ON NOVEMBERÂ 5, residents of Massachusetts and most other states will return to a behavior that offers them better health outcomes, better sleep, better school performance, and increased workplace safety and productivity. Sounds like a great idea, right? Yet, unfortunately, those benefits will only last four months despite the majority of Americans from both sides […]
Health
Posted inHealth, Media
Campbell leads legal challenge to Meta’s Facebook, Instagram
ATTORNEY GENERAL Andrea Campbell filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Meta Platforms, alleging that the company’s Facebook and Instagram platforms violated Massachusetts consumer protection laws by knowingly utilizing methods to hook and consequently harm young people. This lawsuit is part of an effort by attorneys general in 42 states who are filing similar lawsuits in their […]
Posted inOpinion
Advice from 2 mothers whose children died from meningitis
AS MOTHERS who have both lost a child, we often say we’re in a club that we want no one else to ever join. We started our individual foundations and the Meningitis B Action Project after we each lost our young, healthy daughters too soon to a now vaccine-preventable disease, Meningitis B. Kimberly (Patti’s daughter), […]
Posted inCourts, Education, Health, Health Care
Court says social worker, school district not liable in student suicideÂ
IF SOMETHING IS going wrong in a child’s life – slipping grades, anxiety, depression, injury, or worse – their school community can see warning signs that may not always show up at home. But if a public school employee is made aware of the possibility – or even likelihood – of a student hurting themself, […]
Posted inEducation
Board approves first updated sex ed standards in decades
IT IS, LITERALLY, not your father’s — or mother’s — sex ed standards. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously on Tuesday to update the curriculum framework for health and physical education, the first time the state’s sexual health standards have been updated in almost 25 years. Under the new guidelines, students should […]
Posted inHealth
A food co-op returns to Boston
IT’S BEEN A LONG and winding 11-year road for the Dorchester Food Co-op, which will be opening its doors to the public this month. It marks the return of community and work-owned food co-ops to Boston, five years after the last local grocery co-op shuttered. Co-op markets differ from other markets primarily in their ownership […]
Posted inOpinion
A sweep through Mass. and Cass will do irreparable harm
AS A LICENSED clinical social worker who has conducted outreach at Mass. and Cass and worked in the city-run men’s shelter on Atkinson Street, I am disappointed in Mayor Wu’s decision to enact another sweep of the Mass. and Cass area. Under the guise of “public health,” this sweep will misuse tax dollars and exacerbate […]
Posted inPolitics
Is Massachusetts becoming the state of emergency?Â
IN GOVERNMENT, as in life, what gets the most attention is often a matter of priorities. It’s hard to focus on too much at once, so the most important things get pushed to the top of the to-do list. Sometimes, though, even setting out an agenda of top priorities doesn’t seem to be enough. Lately, […]
Posted inHealth, State Government, State House News Service
State Police union claims victory over ‘tyranny’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE PRESIDENT of the State Police union took a victory lap on Monday after an arbitrator ruled in favor of seven troopers who had remained on unpaid leave after claiming a religious exemption from mandated COVID-19 vaccination two years ago. Against a backdrop of the State House with the governor’s office […]
Posted inOpinion
Drugs extending my life, but Boston institute disagrees
WHEN I WAS diagnosed 6 years ago with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease as most people know it—it was a shock to my system, both figuratively and literally. No one wants to learn they have an incurable disease. For people living with ALS, our best hope is that the life sciences field will […]