Monday, July 31, 2017

18 Bills Signed Into MA Law: See The Full List

Gov. Charlie Baker has signed 18 bills into law this month. Check out whether any impact you or your town.

By Mike Carraggi (Patch National Staff) -
Updated July 25, 2017 11:49 am ET

BEACON HILL, MA — Gov. Charlie Baker has signed 18 bills into law this month alone. Don't worry, you likely aren't breaking any new major laws signed into effect without your knowledge. Many of them are relatively small-scale and pursuant to a specific municipality.

A couple of the bills signed into law are regarding issues Patch has covered, including the death of Watertown firefighter Joseph Toscano, the employment of Braintree Police Chief Paul Shastany and the controversial construction of a new Lowell High School.

You can see the laws below. Click on the bill number for more information from the source.
(Subscribe to your local Patch for more news.)

July 7

H3689 - Town of Watertown may pay up to $15,000 for the funeral and burial of firefighter Joseph Toscano, who died in the line of the duty.

S1452 - Certain Millis Police Department positions are exempt from the civil service law.

H1429 - The Town of Boylston may continue to employ Police Chief Anthony Sahagian.

S2064 - Actions taken by Town of Templeton at Special Town Meeting on Nov. 9, 2015, validated.

S2065 - Actions taken by Town of Templeton at Special Town Meeting on May 14, 2016, validated.

H1119 - Appointment of Superintendent of Streets in Town of Middlefield authorized.

H3695 - Sick leave bank established for Ruth A. Central, employee of the Trial Court of the Commonwealth.

H2795 - Act relating to residency requirements for Shrewsbury Town Manager.

S1125 - Act amending charter for City of Lowell.

July 11

H3808 - Act making appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2017 to provide for supplementing certain existing appropriations and for certain other activities and projects.

July 14

S2068 - The Town of Braintree may continue to employ Paul J. Shastany as Chief of Police.

S24 - Milton authorized to establish a Special Purpose Stabilization Fund.

H2782 - Certain Marlborough Fire Department positions are exempt from the civil service law.

H3715 - Sick leave bank established for Alison Dejordy, employee of the Department of Children and Families.

H3654 - City of Lowell authorized to transfer certain parcels of park land for the construction of a high school.

July 21

S1420 - The Town of Warren may continue to employ Dennis Desrosiers in the fire department.

S2044 - Sick leave bank established for Gail Weinberg-Kraus, employee of the Trial Court of the Commonwealth.

H3723 - Sick leave bank established for Philippe Fauche, employee of the Department of Mental Health.

Emergency Procurement

A helpful bulletin from our good friends at the Office of the General Inspector.

Long delays expected on Mass. Pike Monday as Commonwealth Avenue Bridge replacement continues

By Scott J. Croteau

scroteau@masslive.com

The replacement of the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge in Boston could cause 90-minute delays on the Massachusetts Turnpike during Monday morning's commute.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation will discuss the bridge replacement project and the impact on drivers during a press conference Sunday.

There will be two lanes of travel open on the Mass. Pike in each direction Monday and the MBTA Commuter Rail along with the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited will be open and in service as well.

As construction began over the weekend, officials recommended drivers look for other routes away from the construction work.

The bridge ties Commonwealth Avenue to the Boston University Bridge and it is part of the Green Line B branch tracks. DOT officials plan on finishing the first half of the project by the end of August and the second half in the summer of 2018.

The existing bridge is being demolished as workers replace the bridge deck and the Green Line train deck.

If you're taking Mass. Pike this summer, expect up to 40 min delay

Massachusetts Turnpike drivers heading into and out of Boston this summer will be staring at a traffic nightmare thanks to a complex project that replaces the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.

Over the weekend there was one lane going eastbound into Boston and two lanes going westbound, out of Boston. The lanes will be expanded to two lanes in both directions on Monday during peak hours.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Meetings the Week of July 31, 2017

Meetings the Week of July 31, 2017

Monday 7/31/17

Clown College PCS Town Hall* 6:30 pm

Tuesday 8/1/17

COA Sr. Drive 1:30 pm

Wednesday 8/2/17

Adv. Com. PCS Town Hall* 6:00 pm

Thursday 8/3/17

Cable PCS Town Hall* 6:00 pm

* Pauly Cosentino Sr. Town Hall

Procurement

From the Interim Town Administrator Report"

"Emergency Procurement?"

Taxes Due August 1, 2017

Taxes Due

August 1, 2017

Pay taxes HERE.

Friday, July 28, 2017

Drink up!

When the well's dry, we know the worth of water.

Benjamin Franklin

The Templeton Water department recently released its Water Report. In this report there is information on a Violation:

It is reported that a "Haloacetic Acid sample was due to be collected in August 2016. The sample was not collected in the required time frame."

From the statement above it looks like the Water Department is required to report the violations to water customers, but is not required to inform water customers what steps are in place to ensure this doesn't happen again.

The Environmental Working Group also provides community drinking water analysis.

Templeton's Tap Water

The two contaminants detected above health guides are:

dichloroacetic acid - a carcinogen

total trihalomethanes - a carcinogen

"Includes chemicals detected in 2015 for which annual utility averages exceeded an EWG-selected health guideline established by a federal or state public health authority."

Health guidelines are different from Legal Limits.

Templeton's tap water is in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.

Because I always trust the federal government to look after my health!

Flint Water Crisis

Julie Farrell
my opinions.

Lead Warning

This information is from the Templeton Water Report

Fluoride is even worse for pregnant women and young children!

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Threat to free speech

by Ron Forthofer / July 26th, 2017

There is a Senate bill, along with a companion bill in the House, working its way through Congress with strong bipartisan support, that poses a significant danger to free speech. One would think this bill would be a big deal but, surprisingly, the bill has not received much coverage in the mainstream media.

Fortunately the American Civil Liberties Union is alert to efforts undermining free speech. Thus, in a July 20th article on the ACLU website about S. 720/H.R. 1697, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, Bryan Hauss, Staff Attorney, wrote:

The bill would amend existing law to prohibit people in the United States from supporting boycotts targeting Israel — making it a felony to choose not to engage in commerce with companies doing business in Israel and its settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Violations would be punishable by a civil penalty that could reach $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison.

Hauss continues:

The bill is aimed at advocates of boycotts targeting Israel, most notably the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement — a global campaign that seeks to apply economic and political pressure on Israel to comply with international law. Specifically, the bill sponsors intend the act as a response to the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 2016 resolution calling on companies to respect human rights, including in occupied Palestinian territories. No matter what you think about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one thing is clear: The First Amendment protects the right to engage in political boycotts.

Amazingly, supporters of this bill seem to have a problem with calling on companies to respect human rights! Who would draft such a problematic bill that stifles free speech and nonviolent political action?

The theintercept.com website carried a July 19th article by Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Grim that said:

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that the bill “was drafted with the assistance of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.” Indeed, AIPAC, in its 2017 lobbying agenda, identified passage of this bill as one of its top lobbying priorities for the year.

This AIPAC-influenced bill is consistent with AIPAC’s long-term pattern of advocating for the interests of a foreign nation, Israel. AIPAC is one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, D.C. and many members of Congress seem to automatically toe its line. Thus it is not surprising that 46 senators and 245 representatives have already signed on to the bill originally introduced on March 23rd.

Greenwald and Grim added that cosponsors include liberal Senators Ron Wyden, Richard Blumenthal, Maria Cantwell as well as conservative Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Sasse. In the House, cosponsors include conservatives such as Jason Chaffetz, Liz Cheney, and Peter King as well as liberals Ted Lieu, Adam Schiff, and Eric Swalwell. Greenwald and Grim noted that these latter three members, who have built a wide public following by posturing as opponents of authoritarianism, are cosponsoring one of the most oppressive and authoritarian bills that has pended before Congress in quite some time.

Many of the cosponsors claim they were unaware of the penalties that could be applied in the bill whereas a few others state that they have a different reading of the bill, particularly related to the criminal penalties.

In addition to using AIPAC and other groups to lobby Congress, Israel previously directly inserted itself into our legislative process. For example, in 2015 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blatantly campaigned to derail the nuclear agreement with Iran. Also of concern, many U.S. and Israeli political experts thought Netanyahu clearly tried to sway the outcome in the 2012 U.S. Presidential election in favor of the Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

We must protect our free speech by opposing this highly questionable bill designed to benefit a foreign nation. In Colorado this means questioning Senator Bennet and Representatives Lamborn, Coffman and Buck, about their support for this appalling bill. We can also thank the other members of the Colorado delegation for not cosponsoring this terrible affront to free speech and the Constitution.

________________________________________________________________________________

Ron Forthofer is a retired professor of biostatistics from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston and was a Green Party candidate for Congress and also for governor of Colorado. Read other articles by Ron.

It's a Brave New World

Wisconsin Firm Microchips Employees: "It's Inevitably The Next Thing... And We Want To Be Part Of It"

by Tyler Durden

Jul 24, 2017 5:05 PM

In April we noted that Swedish company Epicenter had begun implanting RFID chips into workers hands... and the workers loved it... it makes opening doors and buying smoothies so easy and convenient, and your coworkers will even throw a party for you once you take the plunge to become a cyborg.

The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted.

“The biggest benefit I think is convenience,” said Patrick Mesterton, co-founder and CEO of Epicenter. As a demonstration, he unlocks a door by merely waving near it. “It basically replaces a lot of things you have, other communication devices, whether it be credit cards or keys.”

Workers there seem alright with the idea. In the article, the general attitude is perhaps best captured by the comment of one 25-year-old worker:

“I want to be part of the future.”

And now, as ABC5 reports, a Wisconsin company is about to become the first in the U.S. to offer microchip implants to its employees.

"It's the next thing that's inevitably going to happen, and we want to be a part of it," Three Square Market Chief Executive Officer Todd Westby said.

The company designs software for break room markets that are commonly found in office complexes. Just as people are able to purchase items at the market using phones, Westby wants to do the same thing using a microchip implanted inside a person's hand.

"We'll come up, scan the item," he explained, while showing how the process will work at an actual break room market kiosk. "We'll hit pay with a credit card, and it's asking to swipe my proximity payment now. I'll hold my hand up, just like my cell phone, and it'll pay for my product."

Westby added the data is both encrypted and secure.

"There's no GPS tracking at all," he said.

Inside Templeton’s Historic Octagon House

Jason Baker

Located about 60 miles outside of Boston is a town called Templeton. Within this town if you are driving on the scenic route of Patriots Road you will pass an historic decaying house known as the T.T. Greenwood-Orre house.

This octagon house was built in 1855 and was erected in the town for T.T. Greenwood, the house which is a full 3 stories tall also included an enclosed cupola, which gave Greenwood access to view his furniture factory which was located on Mill St.

Around the 1870s Greenwood decided to build a large mansion across the street from the octagon house, which is now being used as apartments.

Sadly T.T. Greenwood Died on July 10 1885.

Mrs. Orre, who had owned the house since the 1950’s sadly passed away at the age of 101, with her death her son became the the new owner of the house and he realized that the house would need a good amount of work to bring it back to one of the country’s most impressive remaining Octagon mansions.

The house includes 4 rooms on each of the floors, with all of the rooms having a triangular corner closets attached to them, there is also an impressive interior winding staircase that goes all the way up to the cupola.

Originally the house had an iron gate around it but that was sold during hard times.

If you are interested in this historic property then today is your lucky day, as the property is currently for sale for $124,900. All of those who are interested are urged to contact Denovan Blake, from Crystal Realty Assoc. he can be reached at (617) 822-1115.

More info: Instagram

Outside the house as seen as it stands today

The house circa 1950s (Photo: The Octagon House Inventory website)

The house circa 1970’s (Photo: The Octagon House Inventory Website)

An Image of T.T. Greenwood (Photo: Brian Tanguay/Naragansett Historical Society)

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Templeton Recreation Swimming News

Templeton Recreation Swimming Program will be held on:

Wednesday 7/26 from 1-4 pm

Thursday 7/27 from 1-4 pm

Ex-Barre tax collector accused of stealing from town to go on trial

Marcia Langelier allegedly took nearly $300K

Associated Press Published: July 24, 2017, 11:48 am

Updated: July 24, 2017, 12:34 pm

BARRE, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts town’s former tax collector, indicted nearly four years ago on charges that she stole more than $300,000 of the town’s money to sustain a gambling habit, faces trial this fall.

The Telegram & Gazette reports that former Barre tax collector Marcia Langelier is scheduled go on trial Oct. 30. She has pleaded not guilty to charges including larceny and embezzlement.
Prosecutors say she stole money from 2005 into 2011 while serving in the elected position.

At her 2013 arraignment, prosecutors said she had accrued gambling losses of $350,000.

Independent auditors had previously warned town officials that practices in the tax collector’s office could conceal “irregularities.”

Send in the Clowns!

Well everything is AWESOME!

Two headlines from the same Gardner News dated 7/25/17. Front page.

"Winchendon: plan not ready: Sends town administrator agreement back for review"

"Templeton votes for shared town administrator"

Houston, we have a problem.

It appears the residents and leadership in Winchendon need more time to review the agreement regarding sharing a town manager/town administrator. "LaBrie said that she also heard that the board was moving too fast and there was no transparency."

Meanwhile in Templeton, "Advisory Committee Chairman Wilfred Spring questioned whether Templeton's own legal counsel, Paul Derensis had reviewed the proposed document, but Selectman Cameron Fortes admitted he had not."

The article goes on to mention that Winchendon's legal counsel reviewed the wording as well as Zack Blake, technical assistance bureau chief for the DOR.

I wonder how many of the Templeton selectmen actually read the agreement before voting on it?

It appears from TGN article that the selectmen in Winchendon and some of residents had access to and had read the agreement prior to their meeting. hmmm.

Intermunicipal Agreements

Templeton has an intermunicipal agreement with Winchendon already. That intermunicipal agreement is for Animal Control, which seems to be working well.

The intermunicipal agreement for Animal Control was reviewed by Templeton's town counsel before it was signed.

One would think an agreement, a contract of this magnitude, would be reviewed by Templeton's town counsel.

Maybe that question could be asked of Zack Blake? It does not cost anything to ask Mr. Bake if Templeton's town counsel should review this agreement. Maybe the lack of review of this historic agreement by Templeton's town counsel should be brought to Zack Blake's attention.

My opinions,

Julie Farrell

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Alt News

Do you ever feel like the news from Mainstream Media (MSM) isn't telling you the truth?

There are alternatives to MSM. Below is an short video from George Webb. In this video, he is interviewing people for information regarding the strange death of Joe Rago (Pulitzer prize winning WSJ editor - died at 34 years of age)

Lately, George Webb has teamed up with Trish Negron and Jason Goodman from Crowd Source The Truth .

TruthLeaks was created by a member of Crowd Source the Truth.

The evidence is presented on these sites, and you can make up your own mind regarding our government, the FBI, The CIA, NSA.

Much of the evidence is disturbing.

Red Pill or Blue?

State finishes fiscal year short $431M in taxes

By Colin A. Young
State House News Service

Friday, July 21, 2017

Massachusetts ended a tumultuous budget year in 2017 with a revenue gap of $431 million, squarely within the ballpark that Gov. Charlie Baker said would be reasonably manageable as his administration attempts to balance the books on last year’s budget.

The state collected $431 million less than it had anticipated in tax revenue last fiscal year, falling 1.7 percent below the yearly benchmark for the budget year that ended June 30, the Department of Revenue announced Friday.

The $25.625 billion collected in fiscal year 2017 was a 1.4 percent increase over total collections in fiscal year 2016, but the rate of growth was still considerably slower than the three percent growth that will be needed in fiscal 2018 to hit the mark of $26.422 billion in tax collections that House and Senate budget writers projected as necessary to support spending in the fiscal 2018 budget they adopted.

Fiscal year 2017, which featured strings of months in which collections came in below benchmark necessitating downward revisions in revenue projections, ended on a positive note for the state’s pocketbook.

The $2.719 billion collected in June was $9 million above the monthly benchmark and 3.1 percent more than the actual amount collected in June 2016, DOR reported.

Monday, July 24, 2017

Back by Popular Demand

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Policies. Procedures. Pins.

There's been some talk locally about following policies and procedures. Some of this discussion has focused on the Templeton elected leaders- the "Superior Board", if you will.

The crux of the matter comes down to this - if there are policies and procedures in place and they aren't being followed, will even more policies and procedures help correct Templeton's financial situation?(lack of a bond rating; $5 Million BAN issued needs to be paid by December 1, 2017; the need to issue $20 million in bonds to pay for the school - THAT situation)

There are a number of significant findings in the Financial Management Letter

Improved policies and procedures should help to address those significant findings.

Problem: Templeton can have the most awesome policies and procedures in place, but if these policies and procedures are not followed nothing will change.

When I began teaching (many years ago), a former colleague of mine had some good advice: "Don't make a "rule", if you aren't going to enforce it." Students figure that out in a hurry!

Same rule applies in government!

Here is the latest example of not following the "rules":

The request:

From: townadministrator [mailto:townadministrator@templeton1.org]
Sent: Tuesday, June 6, 2017 2:45 PM
To: Julie Farrell
Cc: 'Kelli Pontbriand'
Subject: Treasurer/Collector

Good Day:

Although the By-Law amendment providing for AC members to sit on ad hoc screening committees has not yet come back formally approved by the AG’s Office, I am confident enough that there will not be any problem with it that I would like to invite you to participate as a member of the Team to interview candidates for the position of Treasurer/Collector.

These are tentatively set for the afternoon of 06/21 or 06/22.

Please let me know at your first convenience that I might loop you in on the process.

Many Thanks

Carter Terenzini
Interim Town Administrator
Town of Templeton
160 Patriots Road
East Templeton, MA 01438
(978) 894-2753

My response:

Julie Farrell
Jun 13 (2 days ago)

to townadministra., Kelli, MA, Selectman, Diane, Cameron, Doug, Julie
Good evening:

Sorry for the delay in my response to your request to serve on the ad hoc screening committee to secure a treasurer collector.

I believe the proper procedure to have a member of the Advisory Committee serve on an ad hoc committee would be to go through the chairman of the Advisory Committee. Then this discussion could take place at an Advisory Committee meeting.

I thought this message had been sent to the Advisory Committee but looking back at the email thread, I realize that is incorrect.

It would be inappropriate for me to serve on any ad hoc committee as an Advisory Committee member without the knowledge, consent and vote of the Advisory Committee.

Best,

Julie Farrell

Can't make this stuff up!

It will all be better if we just put a pin on it.

Have a great day.

Julie Farrell

AND

Who's Next?

Good News! Looks like everything is AWESOME in Templeton!

The hard work done by department heads to control their budgets resulted in enough money ($131,000) to transfer and cover the Snow and Ice deficit. That is great news!

It will be very interesting to see how much money remains in the FY 17 budget. That money should eventually clear out to Free Cash, if approved by the DOR.

So one question might be, was the merger of departments really fiscally necessary? Or was it a tactic to terminate a few long time employees? What happened to that report from the "outside" evaluator regarding the merger of the Highway and Cemetery departments?

Time will tell.

What departments do you think they will go after next?

My opinions, as always

Julie Farrell

NEWSFLASH !!!

BREAKING NEWS!

These blogs are my opinions!

Julie Farrell

To Your Health!

Oedipus Redux: The Vexing Problem of Human Disease

by Barbara Cáceres | Guest Writer

Published July 14, 2016 | Opinion

One of the most memorable Greek tragedies is Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. In this tragic tale, the Oracle of Delphi tells Oedipus that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus, who is apparently well adjusted and loves his parents, is horrified and understandably freaks out. Desperate to avoid his fate, he leaves Corinth and his presumed parents, and flees to Thebes. Poor Oedipus is only a few steps into his panicked journey before he inadvertently kills his father, and then goes on to innocently marry his mother.

If you know the story you want to shout out a warning, “Oedipus, dude, you got it all wrong. Go back! Go back!” But this is a Greek tragedy and the unfortunate characters don’t take direction from the audience, leaving your heart to break as you witness the tragic unfolding of the inevitable, but completely avoidable, train wreck. Indeed, in this time-tested tragedy we have a cautionary tale of unintended consequences.

The problem of human disease is a vexing one, and as I learn about the history of infections, the changing role of sanitation and hygiene, the evolution of medical intervention and the contemporary skyrocketing rates of chronic illness, the tale of Oedipus resonates in an analogous way. It’s almost as if somewhere along the way a group of humans approached the Oracle for advice about dealing with persistent infectious disease. I can imagine the seer telling this group, “Look, disease is an inevitable part of the human condition. You will occasionally have an acute illness, and as challenging as that can be, it is a necessary part of life and you will have to find a way to make peace with it.”

In this scenario, it seems that those mythical folks emerged from their meeting with the Oracle unwilling to accept that human reality and deciding instead that they would go to whatever lengths they could to avoid all disease.

Today, in light of the “silent” epidemics in children and adults of chronic illness in the form of asthma, autoimmune disorders, allergy, autism, diabetes, cancer, behavioral and psychiatric disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, we have to wonder if, in our determination to avoid all acute illnesses, we have made a tragic trade that has unwittingly created lifelong chronic illnesses that have made us weaker and sicker than ever before.

Meetings the Week of July 24, 2017

Meetings the Week of July 24, 2017

Monday 7/24/17

Liars Club PCS Town Hall 6:00 pm

Liars Club PCS Town Hall* 6:30 pm

Tuesday 7/25/17

Scout Hall PCS Town Hall* 6:00 pm

Planning PCS Town Hall* 6:30 pm

Wednesday 7/26/17

Berkshire Wind Sterling 10:00 am

* Pauly Cosentino Sr. Town Hall

TEPCO Sacrifices Another "Swimming Robot" At Fukushima: Still "No Sign Of Melted Nuclear Core"

by Tyler Durden

Jul 21, 2017 11:10 PM

While Elon Musk is fearful of the future of AI and robots destroying man, it appears the Japanese are taking the battle to the robots as they send a third 'swimming' robot into the destroyed Fukushima reactors in search of the melted nuclear core material.

As Valuewalk.com's Aman Jain writes, a swimming robot showed just how bad the damage at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant is.

The robot dubbed “the Little Sunfish” went inside the factory and captured images of the containment vessel in the Unit 3 reactor, which was swept away by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

No signs of melted nuclear fuel yet

Toshiba Corp., the company which has been given the responsibility of cleaning the plant, has co-developed the swimming robot with the International Research Institute for nuclear decommissioning.

The robot is on a mission to locate the fuel that melted and seeped from the core, falling to the bottom of the primary containment chamber where it was surrounded by highly radioactive water as deep as 6 meters, notes the Review Journal.

The little Sunfish is a small robot which propels around the area and captures data using two cameras and a dosimeter. Further, the robot is controlled by a group of four operators from a remote distance. The robot, which is about the size of a loaf of bread, is connected to data cables all the time. Further, the observations made by the robot are sent back to the team via the data cable.
On Wednesday, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) spokesman Takahiro Kimoto stated that they had received the first pictures of the underwater damage from the swimming robot, but there is no sign of the melted nuclear fuel that researchers are looking for.

In a late night news conference, Kimoto said, “The damage to the structures was caused by the melted fuel or its heat.”

Inside the plant, the robot was placed near the structure known as the pedestal, from where it went further in search of more information and the possibility of stumbling upon the melted fuel.

Third attempt using the swimming robot

The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, which killed more than 18,000 people, also damaged the power plant in Fukushima, making it the largest nuclear accident since Chernobyl. There have been a couple of attempts to explore the first and the second reactor, but the robots could not pass through. They either got stuck or swallowed by the excessive radiation still present inside the plant. However, the Little Sunfish gave a glimpse of the badly damaged number 3 reactor.

Meanwhile, the budget allocated to the exploration and clean-up process more than doubled to a whopping $188 billion last year, but the agenda is still running behind schedule. TEPCO has also not been able to decide on what to do with the 777,000 tons of water contaminated with tritium when it was used to cool down the plant’s cores.

Earlier, TEPCO Chairman Takashi Kawamura stated that there is only one solution left, which calls for dumping the water tanks into the Pacific Ocean. According to the officials, tritium is not harmful in small doses, but local activists and fisherman said that this will a create another negative impression about the country’s environmental commitments, which are already not in a good place as it deals with the horrible nuclear disaster.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

The Need for National Reciprocity

Friday, July 21, 2017

A report from the Crime Prevention Research Center estimates that the number of concealed carry permits issued last year was the largest increase ever – continuing a four year trend of record setting increases in the number of concealed carry permits. This rapid growth of permits has been attributed to increases among African-Americans and women.

Economist John Lott estimates that there are now more than 16.3 million concealed carry permit holders in the United States, with more than 1.83 million new permit holders last year alone. In other words, about 6.5% of all American adults hold concealed carry permits. This estimate is driven down by the restrictive anti-gun regimes in New York and California; about 8% of adults outside of these two states have concealed carry permits.

Urge Your Representative and Senators to Support Concealed Carry Reciprocity

Please contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative and urge them to cosponsor and support passage of S.446 -- the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017-- in the Senate, and H.R.38 -- the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017-- in the House. You can contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative by phone at (202) 224-3121
TAKE ACTION TODAY

The growing number of concealed carry permit holders underscores the need for national reciprocity. As we noted in May, it makes less and less sense to subject the right to carry a firearm for self-defense to the existing patchwork of inconsistent reciprocity laws that change from state to state as more and more Americans are carrying concealed firearms to protect themselves and loved ones, including while traveling. The estimated increase in permit holders in the last year means that another 1.83 million Americans could become accidental criminals if they happen to cross into the wrong state or aren’t aware of changes in state laws that often come with little public notice.

Concealed carry is not an issue driven entirely by the winds of electoral politics. Lott reports that the rapid growth in permits continued at a similar pace after the November 2016 election. The ability to travel across state lines with a lawfully carried concealed weapon for self-defense should not be denied by the political whims of anti-gun politicians but this is the current reality for many of tens of millions of law-abiding Americans who carry concealed in the United States.

Fortunately, momentum for national reciprocity is building in Congress despite hysterical, fear-mongering opposition. The Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, S.446, has 37 cosponsors in the Senate and the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, H.R. 38, is up to 205 cosponsors in the House. This legislation would simply recognize that the right to bear arms does not end at the state line.

Though support for national reciprocity and the number of law-abiding gun owners it would impact are both increasing, getting the legislation through Congress requires all of us to make sure our representatives know how important it is.