Girls Basketball = Milford, 23 @ Franklin, 71 – Final
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 *
Friday, January 8, 2021
Both FHS varsity basketball teams top Milford on Thursday
Girls Basketball = Milford, 23 @ Franklin, 71 – Final
"About 15% of adults in America report hearing loss, and about 1 million use sign language to communicate"
Enabling access to information for all is key.
"Saamanta Serna describes herself as a Coda – the child of a Deaf adult. She grew up up with a Deaf mother and a father who is hearing and an American sign language (ASL) interpreter, and later decided to pursue interpreting herself after high school.
Now a certified ASL interpreter, Serna has done frequent in-person interpreting for medical appointments during Covid. She has also noticed a change in the world’s perception of sign language since the beginning of the pandemic: more people are paying attention.
Conveying updated information to everyone in the time of Covid is a matter of life or death, as the Trump administration learned recently after losing a groundbreaking federal lawsuit to the National Association for the Deaf, which ensured that a sign language interpreter must be present in Covid briefings and visible on the live feed from the White House. The Trump White House did not include its first sign language interpreter on a Covid briefing until 11 November, a full nine months after the pandemic reached America."
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| ASL interpreters (like Rupert Dubler) are present for Gov Baker's press conferences |
Boston Globe: "Baker extending capacity restrictions on businesses for two weeks due to pandemic"
"Governor Charlie Baker said Thursday that the state is extending by two weeks the capacity restrictions on various industries to combat the spread of COVID-19, as Connecticut announced that two cases of the new, highly contagious coronavirus variant have been identified in that state.
Baker, speaking during a State House news conference, said the restrictions will now be extended until at least Jan. 24 as part of efforts to tap down the virus and help hospitals deal with growing concerns about patient capacity. Acute care beds in Massachusetts hospitals have gone from about 67 percent occupied before Thanksgiving to 83 percent occupied by Dec. 15.
For most businesses, he said, capacity limits will remain at 25 percent. Indoor and outdoor gathering limits will remain 25 people outside and 10 people inside, including for events. “And over the next two weeks we’ll continue to look at and evaluate the data to make further decisions,” he added."
FBRTC: Annual Meeting - Jan 12
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New York Times: Don't loose this Pentagon papers story in the midst of everything else going on
"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."
Good Day memory Cafe - Friday, Jan 8 at 2 PM
Hello everyone,
On January 8th at 2 PM the Shrewsbury Public Library, Good Day Memory Cafe will be showing a recorded performance from the talented Luanne Crosby. We will have time to visit too!
Looking forward to seeing all of you. Click on the link below to join.
Shrewsbury Public Library is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/99469981115?pwd=bElqb3VmVHNEZDlEakthdW0wc1F5dz09
Meeting ID: 994 6998 1115
Passcode: 354632
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Ariel Doggett
Virtual Program Coordinator
Respite Coordinator
"We rise by lifting others" - Robert Ingersoll
There is no act of kindness too small
Boston Globe: "In less than 30 minutes, New England politics is altered with news of two cabinet picks"
From the Boston Globe:
"Given the hierarchical and largely one-party political control of both Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the churn of executive positions is slow. And the behind-the-scenes jockeying for those posts can last years among those angling to hold the job next.Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
But on Thursday afternoon the news came quick, bringing with it a major shake-up in New England politics. First, the word that Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo was President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to serve as commerce secretary. Then 26 minutes later, the scoop from Politico that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was Biden’s pick for labor secretary.
With this week’s pair of Democratic wins in Senate races in Georgia giving them control of the US Senate, confirmation for both Raimondo and Walsh should be assured. The real story, however, will be what their vacancies mean for politics in their home states."



