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Saturday, August 12, 2023
MassCEC Opens Third Year of Funding for the EmPower Massachusetts Program!
How to make sure your donations count when weather disasters strike
By Colleen Tressler
"Throw a dart at a map of the U.S. and chances are you'll land on a community that suffered severe weather this year. Whether it's landslides on the West Coast, extreme ice storms in the South, spring tornadoes across the Midwest, recent flooding in the Northeast, or the wildfires consuming the Hawaiian island of Maui, communities have experienced devastating losses ― and many are still recovering.
With any weather disaster, you may consider a charitable donation to help those affected. But how you can avoid charity scams?"
Read more -> https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2023/08/how-make-sure-your-donations-count-when-weather-disasters-strike
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| How to make sure your donations count when weather disasters strike |
Friday, August 11, 2023
Franklin's Event Outlook: August 11, 2023 to August 17, 2023
Friday, August 11
2:00pm - Franklin Farmers Market (Franklin Town Common)
2:00pm - Thrift Threads thrift shop (Franklin Federated Church)
3:00pm - Thee Taco Dude (food truck) (Franklin Town Common)
3:30pm - Matt Zajac (live music) (Franklin Town Common)
6:00pm - AK Cody (live music) (La Cantina Winery)
6:00pm - Pub Kings (live music) (Franklin Town Common)
6:00pm - Elastic Five (67 Degrees Brewery)
8:00pm - Playing Dead (live music - ticketed event) (THE BLACK BOX)
Saturday, August 12
9:00am - Being Good Stewards to the End (Grace Episcopal Church)
10:00am - Franklin Historical Museum (always free)
4:00pm - Emily & Nick (live music) (La Cantina Winery)
5:00pm - Patrick Durkin (live music) (Birchwood Bakery)
6:00pm - ZeroDrift (live music) (67 Degrees Brewery)
Sunday, August 13
10:00am - FUSF Service "Respect for all Living Things" (First Universalist Society of Franklin)
1:00pm - Franklin Historical Museum (always free)
1:15pm - Second Sunday Speaker (Franklin Historical Museum)
Monday, August 14
6:00pm - Scream VI (movie night) (Franklin Public Library)
Tuesday, August 15
11:00am - Books to Go
Wednesday, August 16
11:00am - Franklin Q&A (hybrid event) (Franklin Senior Center)
1:00pm - Senior Scribblers (writing group) (Franklin Senior Center)
6:00pm - Charcuterie Workshop (ticketed event (La Cantina Winery)
Thursday, August 17
8:30am - Town Council Office Hours (Franklin Senior Center)
6:00pm - Paul Hansen (live music) (La Cantina Winery)
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The Franklin Art Association Art Gallery remains open during business hours at Escape into Fiction (Main St, Franklin)
Find the full Community event calendar https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/blog-page.html
The Cultural calendar displays only the cultural events https://www.franklinculture.org/things-do/pages/calendar
If you have an event to add to the calendar, you can use the form to submit it for publication: https://forms.gle/oPdi8X3ZbHHyrHzo6
The Town meeting calendar is found https://www.franklinma.gov/calendar
The School district calendar is found https://www.franklinps.net/calendar-by-event-type/26
The School district calendar is found https://www.franklinps.net/calendar-by-event-type/26
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| Franklin's Event Outlook: August 11, 2023 to August 17, 2023 |
Want to track who's taken nomination papers for each position for election Nov 2023?
You can keep track, thanks to Town Clerk Nancy Danello. She will updated this periodically and I'll share weekly.
The Election Collection for this year will contain all the information shared here during the run up to and just after the election on November 7, 2023. -> bit.ly/FranklinElection2023
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| Want to track who's taken papers for each position? Thanks to our Town Clerk, you can |
In this Making Sense of Climate we start with ship tracks and get into geoengineering (audio)
FM #1030 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1030 in the series.
This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Ted McIntyre, Franklin resident and climate activist via the Zoom conference bridge Monday, August 7, 2023.
In this episode we have another wide running conversation with a starting point on the ship tracks Links to the articles we talk of are located in a section below.
This discussion continues our journey understanding the MA roadmap toward net zero and while it helps me “make sense of climate”, we hope it helps with your understanding as well.
If you have climate questions or Franklin specific climate questions, send them in and we’ll try to answer them in a future session.
The conversation runs about 46 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Ted McIntyre as we help ‘make sense of climate.’ Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1037-making-sense-of-climate-30-08-07-23
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Links to articles referenced:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fu_Yg-0pQc4mNpYBMQnwgwfq3f0_vSvX/view?usp=drive_link
** See the page that collects all the “Making Sense of Climate” episodes -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/02/making-sense-of-climate-collection.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.franklin.news/ or www.Franklinmatters.org/
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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| In this Making Sense of Climate we start with ship tracks and get into geoengineering (audio) |
VA extends deadline for PACT Act benefits backdated to August 10, 2022
Hello All,
There is an extension to Monday to submit an Intent to File for backdated PACT Act benefits.
Please know you can file a PACT Act claim at any time, the deadline only applies to back pay.
If you want to submit a PACT Act Intent to File before this deadline, please email me at snisbett@franklinma.gov No Later Than Monday 8/14/23 at 9 AM.
For a list of PACT Act presumptives, visit: https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits/
See the press release below for more detailed information.
Sincerely,
Shannon Nisbett
Veterans Services Officer
Town of Franklin, MA
Info on the PACT Act was shared in a video created last year and you can watch on YouTube -> https://youtu.be/-qzZkUMsheI
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VA extends deadline Through Monday for Veterans and survivors to apply for PACT Act benefits backdated to August 10, 2022
Extension will ensure that no Veteran or survivor will miss out on a single day of backdated PACT Act benefits
Today VA announced that Veterans and survivors who apply (or submit their intent to file) for PACT Act benefits by 11:59PM ET on Monday, August 14, 2023 will be eligible to have their benefits backdated to August 10, 2022 – the day that President Biden signed the PACT Act into law. This is an extension from the original deadline of August 9, 2023. We encourage all Veterans and their survivors to apply – or submit their intent to file – for PACT Act benefits now by visiting VA.gov/PACT.
VA has made this decision out of an abundance of caution after experiencing technical difficulties with VA.gov/PACT in recent days. Specifically, due to extremely high demand, some Veterans who have sought to submit their intent to file for PACT Act benefits have received error messages while doing so. Despite these messages, VA has successfully logged every one of these intents to file – meaning that every Veteran or survivor who has received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete. We are working to contact these individuals to confirm directly to them that their intent to file will be honored and their effective date protected. Most importantly, no Veteran or survivor will miss out on a single day of benefits due to this issue.
VA has also resolved nearly all of the technical issues with VA.gov/PACT. As of 5:00pm, less than one tenth of one percent of attempts to submit an “intent to file” today (August 9) had resulted in an error message. This percentage is down from about 18% on August 8. Additionally, we have had a high volume of calls to VA call centers throughout this week, and we are working to decrease abnormally long call center wait times. We continue to work on these issues and will not rest until they are fully resolved.
Throughout the past day, VA has sent out communications from all channels to reassure Veterans and survivors that they would not miss out on their earned benefits due to this issue. We put an emergency banner on the VA website to tell Veterans and survivors that their intents to file will be honored. We changed the intent to file error message to confirm that, despite the error message, the intent to file has been saved. Finally, we communicated with Veterans directly on social media, via email, and through coordination with Congressional leaders and Veterans Service Organizations. All of this messaging will be updated tonight (details below) to reflect the extended deadline for Veterans and survivors to apply for benefits backdated to August 10, 2022.
We at VA will continue to encourage Veterans and their survivors to immediately file their PACT Act claims — or submit their intents to file — at VA.gov/PACT. With the extended deadline, Veterans and survivors who do so by 11:59PM ET on Monday, August 14, 2023 may receive benefits backdated to August 10, 2022.
Please also see the news release that came out today: One year of the PACT Act: A historic expansion of benefits and health care for Veterans and their survivors
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| veterans memorials on the Franklin Town Common at night |
Hold the date -> International Opioid Awareness Day - August 31, 2023
International Overdose Awareness Day August 31, 2023 - Moving Memorial Vigil and Flag Display ... more details coming soon
Shared from -> https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvso7-pxnqI/
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| some of the flag display from Aug 31, 2022 |
Franklin Art Association announce their Juried Art Show Opening at the Harvest Festival - Sep 30
The Franklin Art Association will be hosting a juried exhibit of works by its members from noon–5 PM on Saturday, September 30 at Escape Into Fiction Bookstore.
The exhibit, held in conjunction with the 20th Annual Franklin Downtown Partnership Harvest Festival, will remain up for viewing until October 14, 2023.
Shared from -> https://www.instagram.com/p/CvuvRC8O19p/
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| Franklin Art Association announce their Juried Art Show Opening at the Harvest Festival - Sep 30 |
Technology upgrades coming to the Franklin Senior Center
"We are so excited to announce we were awarded a $34,800 grant from the EOEA to Enhance Digital Literacy specifically for Older Adults!
This will include replacing our outdated equipment, purchasing additional equipment, and developing and offering a full technology curriculum specific to seniors!"
Shared from -> https://www.instagram.com/p/CvvNsmrxiQt/
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| Technology upgrades coming to the Franklin Senior Center |
Smart Social Security Strategies for Women
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| Smart Social Security Strategies for Women |
"While many women plan to claim Social Security retirement benefits, they may not know about how various factors could impact their monthly payment.More women are working than ever before, but their average benefits are lower than those for men because women typically earn less over their lifetime. In addition, falling marriage rates mean fewer women are in a position to claim spouse’s and survivor benefits.Here are some important points for women to consider when planning to apply for Social Security benefits: "
Continue reading the article online ->
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