Healthcare workers continue to suffer assaults and other incidents of workplace violence. The Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, the Massachusetts Division of 1199SEIU, the Massachusetts Emergency Nursing Association and the Massachusetts College of Emergency Physicians have come together to support meaningful, measurable and enforceable legislation addressing workplace violence in our healthcare facilities. Pass H.4767.
Last week, in the tiny Franklin County town of Wendell, an 84-year old’s house caught fire. With no municipal water, the fire department tried to pump a nearby pond but ultimately needed to truck water in.
In neighboring New Salem, the well serving a municipal building ran dry last winter and a pipe burst.
"And so they had no heat," Sen. Jo Comerford said. "They had no way to go to the bathroom. They certainly had no water. And they have no money to fix the pipes, and they have no way to get a new well. And these are the people who are stewarding Boston's water."
New Salem and Wendell are two of the dozen towns around the Quabbin Reservoir, which supplies Boston and other eastern Mass. communities served by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
Local leaders in the Quabbin Watershed have mounted a vocal advocacy push this year for both more attention and more money from Boston. They say payments in lieu of taxes they receive from the MWRA don’t cover the sacrifices they make to protect the capital region’s water.
Those sacrifices are both historical — some people who live in the watershed today come from families whose towns were flooded to create the reservoir almost 90 years ago — and economic. Local officials say keeping the Quabbin safe from pollution, so Boston can thrive, constrains their own development and tax bases.
“It’s the story of the east-west divide, magnified,” said Comerford, who’s been working with other members of the Quabbin delegation to amplify the region’s call.
In January, residents of the watershed wrote an open letter asking the people of eastern Massachusetts “to pay a few pennies more each month” for their water to help support the struggling towns that steward it.
So far, the watershed towns stand to receive what Comerford calls a “down payment” in an environmental bond bill being negotiated on Beacon Hill. The House and Senate both included language directing the MWRA to make two annual $50,000 payments to each of the watershed towns (though they disagree on exactly which towns). And the Senate version would go further, creating a trust fund for Quabbin host communities and giving the region a seat on the MWRA’s board of directors.
The communities will be able to make their case directly to MWRA officials today, as the MWRA directors meet at the Quabbin Visitors Center in Belchertown. Comerford said they'll hear “bitingly ironic” tales from the towns that surround the Quabbin but don’t receive its water.
“I'm hoping that hearts and minds get opened, and we understand that the status quo for the people who are stewarding this water is actually not morally possible any longer,” she said.
Hearts and minds are one thing. Wallets may be another story. The MWRA’s advisory board pushed back sharply last spring against legislation that would bump up water rates to send more money to the Quabbin host communities.
Tell me about your water woes at [email protected].
Likely Democratic primary voters overwhelmingly support H.2554. The message is clear: Massachusetts should close the loophole, protect routine childhood immunizations, and help prevent outbreaks before they disrupt classrooms, workplaces, and families across the Commonwealth.
HAPPENING TODAY
9:30 | Massachusetts Food Policy Council meets | Agenda and Access
10:00 | Executive Office of Health and Human Services hold a public hearing on increasing rates for family transitional support services | More Info and Access
11:15 | Lt. Gov. Driscoll tours the Franklin County Community Development Corporation’s Western MA Food Processing Center and Clarkdale Fruit Farms | Western MA Food Processing Center, 324 Wells Street, Greenfield | Clarkdale Fruit Farms, 303 Upper Road, Deerfield
11:30 | Gov. Healey visits the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lowell to kick off the Department of Conservation and Recreation's 12th annual Summer Nights program | Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lowell, 657 Middlesex St., Lowell
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FROM BEACON HILL
VETO PROOF: Gov. Maura Healey marked the ninth day of the fiscal year by signing a $63.4 billion state budget exactly as lawmakers sent it to her, without vetoing any spending. — State House News Service
PSYCHEDELIC PILOT: Two years after a ballot question to decriminalize psychedelics failed, the House wants to create a five-year pilot program allowing psychedelic treatments at licensed mental health clinics. Supporters say it's a way to help veterans with PTSD. — Boston Globe
NO RELIEF: Gov. Healey says she’ll appeal after the Trump administration denied Massachusetts’ disaster relief request for the snowstorm that walloped the state in February. — MassLive
FIGHTING FOREVER CHEMICALS: Bills pending on Beacon Hill would take major steps to tackle PFAS contamination in Massachusetts. One advocate says Massachusetts is "behind the eight ball" compared to states that have already acted. — GBH News
NEWS NEXT DOOR
POT SHOTS FIRED: The State Ballot Law Commission will hold a hearing next week on a challenge to a ballot question that would undo the legalization of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts. The controversial proposal already survived a previous challenge seeking to knock it off the ballot. — CommonWealth Beacon
PARTY ON: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and most of the City Council want to extend the World Cup-inspired 3 a.m. last call and social drinking zones. — Boston Herald
CAMBRIDGE REP RACE: Cambridge Rep. Marjorie Decker and primary challenger Evan McKay squared off in a forum where McKay knocked the Legislature's secrecy and Decker highlighted her record. McKay is also pushing for a "people's pledge" to keep dark money out of the race. — Cambridge | Somerville Independent
FLAGGED IN FITCHBURG: With the effort to change the Massachusetts seal and flag still tied up in a state commission's long slog, Fitchburg became the 89th community to officially back the change. The city council vote was unanimous. — Sentinel & Enterprise
MORE HEADLINES
Join us for our fourth annual Meet the Media event, a timely gathering that brings together journalists and professionals in communications and government affairs for a morning of connection, conversation, and community. Hear from Boston Globe Power Play co-authors Shirley Leung and Jon Chesto, MASSterList columnist Jon Keller, Axios Boston’s Mike Deehan, GBH News Rooted host Paris Alston, CommonWealth Beacon editor Laura Colarusso, NBC10 Boston politics reporter Matt Prichard, and MASSterList editor Katie Lannan.
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Constituent Services Representative, Office of Congressman Jake Auchincloss, MA-04
VP Program and Grantmaking, Atrius Health Equity Foundation
Senior Associate General Counsel (Counsel II), Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance
Director of Donor Engagement, Charles River Watershed Association
District Press Assistant, Congressman James P. McGovern
