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Impact of Monkeypox Outbreak Felt in Massachusetts

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Impact of Monkeypox Outbreak Felt in Massachusetts


The World Well being Group has declared monkeypox a public well being emergency of worldwide concern.

The outbreak has grown to greater than 16,000 reported instances from 75 international locations. In Massachusetts, 30 extra instances have been reported within the final week bringing the whole to 79.

No deaths have occurred in the US from the illness.

As of this week, Massachusetts has administered almost 3,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine. Clinics initially began in Boston and Provincetown as a consequence of restricted provide however have since expanded to Worcester, Springfield, Lawrence, New Bedford, Framingham and Randolph.

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For a illness outbreak to qualify as a world public well being emergency, it have to be a rare occasion that poses a well being danger to a couple of nation and should require a right away, coordinated worldwide response, in keeping with the WHO.

Massachusetts State Senator Julian Cyr, who represents Cape Cod and the Islands and beforehand served as coverage director on the Massachusetts division of public well being, says well being clinics have been working for weeks to boost consciousness amongst communities most in danger and seasonal employees.

“Most of the people most likely isn’t in danger, at the least in Massachusetts proper now,” Cyr mentioned. “However significantly if you’re a homosexual or bisexual man, males who’ve intercourse with males, being vigilant about realizing what the signs are, trying the place you will get a vaccine and getting a vaccine as quickly as potential, that’s how we’re going to get forward of this.”

The virus is unfold by means of shut contact and causes flu like signs, swollen lymph nodes and a pores and skin rash.

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Massachusetts political contributions from Nantucket wind farm developer scrutinized

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Massachusetts political contributions from Nantucket wind farm developer scrutinized


As Nantucket continues to reel from the Vineyard Wind turbine blade failure, critics are raising concerns around how the project’s parent company, Avangrid, has donated thousands of dollars in campaign money to state elected officials.

A Herald analysis found that employees who list Avangrid as their employer have made 217 donations totaling $57,677 to dozens of state and local campaigns since March 2018, two months before the Baker administration selected a Vineyard Wind bid for contract negotiation.

Notable figures include project supporters Gov. Maura Healey receiving 38 donations totaling $16,425 since 2018, and state Sen. Julian Cyr, a Democrat whose district represents the Cape and Islands, collecting 17 contributions for $3,036 since 2021, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

While the donations represent minuscule portions of Healey and Cyr’s cumulative campaign funds, sharply less than 1%, respectively, critics argue the electeds are putting their interests with Avangrid ahead of their constituents.

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Vineyard Wind, a venture of Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, continues to clean up debris — a mix of foam and fiberglass pieces of various sizes — on Nantucket and the surrounding area in the aftermath of the turbine blade failure.

“Campaign donations have bought their support for a project that makes very little sense at this point,” said Paul Diego Craney, a spokesman for watchdog Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “Elected officials should think objectively on policy decisions, but in this case, their judgment is getting blinded by the campaign donations they are receiving.”

The Healey campaign declined to comment.

The $3,036 that Avangrid employees have donated to Cyr since 2021 counts for 0.4% of the $688,518 in contributions he’s received in that time, the senator told the Herald.

Cyr highlighted how Massachusetts campaign finance law limits the maximum contribution a candidate can receive per person per calendar year to $1,000.

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“By capping contributions, we ensure that the voice of every voter matters, rather than allowing those with deep pockets to dominate the political landscape,” the senator said in a statement Saturday. “This promotes fairness, transparency, and trust in our elections, ensuring that our representative democracy is truly for the people, not for those who can spend the most.”

Christopher Lauzon, a Barnstable resident and Republican candidate running for Cyr’s seat, called the Vineyard Wind situation “one of the biggest disasters to hit the Cape and Islands since Hurricane Bob.”

“It’s having devastating environmental and economic impacts,” Lauzon said of the Vineyard Wind blade failure in an interview with the Herald on Friday.

“Senator Cyr has been completely MIA on this issue,” the candidate continued, adding how he visited Nantucket last weekend to speak with island residents. “They are not happy. They feel like they’re being ignored.”

An analysis of Cyr’s social media activity since the blade broke apart on July 13 showed that the senator has not made any posts relative to what many Nantucket officials and residents are calling a crisis.

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Healey also hasn’t made any social media posts about her response.

In a July 16 post on X, Cyr included a link to his monthly newsletter. In it, he highlighted a trip he made with Healey to the Vineyard Wind warehouse facility on June 6 and a celebration of “Global Wind Day” at Craigville Beach in Barnstable a week later.

“Vineyard Wind has demonstrated a commitment to the Island,” Cyr wrote in the newsletter. “I am proud to have played my part in working to forge the partnership between Islanders and the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind installation, and I’m excited to see this effort create a whole host of good in our community.

Healey, during her trip with Cyr, remarked, “To all of the workers, contractors, the people who financed and so many others, thank you for bringing this home. We were serious when we said we were going to make a big bet on wind. It’s where we need to go.”

Lauzon is taking exception to how Cyr has collected five contributions totaling $1,300 from his former chief of staff, Patrick Johnson, who currently serves as Avangrid’s director of public affairs.

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Johnson donated five other gifts to Cyr for $1,101.38 under prior employment.

“When you get into the thousands of dollars it does add up. That’s significant,” Lauzon said. “Honestly, it presents a conflict.”

Cape Cod Concerned Citizens highlighted how it “holds the strong opinion that the pattern of campaign contributions that is publicly available for all to see reveals a giant grift that is poisonous to the democratic process and silences the voices of Cape Cod constituents.”

Cyr stood firm with how he makes his “decisions and votes based on what I believe is best for Cape Codders and Islanders, not for any political contributors.”

“I have been all in on clean energy, including offshore wind, but I am clear-eyed that can only happen if we get it right,” Cyr told the Herald. “That means doing right by the local people and communities who host these projects. Anything else is unacceptable.”

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During his employment with Avangrid, Johnson has contributed to roughly 25 other campaigns including $500 to Healey, $825 to Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and $900 to Rep. Jeffrey Roy, the House chair of the Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee.

“Avangrid always supports the ability of its employees to exercise their rights and participate in the political process,” company spokesperson Leo Rosales told the Herald in a statement Sunday, “including supporting public officials on important issues like clean energy and climate policy.”

GE Vernova, the designer, manufacturer and installer of the turbines, has pointed to a “manufacturing deviation” and not an engineering design flaw in the failure of its wind turbine off the coast of Nantucket. An initial third-party environmental analysis of the disaster has found the debris from the 351-foot blade to be “inert, non-soluble, stable and non-toxic.”

Vineyard Wind is prohibited from generating electricity from any of its turbines and building any additional towers, nacelle and blades, under a federal order.

The company is permitted to “install inter-array cables and conduct surveys outside of the damaged turbine’s safety exclusion zone,” the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said in a Friday release.

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Nantucket officials, in a Friday update, highlighted how they met with the state for the first time on Thursday to discuss the state’s “monitoring and response efforts.”

The Biden administration restarted permitting for Vineyard Wind 1, the subject of a federal appeal, in February 2021, just a month after the president took office. GE Vernova has installed 24 turbines to date.

Vineyard Wind 1 is planned to grow to 62 turbines that are expected to have the capacity to generate 806 megawatts, enough electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses across the state, according to state officials.

Avangrid has either begun construction on or is in review of other wind farm projects in the Nantucket Sound, which Barnstable residents are fighting against.

“The offshore wind industry is critical to our ability to combat climate change and produce clean, affordable energy,” a spokesperson for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs told the Herald, “and the Healey-Driscoll Administration is committed to delivering these benefits to our residents.”

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Photos of the damaged GE Vernova wind blade at the Vineyard Wind development in the waters off Nantucket. (Photos courtesy GE Vernova)
BOSTON MA. - NOVEMBER 19: Massachusetts State Senate Julian Cyr on November 19, 2020 in Boston, MA. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
Massachusetts state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Cape and Islands. (Herald file photo)



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MassDOT Worker Killed In Crash On Route 24: Plymouth County DA

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MassDOT Worker Killed In Crash On Route 24: Plymouth County DA


WEST BRIDGEWATER, MA — A state transportation worker from Stoughton was killed in a crash Saturday night on Route 24, according to the Plymouth County district attorney.

David Sousa, 57, worked for the Department of Transportation and was picking up debris on the northbound side of the road near Exit 28B in West Bridgewater when he was fatally struck, District Attorney Tim Cruz said on social media. The driver remained at the scene, according to Cruz.

Northbound lanes were closed for three hours following the crash, Cruz said, adding state police were still investigating as of mid-day Sunday.

Find out what’s happening in Stoughtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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Baby Boy Falls From Window In Stoughton, Lands On Concrete: Reports



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Volunteers comb Massachusetts sea towns for remains of little girl ‘butchered’ by inmate father

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Volunteers comb Massachusetts sea towns for remains of little girl ‘butchered’ by inmate father


Volunteers searched several communities on the North Shore of Massachusetts Saturday as they hunted for the remains of Harmony Montgomery, the little girl who was brutally beaten to death by her father in 2019.

Crews combed the 600-acre Rumney Marsh Reservation as they tried to find Harmony Montgomery’s body, the location of which her killer dad has refused to reveal.

“That’s the acceptance I’ve had to come to terms with in my grief — just accepting the fact that he’s never going to do the right thing for her,” Crystal Sorey, Harmony’s heartbroken mom, told WCVB 5 in Boston.

Harmony Montgomery, the little girl who was murdered by her dad before he disposed of her remains. Manchester NH Police

Harmony’s dad, 34-year-old Adam Montgomery, was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison in May for murdering the 5-year-old girl, then hiding her body in a tote bag, a cooler and a freezer at the restaurant at which he worked.

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Eventually, he disposed of her remains — but he’s never said where.

Prosecutors even offered him a lighter sentence that would have cut his jail time by 21 years in return for the information. But Adam Montgomery remained mum.

“I’ve had a lot of dreams and this area has been in my dreams,” Sorey said Saturday, according to the outlet.

“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, right?” added volunteer Thomas Seretta.

“I just wish that monster would have shared some dignity to help put her to rest,” said Susan Vandecasteele, who was also helping comb the area.

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Authorities had narrowed their search to a 106-mile route between Manchester and the Tobin Bridge in Boston that Adam Montgomery had driven in a rented U-Haul in March 2020, according to the station.

Montgomery was just 5 years old when her father killed her for having accidents in the car. Manchester NH Police

“Harmony’s remains are likely somewhere along this route,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati said.

Sorey plans to organize monthly searches as she continues to look for her vanished daughter. She encouraged anyone with information to call the case tip line at 603-932-8997.

“There’s no reason to be afraid anymore,” she told the network. “Even if you think it’s the tiniest of information, it can help in a huge way.”

At his trial, prosecutors said Adam Montgomery beat the girl to death in a fit of rage because she had bathroom accidents in their car. Then he went for fast food and did drugs — all while ignoring her final cries as she died in the backseat, the court was told.

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Volunteers searched towns on the North Shore in Massachusetts for her remains on Saturday. WCVB Boston
Crystal Sorey, Harmony’s heartbroken mom, will organize monthly searches to look for her daughter’s remains. AP

Afterward, he lugged her decomposing body to the restaurant each day and left it in the freezer, keeping it next to food.

Eventually, he threw out the little girl “like yesterday’s trash,” prosecutors said.

During Adam Montgomery’s sentencing, Agati told Judge Amy Messer that Harmony’s family would get much-needed closure if her dad would reveal where he left the little girl’s body.

But Adam — who has maintained his innocence — refused to answer.

Adam Montgomery was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison in May. AP

So Agati said the killer’s inability to repent was “yet another reason” why Judge Messer should throw the book at him.

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The court sent him to jail for 45 years to life, a sentence to run consecutively to the decades-long term he was already serving for weapons charges.

“In light of the egregious nature of the crimes of which you have been convicted in this case, and taking into consideration your extremely violent criminal history, the court finds the only way to do this is to keep you off the streets,” the judge said.

Harmony disappeared in 2019, but cops didn’t learn about the disappearance until two years later.



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