In the News - e.coli, murder case

Franklin man suffered from German E. coli outbreak

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Mike Stobbe/Associated Press

No bail for Franklin man in Marlborough attempted murder case

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Kelleigh Welch/Daily News staff

Depot St construction

If you haven't been downtown to the train station, you might not have noticed that Depot St has been torn up. The municipal parking lot is also torn up. All as scheduled as part of the PWED project funded by a State grant.

Additional info on the two projects downtown can be found on the Franklin Downtown Partnership webpage here:  http://franklindowntownpartnership.blogspot.com/p/downtown-project.html

In the Globe: local meals tax

In case you missed it, the Boston Globe West section on Thursday ran an article on the local meal tax option. Franklin obtained 347,000 revenue from this during the past fiscal year. With continued growth in restaurants, this can be a continuing source of revenue. Not enough to solve our systemic problems, but substantial none the less.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2011/07/21/some_communities_find_meals_tax_a_boon/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Globe+West


Related post:
The State announced the totals for local meal tax revenues earlier in July
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/07/meals-tax-delivers-705-million-to-146.html

"cyberbullying feels like something they can't get away from"

While the foundation sponsors surveys every two years among the region's middle and high schools, it had never before asked its consultant to look at overlap between categories - in this case students who reported mental health problems and those who identified themselves as bullying victims. 

The prompt, Donham said, is a lingering perception among some parents - and even a few teachers - that bullying is something students usually work their way through, more an obnoxious rite of childhood than a serious danger. 

There have also been questions about why the foundation is treating bullying as a health issue deserving grant money, and questions about whether bullying is a classroom issue when much of the harassment takes place off school grounds.
But the data show a clear picture of mental health harm likely to impede learning, harm that includes stress, symptoms of depression, self-injury, serious consideration of suicide - and even attempted suicide, among roughly 578 students. 

"I think that's alarming," Donham said of the suicide numbers. "I think that warrants some looking at."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x920803137/Report-shows-link-between-bullying-mental-health-problems#ixzz1SjRqsR00


Another report, another view, this time from the Boston Globe:

Sharply contrasting findings, from a Globe survey of the state’s 10 largest school systems, casts light on a lingering controversy over the Massachusetts law: What, if anything, should schools report about bullying among their students to authorities at the district or state level?
Read more at the Boston Globe.

"The state will cover 58 percent"

"It seems like an absolutely slam-dunk no-brainer," said Town Council Vice Chairman Stephen Whalen, of building a new high school instead of renovating the current structure. 

The town will make use of the state's model-school program, in which the building committee would pick one of four state-approved options for a school that's already been designed. Building a new school under the model-school program will cost the town roughly $40 million, only about $3 million to $4 million more than gutting and renovating the existing building. 

"The most telling endorsement we got was from the architect who's going to lose his job if we get accepted into the model-school program," said Chairman Scott Mason, who also serves on the building committee. "For him to stand up and say, basically, this is a no-brainer, says a lot."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1510860843/Franklin-councilors-OK-with-plan-for-new-high-school#ixzz1SjQIZLhC

Franklin Farmers Market DOUBLES Food Stamp (SNAP) Dollars

Do you or someone you know receive Food Stamps (SNAP benefits)?


The Franklin Farmers Market new Produce Points program, will DOUBLE your Food Stamp (SNAP) dollars to increase access to fresh, local produce every Friday from 12 noon – 6 pm at the Town Common.


Thanks to a grant received from the MetroWest Community HealthCare Foundation, the Franklin Food Pantry and the Franklin Farmers Market are partnering to offer a new Produce Points Double your Dollars program to anyone who receives Food Stamps (SNAP benefits).


Visit the Produce Points table at the Franklin Farmers Market to convert SNAP dollars into Produce Points dollars. Double your Dollars allows Food Stamp customers to purchase twice as much fresh, local produce. For example, if a customer wishes to spend $5 in food stamps (SNAP), the Produce Points table will exchange the $5 EBT amount for $10 in Produce Points dollars to spend at the Franklin Farmers Market.


Under the Produce Points program, people who qualify for federal food stamps pay for their goods with their electronic benefits cards at the Produce Points table. They will then receive double their dollar amount in Produce Points dollars to use at the Franklin Farmers Market that day or in the future. Vendors are reimbursed for the Produce Points by the Franklin Food Pantry, which received grant funding for this program from the MetroWest Community HealthCare Foundation.

1. The Franklin Farmers Market is only the second farmers market in Norfolk County to accept food stamps (SNAP benefits) (first was Dedham, over 22 miles away)
2. Nearly twice as many MA residents rely on food stamps (SNAP benefits) today as did just 4 years ago (from 238,000 in January 2007 to 440,000 in January of 2011, an 85 percent spike)

We believe everyone has the right to access healthy, affordable food choices. The intent of the Produce Points Double your Dollars program is to provide SNAP beneficiaries with an incentive and access to healthy, local food choices. We also hope this program will make the Franklin Farmers Market more accessible to everyone in the community.


For more information, please contact Anne Marie Bellavance at 508-528-3115 or Tim Grebowski at 508-446-5806.

Budget Monitor: The Fiscal Year 2012 General Appropriations Act

Explore our online budget database Is our research helpful to you? Support our work Contact Info   Noah Berger   President    nberger@massbudget.org   (617) 426-1228 x102  Budget Monitor: The Fiscal Year 2012 General Appropriations Act    July 19, 2011      The Governor and Legislature have now finished work on a budget for Fiscal Year 2012 that addresses a $1.9 billion gap primarily with a combination of cuts and reforms. The outlook for the future remains uncertain.  On the bright side, state tax revenue collections have been significantly exceeding projections.  (Data released today indicate that the FY 2011 tax revenue total was $723 million above the revised estimate).  But there are also reasons for concern:  the national economic recovery remains fragile; while the FY 2012 budget relies on less temporary revenue than the FY 2011 budget, it still relies on close to half a billion dollars of such revenue; and the budget assumes significant Medicaid savings that will be very challenging to achieve in full.       The FY 2012 budget includes deep cuts in a number of areas including $24 million from the Judiciary (including probation) and over $60 million in public higher education.  The final version of the budget also includes $460 million less in local aid in FY 2012 than in the original FY 2009 budget, after accounting for inflation.    This Budget Monitor discusses in more detail several reform initiatives, the funding proposals in the state budget, and the temporary and ongoing revenue initiatives on which the budget depends. The Monitor also compares proposed funding levels for FY 2012 to the FY 2011 levels, and, in some cases to previous years' funding levels.    The report is available at www.massbudget.org or by clicking here.     See MassBudget's Budget Browser to explore Massachusetts state budgets from Fiscal Year 2001 to the present, as well as budget proposals for the next fiscal year as they are offered by the Governor and the Legislature.     MassBudget provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies, as well as economic issues, with particular attention to the effects on low- and moderate-income people.

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