Registration is now open! https://www.franklinmmm.com/
Music Together Holiday Mini Session - registration open |
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 *
Music Together Holiday Mini Session - registration open |
Veterans Day Celebration - Nov 11 at 1:30 PM on the Franklin Town Common |
walkway progress this week (beginning 11/4/18) |
walkway progress in recent weeks (10/26/18) |
FHS volleyball rallies to win 3-2, advances to D1 Central West final |
LET'S LAUGH TODAY in Franklin is on Wednesday, Nov 14 |
My FM 101.3 Wins International Public Service Award |
"Next year’s enrollment at Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School will be bigger than ever.
With the anticipated opening of a new 72,000-square-foot school building for the 2019-20 school year, the enrollment lottery will be open to 302 new students ranging from K-5.
A lottery will select 92 kindergartners and 42 students in each grade from first to fifth. In the current building, said Executive Director Heather Zolnowski, the school has only been able to accept 50 kindergarten students.
“We’re really excited to have the opportunity to be able to open our school and academic program to more families,” she said."
Charter School: Applications Now Open |
"It’s called a citizens agenda because that’s what it is, a list of action items and declared priorities. What campaign coverage should achieve is serious discussion (among candidates, journalists, campaign observers… and the public) of the stuff on the citizen’s agenda. Election year journalism succeeds, in this model, when it raises awareness, clarity, knowledge and the overall quality of discourse around the various items on the citizen’s agenda. It fails when it permits confusion, ignorance, neglect, demagoguery and silence to prevail on those same items. Truth, fairness, accuracy and non-interference in an outcome that should be determined by voters, not the media: these remain bedrock principles. But there is an agenda here. Journalists should not hesitate to take action on it. They should be clear with themselves and up front with voters about what they’re doing. This isn’t the View from Nowhere."
'Campaign coverage: the road not taken.' There was a path the American press could have walked, but did not. This alternative way was illuminated as far back as 1992. Our political journalists declined it. And here we are. This thread is that story. 1/
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) November 6, 2018https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1059864337928671233
Election Information for Nov 2018 |
Sara Jean Ford |
"State Rep. Jeff Roy, D-Franklin, won another term representing the 10th Norfolk District, defeating opponent Patrick Casey by earning nearly 60 percent of the vote.
Roy, who won by a tally of 11,304-8,038, said Tuesday there are four key areas that he’s been working on while in office – schools, addiction, health care reform and economic development.
“I think a lot of people are awake and realize that this is a very important election, not only nationally but here locally,” said Roy holding a sign on Tuesday afternoon. “This election is about the soul of America and what direction we want to head in.”
In Medway, Roy, who has served three two-year terms, received 2,727 votes over Republican Casey, a Franklin Town Council member, who had 1,996. In Franklin, Roy received 8,577 votes to Casey’s 6,042."
"Democratic challenger Becca Rausch pulled an upset, defeating incumbent state Sen. Richard Ross, R-Wrentham, in the Norfolk, Bristol, and Middlesex District, according to the Rausch campaign.
The final count was 37,323-35,641, announced in a text message to the Daily News by the Rausch campaign.
Rausch texted at approximately 1:20 a.m. Wednesday, “WE WON!!!! Pending confirmation of all the numbers, but we are confident.” The outcome hung on the result from Attleboro, the last of the 12 communities in the district to report. Attleboro went 3,387-3,055 for Ross."
Election Information for Nov 2018 |
FREE Two-Night Women's Self Defense Workshop - Nov 13-14 |
Franklin Turkey Trot Registration OPEN |
"Three democratic women were re-elected to office: Maura Healey, Suzanne Bump and Deborah Goldberg.
Massachusetts went solidly for incumbents at the top of Tuesday’s ballot, and it wasn’t just the landslide for Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Sen. Elizabeth Warren."
"Voters in Massachusetts have rejected a ballot question that would have set patient-to-nurse ratio limits in Bay State medical facilities, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
“I’m very disappointed by tonight’s results and the impact that this will have on our patients,” said Donna Kelly–Williams, of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, as reported by our media partner, WCVB-TV.
The ballot question would have established nurse-to-patient ratios in various hospital units and set penalties for hospitals that failed to comply."
"Massachusetts voters have approved a ballot question stemming from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on corporate political spending.
The measure calls for creation of a 15-member commission that would be charged with advancing a constitutional amendment that would reverse the 2010 Citizens United decision. The ruling prohibits the government from limiting political spending by corporations, unions and other groups.
Critics say the ruling has paved the way for corporations and wealthy special interests to spend freely and exert undue influence on political campaigns."
"Massachusetts voters resoundingly reaffirmed the rights of transgender people Tuesday, voting by a 2-1 ratio to uphold the 2016 state law that bars discrimination against them in such public places as restaurants, bars, and athletic facilities.
With 69 percent of ballots tallied, the “Yes on 3” side, which favored preserving the nondiscrimination law, was leading 68 percent to 32 percent.
Transgender activists, volunteers, and family members who gathered for an election night watch party at the Fairmont Copley Plaza roared at the news of victory just before 10 p.m., waving a flag representing transgender rights and chanting “Yes on 3!”
Election Information for Nov 2018 |
Election Information for Nov 2018 |
Franklin Newcomers and Friends 45th annual Craft Fair - Nov 10 |
Election Information for Nov 2018 |
Christmas on the Common - Nov 25 |
FHS Panthers |
FHS field hockey wins to move on to semi-finals on Thursday |
The Franklin Distinguished Young Women program is an official local preliminary of Distinguished Young Women, a national scholarship program that promotes and rewards scholarship, leadership, and talent in young women.
Info night for Gr Franklin Distinguished Young Women Program - Nov 14 |
Charter School: Applications Now Open |
"A developer plans to build 53 new single-family homes on what is Schmidt’s Farm at 215 Prospect St., according to plans submitted to the Department of Planning and Community Development.
Maddi North Street Development LLC wants to build the homes on 114.5 acres in a subdivision called Prospect Farms.
The homes would be built along a new 6,650-foot horseshoe-shaped road, with a small side street reconnecting with the main one. The main road would connect Prospect Street to Nicholas Drive , according to the plans."
"In Massachusetts, about 120,000 people are living with dementia of some variety.
In Franklin an estimated 13 percent of citizens over 65, or about 548 people, have been diagnosed with the disease and according to director at the Franklin Senior Center Karen Alves, that number is expected to grow over the next decade.
“We want a community that is respectful and aware of dementia, folks who are living with it, and their caregivers,” Alves said. “We’re looking to reduce the stigma of dementia, as well as the social isolation that folks that are living with it experience.”
The senior center is now taking steps for the town to become one of the municipalities in the state that will have official Dementia Friendly Community status. The facility was recently awarded a grant of $12,000 and is now putting the money to work to ease the lives of people living with dementia and their caretakers."
"That’s what it’s about, thinking about it differently" |
"It’s no small secret vaping happens at a school near you.
In 2015, nearly 50 percent of Massachusetts high-school students and nearly 10 percent of middle-school students reported having used some type of electronic-vapor product. And inhaling vaporized liquid through an electronic, battery-powered device has only become more prevalent, especially with the surging popularity of the brand name JUUL, raising serious health concerns.
“The popularity of JUUL among kids threatens our progress in reducing youth e-cigarette use,” said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We are alarmed that these new high-nicotine-content e-cigarettes, marketed and sold in kid-friendly flavors, are so appealing to our nation’s young people.”
Despite its widespread popularity, however, there remains a lot of confusion related to vaping, which has surpassed cigarette use among middle- and high-school students."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
"The hacking accusation is not the first from Kemp accusing outsiders of trying to penetrate his office. Immediately after the 2016 general election, Kemp declared that DHS tried to hack his office’s network, an accusation dismissed as unfounded in mid-2017 by the DHS inspector general.
Georgia’s centrally managed elections system lacks a verifiable paper trail that can be audited in case of problems. The state is one of just five nationwide that continues to rely exclusively on aged electronic voting machines that computer scientists have long criticized as untrustworthy because they are easily hacked and don’t leave a paper trail.
In 2015, Kemp’s office inadvertently released the Social Security numbers and other identifying information of millions of Georgia voters. His office blamed a clerical error.
His office made headlines again last year after security experts disclosed a gaping security hole that wasn’t fixed until six months after it was first reported to election authorities. Personal data was again exposed for Georgia voters — 6.7 million at the time — as were passwords used by county officials to access files."
Election Information for Nov 2018 |