Tag: Daily Hampshire Gazette

  • Educators air views on Right to Read bill

    BOSTON — A panel of state educators, legislators, and a national education expert shared perspectives and answered questions raised by parents and teachers about the Right to Read Act at a State House roundtable last week.

    The discussion, hosted by Educators for Excellence, included Boston Public School principal Antonelli Mejia, state Sen. Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett), and Heather Peske, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality. The bill, which seeks to reform early literacy instruction, advanced in the House in October and in the Senate in January.

    Addressing critics of the bill who are opposed to a state-mandated list of approved curricula, Mejia said that time is the “most critical resource” that impedes local autonomy. He argued that developing curricula takes valuable time, which could otherwise be spent analyzing teaching methods and educating children.

    “If there were a list of already vetted materials that are considered high-quality, that are research based, then we can focus our energy on what really matters,” said Mejia, “which is, how do we compact the curriculum, and how can we be critical consumers of the material before we put it in front of our babies?’”

    Peske said that state-mandated curricula are “not a one size fits all approach. There’s a robust list. Districts will always have a choice of curriculum that they want to use. We just want to ensure that the choices are the best choices and that they don’t contain a bunch of defunct methods.”

    The panel also addressed opposition to the bill from the Massachusetts Teachers Union. The union in January stated that it is concerned that “any mandated curriculum will inevitably leave behind some students who are struggling with reading.” The union also wrote that the waiver process, which grants education licenses, “is not structured to support proven results but instead is focused on bending school districts toward compliance with theoretical approaches.”

    “I historically have been on their (the union’s) side on many, many issues,” said Sen. DiDomenico. “But this is where we took a sharp break. I told them, ‘I’m not pro MTA, I’m pro kids.’ And that’s where the divide was put down.”

    “It was telling and disappointing, quite frankly, to hear some detractors who were at the higher level of the union saying one thing, representing teachers, when most of the teachers were saying, ‘we need something different.’”

    Educators stressed that a change was necessary as over 60% of fourth-graders in Massachusetts are reading at a below-third grade level.

    “The status quo isn’t working for over half the children in our state that are in third grade,” DiDomenico said. “If we don’t address it in a meaningful way through legislation, then we are failing our kids.”

    “We don’t have time to wait. Our kids don’t have time. They’re in third grade, they’re in second grade, they’re in first grade only for a finite amount of time. And if we let them go beyond those grade levels and not get what they need, then we’re just making them get into a cycle of more pain and suffering.”

    DiDomenico is part of the conference committee that will draft a final version of the bill, approved by the House and the Senate.

    “I will make sure we pack all the good things that we put in our bill and add some good things the House did as well,” he said. “We are going to start that process in the next couple of weeks, and then we should have a bill to the governor’s desk shortly after.”

    James Noyes writes for the Gazette from the Boston University Statehouse Program.

  • Data shows decrease in nursing vacancies in Massachusetts, experts say more work needs to be done

    Vacancies in nursing positions across Massachusetts have decreased, according to a recent report on the state’s workforce from the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, and while nurse and hospital leaders have acknowledged the positive benefits from this, they say there is still work to do. 

    The new data show that one in every 10 nursing roles are now vacant compared to other post pandemic years where one in every six roles were vacant — a 5% decrease. This displays improvements, but these rates are now what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, said Aaron Winston, a registered nurse and committee co-chair for the Massachusetts Nursing Association.

    “Before we start celebrating, we need to really take a hard look at what constitutes business as usual,” Winston said. “If you look at this data, there has been such a rush in the health care professions to kind of put the pandemic behind us and go back to ‘normal.’ But normal was not great.” 

    Valerie Fleishman, executive vice president and chief innovation officer of MHA, said the vacancy decrease shows “major progress” within the past two years. New nurses are entering the field while those who may have previously left are returning, she said.  

    “There’s still huge gaps and strengths that exist, but we really like where the momentum is going,” said Sam Melnick, MHA’s chief communications officer. 

    The decrease in nursing vacancies reflects a wider trend across health care in Massachusetts, which reduced industry-wide openings overall by 28%. Nursing related positions made up five out of the top 10 roles that had the largest drops in vacancy rates. 

    However, in May, the MNA recorded that 78% of nurses said hospital care quality has worsened within the past two years — a 7% decrease from 2023 — with understaffing listed as the top obstacle for nurses. 

    Several Massachusetts nurses attributed working conditions as the reason why most nurses exit the industry, pointing specifically to long hours, inadequate time for necessary care and attention, insufficient pay and caring for too many patients at once. Most of these problems could be solved with better nurse-to-patient ratios, they said. 

    “There’s not a shortage of nurses,” said MNA President Katie Murphy. “There’s a shortage of nurses willing to work under these circumstances.” 

    Murphy, who has been a bedside nurse and currently works as a critical care nurse, said she has heard anecdotally that conditions have gotten better at times but still hears that those changes are not necessarily happening where they should be, which she said is at the bedside. 

    “We have a long way to go,” she said. 

    The Nurse Journal ranked Massachusetts as the third best state to work as a nurse, after California and Colorado. It is one of the only states that has a nurse-to-patient ratio law enacted — a 1:1 or 1:2 nurse to ICU patient ratio — but does not have industry-wide requirements. 

    However, “just because it’s better doesn’t mean that it’s good,” said Winston, who previously worked in Virginia, where he said the conditions nearly resulted in him exiting the industry. 

    “There is still a burden [in Massachusetts], and the work of nursing is incredibly difficult,” he said. “What seem like relatively simple, innocuous policies in how hospitals are run profoundly affects how we are able to do the work that we have been trained to do.”

    Solutions

    MHA launched its statewide Healthy Work Environment Academy for a cohort of 10 hospitals this past summer, and it will be starting its second round in March for 10 more hospitals. The program focuses on creating a healthy work culture to retain current nurses and attract new nurses. 

    MHA has also organized resiliency and peer support programs and looked at ways to provide wraparound services for promoting a better work-life balance. These services include financial counseling, child-support and flexible scheduling. 

    Anecdotally, responses to the HWE have been “incredibly positive,” Fleishman said.

    The American Nurses Credentialing Center currently lists 17 hospitals as “magnet destinations,” so they are recognized for providing a healthy work environment to nurses. MHA hopes to expand this designation to more hospitals statewide through the HWE, Fleishman said. It is also looking into alternative positions for different care-team members including virtual nursing and using AI models. 

    Patricia Noga, a registered nurse and MHA vice president of clinical affairs, pointed towards the Nurse Licensure Compact — a law allowing nurses to provide care in other compact states  — expanding fields like nurse practitioners, midwives and nurse anesthetists and remote monitoring as growing opportunities for nurses. 

    Fleishman said MHA is providing the “vehicle” for hospitals to develop career-ladder programs, which allows them to train nurses to perhaps move to another area of expertise or another specialty. 

    However, some nurses said rather than finding other avenues in the industry, what hospitals need to do is improve working conditions so they want to stay at the bedside instead. 

    Barbara Connor, a registered nurse, said a key staffing issue is nurses become trained and then leave the practice. The reasons, she said, could range from being liable for making a mistake — which could be exacerbated if a nurse is working long hours on an understaffed floor — to experiencing workplace violence. 

    “You could get a job doing something else that gives you a much better work-life balance, and you don’t have to worry about being sued or hit,” Connor said. 

    Many nurses have called for mandated nurse-to-patient ratios as the main solution for understaffing alongside stricter laws to protect them against violence in hospitals. 

    Noga said staffing is an “ongoing process,” since patient’s conditions can change rapidly and care teams then adjust for that. She said additional members of the care team and the training and competencies of nurses on a certain unit are other factors to keep in mind when thinking about staffing ratios.

    “We trust that the nurses with their leaders are developing staffing plans that reflect the patient population they’re caring for,” Noga said. 

    Melnick added that on a broader level there is a focus to “keep people out of the hospital in the first place,” which could lower costs and remove some pressures on caregivers. 

    MHA’s report states that “additional legislative action and targeted investments” are required to continue the momentum gained from programs like the HWE to close workforce gaps and expand care. It is currently championing a bill alongside the MNA and 1199SEIU Massachusetts to address and prevent workplace violence. 

  • Four years after fatal crash, ‘Charlie’s law’ still stalled

    Northampton musician Charlie Braun died in 2021 on a Northampton street where he was riding a bicycle when he was hit by a driver who looked away from her phone while making a FaceTime call. Four years later, a bill proposed by Sen. Jo Comerford designed to close a loophole in the state’s distract driving laws has still not passed in the Senate.

    “I can’t say why. I wish it would pass. It would be a way to honor Charlie and his family,” the Northampton Democrat said. “Distracted driving is on the rise, as all reports indicate, and this is an extreme form of distracted driving, right?”

    The 69-year-old Braun died after being hit by a driver while riding his bike near the intersection of Woodlawn Avenue and Elm Street near Northampton High School. The driver was engaged in a 53-second FaceTime conversation with a friend on her cellphone and was further distracted by her young child in the back seat, the Gazette reported after the crash.

    In response, Comerford proposed “Charlie’s Law” to ban live broadcasting and video recording while driving. This bill was heard by the Legislature’s Committee on Transportation last month.

    Currently, distracted driving carries an escalated series of fines, including a $250 fine and mandatory completion of a safety course upon a second offense under the state’s Hands-Free Law, which was passed in 2020. Comerford proposed the bill to close loopholes on phone usage in distracted driving cases.

    Charlie’s former partner, Joan Ringrose-Sellers, initially joined Comerford in advocating for the bill to prevent future distracted driving-related accidents.

    “I think it was really like some grief work for me, because I started noticing other people on the phone after my partner was killed,” Ringrose-Sellers said.

    However, as Ringrose-Sellers’ efforts faced opposition and the bill’s passage remained stagnant, she had to shift her focus in order to “grieve in other ways.”

    “I felt like I reached a point of not knowing what to do as an ordinary citizen,” Ringrose-Sellers said. “At that time, I was in graduate school, I was a single parent, running a household on my own, and I really needed to shift to getting this master’s degree, and carrying on with my life.”

    According to Ringrose-Sellers, her efforts to get the bill passed were met with resistance from the Legislature due to the bill’s potential restrictions on people who need to film themselves for safety in cases like police brutality.

    Andrew Hahn, a close friend of Braun, described the impact of his death on the Northampton community.

    “Everything became really clear to me that this was like the equivalent of the mayor of the town being killed on a bicycle,” Hahn said.

    Northampton’s city government has worked with an engineering firm, Fuss and O’Neill, to research and enact a series of safety measures since Braun’s passing. For example, the Northampton Transportation and Parking Commission voted to remove five parking spaces by Childs Park permanently and proposed the establishment of a school zone.

    Other proposed improvements included signalized intersections with pedestrian signals, buffered bike lanes, and a multiway stop control at the intersection of Milton Street and Ormond Drive. The Department of Public Works planned on bidding the project this year, according to the information page.

    Hahn said he thinks the intersection’s area remains unsafe and suggested making Woodlawn Avenue a one-way street to avoid Northampton High School’s rush hour traffic.

    “That is a very dangerous intersection, no matter how you cut it,” Hahn said. “I worry that the next is going to be a high school kid.”

  • ‘Perfect storm of food insecurity’: State Anti-Hunger Task Force ramps up listening sessions

    Even though the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are flowing again and the first of two major holidays this season has passed, experts who help people access food say those affected by the federal government shutdown still feel extreme unease.

    “The toll on people’s mental health was astonishing,” said Erin Ferrentino, food access manager at Grow Food Northampton, the nonprofit that runs a community farm. “We’re still dealing with that — people just not knowing when the other shoe is going to drop, when their benefits are going to get taken away.”

    As regional food banks continue to report an increase in sign-ups for free meals since the government shutdown ended on Nov. 12, the state’s Anti-Hunger Task Force is holding listening sessions throughout November and December to gather feedback as it prepares to advise the governor’s office on long-term solutions for addressing hunger, food insecurity and related economic hardships impacting communities.  

    Gov. Maura Healey created the task force in July, not long after Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill that contained reductions to SNAP benefits. In direct response to these reductions, the task force is bringing together leaders from state and local governments, food banks, nonprofit and business leaders and others to develop recommendations. 

    Just as this work was getting into full swing, “the shutdown happened, in the middle of our task force work,” said task force co-chair Allison Bovell-Ammon, referring to the federal government’s closure that started on Oct. 1.

    Bovell-Ammon, assistant undersecretary for Children & Family Services at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, heads the task force with Ashley Randle, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, and Alana Davidson, director of communications at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education.

    The task force is looking into solutions that would support existing food assistance programs, such as boosting labor in school breakfast programs, increasing funding of the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program and strengthening support for the state’s agricultural sector. 

    “We know that the food pantries and food banks are stretched because of the extra pressure that was placed upon them during the federal shutdown and the delay in SNAP benefits,” said Randle, a South Deerfield native who has served as agricultural commissioner since 2023.  

    According to Randle, one in three Massachusetts residents are considered “food insecure” and SNAP cuts “exacerbated the need” for food assistance. Bovell-Ammon also said approximately 9,500 immigrants in Massachusetts who have legal status in the U.S. and were previously eligible for SNAP benefits are at risk of losing their benefits over the course of next year. 

    Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, also a member of the Anti-Hunger Task Force, said that transportation is one major unique challenge that prevents people from accessing food in western Massachusetts. 

    “It’s a perfect storm of food insecurity,” Comerford said. 

    Springfield’s pressures are “continuing to grow,” Randle said, adding that the city has the “highest rate of individuals that are on SNAP.” 

    Comerford said she hopes the task force will expand collaboration between the state government and private agencies, such as encouraging tax credits for farms that donate their produce. 

    “I do think part of being able to survive the current administration and Congress is us, in Massachusetts, being as strong and as coordinated and strategic with the dollars that we do have as possible,” Comerford said. 

    Bovell-Ammon emphasized the task force’s role in finding long-term solutions to support immigrants and other communities declared ineligible for SNAP benefits under the One Big Beautiful Bill. 

    “While the impact of the shutdown was very deep even in that very short period of a delay of benefits, we know it had a destabilizing effect. We also know that there will be long-term impacts from the law change that we will continue to see in our emergency food system,” Bovell-Ammon said. 

    Need remains high

    Kaitlyn Ferrari, the interim program manager of Manna Community Kitchen, a Northampton nonprofit established by St. John’s Episcopal Church that provides hot meals to hungry people, said they recruited more labor to prepare for the influx of families in need of Thanksgiving meals. 

    A year ago, Manna fed 1,500 people for Thanksgiving, and prior to the holiday Ferrari said the organization was expecting about 2,000 people. Outside of the holiday, she said Manna has witnessed a steady increase in people since the COVID-19 pandemic, estimating before the pandemic, Manna saw at least 10 new people each day. Now, the food bank provides meals for more than 300 people a day. 

    Ferrari stressed the rising cost of food as another challenge Manna faces, estimating a box of chicken that previously cost $70 now costs more than $100. 

    “The cost is higher, the need is greater, and we’re just doing the best we can to provide free meals for anyone that needs one,” Ferrari said. 

    The Northampton Survival Center similarly saw the number of households signed up for its choice-pantry service double. The service enables people to choose from a variety of available free food options, rather than giving registered households prepacked food boxes. 

    According to Alexander Léger-Small, the assistant program director, about 90 households were registered for the service last year; since the beginning of October, more than 200 households have registered. Léger-Small said this increase occurred during the government shutdown, as households experienced the cuts to SNAP benefits. 

    “We are looking at our busiest year since the start of the pandemic,” Léger-Small said. 

    Highland Valley Elder Services provides food to the elderly community through its “Meals on Wheels” program, which delivers meals directly to individual homes and senior centers. Nutrition Director Riley Brown estimated the program delivered over 1,100 meals for Thanksgiving. 

    Brown said the federal government’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program has “dwindled” in its variety of options that it offers to elderly service programs , restricting the kinds of nutritious meals that it can provide. The CSFP is meant to serve low-income individuals over the age of 59 by distributing foods to organizations like Highland Valley for a reduced price. 

  • ‘There are too many patients to be patient’: UMass officials advocate for state funding amid federal cuts

    University of Massachusetts Amherst professor Bethany Bradley is comfortable talking about her 15 years of research regarding the detriments of invasive species exacerbated by climate change. But recently, she found herself testifying before state legislators about canceled grants, staff shortage and impending harm to the environment.

    “Invasive species cost the U.S. economy $10 billion per year in economic damages, and climate change is making them worse,” Bradley told the Legislature’s Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies two weeks ago. But the Trump administration’s funding cuts have been a “wrecking ball” to health and environmental research.

    As the co-director of the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, she said that projects that typically require a full staff of 20 people are currently supported by one person.

    “The Trump administration has been and is a disaster for research,” Bradley said. “Shutting [funding] off means starting back from square one, which means that we’re set back five years, 10 years, [and] a generation, in some cases, depending on what the research projects are.”

    Bradley cited past cases of invasive species devastating ecosystems in Massachusetts, such as the outbreak of the Asian Longhorn beetle. To manage the outbreak, the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture and the state government cut down 30,000 trees in Worcester.

    Bradley was joined by other higher education professors and officials who testified about the strain of federal funding cuts to research in medicine, Alzheimer’s disease, AI, and other fields. These professors voiced their support for Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed bill that would fund $400 million to universities, hospitals, and independent research institutions.

    The measure, known as the Discovery, Research and Innovation for a Vibrant Economy (DRIVE) Initiative, would draw state funding from the Fair Share Amendment, a 4% tax on those who earn an annual income over $1 million. Known as the “millionaire’s tax,” it was passed by voters in 2022. Some funding would also come from a one-time, multiyear research funding pool, housed at MassDevelopment.

    Bradley expressed how “heartening” it was to see other university staff uniting for the bill at the hearing in spite of these losses. For example, UMass President Marty Meehan testified its medical school has two Nobel Laureate winners and brings in $869 million for research, just behind Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He noted that while UMass was awarded 356 grants last year, that total had dwindled to 156 grants this year.

    “Because of research for the federal government, the Massachusetts economy supports over 81,000 jobs, and it’s critical to future job growth in the commonwealth,” Meehan said.

    Meehan also opened up about his personal connection to cancer research during the hearing.

    “On a personal note, yesterday, my family and I buried my 66-year-old sister due to brain cancer,” Meehan said. “I know that a lot of the things that can solve the issue of cancer, they’re in research right now.”

    UMass Chan Medical School Chancellor Dr. Michael Collins also voiced concern for cancer research projects and explained how funding cuts forced the school to “reduce the staff.”

    “There are too many patients to be patient, and we shouldn’t be killing research,” Collins said. “We should be killing cancer, and so I would say to those who think it’s a good idea to cut research that those are not good ideas and that we should be doing everything we can to keep America’s preeminent position in biomedical science.”

    Steven Cadrin, a professor at UMass Dartmouth, stressed the diminishing talent pool due to funding cuts.

    “Many talented young scientists are out of work. With few prospects for employment, many are leaving the state and many are leaving the country to continue research,” Cadrin said during the hearing.

    Cadrin specializes in marine science and fisheries. He claimed that nearly 100% of graduate students who emerge from his department’s program are employed in regional fishery science and management.

    Rep. Michael Soter, R-Bellingham, pushed back on pleas for more state funding, arguing that these institutions can draw on endowments to fund projects.

    “They pay no property tax, they pay no income tax,” Soter said. “So when they tell me that their endowment money is strictly for that, then how can we have so many more people that are not getting into these colleges, or can go to these colleges, or afford to go to these colleges?”

    Soter claimed that endowments make up billions of dollars and that universities could increase their endowments by asking for money from the biotech industry. He also claimed the biotech industry made $330 billion in profit over the last three years.

    Meehan said universities cannot redirect endowment funding to any research project they want, as private donations are dedicated to the university for specific reasons such as financial aid.

    While Soter expressed concerns over expanding the reach of the Fair Share Amendment, he also mentioned the harms of making budgetary changes, such as reduced funding to items currently supported by the amendment.

    “If you start playing a shell game with money, pre-K through 12 will get hurt,” Soter said.

    Paul Craney, executive director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, argued that increasing tax through the Fair Share Amendment has made Massachusetts more unappealing to competitive businesses.

    If Healey’s DRIVE proposal were enacted, Craney argued it would lead to fewer jobs, less job growth and investment, and other economic setbacks.

    “There’s no guarantee that tax is going to bring in a billion dollars next year, because you’re dealing with such a small pool of taxpayers. Even the slightest change to that pool will have a huge impact on the collection of that revenue,” Craney said.

    When asked whether funding higher education could also create jobs, Craney said the money universities receive is “still fungible” with nothing stopping administrators from redirecting it to other projects.

    While Craney declared the Fair Share Amendment makes Massachusetts less competitive, Healey emphasized how the tax dollars generated are necessary. She argued the federal cuts make it harder for universities to hire talent, while making underfunded projects less attractive and competitive on both a statewide and international level.

    “This is about stabilizing and supporting public higher ed right now, at a time when it’s under attack,” Healey said.

    To Bradley, the federal funding cuts are the Trump administration’s political signal of what matters.

    “Nothing like this has ever happened before, and I think some of the big concern is not just general cuts to research, but is that these are very specific areas that the Trump administration is going after,” Bradley said.

  • Smith College students drop a banner in support of Climate Superfund bill

    BOSTON — Smith College environmental justice advocates plan to deliver petitions to the Legislature’s Committee on Environmental and Natural Resources later this month, after recently dropping a banner saying “Make Polluters Pay” on the Lamont Bridge.

    The student advocates recently dropped the banner to raise awareness for a bill that would create a fund to support groups impacted by environmental pollution.

    According to Sen. James Eldridge, D-Malborough, one of the sponsors for the bill, the fund would be supported by a tax on fossil fuel corporations. This tax would be a “one-time fee” proportional to the company’s share of emissions from fossil fuels extracted between 1995 and 2024.

    The students who participated in the banner drop identified with the Sunrise Movement, a nationwide student-led activist group dedicated to stopping climate change and promoting the Green New Deal policy, which pushes for net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Other Sunrise chapters at Mount Holyoke College, Harvard University and Tufts University also dropped banners on campus, while UMass Amherst students painted a mural saying, “Students rise up against pollution.”

    Shira Nathan, a student organizer at Smith’s Sunrise Movement, insisted that the state government does not provide enough disaster relief funding to communities impacted by climate change issues.

    “Climate change is here. The climate crisis is already affecting our communities. Western Mass. faced both extreme flooding and extreme droughts within like a five-year span,” Nathan said.

    During the Smith College Sunrise banner drop, students gave speeches, marched to Lamont Bridge and gathered signatures for the “Make Polluters Pay” petition. This petition already surpassed the campaign’s goal of 5,000 signatures, and the campaign set a new goal of 7,000 signatures by Oct. 21.

    The Northampton City Council passed a resolution to support the state’s climate superfund bill on April 17, becoming the first municipality in western Massachusetts to do so. Smith Sunrise students worked closely with At-Large Councilor Marissa Elkins and Ward Councilor Deborah Klemer, the sponsors of the resolution.

    “It solidifies [Northampton’s] reputation as a leader,” said Emma Coopersmith, a Smith Sunrise student. “We hope to inspire other cities and also the state to do a similar thing.”

    Jeanne Walker, vice president and special counsel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, stated the bill would cost Massachusetts companies a “massive new retroactive fee” of up to $75 billion and would increase living costs for Massachusetts residents.

    In an emailed statement, Eldridge expressed concern over the ongoing litigation in other states that have passed climate superfund laws, such as Vermont and New York.

    “We know that this movement contradicts the Trump administration’s campaign to achieve so-called ‘energy dominance’ by polluting our environment and risking public health in expanding oil and gas projects, supporting the coal industry, and cutting promotion of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power,” Eldridge said.

    Last year, a previous version of the bill failed to pass. The current bill expands the scope of climate projects supported by the superfund, including relief from extreme weather events and medical care treating illnesses or injuries caused or aggravated by the effects of climate change.

    Additionally, Nathan said Sunrise chapters nationwide plan to do a walkout in protest of the current administration on Nov. 7, marking one year since President Donald Trump was elected.

    Nathan explained the need for activism, in spite of their student schedule.

    “My homework is due tomorrow, and the climate crisis is ongoing,” Nathan said.

  • Smith College students drop a banner in support of Climate Superfund bill

    BOSTON — Smith College environmental justice advocates plan to deliver petitions to the Legislature’s Committee on Environmental and Natural Resources later this month, after recently dropping a banner saying “Make Polluters Pay” on the Lamont Bridge.

    The student advocates recently dropped the banner to raise awareness for a bill that would create a fund to support groups impacted by environmental pollution.

    According to Sen. James Eldridge, D-Malborough, one of the sponsors for the bill, the fund would be supported by a tax on fossil fuel corporations. This tax would be a “one-time fee” proportional to the company’s share of emissions from fossil fuels extracted between 1995 and 2024.

    The students who participated in the banner drop identified with the Sunrise Movement, a nationwide student-led activist group dedicated to stopping climate change and promoting the Green New Deal policy, which pushes for net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Other Sunrise chapters at Mount Holyoke College, Harvard University and Tufts University also dropped banners on campus, while UMass Amherst students painted a mural saying, “Students rise up against pollution.”

    Shira Nathan, a student organizer at Smith’s Sunrise Movement, insisted that the state government does not provide enough disaster relief funding to communities impacted by climate change issues.

    “Climate change is here. The climate crisis is already affecting our communities. Western Mass. faced both extreme flooding and extreme droughts within like a five-year span,” Nathan said.

    During the Smith College Sunrise banner drop, students gave speeches, marched to Lamont Bridge and gathered signatures for the “Make Polluters Pay” petition. This petition already surpassed the campaign’s goal of 5,000 signatures, and the campaign set a new goal of 7,000 signatures by Oct. 21.

    The Northampton City Council passed a resolution to support the state’s climate superfund bill on April 17, becoming the first municipality in western Massachusetts to do so. Smith Sunrise students worked closely with At-Large Councilor Marissa Elkins and Ward Councilor Deborah Klemer, the sponsors of the resolution.

    “It solidifies [Northampton’s] reputation as a leader,” said Emma Coopersmith, a Smith Sunrise student. “We hope to inspire other cities and also the state to do a similar thing.”

    Jeanne Walker, vice president and special counsel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, stated the bill would cost Massachusetts companies a “massive new retroactive fee” of up to $75 billion and would increase living costs for Massachusetts residents.

    In an emailed statement, Eldridge expressed concern over the ongoing litigation in other states that have passed climate superfund laws, such as Vermont and New York.

    “We know that this movement contradicts the Trump administration’s campaign to achieve so-called ‘energy dominance’ by polluting our environment and risking public health in expanding oil and gas projects, supporting the coal industry, and cutting promotion of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power,” Eldridge said.

    Last year, a previous version of the bill failed to pass. The current bill expands the scope of climate projects supported by the superfund, including relief from extreme weather events and medical care treating illnesses or injuries caused or aggravated by the effects of climate change.

    Additionally, Nathan said Sunrise chapters nationwide plan to do a walkout in protest of the current administration on Nov. 7, marking one year since President Donald Trump was elected.

    Nathan explained the need for activism, in spite of their student schedule.

    “My homework is due tomorrow, and the climate crisis is ongoing,” Nathan said.

    Joanna Malvas writes for the Gazette as part of the Boston University Statehouse Program.