Gov. Patrick Won’t Support Latest Transportation Finance Plan
By: Bret Silverberg Gov. Deval Patrick said he would not support a new transportation finance plan that would create $ 500 million in new taxes.
Locals Launch Foundation to Support Transplant Patients
Last March, John Morelli underwent double transplant surgery, receiving a heart and liver during an 18-hour procedure at Massachusetts General Hospital. Preparing for the surgery and then recovering – re-learning to eat, stand, walk and even write again – meant weeks in the hospital. It meant that his wife Stacey and sons Griffin, Tyler and Joshua spent many hours and days away from their home in East Braintree, and when they were home, everyday routines like baseball practice and making dinner became a challenge. Fortunately, support from the community poured in. A group created Friends of John Morelli that held a fundraiser prior to his surgery, and others prepared meals, created a schedule to give rides to practices and games for the Morelli boys and purchased vouchers for the family to use when visiting the hospital. Those efforts, and the experience meeting other patients’ families who did not have the same kind of support system, prompted John and Stacey to create the Transplant Foundation of New England. They launched the organization last month and have started helping their first transplant candidate, a local man named Francis Buckley who has been awaiting his second heart transplant since September at Mass General. With the assistance of a team that includes Morelli’s cardiologist, several business associates and friends, the foundation’s aim is to offer support, financial and otherwise, to members of the transplant community. This ranges from giving families gift cards to restaurants and grocery stores, to helping offset medical bills and providing transportation and childcare. Morelli, who has a management background, including a stint at The Red Cross Blood Service of New England, created a detailed plan for the foundation, including guidelines on how it will operate and a lengthy list of responsibilities for the board of directors. The vision, as outlined by Morelli on the organization’s website, is to keep operating costs at or below 25 percent. He projects first-year funding to hit $ 500,000, increasing to $ 1 million in year two and $ 2 million by year five. The foundation, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization, will partner with corporations, seek grants and vendors, and also look for individual and group donations. Anyone looking to contribute can do so at http://transplantfoundationofnewengland.org/donation.html. South End Patch
Categories: Arrests Tags: Foundation, Launch, Locals, Patients, Support, Transplant
City Opens Emotional and Mental Health Drop-In Support Center
The Boston Public Health Commission has opened a new drop-in center to provide emotional support to anyone affected by the bombings at the Boston Marathon. People have experienced a wide range of emotions following the bombing and the BPHC is offering sessions with trained clinicians to speak with anyone who needs to talk. This free service is available at the Boston Area Health Education Center at 729 Massachusetts Avenue from 2 to 6 p.m. through Friday this week. Free parking is available at the adjacent garage at 35 Northampton Street. The center will offer one-on-one time with trained clinicians as well as facilitation of group conversations. The city encourages groups from particular workplace or community members affected by the attack. The Mayor’s Health Line will continue to provide free trauma counseling and support over the phone. They can be reached at 617-534-5050, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. South End Patch
Runners to Show Support for Marathon Victims Monday Evening
Runners in more than 100 cities and towns across America are participating in group runs Monday evening to show their support for Boston Marathon bombing victims. The runners were inspired by a blogger, Brian Kelley (Pavement Runner) who is organizing a #BostonStrong event for runners in San Francisco, and who has invited others to do the same in their towns. As of midday Monday, people in 115 cities and towns across America had created Facebook event pages for their respective towns. Others, including a handful of local moms in Wakefield who write a weekly parenting column for Patch.com, have organized their own informal events to show their support. “I feel like I need to do something. Something more than a donation. Something more than a blog post or a photo or a graphic,” Kelley wrote on his Pavement Runner blog. “I’m inspired by the community and how we have come together and shown our support, shed our tears, and expressed our fears.” Are you organizing a running event in the Boston area? Share details in the comments section below. South End Patch
VIDEO: Boylston Street Business Shows Support with ‘26.2together’ Signs
Two women from Breakaway Innovation Group on Boylston Street were at the Boston Marathon victims’ memorial at Boylston and Berkeley streets on Thursday afternoon handing out printed signs to show their support in the aftermath of Monday’s bombing. The small posters show a Boston skyline with an overlay of a red Boston “B” and text reading “26.2gether.” “We just thought it would be nice to print these out and give them to local places in support and solidarity for the whole community,” said Breakaway employee Megan Brock of Somerville. ProPrint on Boylston Street donated 250 copies of the poster. South End Patch
Do You Support Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws?
Mandatory minimum sentence laws remain popular on Beacon Hill. Just last summer, the state passed the so-called “three strikes” bill, which Gov. Deval Patrick signed despite reservations. However, a new study says that such laws cost the state and taxpayers millions each year—and potentially billions in the future—without much return on investment, as Massachusetts’ recidivism rate remains high compared to other states. Nonpartisan research group MassINC commissioned the study in partnership with the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, a group of those in the criminal justice realm, businessmen and women and community organizers. The study said that the state’s prison population has tripled since the early 1980s because of Massachusetts’ criminal justice policies, while 60 percent of state inmates and a similar percentage of county inmates end up convicted of new charges within six years of release. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of drug offenders and almost 60 percent of non-drug offenders received sentences where the minimum and maximum were very similar. “This sentence structure limits parole eligibility, reducing the incentive offenders have to take steps to self-rehabilitate while in prison,” the report says. “It also means more offenders return to the community without supervision.” Meanwhile, Massachusetts spends an estimated $ 150 each year to keep inmates in jail for longer stays than those committing similar offenses in 1990, the report said. Without reform, over the course of the next decade that figure will total $ 1.5 billion. “This new report looks to models developed elsewhere, including in many ‘red states’ that have stopped prison construction, reduced mandatory sentences, and invested in evidence-based programs to cut cost and increase public safety,” the report says. “Instead of spending more on what doesn’t work, states like Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas are spending less on what does.” Meanwhile, in battling recidivism, Massachusetts has passed in recent years criminal record information reforms, such as prohibiting employers from asking about criminal history on preliminary job application, and reducing the amount of time before certain criminal records can be sealed. Should mandatory minimum sentencing laws be cleared from the books? Should the state keep such laws for specific, serious crimes? How can the state make it easier for those released from prison to be reintegrated in society—and keep them from becoming repeat offenders? Tell us what you think in the comments. South End Patch
Patrick Addresses Hundreds at Rally to Support His Budget Plan [VIDEO]
Hundreds of people bused in from across the state packed into a State House auditorim Tuesday morning to rally in support of Gov. Deval Patrick’s tax plan, which they say is critical to make much-needed improvements in education and transportation infrastructure. The rally, which was organized by Campaign for our Communities, a coalition of over 120 organizations across the commonwealth, ended with attendees heading off to the offices of their representatives, urging them to vote for Patrick’s plan. The governor’s $ 34.8 billion budget proposal calls for an increase in the income tax from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent and the elimination of 44 deductions coupled with a decrease in the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent and a doubling of personal exemption. Patrick said at Tuesday’s rally that the time had come to speak as “grown-ups, in a fact-based way, about taxes, because taxes are the price of civilization.” By Patrick’s estimates, those who make under $ 62,000 a year shouldn’t see an increase in taxes and that those who make $ 100,000 will, on average, see a rise of a $ 300 to $ 400. To allow individuals to see how the plan would affect their taxes, the governor’s office last week released an online tool that calculates users’ tax bill. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch