MA Bill S.2088 Free Community Colleges

Joint Committee on Higher Education

(Senate) Bill S.2088 An Act making community colleges in Massachusetts free for residents of the state  Link to State Site for bill.

Bill Sponsor: Michael O. Moore (email: Michael.Moore@masenate.gov)
Senator Michael O. Moore, Democrat - Second Worcester

State House:
24 Beacon Street, Room 109-B, Boston, MA, 02133
Phone: 617-722-1485 Fax: 617-722-1066

District Office:
36 North Quinsigamond Avenue, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
Phone: (508) 757-0323 x 13

Status:
Referred to Joint Committee on Higher Education

Telegram.com, Worcester, MA
Proposal for free community college to get hearing on Beacon Hill
By Scott O’Connell, Telegram & Gazette Staff, Posted Jul 10, 2017

• Funding is an issue
• It needs more study
• There are no co-signers
• a House version of the bill was filed by state Rep. Carmine Gentile
• No one has testified on behalf of the bill

(House Bill) H.633 By Mr. Gentile of Sudbury, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 633) of Carmine L. Gentile and others for legislation to make public higher education free for residents of the Commonwealth. Higher Education.

RI just made community college free. Here’s what you need to know
By Susan Campbell, August 7, 2017, 5:15 pm  Updated: August 7, 2017

• Called the "Promise Scholarship Program"
• 20% boost in attendance
• Pays for community college
• Under 19 when completing high school

References:

Hearings and Events

Time to Replace Fossil Fuels with Solar and Wind

It Is Time to Replace Fossil Fuels with Solar and Wind Energy

October 26th, 2017. I went to the state house today to testify in favor of Bill H2698. The H means it is a House of Representative piece of legislation. The bill was presented by Kenneth I. Gordon from the 21st Middlesex district (Burlington). The hearing was conducted by the "Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy". The bill is "An Act protecting ratepayers from gas pipeline expansion costs". That means if the gas company needs a pipeline, they pay for it not us.

My comments to the committee were of a general nature:

I have a seventeen-year-old car. Everyone who sees it asks "When you getting another car?" It needs more work that it is worth.

The natural gas industry is in need of too much work. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, some of the pipes in Boston are over 50 years old. The pipes leak. Leaking gas is an environmental problem. Methane is 25 times better at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. Burning natural gas emits carbon dioxide and toxic chemicals that are poisoning living things and cooking the planet.

It time to trade in that aging fossil fuel technology for something new and exciting. Denmark gets half its electric energy from wind turbines. Italy gets 8% of its energy from solar power. These new technologies are cheaper and cleaner. Wind and solar power are creating many local jobs that we need.

Setti Warren visits Marblehead

Setti Warren visits Marblehead

Sidewalks

Our population is aging. Keeping people walking is vital. When people loose the ability to walk, they are more likely to have medical expenses. Loss of mobility negatively effects work and home life. Good sidewalks are essential for pedestrians. In the winter, they can become impassible and dangerous. Maintaining sidewalks is not an easy job. Tree roots push up the sidewalk and make it uneven. These pushed up areas can trip people and cause them to fall. I would like to see the town invest a little more in keeping sidewalks flat especially on the main streets. It would be a nice demonstration of community spirit if people would voluntarily clear and de-ice sidewalks during the winter.

download video from youtube

convert2mp3.net/en/

keep walking

Keep Them Walking!

1) THE PROBLEM: MOVEMENT DISORDER

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_disease
long-term degenerative, death of cells in the substantia nigra, a region of the midbrain,

https://www.healthline.com/health/parkinsons/life-expectancy#Overview1
Parkinson's disease is essentially a clinical diagnosis

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2573876/

Cost effectiveness of preventing falls and improving mobility in people with Parkinson disease: protocol for an economic evaluation alongside a clinical trial

One study has estimated that 27% of people with PD will sustain a hip fracture in the first 10 years following diagnosis of PD

Resource use and costs in a Swedish cohort of patients with Parkinson's disease.
The mean total annual cost for PD in our sample approximated SEK 124,000 ( approximately USD 12,400; 2000


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mds.25292/full
The current and projected economic burden of Parkinson's disease in the United States

We estimate that approximately 630,000 people in the United States had diagnosed PD in 2010, with diagnosed prevalence likely to double by 2040.

 The national economic burden of PD exceeds $14.4 billion in 2010 (approximately $22,800 per patient). Indirect costs (e.g., reduced employment) are conservatively estimated at $6.3 billion (or close to $10,000 per person with PD). 400 million for mass.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S147444220570226X
The Lancet Neurology
Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2005, Pages 815-820
Journal home page for The Lancet Neurology
Fast track — Articles
Prevalence of movement disorders in men and women aged 50–89 years (Bruneck Study cohort): a population-based study
(from 18·5% [15·0–22·0] in 50–59-year olds to 51·3% [44·9–57·7] in 80–89-year olds).


2) PARKINSONS, THAT'S ME

Stages

1. weakness one side
2. both sides
3. difficulty walking
4. terrible falls

Do dopamine in brain

Drugs will help, for a while

10 years to live, or maybe no effect

What I do?

• Vegan, no meat
• Walking, stopped driving, public transportation
• Boxing 5-6 days

Why boxing?

Ruth saw interview with leslie stahl. Her husband has it.

It's reducing the tremors in my left hand. Less tripping.

Teaching your brain to work faster. Strength training.

Straifing. Always know where my feet are. Demonstration.

Social aspect

3) What I want you to do?

Keep walking
If you know someone with movement issues, take them for a walk.
Walk and talk.
Whole foods shopping, talking, small carts
Encourage people to join an activity.
Social is important.

http://journals.lww.com/neurologynow/Fulltext/2007/03010/WHY_EXERCISE_HELPS_PEOPLE_WITH_MOVEMENT_DISORDERS.17.aspx

Neurology Today
WHY EXERCISE HELPS PEOPLE WITH MOVEMENT DISORDERS
Ivan Bodis-Wollner, M.D., the director of the Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders Clinic Center of Excellence at the State University of New York at the Downstate Medical Center, believes that dance therapy helps because it works the body as a whole, not as an isolated muscle group. In addition to feeling support from the group and from feeling better from doing exercise—which in itself produces dopamine, Dr. Bodis-Wollner says—there's another benefit as well.

Movement disorders are clinical syndromes with either an excess of movement or a paucity of voluntary and involuntary movements, unrelated to weakness or spasticity

Health Care Innovation

http://www.who.int/countries/dnk/en/

Statistics

Total population (2015) 5,669,000
Gross national income per capita (PPP international $, 2013) 44
Life expectancy at birth m/f (years, 2015) 79/82
Probability of dying under five (per 1 000 live births, 0) not available
Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years m/f (per 1 000 population, 2015) 88/54
Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2014) 4,782
Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (2014) 10.8

ideas
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9464-1/index1.html

Here's the Article:
Our leadership in Washington is continuing their attack on health care. We should ignore them as much as possible. Massachusetts has few natural resources. If we want to thrive, we need to attract growth tech industries. We will. When I walk around Boston, it feels like something exciting is happening. We have a concentration of well-educated people with diverse backgrounds. This is a recipe for growth and innovation.

However, health care costs are a drag on our competiveness. Denmark which is about the same in population spends about half what we spend. Even if the federal government leaves the Affordable Health Care Act unchanged, we still have a problem. We are an innovative state! It is time for use to take health care to the next level.

Good News About Gas Leaks, Oct 3

Hearing good environmental news is always wonderful. On October 3, 2017, I attended the Gas Leak Allies summit on "Common Goals, Uncommon Partners" at the MIT Sloan School Wong Auditorium in Cambridge. The Gas Leaks Allies are a coalition of activists, researchers, utility executives, municipal leaders, natural gas experts, inventors, and concerned citizens. Mothers Out Front and the Gas Leak Allies sponsored the meeting.

The Gas Leak Allies are finding solutions for the gas-leaking pipelines buried in our neighborhoods. They are making real progress. The summit highlighted their persistent effort in learning how to work together, collecting data and solving technical problems. In a time when people seem to be polarized, it is nice to see real progress in solving difficult problems.

Carbon Fee - Most Popular video on youtube

This is my most popular video on youtube.

Thinking about doing video scribe

https://www.videoscribe.co/en/

The Future of the Gas Leaks Campaign, Mothers out front

Attended this in the afternoon.
http://www.mothersoutfront.org/fix_massachusetts_gas_leaks

Common Goals, Uncommon Partners

Seeking Solutions to Reduce Methane Emissions
http://environment.harvard.edu/events/2017-10-03-130000-2017-10-03-160000/common-goals-uncommon-partners-seeking-solutions-reduce

I attended in the morning.