Category: The Worcester Guardian

  • AI ‘friends’ may expose kids to dangerous content, study warns

    AI toys pose new challenges that parents and caregivers may not be prepared for, according to Darlene Belliveau, director of Children’s Services at the Central Mass YWCA in Worcester.

    Miko, the bright blue robot, shows a yawning face on its screen as it wakes up from sleep mode. It expresses disappointment when a child says “I want to leave.”

    But toys with embedded artificial intelligence chatbots can also talk about sexually explicit topics, tell children how to access dangerous objects like matches, and have addictive design features that discourage children from leaving, according to the 2025 Trouble in Toyland report released last week by U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. 

    “Experts are already sounding the alarm that we just don’t know what is going to happen, and that this is a massive experiment on kids’ social emotional development over time,” R. J. Cross, one of the report’s authors, said at a Massachusetts PIRG’s news conference. 

    According to Miko’s product website, this robot marketed to children ages 5 to 12 creates interactive learning experiences and entertainment to improve users’ speaking proficiency, physical activity, and engagement with academic activities, making it children’s “new best friend.”

    But the report warns that these toys are largely built on the same large language model technology that powers adult chatbots, which enables them to generate unpredictable responses and discuss inappropriate topics with children. 

    “AI friends do not work the same way real friends do,” Cross said, adding their impact on child development will be clear only when the first generation playing with the AI friends grows up. 

    The face and voice recognition features make these toys able to record a child’s voice and collect other sensitive data, raising privacy and safety concerns. Scammers can use the recording to create a replica of a child’s voice, even to convince parents that their child has been kidnapped, according to the report. 

    Some AI toys are advertised to help improve children’s creativity and imagination, but they cannot replace hands-on experiences and genuine human interactions, according to David Monahan, campaign director of Fairplay, a nonprofit that advocates against business and marketing practices aimed at children. 

    “They prey on children’s trusts. They disrupt children’s relationships and resilience,” Monahan said. 

    For local children services organizations, AI toys pose new challenges that parents and caregivers may not be prepared for, according to Darlene Belliveau, director of Children’s Services at the Central Mass YWCA in Worcester.

    AI toys may cause social emotional delays and weaken children’s ability to navigate the complexities of human interaction, especially when parents leave them unsupervised, Belliveau said. She recommends that children should only have access to AI after middle school. 

    YWCA’s Worcester Childcare Center, which serves children 1 month to 5 years old, does not allow AI toys as well as other digital toys in classrooms, she said. 

    To help children safely use AI toys, parents should research products carefully before purchasing, keep parental controls on, and require children to play with them in an open area under the supervision of adults, Belliveau said. She also encourages parents to have open conversations with children to establish an agreement on when they can and cannot use the device.

    “I just want them to remember that human connection is so important, and we don’t want to get away from that,” she said. “I think it would be detrimental if we allow toys to take over our world and educate our children, or be their only interaction.”

  • For state’s homeless, a new bill could make IDs easier to obtain

    The bill, sponsored by Sen. Robyn Kennedy and Rep. James O’Day of Worcester will waive the $25 fee for homeless applicants and reduce their burden to obtain proof of residency.

    It has been about two years since Avi Manning lost her state ID. Like many people experiencing homelessness, it is easy to lose an ID while moving between streets and shelters, and it is hard to obtain a new one. 

    Now, Massachusetts lawmakers are advancing legislation that could provide free IDs for homeless adults and youth. 

    This bill, sponsored by Sen. Robyn Kennedy, D-Worcester, and Rep. James O’Day, D-Worcester, will waive the $25 fee for homeless applicants and reduce their burden to obtain proof of residency. 

    In November, National Homelessness Awareness Month, advocates hope to raise awareness about barriers to identification that restrict housing and job opportunities for homeless individuals. 

    Manning, who testified in support of the bill at a recent Statehouse hearing, said she was applying for transitional housing through Women’s Lunch Place, a women’s shelter and advocacy center in Boston. Without an ID, she needs to wait for extra paperwork to be completed while she stays in a shelter. 

    “Not having your identification when you are homeless is a different type of isolation,” Manning said in an interview, hoping to be able to apply for a job, rent a car, and get a library card. She is waiting for mail to be sent to the shelter as proof of her residency. 

    Once the mail arrives, she needs to make an online appointment at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, which is another obstacle for homeless individuals who lack access to computers and consistent Wi-Fi. 

    “This is the lowest cost bill you have ever seen us talking about,” said Kelly Turley, the associate director of Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless at the hearing. Sixteen states already approved free or reduced fee IDs for people experiencing homelessness, according to Movement Advance Project.

    Nonprofit groups and shelters sometimes pay the $25 fee for homeless applicants, but in other cases, people have to put together the fees for their IDs and for the background documents, like a copy of their birth certificate, according to Turley.  

    The bill will also allow homeless applicants to submit residency documentation from a service provider. They are now able to present a letter from the shelter confirming that they reside at the facility, but gathering all documentation and navigating paperwork can be overwhelming.  

    “We want to make sure that the process is streamlined and that even people who don’t have an advocate would be able to navigate this process,” Turley said. 

    By specifying unaccompanied homeless youth, the bill highlights the challenges faced by young adults under 24 who face additional barriers to obtaining IDs. Turley said many struggle to gather the documents required for an application, such as a lease or utility bill in their name.

    According to Massachusetts Youth Count, a 2024 report from the Massachusetts Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Commission, 33.4% of young people coped with homelessness by couch surfing, going from a friend or family member’s couch to another. This gives them lower priority in accessing housing aid than those sleeping in shelters or encampments, said Leah Bradley, CEO of Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance.

    “In order for us to prevent youth from sleeping outdoors, we have to intervene while they’re living with other folks,” she said. 

    CMHA is working on connecting young adults in Worcester County to Rapid Rehousing programs, providing housing subsidies to participants between the age of 18 and 24. Because most subsidized units require identification, lack of IDs keeps young adults away from most opportunities to secure housing while continuing their education or seeking employment training.

  • Proposed bill aims to ban rodenticides for wildlife, pet safety

    “The need to run to a toxic chemical shouldn’t be the first choice,” said Sen. Michael Moore of Millbury

    Lethal pesticides targeting rodents are also killing wildlife and pets through secondary exposure. A statewide effort aims to phase them out. 

    A legislative committee heard testimony on a bill sponsored by Rep. Jim Hawkins, D-Attleboro, and Sen. Michael Moore, D-Milbury, to restrict the use of anticoagulant rodenticides, which kill rats and mice by preventing their blood from clotting, while also potentially causing secondary-poisoning to animals that prey on them.

    Poisoned rodents experience internal bleeding over the course of several days before dying, and second generation anticoagulant rodenticides, with stronger toxicity, generally last for four weeks in their tissues. Raptors like eagles, hawks and owls, and mammals like foxes and bobcats, are likely to catch them and consume the poison. Pet dogs and cats face similar risks.

    “The need to run to a toxic chemical shouldn’t be the first choice,” Moore said. This bill is derived from California’s 2021 law that prohibits uses of SGARs, which has not led to any negative consequences, he said. 

    The proposed legislation will only allow the use of anticoagulant rodenticides during public health emergencies or for specific purposes, such as protecting drinking water supply. 

    Supporters of the bill are pushing for integrated pest management plans, a combination of pest control strategies that include sealing holes, controlling food sources, and non-poisonous ways to target rodents such as snap-traps. 

    More than a dozen municipalities have filed or planned to file a home rule petition to restrict the use of anticoagulant rodenticides. It will be the next step Worcester animal welfare advocates consider if the state bill fails, said Samara Ebinger, organizer of the Friends of Wildlife Worcester. 

    Tracking animals that have consumed rodenticides is difficult because most of them died in the wild, Ebinger said. Using reports by wildlife rehabilitators, she put together a video titled “An Incomplete List of Wildlife and Pets Poisoned by Rodenticides in Massachusetts in 2024,” documenting more than 70 poisoning cases within a year. 

    The New England Pest Management Association testified against the bill at the hearing. Banning anticoagulant rodenticides is like losing a tool out of the toolbox, said Adam Carace on behalf of the association, warning that small businesses will lose the most affordable method.

    But not all pest control companies oppose the restrictions, Ebinger said, citing an open letter from Banner Pest Control, a Dracut exterminator that discontinued the use of SGARs in November 2024. The letter states that alternative methods like trapping and birth control are “cost-comparable, especially when factoring in long-term control.”

    The pest control industry should educate consumers of the risk of rodenticides, said Shannon Phelan, the founder of Save Grafton Wildlife. She recalled that when she found rats at her house a few years ago, a pest management company came to put bait boxes containing anticoagulant rodenticides.

    When Phelan expressed concerns, the pest controller “thought that ‘second generation’ meant that the chemicals have been changed so that they no longer hurt wildlife,” she said. “If they are telling people that there’s no impact, then how would people know?”

    Phelan and other volunteers are now reaching out to local businesses, promoting integrated pest management over bait boxes. 

    “I have seen a lot of big boxes around restaurants, grocery stores, and markets. But what I have also seen right next to those boxes are open dumpsters,” she said. “There are simple ways that you could address the root problem of why you are attracting rats to your business.”

  • Lawmakers push to restrict migrants’ eligibility for shelters

    Access to emergency shelters would be restricted under a proposal by Sens. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, and Ryan Fattman, R-Webster.

    As winter approaches and more families might struggle to put a roof over their heads, Central Massachusetts legislators have proposed restrictions on migrants’ eligibility for emergency shelter.

    Emergency family shelters would be available only for U.S. citizens and those who have been in Massachusetts for longer than one year, under a legislative proposal by Sens. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, and Ryan Fattman, R-Webster. 

    These bills could greatly affect Worcester County where the most recent count identified a record-high 3,110 homeless residents, about 20% higher than 2024. More than 200 people were found unsheltered, living in their cars or encampments on the night of the homelessness census. 

    “Our goal is to make Massachusetts less attractive for people just entering the country,” Durant said.

    While acknowledging the state’s responsibility to take care of those in need, he added, “but again, we want to keep it so that it is for residents of Massachusetts. It is for those who are here legally and not just trying to take advantage of the system.”

    Massachusetts is the only state with a right-to-shelter law, enacted in 1983, which guarantees homeless families with children and pregnant women access to emergency shelters. A influx of migrants in 2023 strained state shelters, prompting policymakers to reconsider the law. 

    In response, Gov. Maura Healey proposed new limits on the right-to-shelter law earlier this year, including imposing a statutory residency requirement, meaning that applicants should show an intent to remain, either through independent documentary verification or through three months of physical presence in the state. Before that, only self-attestation was required. 

    In April, the number of families in shelters fell below 5,000 for the first time since July 2023, according to state data, following new limits on the Emergency Assistance Shelter System. And the number of families of migrants, refugees or asylum seekers fell to less than half.

    But these changes have shifted the financial burden to HomeBASE, a program that provides cash assistance to families eligible for shelters, Durant said.  

    Durant also introduced a bill that would limit HomeBASE to those who have resided in Massachusetts for longer than one year, restricting recent arrivals’ eligibility for state assistance to pay for rent and utilities.

    The emergency shelter system was estimated to cost the state $1 billion in fiscal 2025. But hidden costs to cover health care emerge when Massachusetts is a “magnet” to migrants, Durant added. 

    “People are resourceful,” Durant said. If his bills pass, he expects ineligible migrants to leave the U.S., relocate to stay with their relatives, or make other arrangements.

    Advocates argue that these proposed restrictions are taking the last safety net away before new arrivals reach self-sufficiency.

    Meg Gallo, program director at the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center’s Worcester office, said refugees, the main clients she works with, typically do not enter shelters when they arrive. Instead, they receive initial housing assistance through resettlement programs and, with immediate work authorization, typically become able to pay their rent within four to six months.

    They could end up forced into shelters, however, under recent federal funding cuts on MassHealth and food assistance programs like SNAP and WIC, Gallo said.

    She worries that these cuts will cause tremendous hardship for new arrivals who work to get their feet on the ground, making them more vulnerable to homelessness. If shelter is not available as a safety net, she said, “that is creating a situation where we are just inviting people to be on the streets.”

  • Can state funds cover gap left by federal food aid restrictions?

    Thousands of legally present immigrants in Massachusetts at risk of losing federal food aid would be eligible for state-funded benefits under a legislative proposal aimed at addressing growing food insecurity.

    The measure, proposed by state Rep. Antonio Cabral, a New Bedford democrat, would create a state-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with benefits and eligibility that match the federal level but without restrictions based on immigration status or citizenship.

    SNAP is a federal program administered at the state level, with benefits and eligibility determined by Congress.

    The federal policy shift will push many immigrants into “deepening poverty,” Cabral told the Legislature’s Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.

    In Worcester, 25.8% of households received SNAP benefits as of 2021, according to the Worcester Community Food Assessment. Under new federal restrictions signed into law this summer, certain lawfully present immigrants with humanitarian protections, including refugees, asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking, will lose access to SNAP.

    The federal restrictions exclude about 10,000 immigrants in Massachusetts from SNAP benefits and affect their U.S. citizen children, according to an analysis by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.

    Worcester food pantries have reported widespread fear among immigrants in response to the policy changes.

    At Jeremiah’s Inn Food Pantry in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood, 65% of clients are not enrolled in SNAP despite often being eligible, said Alyssa Dancause, director of community engagement. Language barriers, lack of awareness and fear related to immigration status often prevent low-income immigrants from accessing food aid, she said.

    “People are afraid to put that they are an immigrant on any kind of documentation that could be traced back to them,” she said. The pantry is working on providing appointment and delivery services because some clients are concerned about waiting in line outside.

    Food pantries are also feeling the impact of reduced funding. Food banks in Massachusetts lost $3.4 million in federal support, which “trickles down to all of the food pantries,” Dancause said.

    Meanwhile, demand for food assistance continues to rise, said the Rev. John Madden, pastor of St. John Church in downtown Worcester. The church hosts a food pantry, St. John Food for the Poor, which serves emergency food supplies to 250 to 300 families each Saturday and provides prepared meals during the week.

    “We have certainly seen an increase in people coming,” Madden said, noting that the Legislature should give higher priority to food security.

    The federal change represents a “nationwide attack to demonize people who are on SNAP benefits,” according to the policy team of U.S. Rep. James McGovern of Worcest4er.

    “That takes place in the context of prices going up,” McGovern’s communications director said. “They are stretching people’s budgets more and more.”

    In December 2023, the state Legislature approved $6 million to extend SNAP benefits to all legally present immigrants who met the program’s income requirements. The Department of Transitional Assistance launched the program in February 2024 but shut it down two months later because of a lack of funding. Cabral filed an amendment to revive the program, but the House dismissed it.

    McGovern’s policy team expressed concern that the growing hunger crisis now relies on state funding to address, saying the federal government is “shifting an enormous burden” onto states. “They do not have the funds necessary to cover benefits that were previously covered by the federal government.”