BOSTON – On Thursday the Massachusetts Senate passed a budget amendment providing long term coverage for Lyme disease treatment.  There were 5,050 new reported cases of Lyme disease in Massachusetts in 2012, the highest incidence rate in Massachusetts history.

Lyme disease is the largest vector-borne disease in the United States, affecting more individuals than Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and the West Nile virus combined.  Often misdiagnosed because symptoms are similar to the flu, sufferers of Lyme disease can suffer long term, chronic symptoms, including rash, fever, chills, body aches, joint pain and neurological problems.

The legislation requires all private insurance plans in Massachusetts to cover Lyme disease testing and proper treatment.  Currently insurance companies restrict coverage to 28 days, which leaves some patients paying thousands of dollars out of pocket.  The cost to insurance premiums would be negligible.  According to the state Cost Containment Committee, increasing coverage for Lyme disease antibiotics from 28 days to 18 months would only cost an average of 3 cents per premium.


posted by Jeff Bennett

From Robert Markel, temporary part time Templeton Town Administrator:


Regarding the expenditure for legal advice on the recent election, the Town Clerk came to my office with an important question: Can a candidate for election to the Water Department Board have his wife sign out nomination papers? This happened at 2:00 p.m. on the last day for pulling nomination papers. The law requires that the candidate must take out nomination papers in person. We did not know if there was case law or other decisions that were relevant, and we were aware that the Secretary of State would answer this question but it normally takes several days to get an answer. We did not have time, so I asked Town Counsel for an opinion and told the Clerk to issue the nomination papers to the wife contingent upon the opinion from Town Counsel. 

If we had denied the nomination papers and Town Counsel came back with a ruling that we should have issued them, we might be accused of unfairly keeping a candidate off the ballot. It we simply issued the nomination papers without checking the legality, we might be accused of ignoring the law, so the Clerk and I agreed that issuing the papers contingent upon Town Counsel opinion was the best and fairest course. 

The advice of Town Counsel was that issuing the papers to the candidate's wife was valid and that the candidate's name should appear on the ballot. The practice in most towns is to reveal the opinion of Town Counsel but not to release the written opinion. I would not release the written opinion without agreement by the Board of Selectmen. 

Lastly, I want to assure residents that we are making every effort to consult Town Counsel only when absolutely necessary. For the first time in recent years, the Town's expenditures for legal counsel will be less than the amount in the budget.

Seems at the last election, one candidate, Gregg Edwards, had his wife pick up his nomination papers. Now, if the law states the candidate must do this, why was this allowed to move forward? This was not the first election process for him as he has served as a selectmen before and there is a time frame laid out in plain English in Templeton. If you intend to run, you make sure you have no plans that interfere with the requirements which are you pick up your papers, sign the book, obtain the required number of signatures of Templeton residents and registered voters, turn them in so they can be certified and get your name on the ballot. There is a certain number of names required and a certain time frame to pick up papers and when to turn them in. All spelled out and all pretty simple. Why special consideration for this time around and this candidate? This was / is a Town election issue and this was/is not a matter for the Light & Water department so now we have departments laying out how elections will be run, now we have set a precedent on how nomination papers can be pulled, we already do not follow any real process, procedure or timeline for a budget, we have the selectmen and Town Administrator telling department heads not to meet with Advisory Committee, individual selectmen adding warrant articles to Town meeting warrant after it has closed and then having it show "presented by Board of Selectmen" even though there is no record of the board of selectmen voting on these articles. The topper is the selectmen now claiming they are the superior department and they can do as they please. 

posted by Jeff Bennett

The Office of Economic Empowerment at the State Treasurer’s Office and the Commonwealth’s Division of Banks are excited to announce the creation of 2016-2017 Financial Education Innovation Fund.

This grant program provides public and charter high schools across Massachusetts with up to $5,000 in funding to develop new financial reality fairs. High schools with existing fair programs are eligible for up to $2,500 for their current models.

Financial education fairs are an engaging and effective way for students to learn about real world financial decisions when it comes to saving, spending, and budgeting based on career choices and lifestyle decisions.

Applications are due on or before June 20, 2016.

For more information please visit our Financial Education Innovation Fund website here:

http://www.mass.gov/treasury/empowerment/finlit/innovationfund/.

posted by Jeff Bennett