August 3, 2020

Hopkins School parent banned for heckling graduation speakers on race

NEW HAVEN — The head of a private college preparatory school said a parent has been banned from campus who “repeatedly heckled” commencement speakers as they discussed racial injustice during the school’s drive-in graduation ceremony last week.

Kai Bynum, head of Hopkins School, wrote in a letter to the school community that the parent “who harassed our commencement speakers” during Thursday’s graduation has been banned from the campus.

The announcement came after the Instagram account blackathopkins posted a story claiming a parent “rolled down his window and yelled ‘Get off the stage!’” while a faculty member was giving a speech during the commencement.

The faculty member had said “black people came here against their will and built much of this country against their will,” as part of his commencement address before the parent made the remark, according to the Instagram post.

Read more: https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Hopkins-School-parent-banned-for-heckling-15452996.php

Students reaction: https://www.instagram.com/p/CDUDrR0pMmO/?utm_source=ig_embed

August 3, 2020

Tornado touches down in Sharon

The National Weather Service says it is possible a tornado touched down in Sharon late Sunday afternoon.

The announcement comes after the organization issued a tornado watch for most of the state.

The NWS issued the watch for Fairfield, New Haven, Litchfield, Middlesex, Hartford and Tolland counties. It said the watch is in effect until 10 p.m. Sunday.

The watch was issued as Connecticut prepares for Tropical Storm Isaias to arrive later this week. Isaias is now off the coast of southeastern Florida and is expected to reach the New York City area on Tuesday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read more: https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Tornado-watch-issued-for-most-of-CT-15452950.php

https://twitter.com/NWSEastern/status/1290073508622393344

August 3, 2020

Lamont Signs Police Accountability Into Law

Gov. Ned Lamont signed the police accountability bill into law Friday, but the work is just beginning.

The bill caused an uproar among police officers in Connecticut, who were concerned with a number of provisions, including changes to qualified immunity. The bill was crafted in the wake of George Floyd’s death to address policing issues here.

“I think at the end of the day we all understand how important it was and what a big step this is,” Lamont said before signing the bill.

Paul Mounds, Lamont’s chief of staff, met with four police unions Thursday. He said, “There’s going to be continuous conversations as it deals with the bill, particularly on the implementation.”

Read more: https://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/20200731_lamont_signs_police_accountability_into_law/#more

August 2, 2020

After a week of complaints, utility regulators temporarily pull plug on Eversource rate hike

After a tumultuous week filled with legislative outrage, sniping between energy companies, and consumer sticker shock at rising utility bills, state regulators on Friday announced they would temporarily suspend a controversial rate increase for energy company Eversource.

That rate increase went into effect on July 1 and was originally pitched to state regulators as relatively modest: about $5.50 on the average residential customer’s monthly bill.

But COVID-19 made that complicated. Stay-at-home orders drove people away from places of work, days got hotter, residential electricity usage spiked, and an economy-shattering pandemic left many cash-strapped customers reeling at bills compounded by Eversource’s rate increase.

By Friday morning, the utility began to acknowledge the strain.

“I think that our customers are really, really struggling,” said Penni Conner, chief customer officer for Eversource. “Many of them are struggling just to pay their rent, put food on the table. And these energy bills – the timing is just difficult.”

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2020/07/31/after-a-week-of-complaints-utility-regulators-temporarily-pull-plug-on-eversource-rate-hike/

August 2, 2020

Searing heat will make COVID-19 racial disparities worse

Scientists say the nation is experiencing another public health emergency that will further exacerbate the coronavirus crisis: extreme heat.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting the next three months will be hotter than normal for much of the country; 2020, it says, likely will rank as one of the hottest years on record.

Communities of color, particularly lower-income Black and Latino neighborhoods, will be particularly affected. Extreme heat likely will push more residents into crowded cooling centers, where they may be exposed to the virus, and worsen breathing problems and other underlying health conditions that already disproportionately affect people of color, researchers say.

As the summer heats up, cities are offering help with utility bills; repairing existing air conditioning systems or providing free air conditioners for low-income residents; opening more cooling centers; and parking buses with the air conditioning running so that passersby can cool off.

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2020/08/02/searing-heat-will-make-covid-19-racial-disparities-worse/

August 2, 2020

Nursing home workers suspend strike plans after Gov. Raimondo pledges support

The union representing workers at five Rhode Island nursing homes has suspended plans to go on strike next week, after Governor Gina M. Raimondo pledged to work with state lawmakers and union leaders to resolve staffing issues and develop a minimum staffing standard.

In a letter Thursday to Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, Raimondo said she was “disappointed” that legislation introduced in the General Assembly to set minimum staffing levels in Rhode Island nursing homes did not pass, but urged workers to stay on the job, saying “we need to keep our nursing home residents safe as we continue our effective response to COVID-19.”

Chronic staffing shortages at nursing homes have been exacerbated during the pandemic, as staff have fallen ill and administrators say they've had trouble finding replacements.

Legislation passed by the state Senate earlier this month to set minimum staffing levels and raise wages at nursing homes has stalled in the House. (The House passed a bill to create a study commission to consider recommendations for nursing homes.)

Read more: https://thepublicsradio.org/news/nursing-home-workers-suspend-strike-plans

August 2, 2020

The Shadow Notes - Revolution Blues

The great political activist Emma Goldman is often misquoted as saying, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Thankfully, Boston electro-pop duo The Shadow Notes — comprising musicians Levi Ali, a student at UMass Worcester, and Michael Dwan Singh — seem to be of the same mind, as illustrated by their eminently danceable “Revolution Blues.” Indeed, watching the song’s recent music video, which was released on Juneteenth, dancing at the revolution may well be the point.

The video’s narrative begins with Ali and Singh street busking as young, free-spirited friends stop to chat, hug them, dance a bit and then continue on to work at the ominously named Clearmind Corporation. Once the young people arrive at work, though, they are taken to “reprogramming stations,” which sucks the joy from them and turns them into brain-dead worker drones, and even draining them of their fashion sense. Later, when The Shadow Notes see their friends again, they realize something is wrong, and join forces with, as described on the YouTube page, “old friend — veteran revolutionary Jaspal Singh” to hatch a rescue plan. Naturally, it involves a literal dance battle, a la “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

It’s a familiar conceit, but it works here simply because it’s not hammered too hard. Honestly, it’s an absolute blast. Moreover, one would think a song with lyrics such as “Gods have chased my people down/A sea of red and black and brown/l’ll be there with you/Singing revolution blues” would be heavy, but it never loses track of its groove. Which, again, is the point: Losing that groove, that sense of joy, robs life of vitality, and turns you into little more than a zombie.

Can you dance to it? Oh, yeah. At its core, “Revolution Blues” is a breezy club track, and while the politics at its heart seemed earnestly held, the song itself isn’t particularly didactic. The song’s real agenda is a broadly defined freedom and a right to joy, two things with which the song and video positively radiate.

Read more: https://www.worcestermag.com/entertainmentlife/20200802/song-to-get-you-through-week-shadow-notes-deliver-dance-ready-revolution

August 2, 2020

Rhode Island mistakenly issues tax refunds signed by Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse

Rhode Island mistakenly sent more than 175 tax refund checks signed by Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, rather than the state treasurer and controller.

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation uses the signatures on test files, which were mistakenly printed on the real checks and sent out on Monday, a spokesperson told WPRI-TV.

“No other signature lines were printed besides the two,” said Jade Borgeson, chief of staff for the Rhode Island Department of Revenue, which includes the taxation division. Mickey Mouse is the cartoon character that was animator and producer Walt Disney’s first big hit.

The checks were tax refunds for corporate, sales and tax credits mostly to businesses, WJAR-TV reported.

Read more: https://www.masslive.com/politics/2020/08/rhode-island-mistakenly-issues-tax-refunds-signed-by-walt-disney-mickey-mouse.html

August 2, 2020

Landlords challenge constitutionality of eviction ban

TWO LANDLORDS from Randolph and Worcester are challenging the constitutionality of the ongoing eviction moratorium, arguing the state is allowing their tenants to basically take property without paying for it.

The two landlords are Marie Baptiste, a nurse from Randolph who says her tenants owe her about $20,000 in back rent, and Mitch Matorin, who owns a three-family house in Worcester where one of his tenants has stopped paying rent.

Richard Vetstein, who is representing the landlords, told Suffolk Superior Court Judge Paul Wilson on Thursday that the eviction moratorium is violating court access rights and constitutional property law. He is seeking an injunction to open housing courts to evictions.

“You’re literally forcing landlords across the state to provide public housing to tenants because of this moratorium,” he said. “This is literally state reps trying to be housing court judges, and it’s gone too far.”

Read more: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/housing/landlords-challenge-constitutionality-of-eviction-ban-2/

August 2, 2020

A Massachusetts island just opened to the public after more than 300 years

Travelers can now explore a Massachusetts island that just opened to the public after more than 300 years.

The 24-acre Sipson Island, in the heart of Cape Cod’s Pleasant Bay, was privately owned until last month when most of it was purchased by Sipson Island Trust, which aims to restore the island’s ecology, support environmental and historical education and research, and provide public recreation, according to its website. Saturday’s opening marked the first time the public was welcome on the land since it was sold by a Monomoyick leader to English colonists in 1711, according to the trust.

Visitors can now walk, hike, picnic, swim, bird watch, fish, and more on the island, which offers beaches, coastal banks, salt marsh, eelgrass beds, upland meadows, and woodland.

“The opening went fantastically!” wrote Tasia Blough, president of Sipson Island Trust, in a Facebook post. “After years of work, it was so rewarding to see families enjoying picnics on the island‘s shores, hiking the uplands, and fishing in the shallows.”

Read more: https://www.boston.com/travel/travel/2020/07/28/sipson-island-reopening