PAGE A1 STORIES A8 day, ly 1 5, 2024 Orange last year voted to expand footprint beyond industrial areas to include those zoned for business. In the announcement, Pyrtel said Orange is o- sitioned for citing the Orange Municipal Air- port, a rail line, access to major roadways and prox- imity to major cities, col- leges and universities. a proud tradi- tion of innovation and en- trepreneurship in manufac- turing and agriculture that extends into our emerging sectors such as life sci- Max Bowen can be ences and cre- reached at 413-930-4074 or ative economy, an eco- re r. nomic sector recognized by the United yrtel said. Rodney Hunt Co.
has been building so- phisticated water control systems for almost 200 years here and now we have businesses like Im- pact Nano, a key supplier to the silicon chip industry. Seaman Paper is a leader in the forest products in- dustry, which is a huge part of our local economy. We think our ability to support the growth initiatives of these types of businesses will lead to further suc- licly discuss details of the in- the investigation. vestigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. political leanings attempt since 1981 were not immediately clear.
Records show Crooks was regis- tered as a Republican voter in rious attempt to kill a president armed members of the Pennsylvania, but federal cam- or presidential candidate since agency counter-assault team, paign finance reports also show Ronald Reagan was shot in an unusually visible show of he gave $15 to a progressive po- 1981. It drew new attention to force by his protective detail. litical action committee on Jan. concerns about political vio- 20, 2021, the day President Joe lence in a deeply polarized U.S. against Trump, was briefed on Biden was sworn in to office.
Authorities told reporters the presidential election. And it several hours after the shoot- that Crooks was not carrying could alter the tenor and secu- ing, the White House said. identification so they were us- rity posture at the Republican ing DNA and other methods to National Convention, which be- ica for this type of confirm his identity. Law en- gins Monday in Milwaukee. forcement recovered an AR- style rifle at the scene, accord- tion would proceed as planned.
ing to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condi- after visiting a local Pennsylva- tion of anonymity to discuss nia hospital, landing shortly af- Most serious assassination posted by an aide showed the The attack was the most se- Service agents and heavily less than four months before the attack and spoke to Trump Organizers said the conven- Trump flew to New Jersey a weekend at his beach home in ter midnight at Newark Liberty International Airport. Video former president leaving his private jet flanked by Secret Biden, who is running no place in Amer- the president said. sick. Biden late Saturday cut short Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to return to Washington. Many Republicans quickly blamed the violence on Biden and his allies, arguing that sus- tained attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy have cre- ated a toxic environment.
They pointed in particular to a com- ment Biden made to donors on July 8, saying time to put Trump in the Officials said the counter- assault team killed the shooter. The heavily armed tactical team travels everywhere with the president and major party nominees and is meant to con- front any active threats while other Secret Service agents fo- cus on safeguarding and evac- uating the person at the center of protection. OEDIC FROM A1 Trump attacker found to have bomb materials Executive director was pleased the state mandated that distribution of opioid settlement funds follows a community engage- ment process. Discussing some of the potential funding uses brought up by her peers in recovery, Ahern said the creation of a low-threshold drop-in center in which residents can get addiction recovery services without meeting the requirements of a sober home was often suggested. She also noted that since the settlement money can be distributed to individuals or orga- nizations through the creation of a grant fund, the city might also be able to fund funeral services for those who died from substance use.
heart and my wish is that advisory guides the pro- cess, but we create a consumer advi- sory board that is just people with lived and living experience, because the money is for us and to help abate the different harms in different buckets that are allowable. It should be the people with lived experience guiding Ahern said. every facet of the engagement process, there should be peers, people with lived experience, family members of loss that should be guiding that con- versation and also voting on how the money is being spent. We look- ing at a lot of money that could be used to do some amazing Ahern encourages members of the public with thoughts on how the city can best invest the funds to ei- ther reach out to the Office or contact her directly at endthes- She said after working as a recovery advocate across the state on settlement fund distribution, she is particularly im- pressed with process. little city of Greenfield is so far the city getting it Ah ern said.
sit in these meetings with other people from all across the com- monwealth, and saying, city is not listening or even an- swer my call, my city councilor told me that I was ridiculous, or they were go- ing to buy a police cruiser with Bullock said she plans to lead a public hearing on the settlement in August or September. She said she will hold multiple public engagement events before the advisory group rec- ommends any spending items to the a r. have far more than a few hun- dred people that have been touched by substance use and addiction in this community, so I think that we need a higher level of engagement than just those Bullock said, referencing the roughly 200 sur- vey responses. also just think that a survey the end-all, be-all of community engagement by any means like the sort of tip of the iceberg to start Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at recorder.com or 413-930-4429. GREENFIELD FROM A1 Advisory group to make recommendations on opioid fund uses to mayor gins.
said, that was 10 years ago and things have re- ally In recent years, particu- larly post-pandemic, Prescott said many residents that could benefit from joining Franklin County Young Professionals said they felt too old to be con- sidered a profes- or were dissuaded by the term After trying to clarify the in- tended meaning of these terms, the organization de- cided that it would be most ef- fective to change the name. mission really changed over the last 10 years, but we are finding better ways to define the work that Prescott said. then have a name that repre- sents that, because we feel like the Franklin County Young Professionals is doing that for us right The goal is to offer personal enrichment and career development to Franklin County workers. In exchange for a member- ship fee that ranges from $50 for a nonprofit employee to $100 for business member- ship, the group offers opportu- nities for connection through volunteer work and fundrais- ing events, as well as trainings and workshops. Recently, Franklin County Young Professionals offered a class on health first that discussed how resi- dents can support those who are experiencing a mental health crisis.
During the pandemic, the organization joined the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. The group now functions as an additional re- source for chamber members, Prescott said. group is here to help develop the workforce that these business owners are members of the are going out and trying to hire and bring in and find tal- ent making sure that there is accessible employee educa- tion and employee develop- ment for employers in this Prescott explained. As part of its rebranding ef- fort, the group sent out a sur- vey looking for feedback on two ideas for a new name: Franklin County Career En- hancement and Franklin County Career Skills Develop- ment. Community suggestions are also welcome.
The goal is to finish picking the new name by the end of the summer, and complete the transition by the end of the year. More information about Franklin County Young Pro- fessionals can be found at a r. a i i young-professionals-7792. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO A Franklin County Young Professionals networking event held at Pioneer Valley Brewery in Turners Falls. The organization is looking to rebrand with a new name that will more accurately describe the purpose in 2024.
RO FROM A1 Young professionals group rebrands By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press Drivers for ride-hailing in companies Mas- are sachusetts pushing ahead with what they de- scribe as a first-of-its-kind ballot question that could win them union rights if ap- proved. The push comes despite a landmark settlement last month guaranteeing that Uber and Lyft drivers will earn a minimum pay stan- dard of $32.50 per hour in Massachusetts. Supporters of the mea- sure last week delivered the final batch of signatures needed to land a spot on the November ballot. April Verrett, president of the Service Employees In- ternational Union, said the tens of thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers working in Massachusetts deserve the collective bargaining bene- fits of unions. would be the first in the nation to establish a union for drivers in this a she said.
The group is working on a similar effort in Califor nia. Attorney General Andrea Campbell, who secured the settlement which in- cluded what she described as unprecedented pack- age of minimum wage, bene- fits and is also backing the ballot ques- tion. a strong foundation that can and should be built Campbell, a Demo- crat, said of the settlement. Verrett said labor laws in the country written to take into consideration gig workers, something the bal- lot question would begin to remedy in Massachusetts if voters support the question and drivers ultimately form a union. fundamentally be- lieve that workers are work- she said.
workers deserve a union, a way to come together with their coworkers to have a say in their Yolanda Rodriguez has driven for Lyft for about six years and says con- vinced that having union rights would benefit her and other drivers. The 33-year mother of three who lives in Malden, just outside Boston, said she begins most days at about 3 a.m., with many of her trips involving driving people to Logan International Airport. Rodriguez said about a year ago her account was canceled when she was pregnant. She said she went for five months before it was restored and she could be- gin earning an income again. want that to hap- pen to other women or men because there are often chil- dren behind the cancella- she said through a translator.
I had a union, I would be able to turn to them and work with Under a policy Lyft an- nounced earlier this year, the company said their goal is to make drivers feel sup- ported and respected when a temporary hold is placed on a account during an investigation including a streamlined, in-app button for drivers to appeal deacti- vation decisions. But not everyone thinks the question goes far enough if they support it at all. Henry De Groot, 28, of Boston, has driven for both companies on and off for five years but says the ballot pro- posal question a fair deal. 100 percent pro- union and 100 percent opposed to the ballot ques- he said. De Groot said the ques- tion create a demo- cratic system where all drivers have rights.
He said no rights are included in the initiative beyond basic col- lective bargaining, including details on how dues are spent. have a regular union and not let workers have a he said. is no driver control over leadership. about the ba- sic democratic rights that other unions have. a top- down Kelly Cobb-Lemire, an or- ganizer with Massachusetts Drivers United, which she describes as a grassroots, driver-led campaign, said other app-based workers in- cluding delivery drivers are left out of the ballot ques- tion.
fighting to ensure that both drivers and deliv- ery workers have the right to form a union and are clas- sified as she said. support democratic col- lective bargaining where ev- ery driver has a She said her group is in- stead pushing lawmakers to approve a bill that would en- shrine full employee rights for all app workers and in- clude a path to unionization for everyone. She said the legislation also would man- date that drivers and deliv- ery workers be paid at least the Massachusetts mini- mum wage for all working time. The ballot question, if ap- proved, would define as those who com- pleted more than the me- dian number of rides in the previous six months. Once a union signs up of active drivers in a bar- gaining unit, it would get a list of all eligible workers and block any other union from being recognized with- out an election.
If a union then signs up of the eligible voters in a bargaining unit, it be- comes the certified bargain- ing representative unless another union or a i group comes forward within the next seven days with signed cards from at least of eligible voters, at which point there would be an election. Backers of the question had been preparing to go up against a possible series of industry-backed ballot ques- tions that intended to clas- sify drivers as independent contractors. But that threat evapo- rated after the settlement, which barred the companies from supporting all five pro- posed variations of their bal- lot question meaning they proceed to the ballot. In a statement after the settlement was announced, Lyft said the deal resolved a lawsuit that recently went to trial and avoided the need for the ballot initiative cam- paign this November. Uber also released a statement at the time calling the agreement example of what independent, flexible work with dignity should look like in the 21st cen- tur Under the agreement, drivers will earn one hour of sick day pay for every 30 hours worked, up to a maxi- mum of 40 hours per year under the deal.
The two companies will also be required to pay a combined $175 million to the state to resolve allegations that the companies violated Massachusetts wage and hour laws, a substantial ma- jority of which will be dis- tributed to current and for- mer drivers. Employees push ahead with what they describe as a first-of-its-kind measure, next decision will be made in November Possible union for ride share drivers on ballot question UBER AND LYFT AP Travelers enter a pick up location for ride-hailing companies, July 9, in the lower level of a parking garage at Logan International Airport, in Boston. RUMP FROM A1.
