人生一定要有的八個朋友：
推手(Builder)、
支柱(Champion)、
同好(Collaborator)、
夥伴(Companion)、
中介(Connector)、
開心果(Energizer)、
開路者(Mind Opener)、
導師(Navigator)。
chutze@bostonorange.com
*******************
All rights of articles and photos on this website are reserved.
普莉斯來在拜訪店家時指出，她深知餐館業，小企業面對的艱困，所以在美國副總統Klama Harrisc還是聯邦參議員時，就和他攜手起草過「拯救我們的街道法案(Save
Our Street Act，簡稱SOS法案，要更有針對性的幫助員工25人以下的中小企業，最高得到25萬元來度過難關。她計畫在本年度會期再重新遞出這一法案。
Taiwan Film Festival of Boston selects theme for their third season
BOSTON, Mass. -- Apr. 26, 2021 -- Taiwan Film Festival of Boston (TFFB), a nonprofit organization that emphasizes connection and dialogue through films announces the theme for the upcoming third season as “Bittersweet”.
“People often find connections with each other through food and dining. The goal of our third annual film festival in 2021 is to take our audience through a journey back in time, to rediscover feelings and nostalgia,” said Andrew Lin, Chair of Curation. “These emotional capacities are what makes us human and keeps us connected to each other. The TFFB team commits to sparking conversations and inspiring exploration via different perspectives, and to savor the Taiwanese culture that we all cherish.”
TFFB’s annual film festival will take place in Fall 2021, with the format to be decided.
To learn more about TFFB, visit www.taiwanfilmfest.org. (April 30th, 2021)
AG HEALEY SECURES
$6.65 MILLION FROM DRUG COMPANY FOR FALSELY AND AGGRESSIVELY MARKETING SUBOXONE
Payment Part of
$300 Million Global Settlement with Indivior over Improper Promotion of
Suboxone for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
BOSTON – Attorney General Maura Healey has
secured $6.65 million for Massachusetts from Indivior plc and Indivior Inc.
(Indivior) to settle allegations that they falsely and aggressively marketed
and promoted the drug Suboxone, resulting in improper expenditures of state
Medicaid funds. When treatment is properly
administered by a licensed professional, Suboxone and other formulations of
buprenorphine can be effective treatments for opioid use disorder by
suppressing withdrawal and cravings for opioids.
“We allege this drug company
recklessly and illegally pushed doctors to prescribe Suboxone to patients
suffering from opioid use disorder, including for uses that were unsafe and not
medically necessary,” said AG Healey. “This office remains steadfast in
our commitment to go after any company that helps fuel the ongoing deadly
opioid epidemic that continues to ravage our communities.”
Under the terms of the global
settlement, Indivior will pay $300 million to resolve various civil fraud
allegations impacting Medicaid and other government healthcare programs, of
which approximately $204 million will go to Medicaid—$91 million of the
Medicaid recovery will go to the 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, with the
remaining $113 million going to the federal government.
The
global settlement resolves the claims against Indivior brought in six qui
tam lawsuits pending in federal courts in the Western District of Virginia
and the District of New Jersey. A National Association of Medicaid Fraud
Control Units (NAMFCU) team worked in conjunction with the U.S. Department of
Justice to reach this settlement. In addition to entering into this settlement,
Indivior executed a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, requiring
Indivior to implement numerous accountability and auditing provisions.
The settlement agreement with AG Healey’s Office resolves allegations that,
from 2010 through 2015, Indivior, directly or through its subsidiaries,
promoted the sale and use of Suboxone to physicians resulting in prescriptions
that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were issued without any counseling or
psychosocial support, were for uses that were unsafe, ineffective, and
medically unnecessary, and that were often diverted.
The AG’s Office also alleges that
Indivior knowingly promoted the sale or use of Suboxone Sublingual Film based
on false and misleading claims that the film was less subject to diversion and
abuse than other buprenorphine products and that it was less susceptible to
accidental pediatric exposure than Suboxone Sublingual Tablets.
Indivior also allegedly submitted a
petition to the Food and Drug Administration in September 2012, fraudulently
claiming that Suboxone Tablet had been discontinued “due to safety concerns”
about the tablet formulation of the drug. The company took other steps to
fraudulently delay the entry of generic competition for various forms of
Suboxone to improperly control pricing of Suboxone, including pricing to the
states’ Medicaid programs.
This settlement is the latest action that AG Healey
has taken to combat the opioid epidemic and hold accountable those who are
responsible for creating and fueling the crisis. Since taking office, AG Healey
has prioritized combating the opioid epidemic through a multi-disciplinary
approach that includes enforcement, policy, prevention, and education efforts.
Learn more about AG Healey’s work to combat the opioid epidemic here.
In the Massachusetts AG’s Office,
this settlement was handled by Assistant Attorney General Stephany Collamore of
the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division.
The Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75
percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
under a grant award. The remaining 25 percent is funded by the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.
Baker-Polito Administration on Track to Hit Goal of 4.1 Million People Vaccinated, Announces Next Phase of Vaccination Efforts
Massachusetts set to vaccinate 4.1 million people by the beginning of June
BOSTON – Today, Governor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito were joined by Secretary of Health & Human Services Marylou Sudders and Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Disaster Medicine Director Dr. Paul Biddinger to discuss the Commonwealth’s vaccine progress and outline the next phase of vaccine distribution.
In December, the Baker-Polito Administration set a goal of vaccinating approximately four million people in the Commonwealth. According to the CDC’s vaccine data, 3.9 million people in Massachusetts have been fully or partially vaccinated as of today. Another 180,000 people are scheduled to get their first dose in the next 7 days.
Altogether, 4.1 million are set to be fully vaccinated by the beginning of June —reaching the administration’s initial goal and representing a significant achievement for the Commonwealth.
Next Phase of the Commonwealth’s Vaccination Efforts: More Targeted, Community-Based Options
Massachusetts is a national leader for vaccine distribution across every national metric. As a result of the state’s efforts, hospitalizations and new positive cases decreased — particularly among our most vulnerable residents.
While reaching 4.1 million residents vaccinated represents progress, the administration will continue to adapt vaccine efforts to be more targeted and will shift vaccines to smaller scale operations focusing on certain populations and specific communities—such as the Commonwealth’s 20 most disproportionately impacted communities.
This next phase of the Commonwealth’s vaccine efforts will include:
Providing all 22 regional collaboratives with doses to fully operate their programs.
Doubling the state vaccine allocation for our 20 most disproportionately impacted communities.
Working with the Mass Medical Society to increase access of vaccines with additional primary care providers by mid-May. This effort will require affirming complex storage and scheduling logistics to ensure all doses are put to good use.
Expanding mobile vaccine clinics in our 20 most disproportionately impacted communities at senior centers, houses of worship and other community-based organizations.
Working with current providers and community partners to offer new vaccine clinic opportunities.
Over 21,000 doses have been administered through mobile vaccination clinics in Boston, Chelsea, Brockton, Fall River, Springfield and New Bedford. Mobile clinics have been particularly effective in our equity communities and to reach people of color. So far, 61% of vaccine recipients at these clinics have been people of color.
New vaccine clinic opportunities have already started to be stood up. Some examples include:
The Metro North Regional Collaborative’s three new clinics at the Encore Casino in Everett, Tufts Campus in Medford and at the Cambridge Health Alliance location in Somerville.
Boston Medical Center’s new vaccine scheduling location at the South Bay Shopping Center.
Mobile clinics in Lynn, New Bedford, Worcester and Fall River at local churches and temples in different languages.
The City of Brockton’s clinic at the Westgate Mall and at different municipal housing complexes.
Mass Vaccination Sites & Pre-Registration
The Baker-Polito Administration will also begin to transition or ramp down the state’s seven mass vaccination sites. Mass vaccination sites have played a critical role in the Commonwealth’s vaccination process in a very short period of time.
At the mass vaccination sites, the Commonwealth has administered 1.2 million doses and fully vaccinated 470,000 people since the first site opened at Gillette Stadium on January 18th. The state expects to administer around 250,000 second doses in May and another 180,000 first doses across all providers over the next seven days.
With millions of people vaccinated, the demand for high throughput mass vaccination sites will gradually decline, and more vaccines will be dispersed more widely across communities.
The administration will gradually close four out of the state’s seven mass vaccination sites by the end of June (Gillette Stadium, Hynes Convention Center, Double Tree in Danvers & the Natick Mall).
We will soon begin to accept walk-ins at select mass vaccination sites. Information about availability for walk-ups will be reflected on VaxFinder.mass.gov soon.
Appointments for some sites will also be available at VaxFinder.mass.gov or by calling 211.
Since the pre-registration system was launched, over 1.8 million people registered and have been offered an appointment at least twice.
In the coming weeks, the state is anticipating that the CDC may authorize vaccines for children ages 12-15, and we will keep pre-registration available for parents who may want to bring kids to a mass vaccination site.
More details to come when the CDC determines the next steps on this.
接著是Patrick M. Rose Sr.的性騷擾兒童案。波士頓環球報稱，調查顯示波士頓警察局在1995年已決定，Rose比可能更確定的性騷擾了一名12歲兒童。但波士頓警察局不斷拒絕公佈檔案，或討論，為什麼Rose繼續擔任巡警，還可以接近兒童，以致後來發生另外5宗性虐待兒童案。Rose甚至還一度擔任波士頓市最有權勢的巡警工會會長。
Kim Janey在本月早前，從Rose案的105頁內部調查報告中，公佈了13頁內容。有關人員說，波士頓市府扣下其他92頁，是為保護受害者的身分。
