By: State Senator Katy Ives May, 2016 Kinder Morgan, a Houston, Texas-based energy infrastructure company, submitted its first letter related to their Northeast Energy Direct Project (NED Project) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on September 15, 2014. It detailed a plan to construct 177 miles of new pipeline from Wright, New York to […]
By: Senator Kathleen Ives Dec. 2015 The Massachusetts Senate recently completed the first year of a two-year legislative session by sending to the governor’s desk legislation for increased penalties for trafficking fentanyl, and five bills related to veterans. To further address the health crisis of opiate abuse in the Commonwealth, the legislature passed House Bill […]
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By: Joe D’Amore – Oct. 2105 If cities and towns define extreme poverty and homelessness as a public-health issue, the public-policy responses will be quite different than what we are used to today. Consider that in all cases a homeless person, or someone who lives in extreme poverty, is marginal in most, if not all, […]
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By: Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives – October, 2015 The State Senate recently passed additional reforms aimed at combatting the substance abuse epidemic in Massachusetts. Senate Bill 2020, which passed unanimously, focuses on prevention and early intervention, responsible pain management, expanded drug take-back programs by manufacturers, and reducing the number of opiate pills in circulation by […]
By: Joe D’Amore – Sept. 1, 2015 She was a woman in love with a man who could not help her with her addictions At the age of 11 she took her first drink and from there a nightmarish escalation materialized starting with prescription drugs, cocaine and eventually heroin. Even the methods to deliver the […]
By: Joe D’Amore – July, 2015 Our state is reeling from spiraling crises in opioid addiction and the newest statistics confirm the need for a coordinated policy response from the Governor’s office. The state Department of Public Health revealed the depth of the crises by reporting 1,008 overdose deaths in 2014 which compares drastically to […]
By: Joe D’Amore – July, 2015 Angels are descending on the city of Gloucester through an innovative program proposed by Police Chief Leonard Campanello to help people battling opiate addiction. These angels don’t have wings but they have some training, knowledge and an abundance of compassion to be at-the-ready for when an addicted person surrenders […]
SJC must split their decision in the Chism appeal The defense team for Philip Chism are mustering a complex set of motions in an all out assault to protect their client. Chism, the 16-year-old is charged with first-degree murder and rape of his 24 year old math teacher, Colleen Ritzer, at Danvers High School in […]
By: Kathleen O’Connor Ives – January, 2015 In my first legislative session we passed a number of significant laws, including requiring nursing homes, rest homes, or other long term care facilities to first obtain informed, written consent if psychotropic medications are to be administered, along with a description of the side effects. We also passed […]
By: Joe D’Amore – December, 2014 Somewhere in America today there are law enforcement officers that wear the uniform , a gun and a badge and perpetrate the greatest discharge of public trust because they are thugs. There are also criminals-some petty, some serious that perpetually push the envelope of civility through their derelict and […]
By: State Senator Katy Ives Dec. 2014 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the United States. It disproportionately impacts women and is caused by smoking and poor air quality. It severely impacts quality of life by causing a shortness of breath, which makes it difficult to do the […]
By: Joe D’Amore – October, 2014 The state’s highest judicial entity; the Supreme Judicial Court reached another stunning milestone in delivering an affront to the sensibilities and protections of law-abiding citizens on June 4th. In a 6-1 decision, the justices ruled that lifetime parole for sex-offenders is unconstitutional. The court asserted that only the judicial […]
By: Joe D’Amore – Sept. 2014 A former Amherst high school science teacher Ronald Garney pleaded guilty to buying and possessing child pornography. Furthermore , he used a state-issued email address at his school to access the illegal websites. Yet the Supreme Judicial Court ruled on August 18th that he can keep his $28,725-a-year pension. […]