Historic wedding gowns on display in Franklin
The Franklin Historical Museum is located at
80 West Central St
Franklin, MA 02038
The Museum is open on
Thursday 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
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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 *
STATEMENT FROM SECRETARY JAY GONZALEZ
Governor Patrick filed an interim budget of $1.25 billion today to ensure that state government has the means to continue providing critical services through July 10, 2011. This funding will ensure that core services such as health care payments to providers for services to children, families, unemployed adults, and the disabled as well as cash assistance for low-income families and seniors did not run out. This interim budget will also fund emergency and first response services including State Police operations, and will provide funding for state obligations for debt service which must be paid early in FY12. We remain hopeful that the Legislature will be able to resolve their differences and submit the FY12 budget to Governor Patrick for review within the next few days.
Alex ZaroulisDirector of CommunicationsExecutive Office for Administration and FinanceState House, Room 373Boston, MA 02133
“Learning the tools is much easier, because no one can help you lead.” http://j.mp/l0TKFK goodness from @lizstrauss #sobcon #the5Liz Strauss tells a good story about Hunter S Thompson and suggests a rewording of one of his sentences to make her point.
"These people believed in you, now tell them what you are doing with their investment" http://j.mp/iJG2AK #the5 @geofflivingGeoff Livingston previews the findings of a study on non-profit fund raising that will be discussed in a webinar. The findings have good info to help reinforce some of what we'll be doing at the Franklin Food Pantry.
“Anything, everything, is not only possible, it’s probable. No one person has more value than another" http://j.mp/iAqopV #the5Deb Brown writes a summary of what she saw and heard at the 140 Conference last week in NYC. The quote is from a talk by Ann Curry.
"People don’t internalize depressing images; they tune them out" http://j.mp/iH8lZf goodness from @tomasacker #the5Tom Asacker shares his insights on the new FDA anti-smoking ad campaign. I think he is spot on!
"For too many elders, a cut as small as five or ten dollars makes a negative difference in their lives" http://j.mp/kx1WX0 #the5Ronni Bennett shares her views on the AARP position statement about Social Security that was announced last Friday. If the AARP position has truly changed, this could be a big deal!
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The state Department of Environmental Protection "wants us to try to figure out what was wrong," he said. "We're doing that by eliminating those possibilities."
A routine water sample taken last Tuesday from a well on East Central Street tested positive for fecal bacteria, either E. coli or enterococci. The well was immediately taken offline and the town notified the public through a mass recorded phone call and a press release on its website.
No other samples have come back positive and residents do not need to boil water or take other precautions, Perrotta said.
Perrotta emphasized that the sample was taken before the water had gone through treatment.
"I think the important thing is that the treated water did not have a problem," he said. "That's why we treat it."
Before the sample was taken last week, a blockage developed in the culvert, which is under an access road to the well. A small stream goes through the culvert. The blockage caused water to build up, potentially making it easier for bacteria to enter the well. The culvert broke late last week, Perrotta said.
Steve Senna, a project manager with National Development in Newton, said Hamilton Storage Technologies wants to combine its Hopkinton and Milford offices into a new, 50,000-square-foot building at the intersection of Rte. 140 and Forge Parkway.
"We thank you for the opportunity to present what we think is a very exciting and in these times very rare development opportunity," Senna told the board.
The company, which manufacturers refrigerators used in laboratories and also has its European headquarters in Switzerland, was attracted to the 8-acre, 3 Forge Parkway lot because it is close to Interstate 495, commuter rail and a hotel, Senna said.
Many of Hamilton Storage Technologies' employees live nearby and its clients often come from out-of-state for a week to see how its refrigerators operate, he said.
The food assistance program is meant to help families and individuals who live near the poverty line put healthy food on the table. To qualify, a household of two with children can make no more than $2,429 in gross income per month, $3,052 for a household of three or $3,675 for a household of four, according to a state website on the program. SNAP also has limits on savings and other resources to qualify.
Benefits, which total more than $107 million a month in Massachusetts, are federally funded. The national and state governments split the cost of administering the program. Recipients receive benefits on Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, cards, which limit what the money can be spent on.
Kehoe said the state has worked over the past few years to improve access to the SNAP program. Eight to 10 years ago, Massachusetts ranked 48th in the nation for the number of residents who were eligible and had actually signed up for food stamps, she said. Today, the state ranks eighth.
The state has taken steps such as shortening applications for seniors, allowing a medical deduction aimed at helping the elderly and disabled, lowering how often participants have to recertify that they qualify and holding outreach and health expos, Kehoe said. The agency has especially targeted seniors, many of whom saw a stigma attached to accepting food assistance, she said.
To the Editor:
The US Dept of Health & Human Services warned in January that American children are overdosing on fluoride, causing an increase in dental fluorosis. A group of Franklin residents investigated Franklin's water supply and learned that in 1970 the Board of Health ordered fluoridation, making Franklin families take fluoride every day whether they want to or not.
Most MA towns remain Pro-choice on Fluoride. Nearby towns like Milford, Bellingham, Hopedale, Blackstone, Mendon and Plainville, for example, all remain Pro-choice. Just as with all other common household medications, if people want fluoride they can easily get it. There's no reason to force it on everyone.
Even licensed physicians cannot force their patients to take a medication, nor would any responsible doctor recommend ingesting a drug in uncontrolled dosages. So it stands to reason that unlicensed practitioners such as the Board of Health members should not be doing these things either.
Even though the Board members don't dispute that individuals have a basic human right to choose their own meds, they nonetheless refused a request last month by concerned Franklin residents to restore Fluoride Choice to Franklin. The Board said it lacks the authority to end its own policy and referred the residents to the Attorney General.
However, Chief AG Attorney Margaret Hurley disagreed with the Board on May 6th, saying that Mass Gen Law Chapter 111 makes local health officials responsible for enforcing medical freedom. Still the Board said no to Choice.
By blindly continuing an unfair and outdated fluoridation policy even as fluorosis rates are on the rise, the Board members are exposing the town to unnecessary health and legal risks.
It is time to bring Fluoride Choice back to Franklin, which will also save taxpayers $35,880 every year in fluoridation-related costs.