Senator Jen Flanagan says new program gives district a chance to spotlight its special places

BOSTON-- Senator Jennifer L. Flanagan (D-Leominster) invites Massachusetts residents of to nominate their favorite places in Massachusetts.

1,000 Great Places in Massachusetts is a new cultural tourism program that celebrates what is unique about our state, its communities, and its people, and also to stimulate cultural tourism. The program seeks to increase visitation to the state's wide range of exceptional historic sites, cultural venues, and natural landscapes.

Nominations will be considered for a final list of 1,000 Great Places in Massachusetts to be announced in May.

"There are so many special historic sites, cultural landmarks, and natural landscapes in my district," says Senator Flanagan. "I encourage my constituents to tell their stories about what makes our favorite places great."

The Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT) has established a website to accept nominations from the public: www.Massvacation.com/1000greatplaces

All Great Places that are nominated must be open and available to the public. Only one nomination per person will be accepted. The nomination period will close April 1, 2010. The Commission will meet later that month to draw up a final list of 1,000 Great Places in Massachusetts, which will be announced in May.

The 1,000 Great Places Commission was created by the Legislature in 2009.

Registered Democrats in Leominster will be holding a caucus at the New England Joint RWDSU-AFL-CIO office located at 149 Mechanic Street in Leominster.  The Caucus will be held on Saturday February 13, 2010 at 10:00am to elect delegates and alternates to the 2010 Massachusetts Democratic Convention.  Delegates will be divided equally between men and women.

The Convention will be held on Friday June 4th and Saturday June 5th at the DCU Center in Worcester.  At that time, Democrats from across the state will gather to endorse statewide candidates.

The caucus is open to all registered Democrats in Leominster.  All ballots will be written and secret.  Those not elected as Delegate and/or Alternate, who meet the qualifications, may apply to be add-on delegates in the following categories: youth, minority, and disabled.

Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, color, creed, national origin, disability, religion, ethnic identity, sexual orientation or economic status in the conduct of the caucus is strictly prohibited.  Challenges to the delegate selection process can be filed with the Massachusetts Democratic Party, 56 Roland Street, Suite 203, Boston, MA  02129 no later than ten days after the caucus date.

For caucus information please contact my campaign office at 978-466-8605.

Utility companies will face stiffer requirements for emergency response plans under new legislation approved by the Senate and House on Tuesday. The final bill gives increased authority to the Commonwealth’s public utilities department to issue directives during a declared state of emergency.

The debilitating ice storm last December in Central Massachusetts made it clear that better coordination and faster response times were necessary after thousands of residents were left without power for weeks.

“We can never have a repeat of December 2008,” Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) said. “Utility companies have a responsibility to respond to their customers. This bill makes sure they live up to that responsibility.”

Recently, my legislative colleagues and I met with the state’s Commissioner of Public Health, John Auerbach, to ensure that all the necessary steps were being taken to prepare for the upcoming flu season.All of us here in the Commonwealth will need to mobilize to slow the spread of flu and flu-related illness in the weeks and months ahead.

As I’m sure you’re aware, Massachusetts and every other state in the nation experienced an outbreak of a new kind of flu this spring called H1N1 influenza -- more commonly referred to as “swine flu”.   In the Commonwealth, almost 1,400 cases of H1N1 flu have been confirmed.  Sixty-three percent of the confirmed cases have been in residents 18 years of age or younger, and the median age is 14 years old.

The month of July proved to be extremely busy on Beacon Hill.  The Senate worked on various legislative proposals and many budget items.  Within this busy month, I teamed up with the Caucus of Women Legislators to host a food drive at the State House that provided about 15 large bags full of food that was packaged up and sent to our troops overseas.  Many elected officials contributed as well as their staffers!  I was delighted to see such a positive response from my colleagues who reside all across the Commonwealth. 

Just one week after passing landmark pension reform, the Legislature on Thursday continued its aggressive reform agenda with approval of final legislation that completely overhauls the state’s transportation system. The consensus bill dissolves the Turnpike Authority and consolidates multiple agencies into a unified, independent agency, eliminating waste and producing billions of dollars in short- and long-term savings. The new agency would begin operating November 1, 2009.

In a key development, the final bill requires all active and retired MBTA workers to join the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC) by January 1, 2010 – the earliest date the GIC could accommodate given the challenge of moving up to 10,000 employees and retirees. An earlier proposal for an actuarial study was dropped during conference negotiations due to new information from a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation report that verifies significant savings under GIC.