波士頓慶祝蔡英文上任總統 麻州元極舞健身會打頭陣

駐波士頓台北經濟文化辦事處處長賴銘琪，雲雯蓁夫婦（左七，八）和麻州牛頓元極舞健身會會長鄭玉春（左六）及會員們。（周菊子攝）

            (Boston Orange  周菊子牛頓市報導) 美國麻州慶祝蔡英文就任中華民國總統的活動，5月19日中午由麻州牛頓元極舞健身會在波士頓華僑文教中心推出第一場。八十多名出席者，不少人還是第一次踏進僑教中心，儼然為麻州的藍綠融合踏出第一步。

波士頓華僑文教中心主任郭大文（左起），駐波士頓台北經濟文化辦事
處處長賴銘琪，雲雯蓁夫婦，和麻州牛頓元極舞健身會會長鄭玉春，以及
曾秀梅，黃周麗桃，周美桃，曾政明等人一起切蛋糕慶祝。（周菊子攝）

            駐波士頓台北經濟文化辦事處處長賴銘琪，雲雯蓁夫婦，副處長陳銘俊，波士頓僑教中心主任郭大文，波士頓僑務委員蔣宗壬，僑務顧問許炳煌，紐英崙客家鄉親會會長周一男，波士頓養生舞聯誼會會長周美桃，麻州牛頓元極舞健身會會長鄭玉春等人一一致詞。

            賴銘琪在致詞時指出，這場餐會的主要目的是慶祝中華民國歷史上第一位女性總統蔡英文就職。蔡英文不但是台大法學士，康乃爾大學法學碩士，英國倫敦政經學院法學博士，最近還被美國時代雜誌票選為2016年全世界最具影響力100人中的第19名，排名甚至比美國前國務卿希拉蕊，俄國總統普亭還前面。

鄭玉春（左），曾秀梅（右）致詞。（周菊子攝）

賴銘琪希望僑胞們瞭解中華民國是個自由民主國家，政黨輪替，藍綠競爭是正常現象，也是進步的推動力，但在海外，僑胞們不宜刻意的劃分藍綠，或劃分傳統僑社，新興僑團，以期團結就是力量。他強調，只要認同中華民國，自由民主，就都是他們的服務對象。他也申述自己上任以來參加過658場各界活動，可以向僑胞們保證，台北經文處服務僑胞的熱誠絕不會因為政黨輪替而有不同，他們將繼續用實際行動來證明服務誠意。

            郭大文致詞時也強調，對僑教中心來說，所有僑胞都是服務對象，希望這次的政黨再次輪替，能夠帶動分別支持藍綠的僑胞們接觸，交流。

宋玉琴（左起）主持，鄭玉春，曾秀梅致詞。（周菊子攝）

            應郭大文之邀出席的波士頓台灣基督教會牧師盧榮富以台語致詞，直言他們這次來參加活動有三大歡喜，一是慶祝新總統就職，二是聽到郭大文強調僑教中心是政府財產，既是你的也是我的，要為所有僑胞服務，三是感謝主，在新總統領導下能用心出發，期待將來大和解，能同心同力的帶動國家進步。

麻州牛頓元極舞健身會會長鄭玉春表示，該會原本這天慶祝元極日，現擴大為慶祝新總統就職，包括來自波士頓台灣基督教會大約廿多人，共八十多人出席，讓人更加高興。

陳裕逢（左），蔡高進（右）都趕來出席同慶。（周菊子攝）

        現場播放了蔡英文總統向海外僑胞致意影片後，蔣宗壬，許炳煌在午餐閒談中笑言，僑教中心牆壁上的總統掛像，將從5月20日起換人，馬英九下，蔡英文上。他們還繼而建議，將來在牆上掛中華民國歷任總統玉照，從蔣中正，蔣經國，李登輝，陳水扁，馬英九到蔡英文，讓人見證台灣政黨輪替的民主自由進展。

            駐波士頓台北經濟文化辦事處將於5月20日晚，在紐英崙中華公所舉辦麻州本地的第二場蔡英文就任中華民國第14任總統慶祝會，估計將有200 多人出席。

波士頓僑務委員蔣宗壬（左），僑務顧問許炳煌（右）談說政黨輪替。
（周菊子攝）

慶祝餐會。

波士頓台灣基督教會牧師盧榮富（左二）等許多人，還是第一次
踏進波士頓華僑文教中心。（周菊子攝）

出席者。（周菊子攝）

許炳煌（中）和林恆誠（右）是多年好友。（周菊子攝）

紐英崙客家鄉親會會長周一男（右），余國豪（中）夫婦出席同慶。
（周菊子攝）

王榮德分享“我思我學” 談台灣環保職業病防治 （圖片）

摩頓市再添中餐館 川味道剪綵慶開張 （圖片）

麻頓市長葛帝生（Gary Christenson，中）、麻州眾議員Steve Ultrino (右二）和“川味道”餐廳東主陳建武（右三），陳昕（左三）等人為新店開張剪綵。（周菊子攝） 

華林功夫太極學校為“川味道”開張舞獅。（周菊子攝）

川味道餐廳四名東主，左起，陳昕，高亮，陳建武，石麗如和好友羅祖得邀摩頓市長葛帝生（Gary Christenson）剪綵，慶祝新店開張。（周菊子攝）

Contemporary Arts International presents Mass Angst - a solo exhibit of Ted Castro’s work

Contemporary Arts International presents Mass Angst - a solo exhibit of Ted Castro’s work

  

Acton, MA – Mass Angst, an exhibit Ted Castro’s sculpture, painting, drawing, and stained glass, will be on display in the Red Box Gallery at the Contemporary Arts International (CAI) from Sunday, May 22 –June 27. An opening reception and meet the artist will be from 2–5pm May 22. The CAI is located at The Quarry, 68 Quarry Road, Acton MA.

Castro’s expressionistic pieces explore the themes of distress, and aspiration for inner peace. Using multiple mediums, he evokes anger, compassion, empathy, vision, and change. Castro is concerned with the human condition, especially interpersonal relationships. Use of heavy dark lines and lots of contrast in drawings show figures relating to themselves. Touching hands, interconnected limbs, and twisted people suggest how we get along with others.  Some pieces of sculpture are multi-sided; for example, in the sculpture entitled “TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO HEAR”, the sculpture can kneel upright, lay back on head and toes, or fall on its side. All positions offer different degrees of pain and prayer; depending on its position, one could also interpret the back of the sculpture praying while the front is being interrogated.  In the work “Compromise”, Castro portrayed a man with motion, moving forward, bold and determined.

As indicated in the title of the show “Mass Angst”, Castro is looking into his personal life, attempt to tackle the problem and learn why he feels that way, and put the feeling down on the paper with airbrush and charcoals.  Castro stated: “it is an emotional release when I mess up the surface and reorganize the visual with line drawing, a process in which I  look into my problems and solve the issue with art making. Some seem angry some look sorrowful. Most are connecting figures by touching, longing for that spiritual need with someone else.”

Castro’s show is part of CAI’s Rising Artist Exhibition Program, which encourages the emerging artist. As CAI’s Artistic Director Viktor Lois said “The psychological implications of each piece are extremely personal and powerful”. 

A graduate of the Pratt Institute, Castro is an artist for 26 years. He apprenticed at Martino Stained Glass Studio (Framingham, MA). He now lives and works in a suburb of Boston. Ted accepts commissions and creates works for private collections.

Life Sciences High School Apprenticeship Training Program Graduates First Class of Students

Life Sciences High School Apprenticeship Training Program Graduates

First Class of Students

WALTHAM and CAMBRIDGE – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and the BioBuilder Educational Foundation held their first-ever graduation ceremony for Life Sciences High School Apprentices at LabCentral in Cambridge today. Twenty-seven students from Boston and Cambridge have successfully completed an eight-week lab-readiness training program as part of the newly established Life Sciences High School Apprenticeship Challenge training program, the pilot year of which was funded by a $50,000 grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC).

The training, led by BioBuilder and hosted by MIT, has taught students from diverse backgrounds laboratory and professional skills that will prepare them for internship opportunities and eventual careers with local life sciences companies and research institutions. A number of the graduates will be placed in paid summer internships at institutions such as Massachusetts General Hospital and Cambridge-based life sciences companies such as AB Biosciences and Abcam.  Intern stipends of up to $2,880 (based on $12/per hour for six weeks) will be reimbursed by the MLSC.

MLSC President and CEO Travis McCready said, “To ensure the ongoing strength of our life sciences workforce, we need to engage young people early and help them see the potential for careers in our state’s life sciences industry.  We hope that through this rigorous new program, high school students from diverse backgrounds will gain increased scientific curiosity and scientific literacy that places them on the path to become our next generation of life sciences leaders.  I congratulate the first-ever class of graduates that we recognized at today’s ceremony, and look forward to seeing the contributions they will make to the Massachusetts life sciences ecosystem.”

The eight-week training program received generous support from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, which donated $3,000 worth of lab books, and MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering, which provided lab and classroom space for the students. The Boston Private Industry Council, which facilitates the placement of Boston Public School students in internships with companies such as Vertex and Genzyme, is assisting in the placement of Life Sciences Apprentices this summer.  With the launch of this program, the MLSC is now supporting a pipeline of workforce training that spans from middle school through graduate school.

"The 27 students who participated in this inaugural year of the program were recommended to us by their teachers as students who demonstrated great interest and potential in science,” saidNatalie Kuldell, Ph.D., president and founder of BioBuilder Educational Foundation. “I found the students to be hard working, smart and creative − and every one of them is more ready for their future now than when they started eight weeks ago. Though the Apprenticeship Program is only one of several programs that BioBuilder is supporting, we view it as our local lynchpin, since it connects students from under-resourced schools in Boston and Cambridge with cutting-edge science, foundational engineering practice, and opportunities for meaningful work and professional advancement."

“My favorite part of the program was when I was working with a team on how to build a liver,” said Jefferson Lopez Garcia of Boston, a newly minted graduate of the program.  “I learned a lot of biology that I didn’t learn in high school, and developed more laboratory skills.  I think the most important thing I learned is how to communicate with people that I have never met before and actually make a scientific poster with them.”

“I had the joy to be around the apprentices when they presented their impressive research in a poster session that we hosted here at LabCentral on May 9^th,” said LabCentral president and co-founder Johannes Fruehauf, M.D., PhD. “Their spirit of enthusiasm, curiosity, and wonder is infectious – and exactly why STEM programs like these are so important and effective. They not only help prepare the next generation of scientists, they help energize this one!  LabCentral is proud to partner with BioBuilder and the MLSC.  On behalf of all of LabCentral’s staff and residents: congratulations to the graduates!” 

About the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) is an investment agency that supports life sciences innovation, research, development and commercialization. The MLSC is charged with implementing a 10-year, $1-billion, state-funded investment initiative. These investments create jobs and support advances that improve health and well-being. The MLSC offers the nation’s most comprehensive set of incentives and collaborative programs targeted to the life sciences ecosystem. These programs propel the growth that has made Massachusetts the global leader in life sciences. The MLSC creates new models for collaboration and partners with organizations, both public and private, around the world to promote innovation in the life sciences.  For more information visit www.masslifesciences.com.

About BioBuilder

BioBuilder bridges the gap between high school classrooms and university research by connecting the science and engineering done by professionals to the way these subjects are taught in high schools. By presenting authentic research questions in accessible, modular, and teachable form, BioBuilder fulfills its mission to spark interest, engagement and understanding in STEM fields. Conceptualized at MIT in 2007 by Dr. Natalie Kuldell and incorporated as a MA public charity in 2011, BioBuilder currently focuses on the emerging field of synthetic biology and brings investigative curriculum to high school students and teachers. Starting with 27 teachers in its first year, BioBuilder has grown rapidly to now involve more than 500 teachers in 40+ states and more than a dozen foreign countries.  For more information visit www.biobuilder.org. 

About LabCentral (www.labcentral.org ; twitter @labcentral)

A 28,000 square-foot facility in the heart of the Kendall Square, Cambridge, Mass., a biotech innovation hub, LabCentral is a first-of-its-kind shared laboratory space designed as a launchpad for high-potential life-sciences and biotech startups. It offers fully permitted laboratory and office space for early-stage companies comprising approximately 125 scientists and entrepreneurs. LabCentral provides first-class facility and administrative support, skilled laboratory personnel, a domain-relevant expert speaker series—as well as the other critical services and support that startups need to begin laboratory operations on day one. A private, nonprofit institution, LabCentral was funded in part by a $5 million grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, with support from its real-estate partner, MIT. Founding sponsors include Triumvirate Environmental and Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Baker-Polito Administration Releases $2.19 Billion Fiscal Year 2017 Capital Budget Plan

Baker-Polito Administration Releases $2.19 Billion

Fiscal Year 2017 Capital Budget Plan

Focused on maintaining and modernizing existing assets, plan invests in housing, transportation and municipalities

BOSTON – The Baker-Polito Administration today released the Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) capital plan, including a $2.19 billion bond cap on General Obligation Bonds. Significant resources in FY17 will be invested in affordable and workforce housing, transportation projects and various grant programs to support municipalities across the state. The plan also attracts substantial federal, local, private and other sources of funding, maximizing the leverage of the Commonwealth’s capital resources.

The FY17 capital plan prioritizes projects that maintain and modernize existing assets, and make targeted investments for the future. The process for reviewing and determining which projects were included in this plan was refocused this year to better account for our strategic priorities and maximize coordination across agencies with these three core principles as the foundation. 

“The Commonwealth’s Capital Plan is an important tool for funding construction and maintaining capital assets, infrastructure and program investments,” said Governor Baker. “This capital plan makes substantial investments in maintaining and modernizing our transportation network, preserving thousands of affordable housing units, training an already highly-skilled workforce and supporting programs critical to economic development in cities and towns across Massachusetts.”  

“This capital plan continues our administration’s commitment to being a reliable partner for cities and towns across the Commonwealth,” said Lieutenant Governor Polito. “In addition to important capital funding for local issues like Chapter 90 transportation funding, vocational skills grants and cultural facilities grants, the Community Compact Program will build upon a successful first year to continue awarding communities who partner with the state to improve local services, IT infrastructure, and various local projects.”

“The capital plan for Fiscal Year 2017 makes many key strategic investments focused on maintaining and modernizing our existing assets and making targeted investments in the future,” said Secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, Kristen Lepore. “We are increasing the bond cap by an affordable $65 million to allow us to continue to meet our long-term capital needs that address deferred maintenance needs of our existing portfolio without putting significant strain on our operating budgets.”

The $2.19 billion bond cap represents an affordable 3% increase over FY16 and is consistent with the recommendation of the Debt Affordability Committee. The total capital investment for FY17, after accounting for non-bond cap funding sources, will total over $4 billion. While the plan is due by law on June 30, 2016, the administration is releasing the plan early to provide recipients additional planning time so they can start projects at the beginning of the fiscal year.

Link to the FY17 Capital Message: http://www.mass.gov/bb/cap/fy2017/dnld/fy17capitalplanma.pdf

Link to the full FY17 Capital Plan: www.mass.gov/capital

 Projects in the FY17 Capital Plan will:

·       Maintain: 46% of projects in FY17 prioritize maintenance by repairing, reconstructing, or reconditioning existing assets to bring condition or performance to a safe and acceptable level.

·       Modernize: 26% of projects in FY17 renew existing assets to improve functionality, useful life or enhance service, capacity, or performance while limiting the expansion of the state’s asset footprint.

·       Targeted Growth: 28% of projects in FY17 address strategic objectives through creation of select new assets, or increase investment in priority areas to create value without expanding our state asset footprint.

Within the three strategic parameters that guided the development of this year’s plan, the projects funded focus on five major themes:  

Taking Care of What We Have

The Commonwealth has many existing assets in its portfolio. The Baker-Polito Administration strongly believes that we must support projects that protect, maintain, and modernize those assets by investing in the deferred maintenance of existing assets to address critical health and safety issues that affect our people and our natural resources.

·       $776 million in bond cap for maintaining and modernizing the transportation network

·       $95 million for identified renovation projects at higher education campuses

·       $90 million to support maintenance at 46,000 local housing authority units

·       $57.3 million for general state facilities maintenance, capital renewal, and energy reserves to fund repair projects and system upgrades at hundreds of state owned facilities

·       $23 million for court repair and modernization projects and ADA compliance and maintenance reserves

·       $10 million to begin preserving 3,300 housing units as affordable housing

·       $10 million to repair and improve inland dams and seawalls

·       $8.5 million for Higher Education critical repairs and ADA compliance maintenance reserves

Enhancing Workforce Skills and Economic Vitality

The plan helps foster a healthy ecosystem for growth, with funding for tools to train a highly skilled workforce, housing access for working families, and reliable transportation networks.

·       $90 million MassWorks grants to municipalities and other local entities

·       $84.6 million in grants towards life sciences, research and development, and advanced manufacturing

·       $49.6 million to support private development of affordable housing

·       $11 million to renovate the largest classroom building at Northern Essex Community College

·       $15 million for equipment grants to vocational schools and community colleges that support developing workforce skills

·       $14 million to create a consolidated student center at Springfield Technical Community College

·       $8 million to renovate a student center at Holyoke Community College

Engaging and Supporting Communities

The Baker-Polito Administration is committed to serving as a reliable partner for our cities and towns. Complementing the significant level of support we already provide through our operating budgets, including local aid and the Community Compact program, the FY17 capital funding offers additional resources for key local infrastructure initiatives to catalyze renewal, growth, innovation, and development, and to protect natural resources and distinct places.

·       $200 million in Chapter 90 funding

·       $47.7 million in EEA community grant programs to support land protection, coastal resiliency, land use planning and climate change adaptation efforts

·       $10.5 million to support the Complete Streets initiative and the new Small Bridges program

·       $2.5 million for critical coastal infrastructure and pollution remediation

·       $2 million for Community Compact grants across the Commonwealth

·       $2 million to continue the Greening the Gateway Cities initiative

·       $1 million for municipal projects to increase accessibility and comply with ADA regulations

·       $350,000 to purchase body armor for municipal police departments

Optimizing the Value of Our Investments

The capital plan leverages significant outside resources from federal, local, private and other sources to multiply the impact of its contributions in key policy areas and maximize return on investments.

·       $407 million of state bond cap dollars paired with $504 million through the Federal Aid Highway Program to maintain and modernize state highways

·       $30 million from the state to continue dredging Boston Harbor, coupled with $240 million from MassPort and the federal government over four years

·       $10 million from the state to preserve 13A properties as affordable or workforce housing, with a matching investment from MassHousing to fund the workforce tier

·       $750,000 in state dollars dedicated to the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home project. This project is expected to cost $120 million, of which 65% of the estimated cost of construction will be reimbursed by the federal government.

Driving Government Performance

Investments in this year’s plan support improving performance of critical infrastructure for the public, delivering better state services, and increasing the efficiency and functionality of projects consistent with agencies’ core missions. 

·       $36.5 million to modernize information technology systems and enhance user experience at the Department of Revenue and the Registry of Motor Vehicles

·       $39.2 million dedicated towards investments that will reduce energy consumption in state buildings

·       $13 million to replace 315 state police cruisers and associated data terminals

·       $55 million to maintain and improve pools, parks, and rinks across the Commonwealth