Community college president leaves with $334K payout

 By Susan Spencer
Telegram & Gazette Staff

GARDNER - When Mount Wachusett Community College President Daniel M. Asquino retired two weeks ago, after 30 years at the college helm and 47 years in public higher education, he left the campus enriched with a new $41 million state-of-the-art science center and an institution that has become a civic and economic driver for the region.

He also left personally enriched with a sizable - and completely legal - pension and benefit payout package. The payments could be among the highest ever for higher education retirees.

In addition to his pension, Mr. Asquino’s payout for unused accrued sick and vacation time comes to $334,138 - significantly more than his $276,567 salary, which includes an $18,000 housing allowance.

The retirement payments are high because of Mr. Asquino’s relatively high salary and his lengthy service, the longest of any college or university head in the state.

The accrued-time payout is more than the $269,984 paid in 2015 to former Bridgewater State University President Dana Mohler-Faria, which then was the largest payout on record dating back to 2006. Mr. Mohler-Faria’s payment and other six-figure lump-sum payments to retiring higher education administrators prompted a review and change in policies for nonunion professional staff by the Board of Higher Education last year.

The policies affect the approximately 1,650 nonunion employees at the state’s 15 community colleges and nine state univeresities.

Before the changes, employees could carry over, year to year, up to 64 unused vacation days. Unused vacation days would be paid out at retirement at full value based on current salary.

Accrued vacation days beyond the 64-day cap could be converted to sick time and cashed out upon retirement at one-fifth the employee’s pay rate.

Starting last July, accrued, unused vacation time beyond 64 days would be forfeited.

The maximum allowable vacation day balance will be lowered over the next two years to 50 days from 64. Effective Jan. 1, 2019, nonunion employees will forfeit any days in their balance above 50.
The board also reduced the number of vacation days allowed for employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2017.

Confusion surrounds implementation of recreational pot law

Saturday

Posted Apr 1, 2017 at 7:00 PM Updated Apr 3, 2017 at 6:01 PM

By Mina Corpuz, Special to the Telegram & Gazette First of three parts
BOSTON – Conflicting proposals from state lawmakers to implement the recreational marijuana law voters passed last fall has left Massachusetts cities and towns struggling to cope with confusion, and calls into question whether the regulated industry will be in place by next summer.

And that’s before lawmakers deal with signals from Washington, D.C., that the Trump administration may enforce an overall federal ban on marijuana sale and use.

The state legislature’s Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy and the treasurer’s office are leading the effort to figure out regulation, structure and methods to set up the framework before July 2018.

The November ballot question that supports taxing and regulating marijuana passed with about 53 percent of the vote. The measure allows adults older than 21 to smoke, purchase and grow some marijuana at home.

“There’s a lot of people (who are) very, very interested and have a variety of opinions and a variety of facts,” said Sen. Patricia Jehlen, who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy. “We’re trying to understand some things, but we are trying to stick to the will of the voters and make any adjustments that are necessary.”

Jehlen, D-Somerville, has supported legalization while co-chair Rep. Mark Cusack, D-Braintree, has declined to say how he voted for the measure.

Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Attorney General Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh were against marijuana legalization while Senate President Stanley Rosenberg supported it.

Since mid-December, adults in the Bay State have been able to possess and use marijuana, but not sell it. Shops were initially scheduled to open in January 2018.

The Department of Revenue estimates that the state could reap up to $172 million in annual tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales.

Buyers would have to pay the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax and an additional tax of 3.75 percent, which is lower than rates in other states with legalized marijuana. Municipalities also can choose to tax 2 percent on top of sales and excise taxes.

Conflict between regulation, legislation

Bend Over: The Unpopular Opinion on Vaccines

Bend Over: The Unpopular Opinion on Vaccines

Before you jump to any conclusions, I am not anti-vaccine. My family has had some vaccinations, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself pro-vaccine either…

Vaccinations have been a controversial topic in the natural health world for a long time and they’ve recently been under a lot of mainstream scrutiny as well. But do they really help or do they do more harm than good?

Vaccinating children every year is a multi-billion dollar annual business for the pharmaceutical companies. Think about it. The more vaccines they can convince the government to recommend or require, the more money they make.

This explains why in the last 25 years the amount of vaccines given to children under 6 has increased dramatically, even though the occurrence of many of these diseases still remains extremely rare.  When I was a kid in 1983 the recommended vaccine schedule was 11 doses of 4 vaccines.

The 2017 schedule for American children is 50 doses of 14 vaccines before they turn 6. And they will have a total of 69 doses of 16 vaccines by age 18.

Sometimes as many as 12 vaccines are given in a single visit!

If you think that’s a lot, you should know that even more are in development. Not because we need them, but because pharmaceutical companies want to sell more vaccines.

And many of the vaccines administered today are for low-risk, non-fatal, or diseases that are practically non-existent in First World countries. Chicken Pox, a disease most of us had growing up, is now a vaccine required by the government (insert pharmaceutical executive high-fives here) and it is not even guaranteed to work.

Natural exposure to bacteria, viruses, and germs produces a stronger immune system that can protect you from degenerative disease in later years. Vaccines only provide temporary immunity. Remember Chicken Pox parties? I’m all for ’em! I would much rather my kids get chicken pox than get the chicken pox vaccine.

Ever wondered what’s in a vaccine? Here’s a partial list :

Lab altered viruses and bacteria, aluminum, formaldehyde, phenoxyethanol, gluteraldehyde, sodium borate, sodium chloride, sodium acetate, monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrochloric acid, lactose, gelatin, yeast protein, egg albumin, bovine and human serum albumin (DNA from humans and cows), antibiotics, unidentified contaminants, and more.

What about mercury? Thimerosal is a 49% mercury-based preservative still present in some vaccines that has been linked to various brain, gut and immune system disorders.
(Read this post on the dangers of mercury)

And while the pharmaceutical industry has published their own studies “proving” that there is no connection, scores of mothers of vaccine-injured children continue to come forward year after year with testimonies of vaccine-related injuries, including autism.

Meanwhile the rate of autism in the unvaccinated communities, like the amish, is nearly zero.
According to the National Vaccine Information Center: