New York Times: "The Pandemic in Six-Word Memoirs"

From the New York Times, an article of interest for Franklin: 

"Since 2006, I’ve been challenging people to describe their lives in six words, a form I call the six-word memoir — a personal twist on the legendary six-word story attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

I’ve found that some of the most memorable six-word stories arise in the extremes — during our toughest and most joyous moments. So over the past several months, I’ve asked adults and children around the country to use the form to make sense of this moment in history: one person, one story, and six words at a time."

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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/opinion/coronavirus-pandemic-poetry-memoirs.html

Years ago I composed my 6 word resume as "Project delivered, team happy, customer elated". 

My pandemic entry is: "In the Zoom where it happened"

What would you write in 6 words?

Watch "Confronting Colonial Myths in Boston's Public Space: Highlight Video" on YouTube

Boston Artist-in-Residence Erin Genia led a panel series called Confronting Colonial Myths in Boston's Public Space, featuring Indigenous artists, leaders, and allies.  

"As part of her residency, Erin led a virtual panel series called "Confronting Colonial Myths in Boston's Public Space". In this two-part series, Indigenous leaders and artists spoke about their work in the public realm. They addressed how symbols perpetuating colonial myths affect the lives of Indigenous people in the City, and how these symbols contribute to the public health emergency of racism."

To watch the full series or listen to the podcast, visit https://www.boston.gov/departments/arts-and-culture/erin-genia

Video link:  https://youtu.be/UMx-XXpJkT4

 

Washington Post: "a far more muscular federal approach"

From The Washington Post, an article of interest for Franklin:

"Joe Biden has created a war-cabinet-in-waiting on the coronavirus pandemic, with major figures from the Obama, Clinton and George H.W. Bush administrations drafting plans for distributing vaccines and personal protective gear, dramatically ramping up testing, reopening schools and addressing health-care disparities.

The effort began six months ago when the campaign consulted David Kessler, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner under Presidents Bush and Bill Clinton, and Vivek H. Murthy, surgeon general under President Barack Obama, on how to run a presidential campaign during a pandemic.

The pair, along with a growing cadre of volunteer health experts, has been working behind the scenes to craft plans that could take effect Jan. 20, when the next president will take the oath of office, said Jake Sullivan, a senior policy adviser on the Biden campaign. 

Biden has laid out a far more muscular federal approach than has President Trump, whose “failures of judgment” and “repeated rejection of science” the Democrat first pilloried in a Jan. 27 op-ed about the crisis. Biden has said that he would urge state and local leaders to implement mask mandates if they are still needed, create a panel on the model of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s War Production Board to boost testing, and lay out detailed plans to distribute vaccines to 330 million people after they are greenlighted as safe and effective."

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/joe-biden-coronavirus-plan/2020/09/11/002b972c-eecc-11ea-99a1-71343d03bc29_story.html?

“I do believe that that authority has been there to deal with disasters”

From the Milford Daily News and CommonWealth Magazine, articles of interest for Franklin:

Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s highest court is poised to decide whether Gov. Charlie Baker’s string of executive orders were a legally appropriate response to contain the highly infectious virus or if he overstepped the authority outlined in law.

An attorney representing business owners and religious leaders who sued the Baker administration argued in court Friday that Baker has “turned the government upside-down” by taking significant individual action, rather than executing laws passed by the Legislature, during the public health crisis.

“At this point, the Legislature is left to approve or disapprove of the governor’s policy choices,” Michael DeGrandis, a lawyer with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, told justices. “That’s not how it’s supposed to work. The governor is merely supposed to execute the policy choices of the Legislature. For the Legislature to make a change, the Legislature would also have to have a veto-proof majority to do so. That is standing the government on its head. That’s not a republican form of government.”

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https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200912/plaintiffs-argue-legislature-not-governor-should-set-pandemic-policies?rssfeed=true

"SEVERAL MEMBERS of the Supreme Judicial Court seemed wary on Friday of upending the fight against COVID-19 during a hearing on a case challenging the sweeping powers Gov. Charlie Baker has exercised over the last seven months in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

The justices, meeting via a Zoom call, are being asked to declare the governor’s March 10 emergency declaration and his subsequent slew of executive orders illegal and void. The plaintiffs, a group of business owners and pastors, say the governor’s reliance on the 1950 Civil Defense Act for his authority was improper. They say the governor should have relied on the older Public Health Law that specifically deals with infectious diseases and grants additional powers to local boards of health. If the governor needs more authority to deal with the crisis, the plaintiffs say, he should go to the Legislature and ask for those powers.

There was a lot of legal discussion between the justices and the attorneys representing Baker and the plaintiffs, but the judges at various points seemed genuinely concerned about what would happen on the ground if they sided with the plaintiffs.

“Don’t you have to admit that Gov. Baker has done a pretty darn good job here, especially when you compare him to other states?” asked Justice Elspeth Cypher, who was appointed to the SJC by Baker."

Continue reading the article online
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/sjc-seems-wary-of-upending-covid-19-fight/

In the News: opportunity to re-purpose office buildings; Russia meddling in election

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin: 

"Commercial tenants say they can negotiate for lower rent payments because there’s a glut of office space on the market due to an increasing number of remote workers.

The long-term impact on commercial office space caused by the coronavirus pandemic is unknown, but it could be a rocky road.

Many companies turned to a remote workforce since March, and some are considering making it a permanent move. If that happens, owners of commercial buildings could lose vast numbers of tenants, and take a huge financial hit.

“Those who own commercial properties, they’re going to be devastated by that (potential scenario),” said Jim Giammarinaro, president of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce."

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https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200912/will-office-buildings-become-ghost-towns-because-of-coronavirus-pandemic?rssfeed=true 

  

"The leaked recordings were hardly a political bombshell: The apparent phone conversations between Joe Biden and Ukraine’s then-president largely confirm Biden’s account of his dealings in Ukraine.

But the choppy audio, disclosed by a Ukrainian lawmaker whom U.S. officials described Thursday as an “active Russian agent” who has sought to spread online misinformation about Biden, was nonetheless seized on by President Donald Trump as well as his supporters to promote conspiracy theories about the Democratic nominee. Social media posts and videos about the recordings have been viewed millions of times, according to an Associated Press analysis, even though Trump’s own administration says they rely on “false and unsubstantiated narratives.”

The audio’s proliferation on social media shows how foreign operations aimed at influencing the U.S. election are still easily reaching Americans, despite efforts by Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to rein in such meddling."

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https://www.milforddailynews.com/zz/news/20200912/biden-audio-first-shared-by-russian-agent-thrives-online?rssfeed=true 

9th Annual Renegade Run Obstacle Course Race Virtual Run to be held September 12-27, 2020 - Register today!

9th Annual Renegade Run Obstacle Course Race Virtual Run To Be Held September 12 – 27, 2020 Safety for our community, family and friends is the top priority of Type One. The 9th Annual Renegade Run Obstacle Course Race, sponsored by Type One, will now take place as a virtual event. During this challenging time, staying connected (and active) is more important than ever. While our event is typically held in October, the uncertainty of the virus has led us to make the decision to not have our 9th Renegade Run at the park. While the decision saddens us, we are determined to stay connected to you, and will move forward with a Virtual Run, which we promise will be unique to our Type One brand, and to you, our Renegades. The purpose of our Virtual Run is to have fun, stay motivated and to connect with each other as we continue to raise awareness and funds toward a cure for type 1 diabetes (T1D). Your registration fee supports our Type One Cares campaign, an amazing charity making huge strides to provide assistance to those living with T1D, while continuing to fund Dr. Faustman's efforts to advance research toward a cure for disease. Type One was founded in 2012 by a group of South Shore residents to support their friend Tyson Sunnerberg, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which a person's pancreas stops producing insulin, when he was 21 years old. On November 25, 2012, the first ever Renegade Run Obstacle Course Race was held raising awareness and funds toward a cure. Register today!!   https://typeonerenegaderun.com/register/

Spitler Race Systems
30 Orms St, Pawtucket, RI, 02861 United States

In the News: "Dakotas lead US in virus growth as both reject mask rules"; Franklin Town Clerk resigns

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:  

"Coronavirus infections in the Dakotas are growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, fueling impassioned debates over masks and personal freedom after months in which the two states avoided the worst of the pandemic.

The argument over masks raged this week in Brookings, South Dakota, as the city council considered requiring face coverings in businesses. The city was forced to move its meeting to a local arena to accommodate intense interest, with many citizens speaking against it, before the mask requirement ultimately passed.

Amid the brute force of the pandemic, health experts warn that the infections must be contained before care systems are overwhelmed. North Dakota and South Dakota lead the country in new cases per capita over the last two weeks, ranking first and second respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.

South Dakota has also posted some of the country’s highest positivity rates for COVID-19 tests in the last week — over 17 percent — an indication that there are more infections than tests are catching."

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https://www.milforddailynews.com/zz/news/20200912/dakotas-lead-us-in-virus-growth-as-both-reject-mask-rules?rssfeed=true 

Teresa Burr resigns

"A week after it was learned that 3,000 ballots sat uncounted in a vault on primary election night, Town Clerk Teresa Burr announced her intent to resign.

In a letter released Friday night to Town Council Chair Tom Mercer, Burr said she was resigning to “re-establish confidence with the voters of this community in their elections.”

“After the events of the past three months, this election season has been the most challenging election cycle of my career,” Burr wrote. “I fully support our Town Clerk office staff and election workers to take my place and lead this community through future elections.”

Franklin was one of three communities, along with Newton and Wellesley, to have uncounted ballots as of the morning of Sept. 2, the day after the primary. About 750 ballots that were dropped into Newton’s secure ballot drop boxes in the last three hours of the election went uncounted, while Wellesley was unable to get to about 100 ballots, between late drop box submissions and absentee ballots."

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https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200912/franklin-town-clerk-burr-resigns-after-election-snafu?rssfeed=true