July 24 - DESE Releases Guidance on:
- Courses Requiring Additional Safety Considerations https://t.co/2uxffPxv0K
- Remote Learning - https://t.co/7FvkM0WLm3
pic.twitter.com/M1FH8HTlWB — M.A.S.S. (@massupt) July 24, 2020
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| DESE released guidance on 'Courses Requiring Additional Safety Considerations' and 'Remote Learning' |
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| Talk Franklin: "Mid-summer in Franklin: What's going on and what's coming up! |
Listen to "Mid-summer in Franklin: What's going on and what's coming up! " Tune in to stay updated! Thanks, @FranklinMatters #FranklinMA #ThePlacetoBe #StayConnected #news #events⚓ https://t.co/XFN0qCvpwY https://t.co/lY65wHbFpr(https://twitter.com/TOFranklinMA/status/1286751442947252225?s=03)
"Massachusetts tax collections in the fiscal year that ended June 30 are about $3 billion lower than what budget managers were expecting when they crafted the $43.3 billion state budget a year ago, according to preliminary data released Friday by the Department of Revenue.
Revenue officials said incomplete revenue collections for fiscal year 2020 so far total $27.276 billion, which is $2.417 billion or 8.1 percent less than fiscal year 2019 and $3.014 billion or 9.9 percent below the year-to-date benchmark.
But because the tax filing deadline was moved from April 15 to July 15 and DOR is still collecting fiscal 2020 taxes, the agency said the fiscal 2020 revenue total is expected to be updated over the next several weeks."
“Approximately 81 percent of the year-to-date shortfall is in non-withheld income tax, which is due in large part to the deferral of the deadlines for personal income tax returns and payments and the first two estimated payment installments to July 15, 2020,” Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder said. “DOR will be releasing a full FY2020 revenue report in September because recently enacted legislation requires the Comptroller to record income tax payments received between July 1 and August 31 as FY20 revenue. We will continue to closely monitor these delayed FY20 revenue collections.”Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
Here is a link to a video update I plan on sharing on a weekly basis. Please click the link under the video and submit questions / concerns around our return to school. I hope you all are able to have a peaceful weekend.
"The predictions of science are bleak based on our current approach to the problem of carbon pollution. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There is nothing inevitable about the predictions. We still have the option to construct a good future. We have the power to build a world that does more than simply avoid catastrophe. And we can create a thriving, sustainable future that our children’s children will thank us for.
Franklin had a very warm winter. According to The Globe it is “likely to end up being among the top five or six warmest since records have been kept.”
While it is easy to say we have been lucky, last winter’s warmth is not some fluke of good fortune. If we just keep on doing what we are doing, U.S. Government scientists say that for Massachusetts, by the year by 2100, the number of days above 90 degrees Fahrenheit will increase from the usual five to 20 days to an uncomfortable 30 to 60 days.
Imagine summertime in Franklin with all of July and August above 90 degrees! If last summer’s heat wave was uncomfortable, summers in the future will be awful."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
"Massachusetts will impose new restrictions on travelers from most of the United States next week, threatening fines of $500 per day for those who do not quarantine or prove they tested negative for COVID-19, the Baker administration announced Friday.
Under Gov. Charlie Baker’s new executive order, anyone entering Massachusetts will need to fill out a form summarizing their travel, then either self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival or submit negative test results for the highly infectious virus no more than 72 hours old.
The new policy that takes effect Aug. 1 is an escalation of a travel advisory that has been in place for months, adding enforcement mechanisms as new infections continue to surge in states outside the northeast. Individuals who do not follow the mandatory quarantine order could be fined $500 per day, according to a press release from Baker’s office.
Travel from states considered low-risk -- defined as having a daily case rate of less than six people per 100,000 and a positive test rate below 5 percent -- will be exempt from the quarantine or test policies. As of Friday, eight states are on that list: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday morning signed the $1.1 billion COVID-19 spending bill sent to his desk last week, though he vetoed sections dealing with past MassHealth payments and a program spending floor.
The bill (H 4808) included hundreds of millions of dollars for some of the more obvious COVID-19 costs, like $350 million for personal protective equipment, $85 million spent on field hospitals and shelters, $44 million for the contact tracing collaborative, and more than $111 million in supplemental payments to hospitals and providers.
The Baker administration has said that many of the pandemic-related appropriations will be mostly reimbursed by the federal government, and the governor urged the Legislature to act quickly, saying that Massachusetts is in a race with other states to access a limited pool of resources available for reimbursement.
“Now that this authorization is in place, state agencies can finalize the documentation needed to secure federal reimbursement where available, in particular from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),” Baker wrote in his signing letter. “Federal reimbursement will be supplemented with other federal funding sources, including but not limited to money from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. As such, the net state cost is expected to be $0.”Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
Today I signed a supplemental budget bill that authorizes #COVID19MA spending and also establishes #Juneteenth Independence Day as an annual state holiday on June 19 in order to recognize the continued need to ensure racial freedom and equality.➡️READ: https://t.co/xg3iTJbjlu https://t.co/ZqIQBULeRo
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| Gov Baker signs funding bill and Juneteenth holiday legislation |
"For months, an automobile manufacturer-backed opposition campaign has argued that a proposal to increase access to vehicle telematic data would expose drivers and the public to both safety and privacy risks. Now, they have a new ally in their effort to get a Massachusetts ballot question shot down: the federal government.
At the request of state lawmakers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) waded into debate on a potential update to Massachusetts law this week, writing that the initiative petition as written would require remote access to vehicle functions “that may potentially pose an unreasonable risk to safety.”
“Two of the most important (cybersecurity) techniques -- logical and physical isolation of vehicle control systems from external connections, and controlling access to firmware that executes vehicle functions -- may be rendered impossible by the provisions of this ballot initiative,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator James Owens wrote to state legislators. “The ballot initiative requires vehicle manufacturers to redesign their vehicles in a manner that necessarily introduces cybersecurity risks, and to do so in a timeframe that makes design, proof, and implementation of any meaningful countermeasure effectively impossible.”
The chairs of the Legislature’s Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee, Rep. Tackey Chan and Sen. Paul Feeney, asked the NHTSA to weigh in on the impacts of the ballot question. The question is headed to the Nov. 3 ballot in part because lawmakers opted against stepping in and passing an alternative bill."
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| Senate Passes Legislation to Enhance Stroke Care System |
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| Senate Passes Bill to Support Restaurants During COVID-19 |
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| Senate Passes Bill to Update Credit Union Regulation |
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| Franklin events today! |
"We're excited to let you know that residents of the Town of Franklin are eligible to subscribe to a new local shared community solar farm that is being built by Nexamp and going live in Summer 2021. Nexamp will be hosting online information sessions on August 25th and August 26th for all Franklin residents to learn more about how you can tap into these solar farms to reduce your electric bill.
The solar farm, located on Spring Street in Franklin, will add more than a 6.3 MW of renewable energy to National Grid's electricity grid, or enough electricity to power more than 800 homes. This community solar farm falls under Massachusetts' community solar program, which allows residents to subscribe to a share of a local solar farm and go solar without rooftop panels.
Subscribers receive credits on their National Grid electric bill for the energy produced by their solar farm share. Nexamp normally provides these credits at a 12.5% discount but, through a special agreement with the Town of Franklin, Nexamp is offering a special discount rate of 15% to Franklin residents, meaning subscribers can save even more on their annual electricity costs.
There's no upfront cost and no long-term commitment - you can cancel your community solar share with no penalties.
Nexamp and Franklin have worked together to ensure that a portion of the farm has been reserved for Franklin residents. Openings are on a first-come, first-served basis until October 15th. To learn more or to subscribe right now, please visit solar.nexamp.com/Franklin or call Nexamp at 800-945-5124.
You can also join Nexamp at one of the upcoming information sessions to learn more about the program and the special offer for Franklin residents. Each session runs for about 30 minutes and includes a program overview followed by a time of interactive Q&A.
Tuesday, August 25 7:00 pm https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84925478387
Wednesday, August 26 1:00 pm https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85976472137
You can quickly and easily register for either session by visiting the links above. having you join us."
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| solar farm installation at Mount St Mary's Abbey in progress in July 2013 |
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