Speaker 1: It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks very much, Nicole, as we start a
Speaker 2: Wednesday night edition of night Side. It is, of course
Speaker 2: the middle of the work week, the work week for
Speaker 2: all of us. I'm here every Monday through Friday night
Speaker 2: from eight until midnight, although it will be off Tomorrow night,
Speaker 2: and Morgan White will join us tomorrow evening, So please
Speaker 2: be good to Morgan. I'm sure he will put together
Speaker 2: a very interesting show, different type guests and just a
Speaker 2: little personal matter that I had to deal with. I'm
Speaker 2: dealing with and be back on Friday. And I remind
Speaker 2: you that on Friday, we're going to do our last
Speaker 2: pre election presidential poll. We will do that on Friday
Speaker 2: night during the eleven o'clock hour, and anyone who was
Speaker 2: called in during the week is still eligible to cast
Speaker 2: a vote on Friday night. It's down to two candidates, obviously,
Speaker 2: the vice president, Vice President Harris, former President Trump and
Speaker 2: love to get a sense, we've done this now every
Speaker 2: last twentieth hour of the week, beginning in late March, April, May, June, July, August, September,
Speaker 2: and now October will be our eighth snap poll, and
Speaker 2: we'll look back and see how things have progressed. Obviously,
Speaker 2: the people that you're voting for have changed over the months,
Speaker 2: but we do know who will be finally on the
Speaker 2: ballot on November fifth, and you have an opportunity to
Speaker 2: cast a vote on the radio, but also, of course
Speaker 2: you can cast one in person, by the mail or
Speaker 2: early at your local polling place, depending upon which stage
Speaker 2: you lived in. My name again is Dan ra I
Speaker 2: am the host. We have both Rob and Dan double
Speaker 2: producing tonight, which great always makes a little bit more
Speaker 2: comfortable for them and for me. And we have four
Speaker 2: really interesting guests that we're going to talk to, and
Speaker 2: we're going to get to a couple of topics. You're
Speaker 2: gonna give you the other side of that question three,
Speaker 2: The yes on question three coming up at nine o'clock,
Speaker 2: ten o'clock when I talk with attorney Jason Greenberg, who
Speaker 2: was just back from Israel. Jason actually went was in
Speaker 2: Israel a year ago on October seventh. I think you've
Speaker 2: met him. He's been on our show a couple of times,
Speaker 2: and he's going to come back with what it was
Speaker 2: like during the last kind of crazy hecnic couple of
Speaker 2: weeks in Israel as a lot of rockets were flying
Speaker 2: and things were occurring, and the world was heating up
Speaker 2: over there. But let's get first off to the night
Speaker 2: side news update. Our first guest brings us news of
Speaker 2: the election of the first ever dog mayor in the
Speaker 2: Seaport District of Boston. I want to introduce Claire Kilcullins.
Speaker 2: She's the associate director of Culture and Experience at WS Development. Claire,
Speaker 2: welcome tonight's side.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much.
Speaker 4: I'm excited to talk about a bunch of dogs, the
Speaker 4: best topic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I love dogs too. You have a bark
Speaker 2: the vote coming up, and how how a buzz with
Speaker 2: excitement the residents of the Seaport district over this this
Speaker 2: very important election. Perhaps not as important as November fifth
Speaker 2: in the scheme of big things, but certainly from the
Speaker 2: from the seaports perspective, this is a very critical choice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, certainly not as important, but it's definitely gotten people excited.
Speaker 4: We had one hundred and eighty one dogs entered in
Speaker 4: the first round and we're down to five.
Speaker 3: Now for those of your primary.
Speaker 2: How did you how did you You had one hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty five dogs, How did you whittle that down
Speaker 2: to five. Did you have a primary?
Speaker 3: We had?
Speaker 4: We have the public vote, So in the first round
Speaker 4: we had over forty thousand votes, and we've got until
Speaker 4: the thirtieth in this next pooch primary round, and we've
Speaker 4: already gotten forty thousand. So it's it's certainly been been
Speaker 4: really exciting to see this many people pay attention and really.
Speaker 2: Well ask I got to ask this, where are those
Speaker 2: votes coming from? And is this Hey to put it
Speaker 2: this way, but forty thousand votes, it sounds like a
Speaker 2: lot of votes. How did you collect the votes? Did
Speaker 2: you have I guess you know, ballot boxes and a
Speaker 2: number of the businesses down in the seaport, And then
Speaker 2: I mean, gee, you should you should run I think
Speaker 2: the Comal Wealth of Massachusetts election. If you could do
Speaker 2: a pooch primary with that many votes, I'd put you
Speaker 2: in charge of elections in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4: No one gets people out to vote more than a
Speaker 4: cute dog. So the first we've run everything through our
Speaker 4: website Boston Sport dot xyz. So if you're listening to
Speaker 4: make sure to vote, you have until the thirtieth. In
Speaker 4: the first round, we let people vote as much as
Speaker 4: they want and then we're tightening it up for this round,
Speaker 4: so you can go, okay, we've got great coverage.
Speaker 2: Okay, so now there were no lawsuits here from the
Speaker 2: dogs who were eked out. There was no concern about
Speaker 2: multiple votes. I could vote us early and often as
Speaker 2: you want. Sound like a Chicago primer.
Speaker 4: It's just a fun neighborhood event. So it's really been
Speaker 4: amazing scene.
Speaker 2: Ever, I trust me, I'm not treating it like the
Speaker 2: presidential election. This is only a mayoral election.
Speaker 3: Only only a yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, there cases filed, no challenges to the outcome
Speaker 2: filed by any of the the unsuccessful dogs or their
Speaker 2: unsuccessful owners. So you have five dogs in the final uh,
Speaker 2: and we won't identify all of them by name, but
Speaker 2: you have a five year old adventure loving doodle love doodles.
Speaker 2: You an eight and a half month old Golden Retriever puppy.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you that that's gonna he's that? Is
Speaker 2: that he or she?
Speaker 3: I'm not sure that's a het. Yeah, he's a classic American.
Speaker 2: Golden to an eighteen month old Golden doodle that's going
Speaker 2: to be a good one to a year old Golden Retriever.
Speaker 2: So you may have the Golden retriever vote split. That's
Speaker 2: a factor that I hope people have taken into into account.
Speaker 2: A one year old you you also have a two
Speaker 2: year old Malta pool. This is great.
Speaker 3: The only towld dog of a bunch, but.
Speaker 2: The oldest dog a great. Yeah, the oldest dog of
Speaker 2: the bunch in human years, I guess is fourteen when
Speaker 2: you think about it. So how can anyone and so
Speaker 2: this is not there's no you don't have to be
Speaker 2: a resident of the seaport now, So we.
Speaker 3: Have now knocked about.
Speaker 2: To cast a vote because I have a lot of
Speaker 2: dog lovers in my audience don't love to cast a
Speaker 2: couple of vote or two.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so they can go to Boston Seaport dot x
Speaker 4: y z and vote online. And the polls are open
Speaker 4: until the thirtieth. So we'd love to see your vote
Speaker 4: to let you pick the first inaugural dog mayor of
Speaker 4: the seaport.
Speaker 3: It's super exciting.
Speaker 2: So Boston Seaport dot x y Z slash dog right, Okay,
Speaker 2: that'll that'll get you there for sure. You also can
Speaker 2: find pictures of each of these wonderful looking dogs at
Speaker 2: that website. I assume not that not that people are
Speaker 2: going to vote just on the looks of the dog.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure there's going to be some other
Speaker 2: considerations involved here.
Speaker 4: Well, in election for dog mayor just voting on cuteness,
Speaker 4: it makes sense to us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe if we could get some cute presidential candidates
Speaker 2: that might that might make it make it a little easier. Well,
Speaker 2: this is fine, Yeah, how did you come up with
Speaker 2: this idea? And what's the genesis of the idea? I
Speaker 2: think Look, I would vote for a dog from mayor
Speaker 2: in most cities and Massachusetts if I had a chance,
Speaker 2: to be honest with you. I mean, the dogs would
Speaker 2: do less harm than a lot of the politicians. So
Speaker 2: that's my own personal bias. How did you how did
Speaker 2: you come up with this idea and put it, you know,
Speaker 2: in action.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, if you've ever been to the seaport, you'll see
Speaker 4: dogs everywhere. They're a huge part of the community. There's
Speaker 4: practically a line outside the dog store Polka.
Speaker 5: Dog every day.
Speaker 4: So we just really wanted to embrace that and give
Speaker 4: the neighborhood a four leg and mascot.
Speaker 2: No I have been to the seaport. The seaport For
Speaker 2: those who haven't been is an amazing place in terms
Speaker 2: of it seems like every time I go down there,
Speaker 2: there's five or six more high rise buildings that have
Speaker 2: sprung up. I mean, it's it's it's a real credit
Speaker 2: to both Mayor Menino and Mayor Walsh. Mayor Menino, I
Speaker 2: think who really had the idea of turning those of
Speaker 2: us who are old enough and have been around long enough.
Speaker 2: The seaport used to be just a bunch of empty
Speaker 2: parking lots. I don't know if you're that old or
Speaker 2: been here that long clear, but before and after pictures
Speaker 2: of the seaport are just amazing. And Marty Walsh, you know,
Speaker 2: basically built the seaport on the idea of Mayor Menino.
Speaker 2: So two great mayors have you know, added an entire
Speaker 2: neighborhood to Boston right on the water. Absolutely beautiful. And
Speaker 2: I think that you're with a company called WS Development.
Speaker 2: I assume that you folks are very much involved in
Speaker 2: that construction process over time.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, a lot of the construction and a lot of
Speaker 4: the community building too. So we're hoping the dog Mayor
Speaker 4: isn't afraid of crowds, because we love to have him
Speaker 4: at the tree lighting that we have the holiday market
Speaker 4: and all the other neighborhood events.
Speaker 2: Well sure, I mean, look, there are going to be
Speaker 2: some duties. It's not just all fun and games. I mean,
Speaker 2: any mayor are going to have to get him around
Speaker 2: to some meet and greets and he has to know
Speaker 2: people in the neighborhood. And I think it's a great idea.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Again, let me
Speaker 2: give people an opportunity. We're going to get some votes
Speaker 2: in here Boston Sport dot xyz slash bark the Vote
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. Great job, Claire appreciated. This should be
Speaker 2: a dog mayor for every neighborhood in Boston, and maybe
Speaker 2: you're going to start a trend. So congratulations for making
Speaker 2: outside the box great. Great job.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Claire Kill Colin.
Speaker 2: The associate director of Culture and Experience, And what is
Speaker 2: more cultural than a dog at WS Development. When you're
Speaker 2: down the seaport, you'll be able to say sometime later
Speaker 2: this month that there's a dog mayor. I think the
Speaker 2: community will be well served when we come back. We're
Speaker 2: going to talk about the loss of manufacturing jobs in
Speaker 2: of all places, Massachusetts. We got some work to do
Speaker 2: and We're going to talk with Steph Sallas and Axios
Speaker 2: Boston reporter right after this break. My name is Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: This is Nightside. To listen to WBZ, Boston's News Radio
Speaker 2: ten thirty and your am dial. You, of course always
Speaker 2: can just download the iHeart app and you can listen
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Speaker 2: five days a year. You can check out any of
Speaker 2: the interviews we do on Nightside on Nightside on demand
Speaker 2: as well, So please become part of the BZ family.
Speaker 2: We're a growing family a long time, but we always
Speaker 2: welcome new listeners at anytime during the day. My name's
Speaker 2: Dan Ray. We'll be back right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Want to welcome Axio's Boston reporter Steph Solice. Steph, welcome
Speaker 2: to night Time. How are you?
Speaker 6: Thank you very much, I'm good. How are you? Dan?
Speaker 2: Excellent? One of my producers noticed the story that you wrote.
Speaker 2: It's a tough story. Basically, it's saying that across the
Speaker 2: country in many areas, not uniformally, but in many areas,
Speaker 2: manufacturing jobs are back, except in states like Massachusetts. When
Speaker 2: you say states like Massachusetts, are you talking about states
Speaker 2: here in the northeast or what do you mean? Like,
Speaker 2: what other states do you group in the Massachusetts category
Speaker 2: that are falling behind and catching up on manufacturing jobs.
Speaker 6: Merrily, higher cost states that are either in the Northeast
Speaker 6: or certain other pockets. You've got some geographical outliers, parts
Speaker 6: of the Roust Belt. You've got Washington State and Oregon, Virginia,
Speaker 6: but really like a lot of states where you have
Speaker 6: a higher cost of living or a hard time getting workers.
Speaker 6: It's it's where they're seeing the biggest hit.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, I guess your report is based on analysis
Speaker 2: of government data from an organization called the Economic Innovation
Speaker 2: Group EIG. Is that correct? It's a centrist think tank.
Speaker 2: So this is not a group that has a political
Speaker 2: bias and is trying to take numbers and crunch him
Speaker 2: in such a way that makes one party or the
Speaker 2: other party look good. This is a this is a
Speaker 2: pretty objective analysis. It sounds to me like what your
Speaker 2: report is telling us.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And there's a lot of good news in that
Speaker 6: report for manufacturing as a whole.
Speaker 7: They did note that this is the.
Speaker 6: First time in fifty years that the national manufacturing industry
Speaker 6: has recovered all the jobs lost during a recession. They've
Speaker 6: also noted nationally, at least overall, that manufacturing jobs have
Speaker 6: rebounded to pre pandemic levels, you know, going into that
Speaker 6: more detail. The problem is, as you mentioned earlier, it's
Speaker 6: not uniform, and so you have just a handful of
Speaker 6: states that account for the majority of the job growth.
Speaker 6: In Massachusetts is definitely not one of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, essentially, I think you identified five states that accounts
Speaker 2: for two thirds of the job growth at Texas, Florida, Georgia, Arizona,
Speaker 2: and Utah and those are some you know, classic sun
Speaker 2: belt states. I can't describe any better than that. Massachusetts, though,
Speaker 2: has lost between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty three seven
Speaker 2: thousand manufacturing jobs. This is a problem because when you
Speaker 2: start losing manufacturing jobs, you lose businesses. It's an indication
Speaker 2: that you're losing businesses, and eventually you lose population, which
Speaker 2: takes away every ten years they readjust the number of
Speaker 2: seats in Congress, not the Senate seats, but the House seats.
Speaker 2: What can Massachusetts do to turn this around? Or does
Speaker 2: your article does your analysis get to that what can
Speaker 2: we do to make this better?
Speaker 6: So the state is doing a couple of things, so
Speaker 6: are business organizations. Just starting with the Healing administration, they
Speaker 6: are issuing grants, they're really focusing on building talent pipelines
Speaker 6: and starting at the middle and high school level. And
Speaker 6: the reason that's important in because you if you wait
Speaker 6: until people are adult age, they're going to have much
Speaker 6: more time they need to spend either going to get
Speaker 6: certain apprenticeships or other training when they're doing it right
Speaker 6: out of high school. Another thing that's worth keeping in mind,
Speaker 6: a couple of nuances here.
Speaker 2: Interrupted for a second. I'm assuming when you say building
Speaker 2: pipelines for school children, but you're talking about building schools
Speaker 2: that are voke tech oriented schools for kids who may
Speaker 2: not be people who are looking forward to going to
Speaker 2: college and studying sociology but like to work with their hands,
Speaker 2: or you know, have an aptitude and mechanical aptitude that
Speaker 2: can actually provide people with a great career and a
Speaker 2: great lifetime income. Am I right or wrong? Yes?
Speaker 6: But it's actually a mix. Yes, So yes, it could
Speaker 6: include mechanics, it could include people going into entry level jobs,
Speaker 6: but it also includes more mathematically and science and clined
Speaker 6: students who want to go into robotics, into engineering, into
Speaker 6: creating semiconductors, three D printing things of that sort, and
Speaker 6: building jobs that require sometimes a certificate, sometimes a college
Speaker 6: degree that you can already start getting in high school.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, Well, you know the thing is that one
Speaker 2: of the things I have learned over my lifetime is
Speaker 2: that I wish I had I went to a more
Speaker 2: classical high school, Boston Latin School, which was a great school,
Speaker 2: went to college and to law school, and obviously have
Speaker 2: worked worked as a with my mind and my voice
Speaker 2: doing interviews for a long time in television and radio.
Speaker 2: But tell you, when you need a plumber, when you
Speaker 2: need an electrician, when you need h h Vac person
Speaker 2: and a conditioning has gone out in the summertime, you
Speaker 2: got to pay through the nose. Those are great jobs.
Speaker 2: And I think for a long time in this country,
Speaker 2: we didn't respect those jobs, and we look down on
Speaker 2: those people who were doing those jobs. And I think
Speaker 2: it's for us to all of us to get a
Speaker 2: real attitude adjustment and realize how valuable the auto mechanic
Speaker 2: is in your life. Because if the auto mechanic doesn't
Speaker 2: put your car back on the road. You don't go
Speaker 2: to work, and I have learned that over my lifetime,
Speaker 2: and I just wish the politicians would understand that a
Speaker 2: little bit better. And maybe your article in Axios Boston
Speaker 2: will shake some people up and make them look at
Speaker 2: the world a little differently. I really appreciate this article.
Speaker 2: It was well written, well researched. We need more more
Speaker 2: stories like this and love to have you back as
Speaker 2: you continue develop your career as a writer and as
Speaker 2: an analyst. I really appreciate you taking the time tonight, Steph.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Steph Salise, Axio's Boston reporter.
Speaker 6: Thanks Dan, talk to you again.
Speaker 2: I hope we came back on a talk with Norfolk
Speaker 2: Dounty Sheriff Patrick McDermott. He's got a couple of programs
Speaker 2: going on to help veterans. Okay again, some veterans sadly
Speaker 2: end up in the criminal justice system. There are veterans projects,
Speaker 2: particularly one in which that I'm someone involved within Minnesota,
Speaker 2: in the state of Minnesota, to try to make give
Speaker 2: bret veterans not necessarily a break, but allow them to
Speaker 2: be seen a little differently. And this is this is
Speaker 2: not that program, but This is another program that Sheriff
Speaker 2: Patrick McDonough of Norfolk County will explain to us on
Speaker 2: the other side of the break right after the news
Speaker 2: at the bottom of the hour Here on a Wednesday
Speaker 2: night on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, I want to welcome Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott.
Speaker 2: Norfolk County Sheriff McDermott, how are you tonight.
Speaker 5: I'm doing fantastic, Dan, Thanks for having me back again.
Speaker 5: Appreciate it well.
Speaker 2: Love to have you back whenever. And I know that
Speaker 2: you have a soft spot in your heart for our veterans,
Speaker 2: our heroes who have come home, and you're trying to
Speaker 2: do whatever you can along with I guess Braintreem mayor
Speaker 2: Aaron Joyce amongst others. Tell us what's happening on Saturday
Speaker 2: November ninth, that's what four days after the election, so
Speaker 2: we're talking about a little over two weeks away. You
Speaker 2: have a program called House to House for Heroes. Tell
Speaker 2: us about it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Dan, this is something near and dear to my
Speaker 5: heart as the son of a World War two veteran
Speaker 5: and growing up in a household that really put veterans
Speaker 5: on a pedestal and making sure that Veterans Day was
Speaker 5: always celebrated in my household and then threw up my family.
Speaker 5: So this is a way for me and my staff,
Speaker 5: as well as hundreds of volunteers to do some veterans outreach.
Speaker 5: On Saturday, November ninth in Braintree, we rolled this program
Speaker 5: out in Quinsy to a rounding success. Over three thousand
Speaker 5: veteran households were visited by volunteers and so we're rolling
Speaker 5: this out consistently throughout Norfolk County and Braintree is our
Speaker 5: next opportunity. So on that Saturday, November ninth, we have
Speaker 5: thirteen hundred Braintree veterans that we want to share some
Speaker 5: vital information about important resources and especially the new benefits
Speaker 5: that are available to veterans and things sparring, you know,
Speaker 5: going from health benefits, housing benefits, mental health counseling. You know,
Speaker 5: obviously financial benefits that are available and especially those that
Speaker 5: just recently came online with the signing of the Heroes
Speaker 5: Act by the Heally Driscoll administration of the Legislature this
Speaker 5: past August. So we're going to be rolling out a
Speaker 5: packet of information. We're going to go door to door
Speaker 5: to all the households in Braintree for these veterans who
Speaker 5: have served and given us so much of their service
Speaker 5: over the course of their career, in their life, and
Speaker 5: this is just a small token of our appreciation to
Speaker 5: make sure they know of the services that they can
Speaker 5: avail them to benefit their life and moving forward.
Speaker 2: Now, have you compiled the list? Do you know what
Speaker 2: houses you're hitting or are you hitting every house in
Speaker 2: the community to try to find veterans. Veterans traditionally have
Speaker 2: not been people. You know. They have done their time,
Speaker 2: you know, done their service. They come home and they
Speaker 2: tend most tend to melt into the community and live
Speaker 2: a good in productive life like our dad did as
Speaker 2: a World War Two veteran. My dad was also a
Speaker 2: World War Two veteran. So when you talk about Veterans
Speaker 2: Day in your home, it was the same way in
Speaker 2: our home growing up. But so my question is there
Speaker 2: were some veterans who you almost got to go and say, hey,
Speaker 2: look there's some help here for you, and we're not
Speaker 2: giving you anything.
Speaker 5: You've earned this, they've earned it, and we've and we've
Speaker 5: been able to partner with the local Veterans Service officers
Speaker 5: in every town, and brain Tree has been very cooperative.
Speaker 5: We've also got a lot of help from the town
Speaker 5: clerk through the voting roles. A lot of times people
Speaker 5: will identify as a veteran through the census documents, so
Speaker 5: we've been able to compile those lists through public records
Speaker 5: as well as through voluntary addresses that have been given
Speaker 5: to us from the veterans themselves. So and we want
Speaker 5: to make sure we reach everybody, so certainly our list
Speaker 5: is not exhaustive. And so if anybody hears this message
Speaker 5: and would like a packet delivered to them, they can
Speaker 5: contact their local Veterans Service agent in their town, and
Speaker 5: this particular on town of brain Tree, and we'll make
Speaker 5: sure they get a packet out to them. But you're right,
Speaker 5: veterans tend to come back from their service and do
Speaker 5: kind of melt right into the community, and it's very
Speaker 5: rare we can get them to talk or tell stories,
Speaker 5: and that's why I make a point to make my
Speaker 5: rounds around to all the local dav halls the American
Speaker 5: legions to really try to get the word out about
Speaker 5: some of the benefits that these veterans have earned and
Speaker 5: they deserve to hear about them, and a lot of them,
Speaker 5: especially when we roll this out in Quinsy, they were
Speaker 5: very appreciative and the big thing was a lot of
Speaker 5: these programs they didn't know about, so we want to
Speaker 5: make sure that they know about them.
Speaker 2: Now, do you need more people on November ninth? And
Speaker 2: do you have to live in Braintreet to be a volunteer?
Speaker 2: Would you need some more help? What can we do
Speaker 2: to help you?
Speaker 5: We welcome all volunteers and we find that the volunteers
Speaker 5: get so much out of this. So we've reached out
Speaker 5: to the local community organizations and Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,
Speaker 5: you know, sports groups. But every citizen is invited to
Speaker 5: come to Braintree to participate in this and so we
Speaker 5: have an online sign up. You can actually find that
Speaker 5: sign up on all of our social media Facebook, Instagram,
Speaker 5: or x formerly known as Twitter, and our handle for
Speaker 5: all of those is at Norfolk Sheriff or if you
Speaker 5: want to send us an email, you can send us
Speaker 5: an email at info at Norfolk SHERIFFMA dot org and
Speaker 5: we will send you a link that you register for
Speaker 5: that event. So all volunteers are welcome. We're inviting veterans
Speaker 5: and the volunteers back to our brain Republic Safety campus
Speaker 5: after the event for a little cookout and celebration.
Speaker 2: That's great. I wish you the best of luck. Is
Speaker 2: this a rain or shine event? Obviously as we get
Speaker 2: into November, you know you might just have the bad
Speaker 2: luck of having a rainy weekend. Uh is this on?
Speaker 2: This like a football game? Is not a baseball game?
Speaker 2: But they get canceled or does it go?
Speaker 5: No doubt about it. We take our lessons from our veterans.
Speaker 5: You get up and you do the job. Rain or shine, snow,
Speaker 5: sleep or hopefully we're praying for a little sunshine that day.
Speaker 5: But yes, this event goes on no matter what the
Speaker 5: weather circumstances are.
Speaker 2: That's great. How's everything going down at your House of Correction? There?
Speaker 2: You got the big one right in the middle of
Speaker 2: one twenty eighth, the Norfolk House of.
Speaker 5: Correction, the only prison in the country that is located
Speaker 5: in the middle of federal highway system. So but everything
Speaker 5: has gone pretty well. I've been sheriff now for four
Speaker 5: years since COVID, our numbers have dropped, which is generally
Speaker 5: a good thing. I think that, you know, with the
Speaker 5: Massachusetts has been kind of on the forefront of decarceration
Speaker 5: and focusing on you know, mental health, counseling, substance use
Speaker 5: disorder issues. So for those that are incarcerated right now,
Speaker 5: we're dealing with a lot of tough issues. But my focus,
Speaker 5: at least with my administration and all of the Massachusetts
Speaker 5: sheriffs are on the cutting edge of the concept of
Speaker 5: re entry begins on day one, and that includes all
Speaker 5: of our justice involved individuals. And you know, as we
Speaker 5: speak about veterans, veterans also fall sadly into the criminal
Speaker 5: justice system, and with the Trial court having their Veterans Court,
Speaker 5: we participate with the trial court, and we also have
Speaker 5: programs in the House of Correction that are geared towards
Speaker 5: veterans and their re entry back into the community after
Speaker 5: they've done their sentence. So we really focus on on
Speaker 5: the better things that people have to offer, and we
Speaker 5: hope that, you know, as we see our programs unfold,
Speaker 5: that we'll have a lot of success. And the success
Speaker 5: for us is a reduction in the recidivism rate people
Speaker 5: coming circling back through the criminal justice system.
Speaker 2: I do some work with a couple of friends of
Speaker 2: mine out in Minnesota who are involved in their legal community.
Speaker 2: Minnesota and Nebraska have worked with a model veterans court program.
Speaker 2: It's called the Veterans Defense Project. It essentially basically sets
Speaker 2: up a court where if a veteran messes up, there's
Speaker 2: some consideration given to the circumstances. This model legislation which
Speaker 2: passed in Nebraska. It hasn't passed here, but hopefully over
Speaker 2: time we'll get this back here so that all veterans
Speaker 2: across the country will be treated fairly and given some
Speaker 2: consideration for the service and what they might have been
Speaker 2: subjected to, not only while they're in your custody, but
Speaker 2: as they enter into the criminal justice system. Not to
Speaker 2: whitewash things at all, but basically everybody need to understand
Speaker 2: that veterans of special people, and some of them have
Speaker 2: gone through things that none of us will imagine or
Speaker 2: experience in our lifetime. So, as a former US Attorney
Speaker 2: assistant US attorney, a USA out in Minneapolis has introduced
Speaker 2: me to the program, and I can if you're interested,
Speaker 2: I can put you in touch with them as well,
Speaker 2: if that's something it would be great appealing to.
Speaker 5: You, Okay, and I I have the honor of service
Speaker 5: the president elect of the Massachusetts Sheriff's Association. Our executive
Speaker 5: director is the former director out in Minnesota. So it
Speaker 5: would be fitting that we move forward and.
Speaker 2: Mentioned mentioned to you your pal, Hank Say he's assistant US.
Speaker 2: Wasn't assistant US attorney, He's a law profit out there
Speaker 2: in Minnesota. Hank Shehay. Pretty easy to remember and a
Speaker 2: great and a great Yay Norfolk.
Speaker 5: County Sheriff to carry that in the legislative session.
Speaker 2: Yeah, say hi to my pal and former colleague. You're
Speaker 2: a pr guy, Peter Wilson. You've got a good guy there.
Speaker 2: We'll talk soon.
Speaker 5: You got it, absolutely, Thanks Dan, Thanks.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Talk you soon. All Right, we've got
Speaker 2: one more interview coming up, and we're going to talk
Speaker 2: about hospice, home Care Alliance of Massachusetts and Medicare. Medicare
Speaker 2: enrollment is now open, so you really want to listen,
Speaker 2: and we may bring this next guest back at some
Speaker 2: point later on this month. Answer your Medicare questions, but
Speaker 2: stick with us. We'll get you. We'll get you some
Speaker 2: information that you very well might need, and then we're
Speaker 2: going to go to a couple of topics. At least
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about question three in the ballot
Speaker 2: about ride SHARE's drive right share driver's ability to unionize.
Speaker 2: And we're also going to talk with a Massachusetts attorney
Speaker 2: just back from Israel. He's going to tell us what's
Speaker 2: going on on the ground over there as that in
Speaker 2: that fighting intensifies. Back on night Side right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Way Live from the Window World,
Speaker 1: Nice Sight Studios, Many Besy New Twvidio.
Speaker 2: Well, I think most of you know that the Medicare
Speaker 2: open enrollment period has kicked off on October fifteenth, or
Speaker 2: about eight days into that. Into that process with me
Speaker 2: is Renee mckinnis. She's the chair of the Home Care
Speaker 2: Alliance of Massachusetts as well as the CEO of the
Speaker 2: nonprofit envy NA and Hospice. So let's first of all, Renee,
Speaker 2: let's start off with an explanation. Explanation of what is
Speaker 2: the Homecare Alliance of Massachusetts. And then I want to
Speaker 2: know what envy NA and Hospice does tell us about
Speaker 2: Home Care Alliance Massachusetts. Who do they serve? Who do
Speaker 2: you say?
Speaker 7: Absolutely so, that's an association that serves the state of
Speaker 7: Massachusetts for all many home care and hospice organizations, but
Speaker 7: also private duty home care, so private care. Really they're
Speaker 7: really an advocacy group, an association that connects us.
Speaker 2: So it's a business association.
Speaker 7: I assume it's you know, it's yes, it is. It's
Speaker 7: a non yep, it is. And you know they work
Speaker 7: very closely with the state House and the legislators and
Speaker 7: present bills and help to advocate for home care and
Speaker 7: hospice organizations.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, and what is NVNA that acronym. I'm not familiar
Speaker 2: with that acronym. It's ENVY DNA in hospice. What does
Speaker 2: that stand for?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 7: Not many people are So it's nor Well Visiting Yourse
Speaker 7: Association in hospice. But we do cover twenty seven towns,
Speaker 7: so it's not just normal south of Boston.
Speaker 2: Right, Okay, Now, medicare open enrollment. What do people need
Speaker 2: to know? We know first of all that it is
Speaker 2: already underway. If you are a medical if you're on
Speaker 2: one of these programs, do you have to sign up
Speaker 2: again every year? Or is it? Is it less complicated
Speaker 2: than that?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 7: You know what it really isn't I love?
Speaker 2: Oh, I here you go ahead.
Speaker 7: It's super complicated actually, And so people get very confused,
Speaker 7: and we'd like to I'm just trying to educate people
Speaker 7: truly to to have their options and to decide for themselves.
Speaker 7: I'm not telling people what to decide, but there are
Speaker 7: differences between Medicare and Medicare advantage or you know, many
Speaker 7: people call it many different things, right, so they'll talk
Speaker 7: about Medicare with a supplement plan or Medicare.
Speaker 2: Advance of some words we can't use on the radio.
Speaker 7: Right exactly exactly, So you know, it really important for us,
Speaker 7: really in my association Home Care Alliance, but also for
Speaker 7: all my colleagues out there across the nation, is that
Speaker 7: it's a real struggle working with Medicare advantage. So for
Speaker 7: patients that are signing up for these plans, they need
Speaker 7: to understand that they may have access to care concerns,
Speaker 7: so particular when they travel. But many organizations are not
Speaker 7: taking some of these plans because the reimbursement for home
Speaker 7: health can be fifty to sixty percent below our direct cost.
Speaker 7: Now does the consumer know or understand that, No, But
Speaker 7: what they need to know is that could be access
Speaker 7: to care concerns. So when they leave the hospital they
Speaker 7: want to go to a particular rehab they want to
Speaker 7: go to a particular skilled nursing facility for rehab or
Speaker 7: a home care. They may have limited access depending on
Speaker 7: the network and which they're in and which physicians, which hospitals,
Speaker 7: which home cares will take their insurance. Prior authorizations are
Speaker 7: very cumbersome and they can delay you in the hospital
Speaker 7: waiting for a post acute setting.
Speaker 2: Well, you know what's frustrating. What is frustrating about this
Speaker 2: is Medicare is a program that people paid into during
Speaker 2: their life span.
Speaker 7: That's right.
Speaker 2: Medicaid is different, okay, But Medicare is a program that
Speaker 2: people paid into and the government sold it as a
Speaker 2: program as something that people can rely on. And it
Speaker 2: seems to me that there's that some of the circumstances
Speaker 2: have changed so that it makes it more difficult one
Speaker 2: for people to understand it and to access the program.
Speaker 2: And it sounds like you're trying to clarify that for people,
Speaker 2: which which my hat's off to you on that one.
Speaker 7: Well, and I think that you know, when you're looking
Speaker 7: at these programs, really understand what you're signing up for.
Speaker 7: And it may look cheaper, the monthly premium may look
Speaker 7: better to you, and it probably is but when you
Speaker 7: really need care, you may want to have choice, right,
Speaker 7: so choice of your specialty position, choice of where you
Speaker 7: want to go for surgery, choice of where you want
Speaker 7: to go for rehab, and you may not have that
Speaker 7: access or option, so it does limit your choice. You
Speaker 7: can also have a lot of out of pocket costs
Speaker 7: if you're out of network, So if you choose to
Speaker 7: go out of network. So, Dan, we've gotten many calls
Speaker 7: at my organization and we started this program, a navigator
Speaker 7: program really to help people navigate healthcare in general. And
Speaker 7: we get a lot of calls from people I don't
Speaker 7: understand I can't go to this particular rehab. They tell
Speaker 7: me I have to go there, and I don't want
Speaker 7: to go there, and you know, we try to educate
Speaker 7: them and we say, you know, what is your insurance, Well,
Speaker 7: it's a Medicare advantage plan and there's restrictions around that.
Speaker 7: But you have to wait for another year until open
Speaker 7: enrollment to switch back to Medicare with a supplemental plan.
Speaker 7: And yes, the premiums are more expensive monthly, but you
Speaker 7: really need to weigh out the cost benefit and really
Speaker 7: educate yourself before you sign out.
Speaker 2: This is so frustrating. It's so frustrating to me that
Speaker 2: programs like this, which people paid for, paid for, they
Speaker 2: have to now almost big and negotiate to get the
Speaker 2: government said, hey, you sign up this program. I remember
Speaker 2: when Medicaid was sold. And conversely, don't want to put
Speaker 2: you in the middle of a political debate here. But conversely,
Speaker 2: we got people coming across the border who are taking
Speaker 2: care of with hotel rooms, meals, ebt cards, whatever you want.
Speaker 2: And yet you know, older Americans who were looking for
Speaker 2: just a little bit of help are frustrated and denied
Speaker 2: that help, and it is infuriating. It's absolutely infuriating.
Speaker 7: The good news is that Medicare it started to recognize
Speaker 7: that because they're giving their Medicare dollars to a managed
Speaker 7: care plan, that actually it's not saving Medicare money, right,
Speaker 7: So it's not saving the government money and actually possibly
Speaker 7: people aren't getting the access to care they need. So
Speaker 7: some of these plans are backing down because their margins
Speaker 7: aren't what they were. Because Medicare is really recognizing an
Speaker 7: understanding it really has to be about the patient right
Speaker 7: and the care. So it has to be patient centered
Speaker 7: care and it can't.
Speaker 2: Be of course, it should be the patient. How can
Speaker 2: people get in touch with you to get a little
Speaker 2: bit of a better understanding. Is there a website we
Speaker 2: can send people to. What is it?
Speaker 7: Yep, NVNA dot org and my they can email me
Speaker 7: directly at our MCI n ees at ENVNA dot org.
Speaker 7: So that's my email. Happy to answer any questions or
Speaker 7: walk them through anything. I'm not, as I said, Dan,
Speaker 7: I'm not telling people what to choose. I'm just hoping
Speaker 7: that eruptions.
Speaker 2: That's that's a great service you're performing. And again, the
Speaker 2: easiest website, folks is n v NA simple as that
Speaker 2: stands for No Well Visiting Nurses Association so n b
Speaker 2: n A. But it serves five thousand people in twenty
Speaker 2: seven self, so commune. And if you're not in the
Speaker 2: South Shore, hopefully you can find a similar type group
Speaker 2: in your in your area. Renee, thank you very much
Speaker 2: for what you do.
Speaker 7: It's it's well thank you.
Speaker 2: Anytime we can give you some help, you let us know.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 7: Okay, I appreciate it. Thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2: Thanks. Okay. So that takes her a nightside news update
Speaker 2: coming up on the other side, we're going to talk
Speaker 2: take another shot in Massachusetts ballot question three, and we
Speaker 2: will talk with Roxanna Rivera, she's coach here of the
Speaker 2: Yes and Three coalition. We spoke with someone last night
Speaker 2: who was no. One the question, and feel free you
Speaker 2: can ask whatever questions you want. Later, we're going to
Speaker 2: talk about what is going on in Israel from someone
Speaker 2: who was in the ground there earlier this month for
Speaker 2: an extended period of time. Boston attorney Jason Greenburg back
Speaker 2: on Nightside right after this