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Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
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THE BLACK BOX Summer Concert Series: Britt Connors and Bourbon Renewal - Aug 6 |
- a) FA - Facilities Development Goals
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School Committee - Policy Subcommittee - Agenda - August 6 at 4 PM |
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Senior Center - Curbside Cafe Menu for August |
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Attention Franklin: Solution Finders for Parents |
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All SBA programs and services are provided on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable accommodations will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance
"The town’s fifth solar farm is projected to go live next summer.A 6-megawatt solar farm on Spring Street operated by Nexamp will produce enough energy to power 800 Franklin households and could potentially cut about $180 a year from the average Franklin resident’s electricity bill, said Town Administrator Jaime Hellen.
“The big factor is that this is an opportunity for people to assess the amount of energy they’re using day to day,” said Hellen. He said if the average household pays $100 a month on electricity, it could potentially save about $15 a month, which equals to about $180 per year.Subscribers to the solar farm will receive credits on their National Grid electric bill for the energy produced by their solar farm share. Through an agreement with the town, Hellen said Nexamp is providing those credits at a 15% discount rate to Franklin residents. "
"It seemed like a slam-dunk.After years of bitter fighting, craft brewers and beer wholesalers came together at the end of July to announce that they had struck a deal that would allow smaller breweries to more easily end their relationship with a distributor if they felt their brand wasn’t being properly marketed.The sticking point for a decade — how small must a brewery be to be covered by the change — was resolved by setting the threshold at 250,000 barrels. The limit covered every brewery in Massachusetts except Boston Beer Company, brewer of Sam Adams.Everyone was happy, or so it seemed. The agreement was announced over a weekend, and on July 23 the Senate voted unanimously to accept the deal and send the bill to the House. And it hasn’t advanced since. "
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FM #322 EDC MAPC Market Study - 7/30/30 (audio) |
"Drone footage of THE BLACK BOX outdoor concert series courtesy of John Fitzgerald at Peek Aerials.
THE BLACK BOX's Summer Concert Series is sponsored by Dean Bank."
"Friends,
On Friday night at 9 PM the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed The 2050 Roadmap bill. Introduced by Rep Meschino, this bill updates the Global Warming Solutions Act and commits the state to create a roadmap to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
This bill is the House’s response to the Senate Climate package passed in January of 2020. Both houses passing overarching climate policy demonstrates the power of grassroots organizing and coalition building.
In this legislative session that began January 2019, 350 Mass and our partners in the Mass Power Forward coalition and beyond have been advocating for a commitment to 100% renewable energy, environmental justice, and equitable investment in green infrastructure.
Bills with strong provisions, explicit 100% renewable goals, and a shorter time-line among other desirable provisions were not allowed to pass through committees. However, the Roadmap bill, with a focus on planning, was allowed to come to the floor. When it did, 350 Mass and our allies pushed for improving amendments, several of which passed.
For all its shortcomings, the Roadmap Bill does provide a foundation for future efforts. And it is a step forward for a Legislature that has not passed significant climate protection laws for years— we can thank our representatives who have tirelessly championed our bills, and we must continue to push for policies that go further."Continue reading the newsletter online
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Two updates on the climate "Roadmap bill" |
"ON WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN the last day of the 2019-2020 legislative session, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a Roadmap Bill, helping to lay the foundation for a slightly more ambitious – and much better planned – decarbonization of the economy. Crucially, the final bill also included an amendment around environmental justice, which would codify into law protections for low-income communities and communities of color which face disproportionate burdens of pollution due to decades of environmental racism and the systematic undervaluing of black, indigenous, immigrant, and poor lives.
Both the roadmap bill in general and the environmental justice component specifically deserve our praise and gratitude, particularly when the House could have used the guise of the pandemic to swear off climate action. Following the Senate’s “Next Generation” climate bill passed earlier this year, it is clear that both House and Senate leadership have over the course of this session tried to answer the question of how to respond to climate change with an authentic, thoughtful response."Continue reading the article online
"As the influenza pandemic swept across the United States in 1918 and 1919, masks took a role in political and cultural wars.
The masks were called muzzles, germ shields and dirt traps. They gave people a “pig-like snout.” Some people snipped holes in their masks to smoke cigars.
Others fastened them to dogs in mockery. Bandits used them to rob banks.
More than a century ago, as the 1918 influenza pandemic raged in the United States, masks of gauze and cheesecloth became the facial front lines in the battle against the virus. But as they have now, the masks also stoked political division. Then, as now, medical authorities urged the wearing of masks to help slow the spread of disease. And then, as now, some people resisted.
In 1918 and 1919, as bars, saloons, restaurants, theaters and schools were closed, masks became a scapegoat, a symbol of government overreach, inspiring protests, petitions and defiant bare-face gatherings. All the while, thousands of Americans were dying in a deadly pandemic.Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
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Police Court Officials of San Francisco holding a session in the open, as a precaution against the spreading influenza epidemic in late November of 1918.Credit...National Archives |
"Thirteen thousand feet up in the Himalayas, Franklin resident Ed Williamson, his hiking guide, a horseman and a cook set up and broke down tents across the mountain for 10 days last year. They never had to worry about finding a stranger living in a tent on that mountain in Bhutan who wasn't willing to invite them in for a cup of tea.
That welcome over a cup of tea, remind Williamson of his childhood.
“The tea was just a way to talk,” said Williamson, who grew up in Cork, Ireland, with a mother who lit a burner for the teapot whenever company was invited over.
“Anyone that came to visit – the teapot went on," he said. "I grew up drinking tea; coffee was not something we drank. That whole (experience drinking tea with strangers in the Himalayas) reminded me of home.”Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
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https://nirvanateahousecafe.com/ |
"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
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WBUR has a real good article on the details of qualified immunity |
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Economic Development Subcommittee Recap - 7/30/20 |
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FM #321 FPS Superintendent Sara Ahern on Reopening Status - 7/31/20 (audio) |