text.

Note: signing up for these alerts is separate from signing up for the newsletter or meeting notifications. Email notifications for meeting agendas can be set up here -> https://www.franklinma.gov/subscribe

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

Are you subscribed to Town of Franklin alerts and notifications? It is easy to set up

"There's unparalleled opportunity in our response to the climate crisis"

"Emerging from her initial Cabinet meeting as governor, Maura Healey on Friday issued an executive order cementing a Cabinet-level climate chief in her administration and reappointed her predecessor’s public safety secretary, marking some of her first acts in office.

The executive action, officially order No. 604, makes official a campaign promise to create the first-of-its-kind position within Healey’s inner circle in a bid to create a “whole-of-government response” to climate change in Massachusetts."

Continue reading the article in the Boston Globe (subscription may be required) ->  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/06/metro/first-acts-governor-healey-signs-order-creating-climate-chief-reappoints-bakers-public-safety-secretary/

CommonWealth Magazine coverage of the executive order ->

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/state-government/healey-signs-executive-order-on-climate/

"Today, I filed an executive order creating the country's first Cabinet-level climate chief."

More about Climate and the Governor's agenda ->

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/the-healey-driscoll-administrations-priorities#climate-&-clean-energy-

Stop at the Franklin Library, find a "Bookish duck" and get an entry for prizes at the end of the month

New Year Duck Hunt!

Bookish Duckies have set up shop throughout the Library! Follow us on our social media channels to get clues to where they might be! When you find a duck bring a picture of it and where you found it to the circulation desk and fill out a quick slip of paper to be entered into the Duck Hunt raffle at the end of the month!

Shared from the Library page ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/franklin-public-library/bulletins/new-year-duck-hunt

Stop at the Franklin Library, find a "Bookish duck" and get an entry for prizes at the end of the month