State Democratic leadership blasts Bush for veto threat on kids’ health care plan

Massachusetts Democrats Sen. John F. Kerry and Gov. Deval Patrick criticized President Bush’s threat to veto additional funding for the State’s Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) at a rally on Monday at the Martha Eliot Health Center in Jamaica Plain.

Without the president’s signature, the program will expire on Sept. 30, jeopardizing the health coverage of more than 90,000 low-income children in Massachusetts.

“Community health centers across Massachusetts and across the country are underfinanced, and it’s unfair to ask them to carry the burden of the misguided ideology of the Bush White House,” said Kerry. “We’d like a president that puts children first — but we’d settle for one who doesn’t put children’s health last.”

The rally followed legislative action by Kerry, who introduced a bipartisan bill last week with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to block the cuts.

The bill challenges rules put in place by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that essentially prohibit states from providing quality health coverage to children whose families have income higher than 250 percent of the federal poverty level. This legislation revokes that policy and would allow states to cover children at income levels most appropriate for their state. 

“The Children’s Health Insurance Program was passed to provide health coverage to all of our nation’s children — not just those the administration chooses,” Kennedy said. “Partisan politics have no place in safeguarding the health of our children and I urge the administration to listen to the will of the American people, and to Congress, and to put the needs of our children first.”

City election department looking for poll workers

The Boston Election Department is recruiting poll workers to assist in staffing the city’s 254 precincts for the upcoming elections.

Poll workers are needed to assist in the setup and breakdown of polling places, to count ballots, to check in voters and to help to guide voters through the process of casting their ballots smoothly. The department reported a “critical need” for individuals bilingual in Spanish, Cape Verdean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Russian, Portuguese and Somali.

There are stipends for poll workers ranging from $135-$175 and applications are available online at the Election Department’s Web site at www.cityofboston.gov
/elections. The department will run a two-hour training session for all prospective poll workers.

Senate OKs $12.5 million for Mass. projects

The U.S. Senate recently approved $12.5 million in federal funding for 14 of Massachusetts’ economic development, transportation and housing projects. The funding is part of the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Appropriations bill.

The money will go toward redeveloping low-income areas and rebuilding aging infrastructure across the Commonwealth. The Barnstable and Nantucket airports will each receive $4 million, and several senior and low-income housing projects will get upgrades as well.

Locally, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will receive $1 million towards its Commonwealth Avenue Green Line station construction project.

“Communities across Massachusetts are working hard to make needed investments to improve our quality of life, transportation system, and to promote economic development,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. “I’m grateful our colleagues have approved funding to help make some badly needed projects a reality.”

The announcement did not come without a political caveat, however; President Bush has threatened a veto of the funds.

“President Bush’s promise to veto this badly needed investment is a dangerous mistake,” said Sen. John F. Kerry. “I urge the president not to stand in the way of funding that will greatly enhance the quality of life for thousands of Massachusetts families.”

ACLU demands inquiry into custody death of Brazilian immigrant

Just one day after the death of Maxsuel Medeiros, a 25-year-old Brazilian immigrant who died while in Massachusetts State Police custody on Sept. 11, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called for an investigation into his death.

Medeiros was the second Brazilian immigrant living in Massachusetts to die while in custody in the past two months. The death of Edmar Alves Araujo last month raised concerns about the adequacy of medical care for detainees — concerns reignited with the news of Medeiros’ death.

“The tragic death of a second young, Brazilian immigrant in detention raises questions that cannot be ignored,” said Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.

The death of Medeiros, who was arrested as a passenger of a car stopped for a lane change violation, raises other questions as well, according to Rose.

“Why did police check the identification of Mr. Medeiros, the passenger in the car they stopped for a traffic violation?” she said. ”In addition to the facts surrounding Medeiros’ death, we need to know why he was in custody in the first place.”

New homeless housing initiative to focus on Common grounds

Mayor Thomas M. Menino recently announced the launch of the Boston Common Ground Housing Initiative, a multi-agency housing plan designed to reach unsheltered, long-term homeless individuals in the vicinity of the Boston Common.

The Mayor’s Emergency Shelter Commission is joining forces with the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) on the project, which will send teams out to canvass the area with housing applications.
“Every year, the Boston Housing Authority and our other housing partners open the doors to hundreds of units of affordable housing,” Menino said. “This housing plan takes that effort to the streets, where homeless individuals with disabilities and significant barriers to housing need help navigating the system.”

More than 50 BHA volunteers and homeless outreach workers, divided into eight daytime street teams and two nighttime mobile outreach teams, are working to identify homeless people in need of housing assistance. So far, the new initiative has reached out to 250 homeless persons and collected about 150 applications.

The Common Ground initiative is part of Menino’s larger strategy to combat homelessness in the city. It builds upon a number of successful so-called “housing first” programs, including HomeStart’s Housing First pilot program with Boston Health Care for the Homeless; the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance’s “Home and Healthy for Good” program; the Pine Street Inn’s REACH Program; and the Boston Elder Street Homeless Initiative, a multi-agency collaborative funded by Citizens Bank.

With fall temperatures making their debut this week, the need for a housing push becomes more urgent, according to Jim Greene, director of the Mayor’s Emergency Shelter Commission.

“Our goal is to get as many people as possible into some form of permanent supportive housing before the onset of winter and the really cold, life-threatening weather,” said Greene.

BU taps husband-and-wife expert team to head South End biolab

Boston University last week appointed Dr. Thomas W. Geisbert as associate director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) and director of the lab’s Specimen Processing Core Laboratory.

The lab, now under construction on the university’s medical campus, will host biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) research space, the highest level specified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is designed, built and staffed to handle dangerous and exotic bioagents.

Geisbert has experience at such high-level biolabs. He is currently the associate director for high containment at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases BSL-4 lab. Geisbert, who helped develop vaccines to combat the Ebola and Marburg viruses, will begin his new position Oct. 1, and will also join the faculty of the BU School of Medicine as professor of microbiology.

“Tom has been on the forefront of research to understand how several hemorrhagic fever viruses cause disease,” said Mark Klempner, M.D., director of the NEIDL Institute and associate provost for research of Boston University Medical Campus. “Tom has more than 19 years experience working in this specialized research laboratory setting. We look forward to his leadership role in Boston University’s burgeoning infectious diseases research efforts.”

Geisbert will be joined at the NEIDL by his wife, Joan Geisbert, who has been appointed associate director of the Specimen Processing Core Laboratory and associate director of the NEIDL Training Simulator. Together, the Geisberts bring more than 50 combined years of research and administrative experience in biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) and BSL-4 laboratory environments to the BU biolab.

Ms. Geisbert will begin her appointment on Feb. 1, 2008. She is a senior biological science laboratory technician at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, where she is the suite supervisor for a BSL-3/BSL-4 lab.

As associate director of the Specimen Processing Core Laboratory, she will help develop policies and standard operating procedures, and will be responsible for recruiting and training the core laboratory’s personnel. As associate director of the Training Simulator, Ms. Geisbert will develop a training and certification program to prepare NEIDL faculty and staff to work in BSL-4 labs and core facilities.

“When you ask anyone familiar with biosafety level 4 research laboratories who is the nation’s most experienced, hands-on expert, they will refer you to Joan Geisbert,” Klempner said. “She has participated in some of the most important infectious diseases research projects requiring biosafety level 4 and trained many of the research faculty around the country who work in this specialized environment.”