Paul working for you.

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Trick or Treat


Templeton Trick or Treat Hours 
 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm


Templeton Police Department

The Templeton Police Department and the Templeton Fire Department are hosting this year’s Horribles Parade to kick off Trick or Treat on Halloween. The parade begins at the police department at 4:50 p.m. and ends at the Common. The Narragansett Regional High School Band will march in the parade. Anyone wishing to join the parade is asked to stage in the police department parking lot at 4:40 p.m.

Immediately following the parade, members of the police and fire departments will go to the St. Vincent de Paul Church parking lot on Forrest St. for Trick or Treat. Officers and firefighters will pass out candy to trick or treaters in Baldwinville. 

As always, thank you to CO&S Garage for donating the candy given out at the police department, and thank you to Baldwinville Garage for donating the candy given out by fire and police at the St. Vincent de Paul Church. 

Hope to see you at these festivities on Tuesday. Happy Halloween!

Detour


Templeton Police Department

8 hours ago ·

Please be advised construction begins tomorrow morning to repair South Road from the intersection of Wellington Road to the area of the water tower. 

Please seek alternative routes. 

Thank you.

Uranimum One

Privatizing energy project enriched bureaucrats, drained federal coffers

by |

Second of a three-part series. See part one here.

It started as a plan small-government conservatives could get behind: spinning off a Department of Energy project into the private sector, where it would save the government money and prosper, a nimble ship steered towards access to cutting-edge non-governmental technology by executives unencumbered by the federal bureaucracy.

It didn’t work out that way. Instead, the United States Enrichment Corp. became a revolving door where federal bureaucrats left their government jobs for a publicly traded company that paid them millions of dollars, even as it perennially begged the government for assistance in deals that tended to add to taxpayer liabilities and didn't produce any innovative technology on its own.

Scarcely three months passed after the company was privatized in 1998 before it ran to the government for an “emergency supplemental” appropriation of $325 million.

Since then, it has received virtually every form of government assistance, including loans, grants, and contracts, as well as technology giveaways and obscure swaps.

USEC’s curious position straddling the government and the New York Stock Exchange allowed its leaders to pick and choose the best from both worlds, relying on government support like a federal agency to create its product, but also functioning as a high-priced government contractor.

That made it a perennial thorn in DOE’s side, aggressively asking for money and even suing the government for breach of contract this year, saying federal officials gave the firm too little.

That suit was filed at the same time company officials hoped to win approval for a new $2 billion loan guarantee. DOE encouraged them to withdraw that application because of serious problems, yet USEC refused and managed to wrangle a quarter-billion dollars in cash out of the agency as it awaits a decision.

Enrichment at the public till

How Republicans - and some Democrats - steered billions to a failing privatized arm of the government many times the size of Solyndra, executives profited, and taxpayers lost.

Part One: Feds invested billions in energy firm virtually sure to fail
Part Two: Privatizing energy project led to rich bureaucrats, drained federal coffers
Part Three: Republican leaders steered billions in pork to failing company in home states
See the whole series and view photos of the nuclear plant spanning decades, a real-time stock ticker, documents and salaries here.
The company leases its land in Ohio and Kentucky from the government for free, and received government contracts for security and cleanup on its own property, including $118 million in stimulus funds. The base technology it uses was developed by the government and given to USEC for free.
DOE has also helped the company manage its books by assuming costly on-paper liability for nuclear material while allowing profit earned from those materials to go to USEC. In 2012, DOE gave $700 million worth of uranium material to USEC.

“You begin to look more and more into the repetitive grants that come through appropriations bills, the statement every year is ‘this is the last year we need any help,’” said Rep. Michael C. Burgess, a Texas Republican who is among a handful of lawmakers seeking to strike USEC funds from bills.
“It’s like a never-ending story: ‘We're right there, we just about have it,’” Burgess said.

USEC’s executive compensation structure is striking. At a company currently valued at $28 million, its CEO’s pay package totaled nearly $7 million in 2011, and a slew of deputies made nearly $2 million each.

The high compensation and chronic bottom-line losses led to a virtual revolt by shareholders, with 46 percent voting against a "say-on-pay" motion approving the salaries.

"The compensation committee attributed the votes against the company’s say-on-pay proposal primarily to dissatisfaction with the company’s total shareholder return performance," the company said in shareholder disclosures.

Though the work is done in Kentucky and Ohio, top USEC executives are based only a few miles from the Capitol in Bethesda, Md.

Phil G. Sewell, USEC's senior vice president and chief development officer, ran DOE's uranium enrichment program in the late 1980s and early 1990s before joining the company.

John E. Neumann, USEC'S vice president for government relations, worked for the House Republican Policy Committee. And USEC hired Howard Schweitzer, chief operating officer of the Treasury's Troubled Assets Relief Program, President George W. Bush's bailout of big banks.

The revolving door swung the other way, too. A former official in President Ford’s administration, Dennis R. Spurgeon, became USEC’s chief operating officer, then left to become a DOE assistant secretary during the administration of George W. Bush.

Company officials have told shareholders and creditors that without government money, they have no "viable" business plan and could soon go bankrupt. It has a junk-bond rating and no source of private financing for the new plant it wants to build. Last year, it lost more than a billion dollars.

With economic factors failing to make a compelling case for investment, USEC has pointed to national security considerations to justify continued government backing because tritium, a byproduct of uranium enrichment, and uranium itself can be used for nuclear weapons.

USEC's more efficient competitor in New Mexico, Urenco, is partially owned by the Dutch and English governments. European-licensed technologies have restrictions on using the uranium for military uses, though it is unclear how they apply to byproducts like tritium.

But the new USEC plant would produce low-enriched uranium, while the U.S. nuclear weapons use high-enriched uranium.

And specialists say that there is no need for the plant at all because the U.S. has enough tritium to last decades and that more can be obtained at any time from stockpiled uranium. The company's own filings concede that supply of enriched uranium far exceeds demand and that, even before its proposed expansion, it has accumulated a backlog of the material for which it can't find buyers.

Scientists also point out that the Navy’s nuclear-powered vessels have 100-year supplies of uranium and that the U.S. is shrinking its nuclear arsenal, not growing it.

Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who has delved more deeply into USEC issues than any other member of Congress, noted that the plans for USEC's new plant include foreign parts and worse, USEC has partnered with a Russian company that supplies Iran with its nuclear material.

"DOE itself has determined that simply using the current uranium supplier to the U.S. Navy's nuclear powered fleet of aircraft carriers and submarines would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over buying these services from USEC," noted a bipartisan coalition including the National Taxpayers Union, Friends of the Earth and the Union of Concerned Scientists that unsuccessfully implored Congress to strip $48 million in 2014 appropriations from USEC.

The privatized former government agency and its highly-paid executives said the problem is the government hasn’t played a big enough role, and that has caused technological failings and losses that totaled $491 million in 2011 and $1.2 billion in 2012, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

“The government has not, as some have claimed, kept USEC afloat and you need look no further than our financial statements,” spokesman Paul E. Jacobson, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, told the Examiner.






Monday, October 30, 2017

Strong batch of heroin causes six overdoses in 8 hours in Southbridge

Strong batch of heroin causes six overdoses in 8 hours in Southbridge

By Scott J. Croteau scroteau@masslive.com

Police in Southbridge issued a warning over the weekend about a strong batch of heroin in the area that caused six overdoses in less than eight hours.

The department issued the warning on Facebook Friday and stated the people who overdosed were revived after police and fire personnel used Narcan.

"These six overdoses would have likely been fatal without the prompt response of the police and fire department," said the department in the post, which has been shared by Warren police as well.

Police asked people to call 911 and ask for help if they suspect someone overdosed while using heroin.

The department reminded people that officers will help anyone in need of addiction services. The C.A.R.E. Program will help people in need of services through the help of Harrington Hospital.

Anyone in need of help can go into the station and ask to be enrolled in a program.

Meetings the Week of October 30, 2017


Meetings the Week of October 30, 2017


Monday  10/30/17
Conservation                       PCS Town Hall*                6:00 pm

Wednesday 11/1/17
ZBA                                    KIVA                                   6:00 pm
Pre-Town**                        PCS Town Hall*                 7:00 pm






* Pauly Cosentino Sr. Town Hall

Freedom of information: Towns claim harassment

Freedom of information: Towns claim harassment

 

Trump Heralds GOP "Anger, Unity" As WSJ Warns Dems "The Russian Dossier Dam Is Breaking"

Trump Heralds GOP "Anger, Unity" As WSJ Warns Dems "The Russian Dossier Dam Is Breaking"

Tyler Durden's picture

Sunday, October 29, 2017

The One Paragraph You Need To Read From The JFK Assassination Files That May Change Everything

The One Paragraph You Need To Read From The JFK Assassination Files That May Change Everything

Tyler Durden's picture

Real Estate and Sewer Bills Are Due

Real Estate and Sewer Bills Are Due




To pay Sewer Bill click HERE

To pay Real Estate Taxes click HERE

Due November 1, 2017

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Tom Brady:All-star NFL Quarterback Warns Against Fluoride

Tom Brady:All-star NFL Quarterback Warns Against Fluoride
All-star NFL Quarterback Warns Against Fluoride

Tom Brady, the star veteran quarterback of the New England Patriots and considered possibly the best quarterback of all time, has recently authored a book on staying healthy in which he mentions fluoride in water.


In chapter seven of his new book (The TB12 Method: How to Achieve A Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance), while discussing the importance of hydration, Brady acknowledges the risks of ingesting fluoride, advising readers to remove it from tap water by filtration.
He writes, "Tap water is water that comes from a municipal source. Depending on where you live, most sources of tap water contain fluoride, chlorine, and, in some cases, lead. Excessive amounts of both fluoride and chlorine have now been linked to a number of health risks. Drink tap water only if you filter it first, which gets rid of many impurities. Even when you use tap water for steaming vegetables, it's better to filter it first."

(**Special Thanks to Mike Dolan from UMASS Amherst for pointing this out.)

Friday, October 27, 2017

Drug Take Back Day on October 28th 2017

Drug Take Back Day on October 28th 2017
 
The Templeton Police Department and Templeton Fire Department along with the Templeton Board of Health will be participating in Drug Take Back Day on October 28th 2017 from 10:00 am - 02:00 pm at the main entrance to the Narragansett Middle School. Please turn in all your unused and expired medications for proper destruction. We hope to see you at this event.


Bad Rabbit Ransomware Spreads: "This Is A Targeted Attack.. On Critical Infrastructure"

Bad Rabbit Ransomware Spreads: "This Is A Targeted Attack.. On Critical Infrastructure"

Tyler Durden's picture

Is Fluoride Bad for You?

Is Fluoride Bad for You? It’s Not Just in the Water


Fluoride - Dr. Axe

There are two sides to any story, and that is definitely true in the case of fluoride. Since being introduced into the public water supplies of much of the U.S. (and several other countries) in the 1960s, a consistent debate has existed on whether or not fluoride is truly safe as a water additive or dental health product.

It’s more complex than you might believe at first. On the one side, many public health organizations hail fluoride as a near-miracle for dental health and insist there are no questions or contrary pieces of evidence whatsoever.

For example, the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) states on their website, “Because of its contribution to the large decline in cavities in the United States since the 1960s, CDC named community water fluoridation one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.” (1) The American Dental Association and American Academy of Pediatrics agree, and have since the beginning of public water fluoridation in the mid 1900s. (2, 3, 4)

Pretty convincing, right?

Unfortunately, the answer isn’t that simple.

The controversy over fluoride in water has been the main point of contention for anti-fluoridationists for the last several decades, since it was introduced widely in 1960. (5) Is it just kooks and conspiracy theorists that are continuing the pointless complaining about a public health victory?

Quite the opposite proves to be true after a bit of digging. A growing body of research has existed since before fluoride was ever approved for dental use finding it has the ability to cause long-lasting negative health effects in various bodily systems. (6)


What Is Fluoride?

“Fluoride” refers to any compound containing a fluorine ion. Sporting a chemical symbol of “F” and an atomic number of 9, fluorine is one of the well-recognized elements on the periodic table. As a pure gas, fluorine is “the most reactive and electronegative of all the elements.” It has extremely damaging effects to any living organism with which it comes into contact. (7)

In nature, calcium fluoride (CaF2) is found in soil and water. Spring water in areas without industries that regularly use fluoride generally contains about .01-.03 ppm (parts per million, also known as milligrams per liter or mg/L) of calcium fluoride naturally, while seawater is closer to 1.3 ppm. (8) These amounts vary greatly depending on location — in some parts of the world, calcium fluoride is found up to 10–20 ppm in water supplies, which is universally recognized as an unsafe ingestible amount of the compound.

Despite the insistence of various organizations to tell the public that this same compound is what’s added to their drinking water, this isn’t actually true. Calcium fluoride is not well-absorbed into the body, whereas sodium fluoride (NaF) is. This chemical compound does not occur in nature and was generally considered industrial toxic waste until 1950, when it was announced as a new dental health initiative.

1945 marked the start of studies in several cities across the U.S. to compare the prevalence of cavities (dental caries) between children and adults drinking fluoridated or unfluoridated water. According to the CDC, dental caries were reduced 50–70 percent in fluoridated communities during the 13–15 years of these “studies.” (9)

However, no data is available for the amount of cavity reduction experienced by the “control” communities in these experiments. As dental health has improved steadily in both fluoridated and unfluoridated communities of the U.S., this data would be very worthwhile but, unfortunately, does not exist or is not readily available to the public. (10)

As of 2014, about 74.4 percent of people in the U.S. with community water systems were provided with fluoridated water. (11) This is a 0.2 drop in the previous 2012 statistic, resulting partly from community efforts of citizens urging their leaders to remove fluoride from public drinking water.
Unlike you may expect, though, the fluoride used in your drinking water is not calcium fluoride nor sodium fluoride. Now, in 90 percent of our fluoridated water, it’s a compound known as hydrofluorosilicic acid (HFS or FSA). HFS is a by-product of the process used to create phosphate fertilizers that used to be considered toxic waste and is now (more than likely) an additive in your family’s water. (12)

Trick or Treat

"Cloak Of Darkness" Grows...

"Cloak Of Darkness" Grows As US Widens Surveillance Dragnet To 'Homegrown Violent Extremists'



Tyler Durden's picture

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier

Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier

 

The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the matter said.

Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research.

After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained the company in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Before that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by an unknown Republican client during the GOP primary.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC, through the law firm, continued to fund Fusion GPS’s research through the end of October 2016, days before Election Day.

Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele compiled the dossier on President Trump’s alleged ties to Russia. (Victoria Jones/AP)
 
Fusion GPS gave Steele’s reports and other research documents to Elias, the people familiar with the matter said. It is unclear how or how much of that information was shared with the campaign and the DNC and who in those organizations was aware of the roles of Fusion GPS and Steele. One person close to the matter said the campaign and the DNC were not informed by the law firm of Fusion GPS’s role.

The dossier has become a lightning rod amid the intensifying investigations into the Trump campaign’s possible connections to Russia. Some congressional Republican leaders have spent months trying to discredit Fusion GPS and Steele and tried to determine the identity of the Democrat or organization that paid for the dossier.

Trump tweeted as recently as Saturday that the Justice Department and FBI should “immediately release who paid for it.”

Elias and Fusion GPS declined to comment on the arrangement.

Templeton Democratic Town Committee Meeting

Templeton Democratic Town Committee Meeting

The Templeton Democratic Town Committee will meet on Thursday, October 26, 2017 (TODAY) at 7 pm at 79 Bridge St. in the community room. Topics will include reorganization, future plans and members and guests updates. 

At least one member of the State Democratic Committee will be present. Light refreshments will be available.

Any questions? Please phone 978-652-5223.

House Launches Probe Into Comey's Handling Of Clinton Email Investigation

House Launches Probe Into Comey's Handling Of Clinton Email Investigation



Tyler Durden's picture

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Restructuring Regional School Finance


Supporting Student and Community Success: Updating the Structure and Finance of Massachusetts Regional School Districts 

Click HERE for Full Report 

From the Interim Town Administrator:

Subject: FW: PRESS RELEASE: Gobi and Ferguson Announce Regional Schools Report

Good Day:



I wanted to pass along not only this Press Release but – more importantly – this link to the underlying report itself. 


 https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/10/18/RegionalSchoolDistrictsMunicipalImpactStudy_1.pdf



I have not had a chance to read it in its entirety as of yet but – in simplest terms – it calls attention to the need to fully fund Transportation (for instance this year the state budget only reimburses NRSD about 75% of regular-ed transportation costs leaving us and Phillipston to pick up 25%+/-); the need to allow for more creative bidding opportunities for transport to lower costs (perhaps letting regional transit entities to bid) and points out how the RSD’s are – in general – uncontrollable by local officials (excepting the Town Meeting and trying to argue the budget down before it even makes it there) and the need for periodic updates of regional agreements (as you supported last fall with respect to Monty Tech).  It highlights not only the challenges the RSD’s face but the conflicts the current system crtes between the RSDs and their member comunites.



I urge you to review this document in detail and determine if you wish to add your voice of support for many of the positive changes recommended therein.



Many Thanks



Carter Terenzini


************************************
Your assignment: Review document above. Look for any indication that the "NUCLEAR OPTION" has been removed. You must remember - 603 CMR 41.05  ???  Remember turning 4 NO votes into a YES ?






Haunted Walk


Trick or Treat at Senior Center


Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Draft Warrant for STM November 14, 2017

Draft Warrant for STM November 14, 2017


Click HERE for the Draft Warrant Articles

For a good time, calculate how much Free Cash will be used to cover prior bills and backfill the budget!

From the Town Administrator Report October 19, 2017

From the Town Administrator Report October 19, 2017



TA Report 10.19.17





Monday, October 23, 2017

There's a Spy Ring in Congress

VIDEO: Inspector General Ducks Ambush Interview About Her Failed Oversight of Imran Awan & Family

United States of Israel

United States of Israel

Interesting article  regarding hurricane relief in Texas:

Houston Suburb Conditions Hurricane Relief Money On Residents’ Vow Not To Boycott Israel

Residents in Dickinson, Texas, who were affected by Hurricane Harvey may be ineligible for money to rebuild their homes because of their political beliefs.





A suburb outside of Houston is requiring residents who were affected by Hurricane Harvey to certify that they do not boycott Israel in order to apply for grant money to rebuild their home or business. 
Dickinson, Texas, located alongside a bayou about 30 miles southeast of Houston, suffered extensive damage during the hurricane that tore through the area two months ago. Half of the city’s 20,000 residents were impacted, and the storm caused serious damage to more than 7,000 homes and 88 businesses, according to local police reports.
On Monday, the city posted a three-page application for grant money on its website. The application requires residents to commit to using the money to repair their damaged homes or businesses, to follow all building codes and to verify that they do not boycott Israel.
A snapshot of the relevant boycott section of the application is shown. 
 
“It’s completely unreasonable,” said Ayesha Khan, a UTHealth PhD student who has been active in rebuilding and recovery efforts in Houston, and an organizer in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
“This can prolong the time it will take to rebuild homes,” she said. “It’s institutionalized in a way that can impact families that are still homeless.”
Dickinson Mayor Julie Masters told HuffPost that her office has been “inundated” with angry phone calls and emails about the anti-BDS language in the grant application.
When Dickinson’s city attorney recommended including the Israel boycott clause, Masters thought, “God, this kind of feels like it’s infringing on free speech,” she said. But she said city officials also didn’t feel like they had much of a choice in the matter.
The Israel boycott provision in Dickinson’s application is a strict interpretation of a Texas state law passed earlier this year that prohibits state agencies from contracting with companies that boycott Israel. Dickinson applicants have to agree to act as an “independent contractor” in order to receive grant money from the city.
Masters said she spoke with officials in the Texas attorney general’s office on Friday about clarifying the language in the state law so that the anti-boycott provision would only apply to contracts on the state level.
The American Civil Liberties Union argues that the Texas law is unconstitutional and is asking anyone who was forced to choose between signing the Dickinson application and forgoing hurricane relief money to contact the group’s Texas chapter. 

Meetings the Week of October 23, 2017

Meetings the Week of October 23, 2017
 
Monday  10/23/17
Capital Planning                PCS Town Hall*              5:30 pm
Clown College  ???           PCS Town Hall*              6:30 pm 
 
??? - Looks like a posting error 

 
Tuesday  10/24/17
Scout Hall                          PCS Town Hall*                5:45 pm
Adv Com.                          PCS Town Hall*                6:30 pm
Clown College                  PCS Town Hall*                6:30 pm
Planning                           PCS Town Hall*                 6:30 pm
Elem. School                    PCS Town Hall*                 6:30 pm
 
Wednesday 10/24/17
Cap. Planning                   PCS Town Hall*                 6:30 pm 
 
 
Thursday 10/25/17
Adv. Com                      PCS Town Hall*                6:00 pm
 
* Pauly Cosentino Sr. Town Hall