The MetroWest Chamber of Commerce recently awarded $13,000 in scholarship money to graduating seniors from throughout the MetroWest region. This year’s award money, partially funded by the Chamber’s Annual Golf Tournament and the Taste of MetroWest, provided thirteen area students assistance to attend the college of their choice. In addition to the scholarship money, the students were honored with citations from Senator Karen Spilka and Representatives Carolyn Dykema, Chris Walsh, Tom Conroy and Tom Sannicandro.

(MAY 4 — STATEHOUSE) The Massachusetts House of Representatives released a health care payment reform bill Friday, legislation that is expected to curb growth in health care spending and save Massachusetts $160 billion over 15 years.

The bill moves away from a fee-for-service model and moves toward the use of account care organizations and a global payment system that rewards healthy outcomes.

DSM-5 Redefining autism spectrum disorders – how it might affect your child’s services. Wayside Youth and Family Presents a FREE Seminar with Dr. Nora Friedman at Waltham Public Library  735 Main Street, Waltham, MA  02451 Wednesday May 9th, 2012, 7-8:30pm This event is open to the public   The draft of the Diagnostic and Statistical [...]

  NAMI Basics Education Program in Framingham starts May 16th The fundamentals of caring for you, your family and your child with mental illness What is NAMI Basics? NAMI Basics is an education program for parents and other caregivers of children and adolescents living with mental illnesses.  The NAMI Basics course is taught by trained teachers [...]

There has been some confusion about the the process the House is following this week concerning the use of Room 348. Step by Step Explanation 1. House Ways and Means Committee released their budget on April 11. 2. House Member had until April 13, at 5:00PM to file amendments to this budget to make any [...]

Support for Cities and Towns Unrestricted General Local Aid:  Local aid is used by cities and towns to support critical municipal services, including police and fire. The state provides separate aid specifically for use to fund schools. Last year, the Legislature allocated $834 million for local aid in the annual budget. A growing economy lead [...]

Representative Tom Sannicandro (D-Ashland) will be live-blogging the budget debate for the third consecutive year during the week of April 23 at his website tomworksforus.com and at his Twitter handle @tsannicandro.

“Live-blogging is a great way to bring people closer to the process and give them a chance to see how the legislature works from the inside,” Sannicandro said. “It’s a great way to bring transparency and civic engagement to my constituents. I’ve gotten positive feedback for doing this in the past and I’m looking forward to doing it again this year.”

Here is the Community College Proposal in the House Budget. Please give me your comments.   SECTION 30. Section 21 of chapter 15A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-   There shall be a board of trustees consisting of [...]

Today, the Ashland- Medway girls hockey team visited the State House. Sen. Karen Spilka, who brought the team to the State House, took them into the Senate Chamber during session and introduced them to her colleagues. Rep. Carolyn Dykema and I got to show them around the House chamber and tell them a little bit about the history [...]