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Thursday, February 18, 2021
Senator Rausch: COVID-19 Vaccination Eligibility Update
MAPC: "Across the region, arts and culture has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic"
MAPC (@MAPCMetroBoston) tweeted on Wed, Feb 17, 2021:
Learn more: https://t.co/Db4iREyE1T
"Artists and creative workers from Arlington, Beverly, Boston, and Franklin are sharing how they're impacted by COVID-19."
Learn more: https://t.co/Db4iREyE1T
Shared from Twitter: https://t.co/PwQj6QGJot
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| MAPC: "Across the region, arts and culture has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic" |
Legislature Announces Joint Oversight Hearings on COVID Vaccination Distribution
Today (2/17/21), the Massachusetts Legislature announced it will hold the first in a series of oversight hearings on the state’s COVID-19 vaccination distribution plan on February 25, 2021. The House and Senate hearings will be held by the newly-created Joint Committee on Covid-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management and will seek testimony from the Baker Administration on the state’s COVID vaccine distribution operation and plans moving forward.
“We have heard the frustration and anger of people across Massachusetts about the constantly changing and confusing vaccination roll out plan, and we are using the tools at our disposal to help people get answers, especially about what we can expect moving forward,” stated Senate President Karen E. Spilka. “It is essential that we get a greater understanding of the Baker Administration’s plans to improve our vaccination rates, especially for those communities and populations hardest hit, including persons who are medically fragile or with disabilities, teachers, and communities of color.”
“The state's COVID-19 vaccination plan was developed by experts and guided by science, but the rollout has been marked by both logistical and communications shortcomings,” said House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano. “It is our hope that through these hearings, we will ascertain valuable information about the failures of the rollout and help contribute to solutions for the people of the Commonwealth. We are specifically focused on delivering equitable access to vaccines and increasing supports for our most vulnerable residents. While flexibility is important, it must be matched with sound operational decisions, as well as clear and consistent communications with the Legislature and the general public.”
In addition to the administration, the committee will be inviting the chairs of the Joint Committees on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion and Healthcare Financing and Public Health to testify.
"We can't get to work fast enough. I'm pleased to be working with Chair Bill Driscoll and fellow committee members in this oversight capacity so that we can dig in together on wide-spread concerns around the vaccine roll out, the COVID-19 response thus far, and our Commonwealth's emergency preparedness status going forward. COVID-19 hit our Commonwealth, its residents, our businesses, and families like a wrecking ball and the Committee will spare no effort to deliver on its charge of oversight and preparedness," noted Senator Jo Comerford, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Covid-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management (D-Northampton).
“The Commonwealth seems to have been underprepared for the complexities in Phase One of the vaccine roll out,” said Representative Bill Driscoll Jr., House Chair of the Joint Committee on Covid-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management (D-Milton). “We all understand that patience is paramount in our current pandemic circumstances, but patience and public trust wear thin when there are constant pivots in the plan. It is important for us to get a deeper understanding of what the Administration’s planning and operational outlook is for the next phases of the rollout and how they intend to improve delivery now and on a going forward basis.”
The joint oversight hearing will be held remotely on Thursday, February 25, 2021. Further details will follow. Testimony will be by invitation only, but the hearing will be viewable by the public. A series of similar hearings, including one that will be open to public testimony, will be scheduled in the coming weeks.
Those seeking more information should contact Jared Freedman in Senator Comerford’s office or Summer Ordaz in Representative Driscoll’s office.
Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture Boston: HOME Poetry reading March 5-6
Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture Boston (@ArtsinBoston) tweeted on Wed, Feb 17, 2021:
City of Boston poet laureate https://www.boston.gov/departments/arts-and-culture/city-boston-poet-laureate
"The next HOME poetry reading and workshop will be on March 5-6. The theme is "I Belong There", and the facilitator is Monica Sok. In this workshop, we will read poetry of exile and ask ourselves what it means to create (be)longing inside of our poems."
City of Boston poet laureate https://www.boston.gov/departments/arts-and-culture/city-boston-poet-laureate
Shared from Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtsinBoston/status/1362158458611589120
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| Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture Boston: HOME Poetry reading March 5-6 |
"Millions of jobs probably aren’t coming back, even after the pandemic ends"
"Millions of jobs that have been shortchanged or wiped out entirely by the coronavirus pandemic are unlikely to come back, economists warn, setting up a massive need for career changes and retraining in the United States.
The coronavirus pandemic has triggered permanent shifts in how and where people work. Businesses are planning for a future where more people are working from home, traveling less for business, or replacing workers with robots. All of these modifications mean many workers will not be able to do the same job they did before the pandemic, even after much of the U.S. population gets vaccinated against the deadly virus.
Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates raised eyebrows in November when he predicted that half of business travel and 30 percent of “days in the office” would go away forever. That forecast no longer seems far-fetched. In a report coming out later this week that was previewed to The Washington Post, the McKinsey Global Institute says that 20 percent of business travel won’t come back and about 20 percent of workers could end up working from home indefinitely. These shifts mean fewer jobs at hotels, restaurants and downtown shops, in addition to ongoing automation of office support roles and some factory jobs."
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What good journalism does
"Revealed: chemicals giant sold Louisiana plant amid fears over cost of offsetting toxic emissions"
"Chemicals giant DuPont decided to sell a plant in south Louisiana that emits a likely cancer causing pollutant, citing “major concerns” that government agencies would regulate its emissions to protect the community living nearby, internal documents seen by the Guardian reveal.Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
The documents show the multibillion-dollar company worried in 2011 about the potential cost of offsetting its emissions of the “likely human carcinogen”, chloroprene, and so moved to sell the plant, the Pontchartrain Works facility.
The company codenamed the sale “Project Elm” in an apparent bid to keep the deal, completed in 2015, secretive. It is also alleged the company withheld details of its own research to offset emissions from the plant’s new owners."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/17/revealed-chemicals-dupont-giant-sold-louisiana-plant-fears-offsetting-toxic-emissions
"Fake Doctors, Fake Documents: How a Russian Doping Lie Fell Apart"
"If the cover-up was to work, the high jumper Danil Lysenko realized far too late, he had better familiarize himself with the Moscow hospital where Russian track and field officials had insisted he had undergone a battery of medical tests.
The details mattered. The tests were the centerpiece of Russia’s explanation for why antidoping officials had been unable to locate Lysenko in the spring of 2018.
The punishment mattered, too: Athletes found guilty of so-called whereabouts failures — effectively failing to make themselves available for random drug tests — can face suspensions of up to two years. Those caught lying, falsifying documents or obstructing investigators risked even worse. Either sanction, though, would most likely keep Lysenko, a talented high jumper who has just turned 21, from representing Russia at the Tokyo Olympics."
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Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture Boston: grant writing workshops
Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture Boston (@ArtsinBoston) tweeted on Wed, Feb 17, 2021:
The first event as part of our Creative Economy Workshop Series in partnership with @MassArt is in three days! All workshops are free and happening virtually.
Register here to learn how to improve your grant and proposal writing skills: https://t.co/4VGrvHqbOz
Shared from Twitter: https://t.co/h9DDC8AVee
Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture Boston: grant writing workshops
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