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2 Massachusetts moms made adaptive clothing for kids with disabilities. They hope to bring it to the masses.

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2 Massachusetts moms made adaptive clothing for kids with disabilities. They hope to bring it to the masses.


They say necessity is the mother of invention, and this invention came from two Massachusetts mothers with a need: clothing for those with disabilities. Nikki Puzzo and Joanne DiCamillo founded befree, an adaptive clothing brand — inspired by Puzzo’s daughter, Stella.

“I don’t let anything stop me in life — and that’s pretty cool,” Stella told CBS News. 

The eighth-grader likes to swim, do gymnastics and work out with a trainer, her mother said. 

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Nikki Puzzo’s daughter, Stella, models befree’s ZipOns for the company. 

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Born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, Stella was 5 when she had double hip surgery that left her with casts on both legs and a bar between them — making it impossible for her to wear traditional pants.

Surgeons told Puzzo that her daughter would have to wear dresses or a long T-shirt for three months while she recovered. 

“She doesn’t like to look at any type of brace or Band-Aids or anything like incisions,” Puzzo told CBS News. “So, I decided to go out and make her a pair of pants.”

Using a pair of brightly colored pajama bottoms, she took them apart at the seams and sewed in Velcro. It was a simple fix, but it was a “game changer” for her daughter, she said. 

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Nikki Puzzo’s first-generation prototype — with Velcro — in what would eventually become the company’s pants.

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“And then at her post-op appointment, she was wearing them,” Puzzo added. “And the doctor at [Boston] Children’s [Hospital] said, ‘You need to make these. So many parents ask us all the time what to dress their children in, and you basically solved that problem.’”

When she recounted what the surgeon said, Joanne DiCamillo was shocked.

“I was just really blown away by that,” DiCamillo told CBS News. “This was just something that was missing from the market and just something that didn’t exist.”

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It was there that befree was born. But with neither woman having fashion experience, they enlisted the help of a third mom: DiCamillo’s 85-year-old mother, who can sew.

All three women worked on the next prototype, eventually making a switch from Velcro to zippers after consulting with medical experts. They were granted utility and design patents for their pants and launched their website in 2022.

“We want people to ‘dress with less stress,’” Puzzo said, which is the company’s motto.

While befree did raise money through a crowdfunding campaign, the company is mostly self-funded, according to DiCamillo. They haven’t sought outside investment yet. 

Even though other companies sell adaptive clothes, DiCamillo hopes their company will be the one to take it mainstream. Their dream is that in five years, their adaptive clothes will be common in stores and be sold alongside traditional clothes. 

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DiCamillo noted that potential buyers are not limited to just children with disabilities, but adults with disabilities and other people recovering from surgeries. “The market is really huge,” she said.

“We started getting a lot of requests as people saw the kid’s pants,” DiCamillo said. “We got a lot of requests for adult sizes.”

The next piece of clothing on their list? 

“So, leggings [are] in the works — as well as shorts and joggers,” Puzzo said. 

“And jeans,” her daughter added. 

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Like any mother, Puzzo wants her daughter to grow up to be independent. She made a promise to Stella to do anything in her power to give her that freedom — no matter what. 

“I want to instill in her that she is beautiful, powerful, strong, no matter what,” she said. “And she can always do whatever she puts her mind to, and I believe that, you know, whether she is able-bodied or not.” 



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Massachusetts

Massachusetts State Police arrest alleged drug traffickers in possession of multiple guns, magazines, ammunition

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Massachusetts State Police arrest alleged drug traffickers in possession of multiple guns, magazines, ammunition


State Troopers have arrested two Massachusetts men on a list of charges.

According to Massachusetts State Police, in the early morning hours of May 12th, Trooper Austin Rose was conducting traffic enforcement on Route 27 in Brockton as part of the SP Milton-Barracks midnight shift. While in traffic, Trooper Rose clocked a Toyota SUV travelling 10 miles per hour above the posted speed limit.

 

Trooper Rose conducted a traffic stop of the Toyota which had turned onto Westgate Drive and approached the operator, 20-year-old Jaziah Rivera of Weymouth. When asked by Trooper Rose if Rivera knew the speed limit, Rivera gave confused responses and handed Trooper Rose his entire wallet instead of his driver’s license. Trooper Rose also smelled an odor of burned marijuana emanating from the interior of the vehicle.

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Trooper Rose asked Rivera about the contents of two bags in the rear seats of the vehicle. Rivera and a passenger of the vehicle agreed to show Trooper Rose the contents of the bags. After showing Trooper Rose the contents of the first bag, Rivera grabbed the second bag and tried stuffing the contents deeper into the zippered pockets. Rivera placed the bag on his lap and continued to manipulate what was inside without showing Trooper Rose. Uncertain of what could be contained inside and for the safety of those on scene, Trooper Rose removed the bag from Rivera’s lap and placed it onto the hood of the Toyota.

 

Now backed up by Trooper Autumn Mederios, Trooper Rose shined his flashlight onto the bag and was able to see a pistol magazine inside. The Troopers ordered Rivera and his passenger out of the vehicle and placed them into handcuffs. Neither Rivera nor his passenger possessed a license to carry firearms. Rivera and the passenger were secured in cruisers on scene.

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With the discovery of the loaded magazine, Troopers Nathan Pereira, Matthew McCarthy, and John Buckley responded to Westgate Drive. Trooper Rose returned to the bag on the hood and removed a 30-round 9mm Glock magazine, and several digital scales with a white powder residue.

 

A search of the vehicle discovered a tan Glock 17 with an inserted 17-round magazine, a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun with an inserted 17-round magazine and round in the chamber, an additional 30-round 9mm magazine, two 17-round 9mm magazines, a 6-round 9mm magazine, thirty-nine 9mm rounds, and several bags of crack cocaine. An additional bag of crack was discovered on the passenger’s person, totaling nearly 19 grams within the vehicle at the time of the traffic stop.

Jaziah Rivera and his passenger, 18-year-old Jazavier Rivera of Brockton, were placed under arrest and transported to the Milton barracks to be booked, fingerprinted, and photographed.

Jaziah Rivera and Jazavier Rivera were arraigned in Brockton District Court on charges of Trafficking In Cocaine, Conspiracy To Violate Drug Law, Possession Of A Firearm Without FID, Possession Of Ammunition Without FID, Possession Of A Large Capacity Firearm During A Felony Offense, Possession Of A Large Capacity Feeding Device, and Carrying A Loaded Firearm.

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 Jaziah Rivera faces further charges of Possession Of A Large Capacity Feeding Device (Two Additional Counts) and Speeding.



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Median price for Massachusetts home now $950,000 and more top stories

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Median price for Massachusetts home now $950,000 and more top stories


Median price for Massachusetts home now $950,000 and more top stories – CBS Boston

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CT GOP lawmakers come out swinging against idea of border tolls. Do we need to worry?

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CT GOP lawmakers come out swinging against idea of border tolls. Do we need to worry?


A group of Connecticut Republican senators Wednesday thrashed the idea that there should ever be border tolls at the state line with Massachusetts.

It’s not quite clear whether there would be a serious proposal for tolls on the Massachusetts border, however, though the issue did create a firestorm of controversy in the Bay State over the past few weeks.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told the Boston Herald that she pumped the brakes on a proposal offered by Secretary of Transportation Monica Tibbits-Nutty to help alleviate the commonwealth’s revenue shortfalls by installing tolls along the state’s borders. Tibbits-Nutt’s comments drew days of backlash.

For example, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu did not take kindly to the idea of tolling drivers entering Massachusetts at the state border, the Boston Herald reported.

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“Looks like Massachusetts has found yet another way to unnecessarily take your money,” Sununu, a Republican, said in a statement to the Herald.

“All the more reason for more Massachusetts residents to make the permanent move to New Hampshire,” Sununu said. “The Live Free or Die state continues to be the place to be.”

In Connecticut, Sen. Republican Leader Stephen Harding, Sen. Henri Martin, ranking senator on the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, Sen. Lisa Seminara, R-Avon, and Sen. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock, joined for a statement also condemning the idea of Massachusetts officials considering putting up border tolls

“Earlier this month, Gov. Lamont was asked if he would be re-introducing tolls in Connecticut. His response was ‘forget it.’  We urge him to also tell Massachusetts to forget this bad border tolls idea,” the senators said.

“It will serve as a tax on Connecticut residents, especially on those who live near the Massachusetts border and who work in Massachusetts. Things are expensive enough for hard-working people and their families.  They do not want tolls.”

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The GOP team was reacting to a story by Patch that said, “State Sen. Robyn Kennedy, D-Worcester, included an amendment to the Senate Ways and Means Committee budget that might lead to tolls for border-crossers.”

The Herald reported that Tibbits-Nutt’s “unfiltered” comments at a WalkMassachusetts event on a theoretical plan to take tolls from drivers crossing state borders and charge higher excise taxes to pick-up truck owners do not represent the views of Healey or her administration.

“To be clear, I am not proposing tolls at any border. I have spoken to the Secretary and made that clear, and that I have confidence in her leadership moving forward in this important time as we work to ensure a strong and robust state transportation system,” Healey said, the Herald reported.

Battenfeld: Healey delivers rebuke to transportation czar, saying no to new tolls on the border

The Herald also reported that the MassGOP followed Healey’s statement with one, openly wondering who Tibbits-Nutt is referring to when discussing jacked up excise taxes on pick-ups and SUVs before the Governor’s Transportation Funding Task Force .

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“Who exactly is this ‘type of person’ Secretary Tibbits-Nutt is addressing? Is it a parent with four children or someone who relies on a truck for work?” MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale asked.

“The Secretary’s policy initiatives are the antithesis of what’s needed in Massachusetts. A poll came out last week that showed our workforce is leaving the state in droves due to Massachusetts’ unaffordability. Adding more taxes, more tolls, and more penalties for ordinary Massachusetts residents is only going to make Massachusetts less affordable, and add to the mass migration the Commonwealth has been experiencing,” Carnevale said.

The Herald also reported that Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Craney said Tibbits-Nutt’s comments during the event were “simply reprehensible.”

“Decisions to raise taxes, fees, or adding tolling should be made by our elected legislature, not announced by an overzealous, unelected bureaucrat before a special interest advocacy organization,” Craney said in a statement. “The people she’s villainizing are just ordinary people trying to go about their everyday lives. Our state government should make life easier for people, not harder.”

The conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance went further, calling on Healey to fire the cabinet official she elevated from an acting position just last October. Tibbits-Nutt had previously served as an Undersecretary for Transportation, but took over the Department of Transportation after the departure of former Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca.

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“Government should never be used as a weapon against the people. People that view taxation and our government as a weapon to be used against individuals they don’t like are a critical danger to our democracy and people rightly lose confidence in any public official who thinks that way. Governor Maura Healey needs to step up and remove Secretary Tibbits-Nutt from her position before she does real damage to the state,” spokesman Paul Craney said.

Asked if Tibbits-Nutt would like to add to Governor Healey’s statement, a Department of Transportation spokesperson said that her assertions were just part of an on-going conversation about the challenges facing the state and not necessarily representative of policy proposals, the Herald reported.

“At a recent event the Secretary was conveying that we need to have difficult conversations about how to make our transportation system work best for everyone. This task force is in its early stages and no decisions have been made about its potential recommendations. Any proposals would be made in collaboration with the Legislature and other stakeholders and would carefully consider any affordability and competitiveness implications,” the spokesperson said.

The Herald also noted that Tibbits-Nutt said a group tasked with developing recommendations for a long-term, sustainable transportation finance plan was discussing charging drivers at the state border in an effort to support road, rail, and transit systems throughout Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Amy Carnevale said Tibbits-Nutt showed the “true nature” of the Healey administration.

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“Already grappling with the burden of unaffordability, the prospect of more tolls, increased taxes on Uber and Lyft rides, Amazon deliveries, and payroll taxes only adds to the struggle of Massachusetts residents. No Massachusetts resident wants that. It’s abundantly clear that the Healey-Driscoll administration’s approach to governance is government versus taxpayer,” Carnevale said in a statement.

Reporting by Boston Herald journalists Matthew Medsger and Chris Van Buskirk is included in this story. The Herald is a sister paper to the Hartford Courant.  

 



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