"Early Stages of event. Everything is pending due to the pandemic.
Follow the event for further details and if you would like to have a vendor table or would like to donate for the raffle table please reach out.
Thank you"
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| JohnnyMac presents: Toys For Tots Festival - July 24, 2021 |
"New Support group added: starting MARCH 15th, 18+ sibling support group for anyone with a loved one grappling with substance use disorder💜 "Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten"
"SAFE is a regional coalition of community partners in Western Norfolk County (serving Franklin, Foxboro, Mansfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, Plainville, Walpole, Wrentham and surrounding towns) who have come together to provide a pathway for support, education, treatment options and coping mechanisms for those affected by substance use disorder. We do so by empowering those affected, including their families, with the tools necessary to succeed on their journey to recovery. We understand that while I can’t, we can."
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| SAFE Coalition announces new support group for substance abuse |
To Receive This Newsletter Monthly or Other Town Notifications, Please Click Here.
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| Franklin Senior Center: Connections Newsletter - March 2021 |
"Results are in for Hockomock Cup Placements! Congratulations girls so very proud of you!
@FHSSports @FranklinHS @KatCornetta @MetroWestSports @HockomockSports @fhsgymboosters @FranklinMatters @BuzzMyfm "
https://t.co/UdoaVG8OsQ
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| FHS Gymnastics: Hockomock Cup Placements |
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| FHS Gymnastics: Hockomock Cup Placements 1 |
The Franklin Youth Hockey Association (FYHA) player evaluation schedule for the 2021-2022 season is now posted on our website (https://t.co/G6QVHoZYk4).
Registration will close on Monday, 3/8. @FHSPantherHocke @fhsvgockey @FranklinMatters @FranklinRec
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| player evaluation schedule for the 2021-2022 season |
"This piece from @onesarahjones gets at the heart of one of the things I have found most disheartening about the pandemic. It gave us a chance to refocus on the vast inequities in our society, and instead it's making them wider."
"Public opinion does not, of course, dictate scientific consensus. Even so, the science isn’t as settled as many claim. While it’s true that kids aren’t as likely to fall seriously ill with COVID and aren’t as likely to spread the virus, the risk isn’t zero. As The Intercept reported in January, three recent studies indicate that the risks posed by reopening schools vary depending on rates of community transmission. According to one of the studies, reopening schools in Florida did lead to higher incidences of COVID infection among school-age children. Teachers in a school building can also spread the virus to one another and to parents if mitigation strategies aren’t sound."
In no particular order these are photos and links to the Planning Board documents for the approved projects underway in and around Franklin.
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| Amego on Washington St |
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| Bus facility on Panther Way |
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| 340 East Central St |
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| Mixed use development (residential, retails, coffee shop) |
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| On Sunday's walk, the auto dealer building is half gone |
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| Fairfield Residences on Dean Ave (now Station 117) |
I have written in other places about my 'following the money' by focusing on the Finance Committee, the School Committee and the Town Council. In so doing, I do acknowledge leaving the whole "planning process" (Planning Board, Design Review, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Conservation Commission) out of the coverage. Frankly, I have only so much time. Someday, maybe if the 'cloning thing' works, I can do both. In the meantime, I'll repeat the offer:
If you have interest in reporting on any one (or more) of the planning process meetings, I'll gladly help you get set up. You do need the interest and a basic capability to write what you hear about and see. It does take time but does provide its rewards.
PS - If I missed a project that you have a question about, let me know.
Emily Vinson, a 2020 Franklin High School graduate, has won The Friends of Franklin Library Scholarship in Memory of Wilma Winters. She received $1,000 toward the cost of her college education.
Vinson was selected as the contest winner based on her essay about a book that changed her thinking, "Becoming" by Michelle Obama. The former first lady's autobiography, Vinson wrote, inspired her to persevere through difficulties and to serve her community.
"In these challenging times today, I hoped what I learned in the book 'Becoming' can help me focus on the positive, recognize there is still good in the world, and help others," Vinson wrote.
Now a Providence College student, Vinson has volunteered at the library, senior center and elsewhere. She also served as a basketball referee through the Franklin Recreation Department, an experience she used in her essay as an example of how perseverance turned her from a soft-spoken, unsure official to a confident one that over time earned the respect of players and coaches.
The Friends of Franklin Library established its scholarship program in 2014 as part of an effort to honor Wilma Winters, a longtime Franklin resident and library supporter. Winters, who had a long career in higher education, worked for many years as a librarian, including at Boston University Medical School and Harvard’s School of Public Health. She spent her retirement years volunteering at the Franklin Public Library. Winters died in 2011, leaving a sizable donation to The Friends.
The scholarship program has assisted college-bound Franklin students in each of the past seven years. It will be awarded again this year to a member of the Class of 2021.
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| Lisa Rein, left, a Friends of Franklin Library board member, presents a check to Emily Vinson, winner of the Friends of Franklin Library Scholarship in Memory of Wilma Winters |
our very own FAA member Dennis Sardella will present "Science and Modern Art".
Someone comparing a medieval and modern artwork may find themselves puzzling, "How on earth did we get from there to here?" Art experienced two revolutionary periods that radically changed how artists saw and depicted the world, and that paralleled two revolutionary periods in which science underwent similar changes. This talk will be a visual exploration of how those two ways of seeing the world developed, and how they led from the "there" of medieval art to to the "here" of modern art."
Dennis Sardella has been a docent at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton since 2012, where he leads gallery tours and introduces visitors to the world of Russian icons. He also writes about icons, and speaks regularly to civic and church groups on the topics of religious icons and the role they play in Eastern Christian spirituality.
From 1967 until 2012 he was a tenured Professor of Chemistry at Boston College. In 1990 he became the founding director of the Boston College Presidential Scholars Program, a university-wide co-curricular honors program, and directed it until 2010. For 17 years he and his wife Marjorie, a fine art photographer, led groups of Boston College Presidential Scholars on month-long study trips to France, and it was during those trips that he began to speak to students about science and modern art.
If you haven't already done so, don't forget to download the free app Zoom to your devices (phone, laptop, ipad etc.) and practice using prior to our "first Wednesday of the month" meetings. There are "how to" instructions on the Zoom website as well as YouTube. FAA now has its own Zoom account, with its own Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82181910922?pwd=ME9aTGtvRVJFVlg2aDBlMllVT1ZZdz09
Looking forward to seeing you all then!
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| Monthly Virtual Meeting: Presentation by Dennis Sardella!! - Wed - March 3 |
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| Economic Development Subcommittee - Agenda - Mar 3, 2021 |
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| Health Director Cathleen Liberty presenting to the School Committee meeting 2/23/21 |
Today's Black History Month Video is a special 2 Part Video about John Lewis! https://t.co/nlSq6fDIM2
Today's Black History Month Video is a special 2 Part Video about John Lewis! pic.twitter.com/nlSq6fDIM2
— FHS A World of Difference (@Franklin_AWOD) February 28, 2021
Part 2! pic.twitter.com/lgZL2AKITx
— FHS A World of Difference (@Franklin_AWOD) February 28, 2021
"We are so proud of the creativity of our faculty and staff! @MsDoherty_ART #franklinpsnews
Arts Education During COVID: The Show Must Go On! | NEAI must also include
Read the article online = https://t.co/YTdG58qijV"
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| Temple Etz Chaim: 3K Family Walk Run or Ride FUNdRaiser |
"Use all of the tools available to #StoptheSpread. Keep your friends and family safe by wearing a mask and practicing social distancing. #COVID19MA" https://t.co/fsTh7qLCPD
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| Mass.gov: "Use all of the tools available to #StoptheSpread" |
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday formally accepted the recommendation from its advisory panel that Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine can be given to people ages 18 and older in the United States.
The announcement by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky will allow vaccinations to begin as soon as the doses are received.
Walensky called the decision "another milestone toward an end to the pandemic."
"This vaccine is also another important tool in our toolbox to equitably vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible," Walensky said in a statement.
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| Have you used the Suggestion Box? | Town of Franklin MA |
1. ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CHAIR
This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon Channel 29. This meeting may be recorded by others.
2. CITIZEN COMMENTS
Citizens are welcome to express their views for up to five minutes on a matter that is not on the agenda. The Council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during Citizen Comments. The Town Council will give remarks appropriate consideration and may ask the Town Administrator to review the matter.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
10. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
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| Franklin, MA: Town Council Meeting - Mar 3, 2021 - Agenda |
It warms me. It warms me not.
by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 02/28/2021
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| March On! (Franklin TV photo) |
FM #475 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 475 in the series.
This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Kristi Morin of the Working Moms Social Club based in Franklin. We had our conversation via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.
We talk about:
Links to the Working Moms Social Club web and Facebook pages are included in the show notes. The recording runs about 16 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Kristi. Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/ea6273a6-982c-4bc3-b198-bf9110c38989
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Working Moms Social Club web page = https://www.workingmomsocialclub.org/
Facebook page = https://www.facebook.com/workingmomsocialclub
Email for questions, etc. = admin@workingmomsocialclub.org
Article by Warren Reynolds at 02038.com = https://02038.com/2021/02/local-moms-help-working-mothers/
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
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| FM #475 Working Moms Social Club - 02/08/21 (audio) |
"This picture is a product of the pandemic, but also of the years leading up to it. And if half of what is happening in the for-sale market now seems straightforward — historically low interest rates and a pandemic desire for more space are driving demand — the other half is more complicated.“The supply side is really tricky,” said Benjamin Keys, an economist at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. “Who wants to sell a house in the middle of a pandemic? That’s what I keep coming back to. Is this a time you want to open your house up to people walking through it? No, of course not.”A majority of homeowners in America are baby boomers — a group at heightened risk from the coronavirus. If many of them have been reluctant to move out and downsize over the past year, that makes it hard for other families behind them to move in and upgrade."
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| New York Times: "Where Have All the Houses Gone?" |
The Fall 2 schedule may be found here: https://t.co/IcRCFVXkh2 or here
"The Hockomock League will continue to allow "HOME" spectators at their Fall II games; although limited to 2 parents & siblings per athlete. All will need to scan a QR code (for contact tracing purposes) & sign in upon entering. No spectators are allowed to attend scrimmage games."
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| Football and Volleyball schedule for Fall 2 season |
"Chances are it is the most influential amendment to the US constitution that you aren’t familiar with. Given its impact, it is astonishing how little the 14th amendment is discussed in public life. Americans can’t rattle it off like the first and second amendments – but its words have fundamentally shaped the modern definition of US citizenship and the principles of equality and freedom entitled to those within the country’s borders.Sitting at the crux of these key ideals, the 14th amendment is cited in more litigation than any other, including some of the US supreme court’s most well-known cases: Plessy v Ferguson, Brown v Board of Education, Loving v Virginia, Roe v Wade, Bush v Gore, Obergefell v Hodges. And because these noble notions are embedded in the 14th, it has the remarkable ability to generate both boundless hope (for the promises of that more perfect union aspired to in the constitution’s preamble) and crushing misery (for the failures to achieve such promises)."
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| Radiolab's first ever spin-off series, More Perfect |
"With no money to pay for college in post-World War II Scotland, 16-year-old June Almeida took an entry-level job in the histology department of a Glasgow hospital, where she learned to examine tissue under a microscope for signs of disease. It was a fortuitous move, for her and for science.In 1966, nearly two decades later, she used a powerful electron microscope to capture an image of a mysterious pathogen — the first coronavirus known to cause human disease."
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| Norman James/Toronto Star, via Getty Images |
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| Franklin Public Schools, MA: Budget Sub Committee - Mar 3 |
In my reporting for Franklin Matters, I like to use the line "to follow the money" and in so doing I focus on the Finance Committee, Town Council and School Committee. So this article on the profit approach of the vaccine makers caught my eye.
"Compare and contrast. AstraZeneca is currently producing COVID vaccines for no profit and still manages to get beaten up by opportunists in Brussels. Over in the US, Moderna is hailed as a national saviour while shouting from the rooftops about how its commercial prospects have been transformed by its own COVID vaccine.Moderna’s full-year statement on Thursday was extraordinary. The company expects to generate revenues of $18.4bn (£13.1bn) year from deals it has signed to supply its vaccine, which is priced at $30–$36 a shot, so is definitely intended to produce a chunky profit margin. That revenue forecast is enormous. For comparison, AstraZeneca’s entire established portfolio – for cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory treatments and more – generated sales of $26.6bn last year.The backstories to the vaccines are very different, of course. Moderna was a loss-making biotechnology firm that has poured billions into developing messenger RNA technology (also used in the BioNtech/Pfizer product) and a successful return on that investment was never guaranteed. AstraZeneca has merely accelerated original research done at Oxford University – and a condition of the partnership was “at cost” pricing for all the deals to date."
"Public health authorities want people to keep wearing masks and social distancing, even after they receive a vaccine. This might seem counterintuitive – after all, if someone gets a vaccine, aren’t they protected from the coronavirus?The answer is complicated: the vast majority of people who are vaccinated will be protected from Covid-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, vaccinated people may still be able to transmit the virus, even though they do not display any symptoms.“We know now the vaccines can protect, but what we haven’t had enough time to really understand is – does it protect from spreading?” said Avery August, professor of immunology at Cornell University.That is because the the SARS-CoV-2 virus may still colonize the respiratory tract, even as systemic immune cells protect the overall body from the disease it causes – Covid-19."
Although fewer people have been able to grab a beer at the pub during this pandemic, the global desire for beer prevails. For example, sales of the Corona beer actually shot up in the past year, despite—or perhaps because of—associations with the coronavirus.This World Beer Index from Expensivity (https://www.expensivity.com/beer-around-the-world/ )compares the average price of a bottle of beer in 58 countries in a detailed map. Additionally, we show which countries spend the most on beer per capita, and just how much beer people really drink.
