Rick Holmes and Bob Unger say loss of local news accompanied by loss of identity.

From our friends at Common Wealth, Bruce Mohl talks with two former editorial writers, Rick Holmes from the Metro West Daily News and Bob Unger from the New Bedford Times.

It's a 17 minute pod cast and well worth the listen as it directly ties into what we have lost in our local paper, our own sense of identity.

https://soundcloud.com/massinc/the-codcast-7272020

The right to repair ballot question is heating up

Have you seen those scary commercials about the ballot question 1? Holy Molly..... the opposition is 

really going all out to scare everyone.  

 From the Globe: 

Car manufacturers have found a formidable ally in their fight against the new “right to repair” ballot question in Massachusetts: the federal government.

A top official at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a detailed letter to the cochairmen of the Legislature’s consumer protection committee this week, raising concerns about the ballot question and its potentially adverse effects on public safety.

At issue is legislation that will go before voters in November that would give independent mechanics access to wirelessly transmitted information specific to particular vehicles. Opening up access to vehicle “telematics,” wrote the agency’s deputy administrator, James Owens, raises a host of cybersecurity concerns. A cyber attack on a motor vehicle, particularly one moving at high speeds, would pose an “incredible amount of danger,” Owens wrote.

The letter coincides with the launch of an advertising campaign by the industry-funded Coalition for Safe and Secure Data. Some of the federal agency’s points overlap with the coalition’s main argument: that the ballot question, financed in large part by auto-parts companies through two trade groups, would provide too much real-time access to consumers’ vehicle systems and locations, potentially exposing the data to wrongdoers.

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This isn’t the first time these sides have fought, with Massachusetts as the battleground. This is actually a sequel to the first right-to-repair ballot question, passed by voters in 2012, and subsequently tweaked by the Legislature in 2013. That law required manufacturers to provide repair codes to independent repair shops. But the proponents are back at it this year, saying that an increasing amount of repair data is being handled wirelessly, via telematics systems, and would not be covered by the 2013 law.

By the time it’s over, the warring industries probably will burn through millions of dollars on the fight. It’s not clear how much has been spent so far on marketing and other expenses, though, as ballot committees don’t yet have to disclose their spending for 2020.

It’s possible some of the language from the federal agency will become fodder for the automakers’ ads. The ballot initiative, Owens wrote, requires manufacturers to redesign their vehicles in a manner that introduces cybersecurity risks. (The bill would take effect beginning with 2022 models.) Telematics systems, Owens wrote, remain of great concern to federal regulators, in part because vulnerabilities in such systems could allow “malicious actors to cause a crash or incident” or “potentially interface with multiple vehicles at a time.”

Conor Yunits, spokesman for the auto manufacturer-backed coalition, said in a statement that Question 1, as the ballot question is known, is not about who can fix your car. Rather, it’s about how many companies and people can remotely access your vehicle’s data and location, he said, and the exposure of this sensitive information to “strangers, hackers and criminals, without any safeguards.”

The Massachusetts Right to Repair committee says this is nonsense. Tommy Hickey, its director, said in a statement that NHTSA is not fully informed about Question 1. The ballot question, he said, allows only mechanical information to be shared for the purpose of repairing a car, with the owner’s permission.

“It shows the awesome power of the automakers in Washington and . . . the Trump administration that the NHTSA would weigh in erroneously about a Massachusetts consumer issue this quickly and without consulting the sponsors and its experts,” Hickey said.

long time disabilities advocate Karen Demsey is not re-appointed

After 18 years and a founder of the disability commission, the Mayor has decided not to re-appoint Karen to the Commission.  Karen has done so much for equal access to Town buildings over the years and I see no reason why she wasn't re-appointed. Karen always ran a good meeting and kept "the needle moving", as the Mayor keeps saying.

Not that it may matter, but if our readers think Karen should be back on the commission, write to your district councilor and the Mayor. The council has 30 days to approve or reject the Mayor's appointees.

the apartment moratorium is approved

In a 10 to 1 vote, with G King voting no, the council approved the moratorium for 9 months. With more studies to include traffic, schools, and city service needs.

I'll have to look back at our candidate forums of last year, but I believe George said he was in favor of the moratorium. That may not look good on his resume when he runs for Mayor.

The Drug Task Force wants office space in Natick

 The Drug thugs want Framingham to lease space for their operation in Natick. It will be approved in Executive session and then by the full council tonight. I'll bet no one asks or questions any of it. This group of thugs needs to be disbanded and each municipality do their own drug investigations IMO. Keep in mind, it was a drug arrest that lead to the killing of Eurie Stamps. The drug war is over. The days of busting stoners at a traffic stop is over. The majority of fentanyl seizures (60%) are coming from the US Mail. The one motivating factor for the drug task force is civil forfeiture. The money (and assets) taken in drug busts is split between the feds, State and local cops.


From the Patch:

A regional police unit that investigates drug crimes is seeking to move into a new location in Natick, and the Framingham City Council is set to approve the move on Tuesday.
The MetroWest Drug Task Force, a joint effort between Natick and Framingham police, has found a 1,475 square-foot space to lease in Natick. The lease would be paid for out of Framingham's law enforcement trust fund — a pot of money that comes from property forfeitures made after drug arrests.
The two towns formed the MetroWest Drug Task Force in 2015. Drug detectives from the two departments work together on investigate drug dealing activity. The partnership was renewed in 2019, and Framingham has a similar pact with Marlborough police.
The address of the new space was not disclosed. The Framingham City Council will meet in closed session on Tuesday to negotiate the lease, and will then vote to approve it at the regular meeting.

Questions I sent to George:

Are the other towns chipping in anything?

How much time will be spent in these offices and who is supervising?

Is the money for this lease coming from the civil forfeiture funds?

Do they require union approval to have their own offices?

Who pays the utilities and out fitting the office space?

Will there be firearms stored there?

After all these years why do they need space now, considering the drug war is essentially over?

How many drug investigations were there in 2019?

Given the BLM movement over the killing of innocent black people like Eurie Stamps in a drug raid does paying for the Drug Task force to have its own headquarters in Natick show the lack of sensitivity on behalf of the elected officials?