Podcasts about massachusetts department

It is never too late to chase a dream, even one that has waited decades for its turn. My guest, Evan Katz, built a career in journalism, public finance, and local government before taking an unexpected path into professional baseball. After first playing organized baseball at age 45, Evan became a professional player at 61 and later coached professional baseball at 69. We talk about how fear can become motivation, why setbacks can be powerful learning opportunities, and how skills gained across a lifetime can prepare us for challenges we never expected to face. Evan also shares what he learned from calling himself the “least qualified coach in professional baseball,” and how listening, mentoring, and supporting others became some of his greatest strengths. His story is a wonderful reminder that personal growth, career change, and lifelong learning do not come with an expiration date. Highlights: 02:47 – How family work ethic shaped Evan's drive. 11:26 – How fear can become motivation. 13:08 – Why setbacks can become learning opportunities. 35:06 – What local government taught Evan about growth. 42:29 – Why he started playing baseball at 45. 53:37 – How he became a professional baseball coach at 69 About the Guest: Evan grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts two miles from Fenway Park in the 1960s and quickly learned the emotional highs and lows of being a Red Sox fan.  When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, after an 86-year championship drought, he rang church bells to celebrate. After a long award-winning career in municipal and public school finance in Massachusetts, and raising a family of four with his wife Liz, Evan began his late-life baseball career in earnest at age 65.  He was an assistant high school coach for three years, and documented the team's Massachusetts state championship in the story “No Earbuds in the Outfield.” Evan Katz's pro baseball career began at age 61 when he pitched for the White Sands Pupfish of the independent Pecos League in 2017. When euphoria subsided and his infinity ERA began to sting, Evan returned to the Pecos League at age 67. With the Austin Weirdos he became one of the oldest pitchers ever to start a minor league game and lowered his ERA to 29.25 After an aborted stint as pitching coach with the Roswell Invaders in 2024, Evan returned to the Pecos League in 2025 as bullpen coach of the North Platte 80s. As the 80's scout he recruited players for the second-year Nebraska team.  As bullpen coach he supported the North Platte pitching staff which anchored the team's 27-21 record and helped the team reach the second round of the playoffs. And this despite just three years as a high school coach, and no college coaching experience. There were more than 2000 coaches among nearly 300 major, minor and independent pro baseball teams and Evan was the least qualified. To share his second career in baseball and other inspiring baseball stories, Evan manages his baseball website “Baseball by the Sea Media.” It includes exclusive feature stories plus biographies and game stories published by the Society for American Baseball Research. It also links to the 2024 award-winning two-season podcast he co-hosted with Bruce McClure, “Baseball's Last Frontier: Stories from the Pecos League.” Ways to connect with Evan**:** https://sites.google.com/view/baseballbythesea/home https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-katz-351554b/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi, everyone, and welcome to another Unstoppable Mindset podcast episode today. We get to chat with Evan Katz, and Evan's got an interesting life, especially since, if you will, he started the second part of his life, or maybe it's not the second, maybe it's later, of being a professional baseball coach at the age of 61. Well, we're going to hear about that. Evan lives in Massachusetts, in Swampscott, grew up in Brookline, which was very close to where the Red Sox play. I'm sure he's got lots of stories that we get to talk about with that. But anyway, Evan, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad you're here. Evan Katz  01:42 Thanks, Michael. I really appreciate the invitation. I I think that I'm excited to be part of a show with with with the theme that that you emphasize because I think that that when you reached out to me to ask if I was interested in in sharing some of my life experiences, I realize that there's a there's an unstoppable part of my mindset that has allowed me to achieve some things I didn't think were going to be possible. Michael Hingson  02:10 There you go. Well, you know, a lot of times we plan, and what we plan doesn't always necessarily go exactly the way we thought. But that's okay. It's it's a question what we do with it and what we learn from it. I suppose why don't we start by you telling us a little bit maybe about the early Evan growing up and and all that. And I know that you had mentioned that you think you actually got your kind of unstoppable mindset attitude from your parents and all that. So if you want to talk about that as as we go, you're welcome to. But anyway, why don't you start by telling us a little bit about the early Evan, if you will. Evan Katz  02:42 Sure. Well, you know, as you mentioned, I grew up outside of Boston in the town of Brookline, which is about two miles from Fenway Park. I'm a baby boomer. My my parents worked really hard, and they they worked hard to get their first house. They worked hard to fix it up. My mother was at home. My father worked in his parents' hardware store and was always fixing up the house. We ended up upgrading houses because of all the work that he did. And my mother, although she wasn't working, you know, she was involved in local politics, trying to improve the schools. And one of the stories I told when she passed away a number of years ago that she was so effective about mobilizing people to make changes in the school system. One of the school principals said to somebody else, "Get that Pawnee cats off the phone, Michael Hingson  03:34 because of course Evan Katz  03:35 at the time telephone was the only way to connect with people. But you know she had her unstoppable mindset in terms of making changes in public education in Brookline, my dad in terms of living the dream that he had for his family, and I really think that that in my own way I picked up that same hard worth it work ethic, and it's popped up along the way throughout my my life and my career. I Michael Hingson  04:00 I know what you mean. I know my parents were somewhat the same way. My dad worked at. Well, we moved to California when I was five, and before we moved, we were in Chicago. And he and my uncle owned a TV repair shop, and my dad left that to move to California. Wanted to do that anyway, but he began working at a government installation, was called Plant 42, and then later transferred to Edwards Air Force Base. My mom stayed home for a while. She actually helped sell real estate, helped sell some of the houses on the street where we moved because they were they were brand new, and the real estate people trusted her, so she she did some of that. Don't know what she earned or how all that worked, but but she did okay. But my dad worked, and I I feel very blessed. They they clearly taught me a lot, and I value very much their work ethic. I know what you're talking about. Evan Katz  05:01 Well, family is a great resource, whether it's your immediate family or extended family. And also, again, at the time that that I was growing up, most of our extended family lived right in the area, so there was a lot of connecting with cousins and uncles and grandparents. And I think that had its own way of shaping because we had a pretty hardworking, determined family, and I think that got passed on again, not just in my parents, but from my extended family as well. We Michael Hingson  05:28 had aunts and uncles and cousins. A lot of them were in Chicago. Then aunt and uncle and their two boys and our cousins moved out to California, but it was long after we moved. And then our next closest relative was actually up in the San Francisco area. Aunt Bella and Uncle Oscar owned a shoe store, and but and there were some other people who we called aunts. I'm not sure that they actually were, but aunts and uncles. But they they lived in the L.A. area. But most of our relatives were not very close by. Well, that's that's fine, but value the relationships nonetheless. So what was what was school like for you? Well, elementary school and high school and so on. Evan Katz  06:22 Well, I went to the local elementary school, and as I think, as I as I suggested, it was one of the schools that was being neglected by the town. My mother and her friends advocated for equal resources. It was also during the time where Christmas carols were being sung in school, and it was not something that my parents thought was appropriate. I was Jewish. There were other Jewish kids in school, not very many, and just didn't seem like this was the thing that should be happening, given where our country was at the time. And so I did well in elementary school. I mean, the interesting thing was I skipped kindergarten, so I was always the youngest and the slowest on the playground, and it actually contributed to my not participating in sports through my early years and into into high school, which we will we'll hear more about that later. But I got a good education. I loved numbers. I learned in high school after I had horrible year my sophomore year writing. I was determined to learn. I took a couple of English classes from mr. Carey at Newton South High School. Learned to become a good writer, and ultimately that led to my writing on college newspapers and becoming a newspaper reporter. My first job out of college. So, you know, the kind of thing when you go through school, you try to figure out, you know, what are the things that that that sing to you. And first, it was numbers for me, and I ended up going into a career in public finance, and then the writing, which I ended up becoming a newspaper reporter, put that on hold. And about 10 years ago, or eight years ago, I started a baseball social media website, and I ended up writing baseball stories. So, so here I am in my my my formative years in school, taming numbers, becoming a CFO in the public sector, and becoming a good writer-they got me through life. Michael Hingson  08:33 How did you end up being able to skip kindergarten? Evan Katz  08:37 That was back in the day. They didn't have minimum age requirements. If you pass the test, you you got to go right to first grade. Michael Hingson  08:44 Ah, well, I know I went to kindergarten in Chicago, and you started in Chicago at age four. Then we moved to California, and the problem is in California you couldn't start kindergarten till age five, but I had had a year of kindergarten already, but they wouldn't let me just go to first grade because I was only five, so I ended up with two years of kindergarten. And I'm not sure that second year was all that exciting for me, because kids were drawing and doing all sorts of stuff that I wouldn't do being blind. But we coped, and we got through it. I also did love numbers and so on, and my dad taught me how to do math in my head, so I was really doing well with math. And my my mother helped me with spelling tests and reading other material to me, and so on. So we got through it, and again, they took that on without any remorse at all, which, as I think back on it, was just part of their gutsiness and their unstoppability. Because the doctors told them that no blind child could ever amount to anything, and they were going to prove the doctors wrong. And I would like to think that they did, but we. We went through it, and I didn't actually. I learned Braille when I was in kindergarten in Chicago, but then didn't have access to Braille till the fourth grade out here in California. Yep. Yeah. Well, but my my parents read and kept me up with everything, but still it was a problem. But then I got Braille again, and so it all worked out, but I, but I, but I know what you're saying. It still gets back to the work ethic, and our parents were gonna do everything they could to make sure we all succeeded, didn't they? Evan Katz  10:32 Well, and I think also, Michael, you've touched on it, and I did as well. You know, there are things, there are areas we go into, whether it's school or work or relationships, we're blessed with certain talents and traits, but we also have areas that are not our strengths, and we're always having to work to figure out how to how to compensate for our areas of call it weakness or limitations, and also how to allow our strengths to to overcome those and and then to help generate success. Michael Hingson  11:05 Yeah, and and we do need to do that. And and the reality is that we're all generally better at some things than we are at other things, but we can make it work if we if we try. I wrote and published with a colleague, Carrie Wagg Kent, two years ago a book called *Live Like a Guide Dog* which is all about learning to control fear and its life lessons that that tell us that fear doesn't need to overwhelm us or, as I put it, blind us. That that we can use fear as a very powerful tool to help us, and I mention that because there are so many things that we fear in the world, and most of them we don't have any control over. I mean, I know that there are things that that I don't get to do right now that other people do because they can see different things. But at the same time, I have gifts that most of those people never either learn to use or choose to use or can use, and so we all have to work together to make the world successful. And I think that's the big issue. Evan Katz  12:11 Well, I think your point about fear is really important because we we all have fears, we all have worries, and fear can be paralyzing, and but it can also be motivating, and I think it's important that if you get into a situation that that you're concerned about or worried about, you should acknowledge that you're in something. Maybe you're over your head, and we'll talk about my coaching a professional team at age 69 without ever having coached college baseball, going right from high school coaching to professional coaching, that was the hardest job of my life, and that fear motivated me to figure out how am I going to come up with those compensating skills? How am I going to be able to succeed? Because I want this to succeed not just for me, but for the players around me. So, so fear. It's important to to recognize it, and so that you know that it's there, but also be able to take advantage of what fear can motivate you to do. Michael Hingson  13:13 Well, and fear doesn't need to paralyze you unless you let it. And that's the the big issue: is that we don't learn generally how to control fear and to use fear in a positive way. We worry about so many things over which we'll never have control because we just don't, and we let all of that worry us, and that that certainly adds so much to the fear levels that we face, and if we would only learn to just focus on what we can control, that doesn't mean you don't be aware of other things. But don't worry about the things over which you don't have control. It will help your life a whole lot. Evan Katz  13:53 And another aspect to that is, and I and I learned this, and as I mentioned, I worked in the public sector for for for almost 40 years, and I came up with the phrase at one point, and I I don't remember the circumstances. And somebody said, "I don't know if this is going to work. I don't know if we have the money. I don't know we have the people. This may not be a good solution, or the operation may not work. And I said, "Well, I think we have to see if it fails because if it fails, then we're going to learn something. Obviously, we didn't want anyone to lose a job or to get hurt. It wasn't failing in that regard, but but the you have to have enough courage so that if something isn't going to work, you can use that as as a learning opportunity as well, so you can't have fear of failure either. Because then we can all look back. You're old enough. I'm old enough to look back on our lives and see those learning moments. Many of them came from times that didn't work out so well, Michael Hingson  14:55 which doesn't mean that we failed. And I think that's the big issue. I think we have to deal with. Failure is is something that we have to really get over thinking about because failure isn't really it. What what it is is that things didn't work out the way we planned, but that doesn't mean that we failed, which means we just can't go on. We're we're stuck. It's it's a learning experience, and that is part of what dealing with fear is all about. Is rather than worrying about it. All right, so this didn't work. Don't fret. Don't worry. Don't panic. What did you learn from it? How do we get beyond that? And that's the thing that we generally tend not to do very much: is to do a lot of self-analysis in our own lives. Take time at night to step back and look at what worked during the day, what didn't work, and the what didn't works weren't failures, but they were learning opportunities if we take advantage of our own skills to develop our mind muscle to do that. Evan Katz  15:57 Absolutely, I Michael Hingson  15:58 think that's that's so important. Well, so for you, you you where did you go to college? Evan Katz  16:08 I graduated from Newton South High School. We went from Brookline to Newton in the 70s. I went to a small college in Western New York, Alfred University, for two years, and ultimately graduated from Colby College in Maine in 1977. As I mentioned, I wrote for both the newspapers at Alford and Colby, and that's where I got my my my journalistic experience back then. Writing for college newspapers was was a big deal back then, Michael Hingson  16:39 yeah, Evan Katz  16:39 and that worked out really well. I was going to go into teaching. That was my original plan. I did some internships in college. I even, when I was at Colby, I took a semester and helped out at a small fourth grade class in neighboring Oakland, Maine, helping out kids doing lessons in the in the corridor and in the back of the room to help them with their math, but when I left college, I had done enough writing, primarily sports, that I decided to to follow journalism. But the college years were really an eye opener for me. As I mentioned, I was a year young. You know, I was the drinking age was 18, and I was still only 17 and a half when I went to college, but somehow my IDs got me through into the pub. But it was a really eye-opening experience going to college in New York. I'd been in Massachusetts my whole life and was in a small town in Western New York, and it was just so eye-opening to see a part of the country and people that were very unlike where I lived in terms of Alfred. Most of the kids were from New York, and then going to Maine, they were more from New England. But it was just a real eye-opening experience. I think we all go through that in our late teens and early 20s, really beginning to discover, you know, who we are, what situations are we comfortable in? We test ourselves. We do crazy things, and it all turned out okay because I was able to get a job right out of college. Michael Hingson  18:11 So teaching was your plan, but it didn't go that way. Evan Katz  18:16 No, it didn't. And interestingly enough, I was looking back through my father's memorabilia when he died, and I think I knew this, but I was reminded that he wanted to teach originally, and he actually was a mentor to many people during his working career. And he took great pride and went to the Peace Corps actually for a number of years in his 60s, and so you know the whole teaching mentoring thing ran in our family, so I guess it's kind of ironic that I ended up coaching baseball at age 65 as a as a teacher and a mentor. But but the college experience, you know, I still think about it. I just sold my vinyl records. It was it was a little traumatic, but I did sell my vinyl records recently because I can listen to everything over the internet now, and but that was a water watershed moment selling my vinyl that I listened to in college for all those years. Michael Hingson  19:14 I still have mine from working at the campus radio station. I got a lot of records back here, and I I am somewhat of the opinion of the I don't know whether I would call them snobs, but I still think the best quality is still vinyl. Evan Katz  19:30 Well, as you know, Michael, one of the best attributes of vinyl records is when they were originally the songs were compiled and sequenced. It was they were designed to listen through the whole side of an album. Michael Hingson  19:44 Yeah, Evan Katz  19:44 and I mean obviously Pink Floyd was classic, and I'm sure that there were others that come to mind that I can't think of. And I was a big fan of the Doobie Brothers, and to this day I'll still turn off my radio in the car and put on a couple of Doobie Brothers albums and listen to them straight. Same with Chicago. It just the music was meant to be arranged, you know, for half an hour or 35 minutes, not just three and a half minutes. And I think a little bit of that has been has been lost with today's music. Michael Hingson  20:13 Yeah. Well, I think there's there's truth to that. And I even go back further. I've been a fan for many many years of big bands, primarily Swing, Benny Goodman, and and so on, but also doop and early rock. But I and I like some of the other rock. But I've never been a great heavy metal fan. But that's okay. Some people like it, and then that's fine too. But I really enjoy my records as well, which is a lot of fun. Yeah, I Evan Katz  20:42 did listen to Van Halen cassettes driving. Somehow, a Van Halen arrangement wasn't quite the same as Chicago. No, Michael Hingson  20:50 no, it is a little bit different. There's no doubt about that. So, what was your job that you ended up getting out of college? Evan Katz  20:57 I ended up worked as a stringer, which I don't even know if there are any anymore, but I think I got paid 10 cents an inch for covering soccer for the Newton graphic. I covered the Newton South soccer team, and also I I don't know how much an hour I got. I covered the Westin Wildcats. That's a small town west of Boston for the Westin Town Crier. That's how I got started in journalism, and I ultimately was hired as a part-time reporter by the Walpole Times, which is small town southwest of Boston. And I eventually became a full-time reporter there, covering town government, writing feature stories, learned how to use a 35 millimeter camera. We we had our own darkroom there, and I thought it was so much fun going out to meetings, interviewing people, compiling stories. It was just it wasn't like work. It was it was it was exciting, and it paid the bills, and I was living on my own for the first time. Michael Hingson  22:06 That didn't get you to graduate to things like going into television on WEEI and doing sports for them, huh? Evan Katz  22:13 No, the the the written word at the time, and even today still is is where I am. Although, as I joke with my friends, just put a microphone in front of me, and I'll start talking. Michael Hingson  22:26 So that's okay. Well, so how long did you write? And then what happened Evan Katz  22:32 was, so as I mentioned, my mother was very involved in local government, and I grew up in Brookline. And the interesting thing was, I was covering the planning board and the school committee in Walpole, and I'm I'm going to the meetings and I'm listening to them talking about the issues that they're dealing with, and I'm thinking to myself, so this is what 1979. I'm 23 years old, and I'm thinking, I mean, I can do better than this. I mean, listening to these these people talk about how they're going to solve problems, and I said, I think I can really help. So, the local legislator from Walpole, his name was Frank Woodward, had an opening in his office, and I started working as a legislative aide for him, working in the state house. It was very exciting. My mother was so proud. When some one morning in March, I don't know if it was 1979 or 1980, and I walked up the steps of the State House. Big blue sky in Boston. It was a big golden dome. I'll never forget. I walked up the front steps, looked up at the golden dome and the big blue sky in March of whatever year that was, so excited. My mother was so proud. My dad was too, obviously. And then I got involved in government, and that's where it all started. Working in the state house to really begin to understand the importance of issues. You know, it wasn't just local government, but how the state government intersected with the federal government, and how much how how important government is to making people's lives safe and protected. Michael Hingson  24:07 Yeah, and I think that is that is something that although there is certainly a lot going on today that is not necessarily the the model of what government ought to be, probably, but still, government and what the House of Representatives and the Senate do at the federal level, and what happens at the at the state house and in the state government is really important. And I wish more people would seriously get involved with it, and and do it from an ethical standpoint. But you know, we, I guess, we go through through different kinds of eras of how things work. Evan Katz  24:54 Well, it's interesting in the tumult that we're going through here. I recently had a chance. Last month to go to England with my wife. I hadn't been there for a while, and and I was really struck by how the history dates back centuries and centuries and centuries prior. You know, to 1066, I guess is one of the lines in the sand or the dirt in England. But when they started the more modern era, and what I was really struck by when you think about a country like England and all the difficulties, all the changes, all the times that they were under threat from external forces, internal forces, all the chaos, and somehow they've survived. And I think this is one of the real attributes of Great Britain. And I just began to think about what we're going through here, and I think I have to be hopeful in the same way. Michael Hingson  25:56 Yeah, I agree that Evan Katz  25:57 that that we've been here for 250 years. I know it's short compared to England. Supposedly, one author says that republics die after 250 years. I don't know if I buy that necessarily, but but the point is that that that I think somehow, some way, we're going to survive this because other countries have been through much more over much longer periods of time, and here they are. And 2026 is stable, viable countries. Michael Hingson  26:25 Yeah, and they're still there, and they're going to be there. And I agree with you. I think that we're we're going to continue, and maybe republics die after 250 years, but it doesn't mean they have to. And I think that's that's part of it. So what did you what did you do in terms of you you went to work in the state house or what did you do? Evan Katz  26:48 And I was a legislative aide, so we would get information on legislation, take a lot of constituent phone calls because at the time the only time only way you got a hold of your legislator was either make a phone call. Of course, I think from Walpole to Boston, it might have been a toll call at that time. So maybe we got more letters from Walpole. I don't know, but constituent constituent concerns, working with state agencies to resolve things, and and it just got me acquainted with with with how government works, and it just gave me an appreciation for what it takes to make government work for for the the residents of Walpole and a couple other nearby towns, and also you get to see the the leaders of the state at that time the the Senate President and the the Speaker of the House, and you get to understand a little bit more how they show leadership and what skills and attributes work well, and what ones in your mind don't work well. But the whole bottom line is, you know, how is it working for the constituents? And to me, that became more and more important. Is what's the bottom line here? It's not about power. It's not about success at the legislator. The bottom line is the impact on people. Michael Hingson  28:13 Well, I remember that when I lived in Winthrop, every year I would go with people from the National Federation of the Blind, we went to Washington every year. Five, 600 of us descended on Washington and visited all of our legislators. And I remember actually once having the opportunity to set up an appointment and meet with Tip O'Neill. What an amazing guy he was! Yeah. But then also there was a new congressman who had just joined, Ed Markey. Evan Katz  28:45 Oh sure. Michael Hingson  28:46 Now look where he is. He's but but it was it was so much fun seeing Congress in action and actually being a part of it, talking about different kinds of issues, and of course it got to meet Ted Kennedy and also Paul Songas along the way as well. And I and I also was involved in things in in Massachusetts because one of the problems we had in the early '80s in Massachusetts and around the country was that blind people couldn't buy life insurance because the life insurance companies said we're a higher risk, we'll have a higher mortality rate, and finally, to keep the story short, we discovered that unlike what insurance companies say they do, which is they make their determinations always based on actuarial statistics, evidentiary data, and they create mathematical models based on evidence. They had absolutely not one single solitary thing to show that blind people or other people with disabilities were a higher risk than anyone else. So I worked back in the late 70s, early 80s with I don't you may. I've known him, Al Evan Katz  30:02 Sagasi. I recognize the name. Michael Hingson  30:03 Yeah, and so he he helped us shepherd a bill through that eventually eliminated discrimination in dealing with life insurance in Massachusetts, and and actually was something that passed in every state that all all the states dealt with that because the insurance companies were just playing games, which was so unfortunate. So when I was growing up, my parents couldn't insure me. When I was in college, I couldn't buy life insurance, and and eventually it got addressed. But it was, and it still is fascinating to think back and be a part of making a difference and really working to help constituents and help the legislature. Evan Katz  30:48 Well, there's a great example of numbers not being in action. You know, they're hiding behind perceived numbers, and then you do do a little bit of digging, and you find out that it's not quite as fact-based as they made it sound, Michael Hingson  31:02 yeah, and in fact there was no fact, and but still we worked through it, but the process was, I think, and still is for me one of the most fascinating things to to be able to go and be a part of dealing with things and and hopefully getting legislators to deal with issues and I'm not sure that there's as much of that that's happening today with everything going on but it'll come back. Evan Katz  31:34 Not not in Washington anyway. I think you've got to look to the states more than Washington. Washington's an anomaly right now. Michael Hingson  31:42 Yeah, Washington is really a big problem, and and but it'll it'll it'll switch at some point. I hope. I think it's going to have to, but but we'll see how it goes. If Speaker 1  31:55 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes, thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  32:27 So you you went to work and you were legislative aide. How long did you do that? Evan Katz  32:32 Actually, not not. I think it was a little over a year because I ended up working on a referendum campaign. There's a thing in Massachusetts to limit property taxes, that's called Prop Two and a Half, that passed in 1980. I ended up working for Representative Woodward and a couple of other reps. There was an alternative on the tried to get on the ballot as an alternative to Two and a Half that wouldn't be quite as dramatic. Although I think, looking back as someone in the public sector, I think it's a good thing that Prop two and a half passed, but I got involved in working on a referendum campaign as an alternative to Prop two and a half. It didn't pass, and then at that point, I decided needed to get some professional training, and I went to get my graduate degree in public administration from the Kennedy School at Harvard, so I would have more credentials and I could really get into local government, and that really opened the door. Once I got my master's degree, I ended up working for the state. I think I mentioned my mother and family were from were from Brookline. We were acquainted with Governor Dukakis, and my mother worked actually very close with Govern was very close with Governor Dukakis, and he really encouraged me to go to graduate school, and I ended up going to the Kennedy School. And from there, I went and worked for his administration. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue started a division to support local government finance. It was really very innovative at the time in the early '80s. You know, cities and towns were separate. The state was just a regulatory reagency, and Governor Dukakis wanted to create an agency that could be a resource to local government to help them make better decisions. We created a municipal data bank to try to gather information to get to gather statistical information and ultimately help guide cities and towns to budget better, to plan their capital budgets better. And I was involved in the formation of that bureau in the Mass Department of Revenue. It was called the Division of Local Services, and I ended up working there in the early '80s, to really get a feel for how state government worked, state aid, and all that sort of thing, and then I learned enough there and decided to go out and see what it was like myself to work in a city or town, and that that's was around 1980. So I got my training at is in graduate school, learned more in state government, and then in the mid '80s went out to work in town halls and and city halls, and that that talk about fear, that that was frightening. Michael Hingson  35:18 It was a new experience. Evan Katz  35:20 Absolutely, you know, you you you you're in the state house, and there's there's 240 state reps and 40 senators, I think, all kinds of legislative aides. You're working in a state agency, and it's a whole bunch of 20 something and 30 something colleagues and bosses and this and that. There's always someone you can ask, always someone that can support you. You go to a town hall, and there's there's three clerks and a bunch of select board members. In Massachusetts, there are boards of selectmen in the small towns, or the select board now. Back then, it was select men, but you're on your own out there, and it's very, very different. You know, having a bunch of colleagues to support you in the big city when you're out in the small town of Groton, 40 miles from Boston, with 7000 people, and you're the resource in town hall. It's a lot different. Michael Hingson  36:18 I was just going to say that you you became the resource that people look to. Evan Katz  36:24 Yeah, and and so you take your professional training and you begin to develop some of those personal skills. And how do you relate to people? How do you gather information? How do you recover from from your mistakes? How do you make sure you have enough successes so that you got a good success to mistake ratio? But it's it it is very scary. I mean, I was what how old in 1986? So I was 30 years old, and it never. And I wanted to work in a small town, and I did, but it was a real, real eye-opening experience. But by the same token, you know, one of our biggest fears-you're the only person. One of the greatest attributes to the situation was you're immersed in everything. You learn everything. You learn about the police department, the fire department, which was a call department at that time. You know, if there was a fire, all the firemen, there might have been a couple of women as well, went to some went to the station to get the truck, and some drove in their cars to the scene of the fire, and and and you get a small town with one police officer on duty, you know, from from 11 to seven, you got a water department with two employees. You really get a feel for what's important and what isn't, and how do you make the system go, and what do you do in an emergency, and how do you plan for the future? And so it was it was it was frightening at one level because you're on your own and you're learning a brand new thing, but at the same time you're immersing yourself so deeply, and you're learning so much that that that that you're growing, you know, professionally and personally at a very very fast rate. Michael Hingson  38:16 And although you may or may not realize it at the time, those fears that that you started with slowly would be dissolving away because you were learning how to deal with things, and you were discovering that you had the ability to deal with things, and so you became less afraid in a positive way. Evan Katz  38:37 Right. Well, you know, you all know that the cycles in in businesses and cities and towns, and it's all in an annual cycle, the budget cycle, and you know you get through the first year and you start doing it again, and you're doing it again, and you really then you begin to expand your knowledge base. You're willing to to to experiment a little bit more, and and you're growing again at a very fast rate because you're able to do more and more that you weren't able to do when you first got there. Michael Hingson  39:10 Did you ever run for any office? Evan Katz  39:13 Actually, I did. When I left Groton, I finance was my area of interest, as as I mentioned earlier. I was hired by the city of Medford, which is just north of Boston, up Route 93, probably I don't maybe 810 miles north. And when I was working there, I was the city's finance director. You talk about culture shock, so I go from the small town of Groton with seven people to a to a 50,000 the city of 50,000 with a with a palatial city hall right off Route 93 and but I was chosen for because of my background in finance. And when I was working there, I decided that the town of Groton might benefit from my experience as an elected official. So I was working in Medford as finance director, and I ran for assessor in Groton to get started. Elected assessors to value properties and administered the taxes, and then ultimately I ran for select board a couple years after that. Michael Hingson  40:27 Were you elected? Evan Katz  40:29 I did. Yeah, I won. Okay. And here's another thing that I learned. You know, I haven't always seen elected boards, whether it was the select board or city councils or legislators, you see elected officials in action at meetings and talking about problems and making phone calls, but you forget there's a lot of other work that goes on behind the scenes when you're at home at night and when you run into somebody on the street. And so I was I was very prepared for the for the technical aspects of it, the problem solving, but I forgot about the time that it takes when people call you or have a have a have a problem with a nearby dog, or someone put up a fence, or the traffic on my street is going too fast. You have to call people. You got to follow up. You got to again. Back in the old days, it's all by telephone. So the amount of time that it took to resolve problems and have meetings, I forgot about the the the extra time that it takes when you're an elected official to do that behind the scenes stuff. But but I enjoy doing that as well. Michael Hingson  41:41 Yeah, I'll bet. And you know, it it is just it it you figure out that that's part of what you have to do. And again, I think the big issue is in figuring all that out is learning to recognize that's part of what you have to do, and accepting that that's definitely part of the job, and not trying to blow it off, not trying to get angry at people, which all too often happens today, I think more than it than it needs to. But it is part of the job. It's all part of the job, and no matter what, that hasn't really changed. Evan Katz  42:19 And I think it's I think it's in any job, and I think people have perceptions about certain types of jobs, whether it's you're you're you're a plumber, a truck driver, a lawyer. You know, people understand the responsibilities at the surface level and the visible level, but they're they're not as aware of what goes on behind the scenes, what it takes to to get things going, and and I think that's probably not and maybe underappreciated in some situations about what it takes to to to do things behind the scenes that are not as exciting, where there's more drudgery, and and and the amount of time that it takes to get you into the seat of the truck, to get you to have a meeting with clients, if you're some kind of professional, if you're a doctor, there's there's there's a lot more to any job, and I think that that that it's important to recognize it for ourselves. You know, it's not just the let's call it the glamorous part of the job. Michael Hingson  43:29 Yeah, Evan Katz  43:30 there's the behind the scenes part of the job, and the same goes for all jobs. And I think it's important to remember that. Michael Hingson  43:36 I agree. Well, you did all this work, and you kept doing it for quite a while. So, what got you into baseball, other than being a fan? But you know, Evan Katz  43:46 well, loyal Red Sox fan, been to Fenway hundreds of times, as I mentioned earlier. Was started school a year early, so I never played sports, and my kids in my 40s had finished little league, and they were all done with their sports careers at that point. And I decided I wanted to play baseball at age 45. Michael Hingson  44:14 There you go. I had Evan Katz  44:15 never played. I had never played little league. I never played high school. Never played college. And at age 45, a friend of mine who I grew up with in Brookline, he encouraged me to go to a baseball camp in Florida in 2002, and at that point, my my interest in baseball and my fandom in baseball expanded to becoming a a player and having to learn about the game as a player, not just as someone watching the game. Michael Hingson  44:47 And what did your wife think of that? Evan Katz  44:49 Well, my my wife will mention that my my wife Liz, our first date was on march 30, 2002, and that was the date. Of my first baseball practice in Massachusetts, so she has been there from the beginning of my baseball career. And if it wasn't for her one acceptance of it and her support of it, I never would have been able to achieve and enjoy all that all that I have, but she she is is is my biggest fan and supporter. Michael Hingson  45:29 That's great. She's a Red Sox fan, I would presume. Evan Katz  45:33 Yeah, Red Sox fan. Yep, and you know we watched them clinch it in 2004. We've been to Fenway together, and you know she, you know, like I played adult baseball, and and you know the when guys join, their spouses or girlfriends come the first for a bunch of games in the beginning, but then they just lose interest. Understandably, it's you know it's old man baseball. It's not like it is on TV. She she comes from time to time, but but she she's got her own life to live now. So that's okay. Michael Hingson  46:05 Well, so so tell me how baseball progressed for you. So you you started working at playing. Evan Katz  46:15 Yeah. So I went to this baseball camp in Florida, which I actually just came back from. It's called the Ponstellion Baseball Camp, and it's from a league in Washington, and they started going down for a week of what they call spring training. Well, for Washington, baseball starts a little earlier, Washington D.C. So we go down the end of January, and you know, getting on the field isn't too far away as long as there's no snow on the ground in the DC metro area. But I started going to that camp in 2002, and there was a group of professional coaches at this camp who were major league and minor league affiliated, and they have been coming to this camp since the beginning. This is now 2026. They've been going to the camp as long as as the longtime players, and so what happened was, you know, I was playing adult baseball, and there was a year where it rained a lot, and we had games postponed, and I'm driving around Fort Myers, and I think I was 60 years old at the time, so this would be 2016. And I said to myself, you know, what would be the chances that I could find a minor league team that would let me play, so I could live my dream of being a professional baseball player? And I grew up around in Brookline. I collected baseball cards. I played imaginary baseball games in my yard. Played wiffle ball with my friends. Watched the Red Sox on TV. You know, it's been in my blood since I was a little kid. And of course, many little kids want to be professional basketball players, hockey players, football players. Well, for me, it was baseball. So here I am, 60 years old, and I asked a couple of people at the camp. One of them was Stan Clyburn, played for the Angels in the 80s, and he's managed in the minor leagues for 1000s of games. He's still managing to this day. And Steve Little, who was a coach at the time with the Twins, I asked them, "Do you think I could find a minor league team that would allow me to play for them, so I could live my dream, play professional baseball? And they said, "Sure. Oh yeah, you you should give it a shot. And they gave me a couple names. Ultimately, it took me a year and a half, and I found the Pecos League, which is a low level of independent baseball. I got a hold of the commissioner. His name is Andrew Dunn, and I called him up in March. It turned out this would be March of 2017. I went out to my car at a lunch break from school. I had his phone number, and he answers the phone, "Hello, baseball. And I explain the situation, and he said, "You want to get in a game? We'll get you in a game. And that was that was in 2017. Michael Hingson  49:15 Wow! Evan Katz  49:16 And way it the way it turned out, he invited me out to play for the White Sands Pupfish the last weekend of the season, it had to be with teams that it wouldn't affect the playoffs. And I went out to White Sands, New Mexico, White Sands National Park is there. Alamogordo and the the White Sands Pupfish. I I pitched to two batters, walked one and hit one. I had one plate appearance and was called out on strikes. Didn't lift the bat off my shoulder. Too much fear, as I look back on it. But I became a professional baseball player at age 61. Michael Hingson  49:57 Well, so you got to live your dream. Evan Katz  50:00 Yep, Michael Hingson  50:00 and so after you pitched, what did you do? Evan Katz  50:04 Well, it was all very exciting, and I I actually was interviewed by Bill Littlefield on the NPR radio show Only a Game, talking about playing baseball at age 61, and my friends thought it was really neat and cool, and I had some pictures made, and I gave a lot of graph pictures to Stan Clyburn and Steve Little to thank them for inspiration, and it was all fun. But you know, in baseball, if you're a pitcher and you give up a run without getting anybody anybody out, you have an ERA, which is an earned run average. How many runs you give up in nine innings? Michael Hingson  50:43 Right. Evan Katz  50:43 I had an ERA of infinity. I'm in baseball reference with all these big known baseball players. I'm there with my my my stat line with an ERA of INF infinity, and I'm 65 years old, and I'm saying, man, I don't want to have an ERA of infinity. I don't want to retire with an ERA of infinity, so I got a hold of of Andrew Dunn again, and I said, Andrew, can I come out and pitch again? I want to get my ERA below infinity. I want to get somebody out. So it turns out in 2023, he assigned me to pitch for the Austin weirdos keep Austin weird, right? Keep Portland weird. Keep Burlington weird. You know, keep but whatever weird city you know they have their slogans of keeping the city weird. So Austin weirdos. And the interesting thing was that the weirdos that year in 2023, they had a home field in Austin, but it got burned out. They didn't they didn't have enough water, so they lost their home field. They turned into an all road team, and no player likes to drive through the Pecos League through the desert Southwest from Texas to Arizona, Michael Hingson  52:00 right Evan Katz  52:01 up to Kansas and Colorado for weeks on end. I get to the end of the season, the last weekend of the season in Alpine, Texas, to play the Alpine Cowboys, of course, in Texas, and the Austin Weirdos only have 11 players, and I can pitch. It's a Friday night, and there's a doubleheader on Saturday, and the manager decides, well, we got a guy here who hasn't pitched recently. He should start the game on Friday night. I get a text from the manager in the middle of the day. Evan, you're starting tonight, Derek Dominguez. Talk about no fear. Yeah, starting a 67-year-old pitcher against a lineup of 20-year, 25-year-olds, and I I started against the Alpine Cowboys, and talk about managing your fear. They have it's an old baseball stadium was built in the 1940s. It's got a grandstand behind home plate. You know, a couple things happen there. First of all, I get to the park early because the team was driving. They had to drive. This is the amazing thing. 1111, players. They had to drive 700 miles from the night before from Blackwell, Oklahoma, to Alpine. Michael Hingson  53:20 Wow. Evan Katz  53:22 The catcher comes in the dugout. Wonderful young man. You know, pitchers always worry who is going to catch them. Who's my catcher? And I'm in the dugout waiting, and a young man comes up to me, and he knows who I am, and he says, "I'm Marcus Bracy, and I'm catching you tonight. And the way he said that to me made me feel like he was going to take care of me, and we warmed up. I didn't have any fear. And one thing I did though, when I went out to the mound in the bottom of the first inning, and every inning after that, I made it to the fifth. By the way, I never looked up into the stands. I never wanted to see the crowd. I wanted to keep my eyes focused on this catcher, and that is what helped me get through. And I gave up two runs an inning into the fifth inning. And the interesting thing was that that that was about the team's average. The earned run average for the Austin Weirdos that year was 18 because they had lost so many players, they didn't have many pitchers, and I ended up for that game with an ERA of about 18. So I pitched the same as all the 25-year-old pitchers that pitched for Austin that year. Michael Hingson  54:39 There you go. That certainly is. That certainly is pretty cool. So, what year was that? Evan Katz  54:48 That was 2023. Michael Hingson  54:49 Okay. So, what's happened since? Evan Katz  54:52 Well, I was so taken by the Pecos League and some of the players there, and I had been coaching high school for three years. You know, I had. I had coached at Manchester Essex High School, just north of Boston. I had coached the pitchers and the catchers there. We won the state championship in 2022, and yeah, I saw I'd done a little bit of coaching. And I knew the Pecos League didn't have a lot of money. It didn't pay the players anything hardly. Players make less than $1,000 for most of the teams, and many of the coaches are volunteer coaches. And I asked one of the players; his name was Alex Westman, really nice, nice fellow. I met him for breakfast actually in the fall after the season. I was out visiting my my son in Arkansas. Met him in Missouri for breakfast, and I said, think, think the Pecos League could use a coach like me, and Alex is always an upbeat guy. And unfortunately, Alex was passed away a couple years ago in a tragic motorcycle accident. But I'll always be thankful for Alex for him saying to me, "Oh yeah, you should coach. So I got a hold of the commissioner. I I did coach for a few games for Roswell in 2024, but my mother-in-law took ill, and I had to come home. So last season I ended up teaming up with Todd Everleth, the manager of the North Platte '80s, who I had connected with during 2024 and introduced him to the league. He managed in North Platte, and I asked Todd if he could use a coach, and Todd invited me out to North Platte, Nebraska. And last summer, I was the bullpen coach. One of the hardest things I've ever done, if not the hardest, going from high school coaching to professional coaching at age 69, but somehow it was successful. I helped the pitchers. We ended up going to the the second round of the playoffs. We had a couple of guys called up to higher level leagues, and and it was a success. But but it was again one of the hardest things I've ever done, but at the same time, one of the most rewarding. Michael Hingson  57:04 That's pretty cool. You you did you did so much of that. So you also you've been coaching. So you've been coaching a fair amount over the last few years. You said I think at one point, you were the worst coach in 2025. Evan Katz  57:23 Oh right, not not the worst, close, the least qualified. Oh, the Michael Hingson  57:28 least qualified. Okay, right. Yeah, this is a good story. Evan Katz  57:31 So, so, so Todd and I, you know, Todd Everleth, we're driving his truck around the Midwest. I don't know, it's probably the second second or third road trip, but I'm I'm sitting there, and I'm really beginning to understand the credentials, my new Todd's credentials, and the credentials of the other coaches in in in the Pecos League, which, as I mentioned, is the lowest level of independent baseball. It's not connected to Major League Baseball, and I'm thinking to myself, there's got to be 1000s and 1000s of coaches in professional baseball, major leagues, minor leagues, other independent leagues. Here I am. I'm a coach in the Pecos League. I I have three years of high school coaching experience. I have got to be the least qualified coach in professional baseball. So I said, Todd, I think I'm the least qualified coach in professional baseball, and he he got a real kick out of that. Michael Hingson  58:30 Well, so the real question is, what's going to happen this year? What are you doing now? Evan Katz  58:35 Well, this year, you know, I I am definitely retiring from coaching, as I mentioned, you know, at my age, 69, coaching in professional baseball, you know, your your days start early. They go till late at night. You're traveling a lot in the Pecos League. We drove our own cars, so we drove over 7000 miles last summer. Michael Hingson  58:57 Wow! Evan Katz  58:57 And that that was on top of driving out to Nebraska and coming home, so over 10,000 miles over the course of the summer, way way too demanding. So, but what I'm what I'm doing, Michael, is I think that that I really have some some lessons to share and some experiences to share. And as I as I joked with Todd and some of the other players, the the pitchers out in the bullpen. We were sitting out in the bullpen one night, and the pitchers knew that I wasn't didn't have a lot of experience. And once we all got used to each other, we had a really good time out there. And I'd said to them, I said, I think I'm going to write a book, and the book is going to be the least qualified coach in professional baseball, a survival guide, basically telling the story of how somebody with the least credentials of all the professional coaches was able to figure out how to cope with the challenges and ultimately support the pitching staff. And contribute to the teams going 27 wins and 21 losses, making it the second round of the playoffs, and having players called up to higher level leagues. I think there's some lessons there to share to inspire other people, and so that that's my plan. I'm hoping to do a little bit of motivational speaking. I'm planning to write a book and tell the story of the least qualified coach in professional baseball. Michael Hingson  1:00:28 But you brought a lot of life experience to coaching. Evan Katz  1:00:31 Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, this is one of the things I had to figure out. I knew my technical background was limited, so I had to figure out how can I support these players, how can I be available, and I figured out where to where to sit in the bullpen, so I could listen to their conversations and chime in when needed, and still see what's going on in the game, where to where to be in the outfield during batting practice to have casual conversations, and then I also-I don't think I mentioned this earlier-I had a podcast that I did, and so the podcast, which had a weekly episode and a guest from the Pecos League, I was always looking for stories from the team to interject into the podcast, and that was a great conversation starter. I also took a lot of pictures of the players, candid shots that they would never have been able to take on their own, and then also provide some baseball lessons along the way. You know, there was one pitcher who was very dissatisfied with his outing one night. He said, "I didn't, I don't, I didn't strike out as many guys as I wanted, or I gave up too many runs. And I said, "You left the game when we were ahead here in the Pecos League, where the team score a lot of runs. It's not the absolute results; it's the relative results. Yeah, you did your job. You left the game with the '80s in the lead, and you did great. So I figured out ways to support these guys because they had their own challenges, being away from college, being away from home. Try to figure out how I could support them to bring out their best. Michael Hingson  1:02:12 What a great story, and what a a great insightful thing you said to that pitcher. Well, if people want to reach out to you, how can they do that? Evan Katz  1:02:21 Well, I have a website called Baseball by the Sea Media, where I have some of my writing that I talked about. I've done some baseball biographies and some baseball game stories and some exclusive stories. Baseball by the Sea Media. I'm also on LinkedIn. Those are probably the two easiest ways to find me. Michael Hingson  1:02:44 How do they find you on LinkedIn? Evan Katz  1:02:46 Evan Katz, just I don't think least qualified as a search parameter on LinkedIn. No, it's probably blocked. So, Michael Hingson  1:02:55 so Evan Katz is spelled Evan Katz  1:02:57 E V A N K A T Z. Michael Hingson  1:03:00 So there you go. Well, I want to tell you that when that book comes out, we have to to do another one of these because I want to really have a chance to feature the book and all that. So keep us posted. Evan Katz  1:03:13 Absolutely, I'm I'm I'm looking forward to to working on it, Michael. And I appreciate you having me on today. Michael Hingson  1:03:18 Well, I want to thank you, and I want to thank all of you for watching and listening, and I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to email me at speaker at michaelhinkson m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com. Love it if you'd give us a five star rating, but more important than a rating, please give us a great review. Review the podcast and say nice things about Evan. That's a that's a beautiful thing to do. If anyone knows anyone who ought to be a guest on our podcast, Evan, including you, feel free to introduce us. We're always looking for people to come on and tell their stories. But for now, I want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank you for spending an hour with us and and making it a very enjoyable and an unstoppable day. Evan Katz  1:04:03 Absolutely, Michael, it's my pleasure. Michael Hingson  1:04:08 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable Mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward. Together, thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeAmerica once led the world in building transit and now leads the world in what transit costs, roughly three times the international average per mile, measured not against authoritarian megaprojects but against Italy, Spain, and Japan. On this episode of Volts, David Roberts talks with Will Poff-Webster of the Institute for Progress, who put together the new Transit Abundance Playbook, and Stephanie Pollack, former head of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and former acting administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. Their argument is that the costs are a policy choice: federal funding rules teach transit agencies to plan on a napkin and do the real work years later, to hire the lowest bidder over the one they know will deliver, and to defer to anyone holding a veto, while highways operate under looser versions of the same rules. As Pollack puts it, "if you hate transit, you should spend less on it." A surface transportation reauthorization bill is coming, and two of the playbook's proposals have already reached the House version.Chapters:00:00 Introduction: why cars work against cities03:25 Agency culture or federal law: where does the fix come from11:31 Planning: how federal funding enforces bad habits20:10 Overdesign: the Green Line stations and the frequency-first test23:40 Buses: why every agency orders a custom fleet26:53 Procurement: lowest bid versus best value32:56 Veto points and Italy's conference of services39:56 Permitting: environmental review as a NIMBY tool45:28 State capacity: why consultant brain took over51:46 Labor costs, automation, and Section 13(c)56:19 Is any of this politically achievable?1:03:28 Final question: one reform each

On this week's episode of On Location, join Tammy Pearson(YoungWilliams) as she hosts the co-chairs of the  NCSEA U Committee, Michele Christello (IV-D Director of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Child Support Services Division) and John Hurst (Government Services Consultant with GreenCourt Technologies).  They dive into the history, impact, and selection process behind NCSEA U, an elite educational initiative established in 2013 for leaders and emerging leaders in the child support community. Listeners will learn exactly what the selection committee looks for in candidates—highlighting the immense power of a sincere, well-crafted application—and how the program has shaped over four hundred professionals across fifteen total cohorts. The discussion also previews the upcoming classes with thirty attendees at the Leadership Symposium in Louisville, KY, outlining both the classroom expectations and the virtual pre- and post-sessions. Finally, the episode offers invaluable, practical advice for future applicants on how to strengthen their profiles and successfully articulate their value for the next round of applications.And if you have not registered for the 2026 NCSEA Leadership Symposium in Louisville, Kentucky, we would encourage you to register and attend.  It's going to be a greatopportunity for professional development and networking with other child support professionals. Simply go to the Leadership Symposium website to find information on how to register.

In this episode of the MEFA Podcast, host Jonathan Hughes talks with Joe Wyman, a liaison for the Office of Career and Technical Education within the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. They discuss MyCAP, a framework that engages students in the discovery of individual interests, skills, and talents, and how schools across the state are using MyCAP and integrating it with MEFA Pathway.

A tick bite that can trigger a lifelong allergy to red meat sounds almost unbelievable, but public health officials are taking the growing threat of alpha-gal syndrome seriously.  Robert Goldstein, ASTHO member and commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, shares with us why Massachusetts recently made alpha-gal syndrome a reportable condition and what the state hopes to learn through expanded surveillance. Dr. Goldstein explains how the spread of the Lone Star tick into parts of Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, has led to rising diagnoses of the condition. The conversation explores how public health agencies are adapting traditional infectious disease surveillance systems to monitor a non-infectious condition, what the reporting data could reveal about emerging tick-borne risks, and how public health and wildlife officials are working together to better understand the relationship between deer populations and tick exposure.Leading Change Workshop - July 2026Prepared Together: Public Health Collaboration in Response to a Botulism Outbreak

In this week's episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of the University of Arkansas and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with Leslie Hiner, Senior Advisor for Legal Policy at EdChoice, about the constitutional foundations and future of educational freedom in America. Hiner reflects on her distinguished career in law and public policy before examining the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have shaped the modern school choice movement. She discusses how Brown v. Board of Education's promise of equal educational opportunity influenced later efforts to expand parental choice and educational access. Hiner then explores the significance of Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, and Carson v. Makin, explaining how each expanded protections for families seeking religious and private educational options. She assesses the legal landscape following Carson, highlights key recent victories such as Loffman v. California Department of Education, and offers insights into the future of school choice litigation, educational tax credits, and parental rights nationwide. Finally, Hiner also examines current legal cases, including Hellman v. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and they could mean for the future of school choice in Massachusetts.

8:05PM: What does space travel do to the human brain and mind? Guest: Dr. Aleksandra Stankovic – investigator in the Center for Space Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Stankovic is a psychologist (and scuba diver) who is interested in how our brains might be affected by the physical and psychological challenges of long-term space travel. 8:15PM: MA residents win class action lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for auto-installing its “MassNotify” Covid-19 tracking app on more than a million smartphones without the owners’ knowledge or consent. Guest: Peggy Little – New Civil Liberties Alliance Senior Litigation Counsel 8:30PM: Artemis II will face its most dangerous task yet - safely touching down on Earth! A former NASA Test Director will chat with us about what the high risks the crew of the Artemis II must face when returning to Earth!Guest: Mike Ciannilli- former NASA Test Director who spent 30 years inside the U.S. space program in roles that included launch operations leadership, astronaut briefings, and recovery efforts following the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. 8:45PM: A look at the new law, championed by the Boston Carmen’s Local 589, makes assault or battery on a public transit worker automatically punishable by imprisonment for at least 90 days or a fine of at least $500.- Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589 praises authorities for arresting man accused of assaulting a female MBTA worker.Guest: Bill Berardino – Vice President of the Boston Carmen’s Local 589 UnionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Massachusetts Department of Health wants to take away pepper spray and non-lethal restraints from Tewksbury State Hospital’s public safety officers. The state-run hospital has a large mental health patient population that includes criminal defendants who have psychiatric and behavioral issues. The hospital has a history of problematic incidents involving patients who’ve attacked healthcare workers. The nurses’ union that represents Tewksbury Hospital said the hospital’s public safety officers “absolutely need the tools” to keep the staff safe. MA Rep. David Robertson agrees and filed a petition pushing back on the state’s proposal. Rep. Robertson joined us to discuss.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when a young person's world is defined by a single goal—just graduate high school—with no vision for what comes next? For many, the lack of a "Plan B" or a "Year Five" creates a vacuum quickly filled by the streets.

On this week's episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with David Hodges, a school choice attorney with the Institute for Justice, and Ariella Hellman, director of government affairs for Agudath Israel of New England. Together, they discuss the U.S. First Circuit case Hellman v. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, exploring how Hodges and the IJ team are shaping legal arguments around private school choice and religious liberty. They also explore how Hellman's personal journey as a mother, lawyer, and advocate highlights the real-world stakes of centuries-old anti-aid laws. From the influence of U.S. Supreme Court rulings like Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, and Carson, to the ongoing negative impact of Massachusetts' 1850s Know-Nothing Amendment, Hodges and Hellman explain how a positive ruling could expand educational access and opportunities for families of faith across the Bay State. They talk about their experience working together on this U.S. Circuit case, exploring some of the challenges within the Massachusetts legal process. In closing, Hodges and Hellman offer an inside look at the legal battles and personal determination necessary to shape the future of education law in the Bay State and across the U.S.

Does it seem like everyone you know is getting sick these days? What's not helping is the fact that those of us living here in the New England states are contending with the worst flu season we've seen in years, and health experts say it's going to be weeks before it starts to get any better. Dr. Larry Madoff, the Medical Director of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, discusses this current wave of cases, the best ways to treat the virus, and what's helping this year's flu strain deliver that extra painful punch.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This weekend's weather is causing some major headaches at Logan Airport. The Massachusetts Department of Fire Service says the fatal fire in Needham on Christmas Eve was accidental. One local farm is giving Christmas trees a new life. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is out with an alert for residents about a potential exposure to measles. President Trump taking a victory lap after a new report showed the economy grew rapidly over the summer. Stoughton Deputy Police Chief Robert Devine will never work again as a police officer in the Bay State. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

November 20, 2025 Everything Co-op launches its spotlight on the 2025 Innovation Award recipients with Michael Parker and Lindsey Lusher Shute, co-founders of Farm Generations Cooperative. In this interview, Michael and Lindsey discuss how Farm Generations empowers its members through GrownBy, their farmer-owned software platform, and how the Innovation Award will help advance their mission. Lindsey Lusher Shute co-founded the National Young Farmers Coalition and served as its executive director for a decade. She is also an owner of Hearty Roots Farm, a diversified vegetable and livestock farm in New York's Hudson Valley. During her tenure at Young Farmers, Lindsey built a national network of 150,000 farmers and advocates, advancing grassroots efforts around land access, conservation, credit, student debt, and farmer training. She has delivered keynote addresses at conferences nationwide. Michael Parker has built a diverse career spanning agriculture, food, entrepreneurship, and education. A first-generation farmer, he is currently developing a grassfed beef operation in Cooperstown, NY. Mike also works on land access and business services initiatives with the National Young Farmers Coalition and oversees a farm viability grant program and business planning course for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. He holds a B.S. in Accounting and Operations Information Management from Georgetown University. Farm Generations Cooperative is dedicated to empowering local farmers and fostering transparency throughout the food supply chain. Blending innovative technology with agricultural traditions, the cooperative strives to create a more just and sustainable future for food producers and consumers alike. In 2019, the cooperative launched GrownBy, the first free, farmer-owned software platform designed for local farm sales. By connecting growers directly with customers across the country, GrownBy promotes fair, efficient exchanges and helps small farmers succeed collectively strengthening local communities and building a more resilient agricultural system. The Co-op Innovation Award honors organizations that strengthen food, housing, and worker co-ops. Each year, recipients receive up to $50,000 to expand cooperative development, drive shared prosperity, and build lasting community impact through innovative collaboration.

About this episode: In 1979, the town of Woburn, MA, raised the alarm as unusual numbers of children fell ill with leukemia. An investigation determined that this cancer cluster was likely caused by contaminated drinking water from two of the town's wells. In this episode: Suzanne Condon, who served as the associate commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Health at the time, and Megan Latshaw, an expert in disease clusters, explain what the Woburn investigation highlights about unusual patterns of cancer and how they are studied. Guests: Suzanne Condon, MSM, is an environmental health expert who served as the associate commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Health from 1980 to 2015. Megan Latshaw, PhD, MHS, is a professor in Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also the co-instructor of an online course on disease clusters. Host: Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department. Show links and related content: How The Post found growing rates of cancer in America's Corn Belt—Washington Post Disease Clusters—Coursera LEUKEMIA STRIKES A SMALL TOWN—New York Times Childhood Leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts—Public Health Reports Transcript information: Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. Follow us: @‌PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Instagram @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @‌PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.

The collapse of a major hospital system set off one of the most complex healthcare emergencies Massachusetts has ever faced. In this episode, Dr. Gregg Meyer, Incident Manager for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, discusses how the state responded to the unprecedented Steward Health Care crisis and worked to protect patients, communities, and hospital staff. He explains how years of debt, real estate deals, and private equity extraction destabilized the system and pushed it into bankruptcy. He shares what it took to manage a months-long VUCA public health emergency, including on-site monitoring, emergency closures, and the transfer of six hospitals to new nonprofit operators. He also reflects on the human and financial toll the crisis left behind, as well as why stronger oversight and policy reform are urgently needed. Tune in to learn how Massachusetts led one of the most challenging hospital rescue operations in U.S. history! Resources Follow the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on LinkedIn and explore their website! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EELP director of State and Regional Climate Policies Dale Bryk talks with Jamie Van Nostrand, recent chair of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, the entity that oversees investor-owned electric and gas utilities. Together, they dive into the regulatory frameworks that govern utilities, how those rules drive utility investments, and what that means for consumer energy bills in the transition to clean energy.    Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CleanLaw-EP111-Transcript.pdf

Nurses Out Loud with Kimberly Overton, BSN, RN – Host Kimberly Overton joins advocate Danielle Morano to expose shocking medical neglect inside the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. As Danielle fights for her fiancé Chad Connors' life, their story reveals a system driven by profit and indifference. Together, they confront moral failures, legal violations, and the urgent need for compassion and accountability behind bars...

Nurses Out Loud with Kimberly Overton, BSN, RN – Host Kimberly Overton joins advocate Danielle Morano to expose shocking medical neglect inside the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. As Danielle fights for her fiancé Chad Connors' life, their story reveals a system driven by profit and indifference. Together, they confront moral failures, legal violations, and the urgent need for compassion and accountability behind bars...

What happens when you combine respect, mutuality, self determination, potential for change, genuine human relationships, and healing environments? Welcome to The Wildflower Alliance! In the words of Earl Miller, “it's so basic that people think it's profound.”The Wildflower Alliance supports healing and empowerment for the broader community and people who have been impacted by psychiatric diagnosis, trauma, extreme states, homelessness, problems with substances and other life-interrupting challenges. They do this through peer to peer support and genuine human relationships, alternative healing practices, learning opportunities, and advocacy.In this episode, Earl Miller, Director of Community Support and Matty Hollander, Hampden coordinator, come on the podcast to discuss their journey with this project. They share about the Alternatives to Suicide support group, the Peer Support Line, the Bowen center, the importance of autonomy and agency, the poverty industrial complex, and “a return to community that is accountable to you, that holds value in your existence. If you believe in community - that includes everyone.”Bio: Earl Miller's life and work are deeply shaped by his lived experience navigating the psychiatric and foster care systems from the age of 12, and facing homelessness, hospitalization, and trauma—part of which was featured in The New York Times Magazine in December 2024. Since joining the Wildflower Alliance in 2011, he has channeled his resilience into advocacy, community building, and creative expression as a storyteller, musician, and poet with several albums to his name. A proud father of two, Earl has held roles at the Center for Human Development and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and served as the inaugural Director of Amherst's Community Responders for Equity, Safety, and Service, where he helped establish a municipal alternative to traditional policing. He now serves as Director of Community Supports at the Wildflower Alliance, championing anti-racist, humane, holistic, and community-based responses to emotional distress.Bio: Mathew Hollander serves as the Hampden Coordinator for the Wildflower Alliance, a grassroots peer support organization. He is a Northampton-based artist whose practice includes intricate ink drawings and mixed media sculptures. He is a longtime performer and member of the punk/hardcore music scene in the greater Boston area.

The latest MCAS test results were released, and it shows that Massachusetts students' test scores are still below pre-pandemic levels. The results showed that high schoolers fared worse on the MCAS than grades 3-8. This was the first year that high schoolers took the test knowing that a passing MCAS score is no longer a graduation requirement…which may be playing a role in the results. What can be done to reverse course and get those tests scores back up? Should we be worried?*Pedro Martinez, the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, denied our invitation to join the conversation.*

The latest MCAS test results were released, and it shows that Massachusetts students' test scores are still below pre-pandemic levels. The results showed that high schoolers fared worse on the MCAS than grades 3-8. This was the first year that high schoolers took the test knowing that a passing MCAS score is no longer a graduation requirement…which may be playing a role in the results. What can be done to reverse course and get those tests scores back up? Should we be worried?*Pedro Martinez, the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, denied our invitation to join the conversation.*

Rick Clough spent some four decades fishing for lobsters and sea urchins off the Maine coast before spotting one of the ocean's most recognized predators—a great white shark. The approximately 8-foot (2.4-meter) shark, seen off the beach town of Scarborough in July, surprised Clough, but didn't make him fear the ocean—though he admitted, "I'm not sure I'd want to go urchin diving now." Boaters, beachgoers and fishermen like Clough who spend time in the chilly waters of New England and Atlantic Canada are learning to live with great white sharks, the creatures made famous by the 1975 film Jaws. Sightings of the apex predators are up in places like Maine, where they were once very rarely spotted. Scientists link the white shark sightings to increased availability of the seals the sharks feast on, and say beachgoers are generally very safe from shark bites. The sharks can grow close to 20 feet (6 meters) long, though most don't get that big. Why are great whites going north? Sightings of great whites off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, have become increasingly frequent in recent years, and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has documented hundreds of the animals over more than a decade. But new data shows the sharks are heading even farther north into New Hampshire, Maine and beyond, said Greg Skomal, a senior fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries and a veteran white shark researcher. Skomal said the average residency in these northern waters has also increased from 48 days to 70 days, suggesting that white sharks appear to be increasingly comfortable farther north. A key reason for the shift seems to be the successful conservation of seals off New England and Canada via laws such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which has allowed seals to thrive and provide a food source for the predatory sharks, Skomal said. Great white sharks also benefit from protections, including a ban on fishing for them in U.S. federal waters that has stood since 1997. They are still considered vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Episode 11 features  a conversation with Ashley Randle, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. Host Betsy Bullard talks with Ashley about the Eastern States Expo and the role those events have in the larger agriculture community in Massachusetts and throughout the New England States.

In this thought-provoking episode of Working Like Dogs, we're joined by Kara Milotte, Manager of Client Services at the nationally recognized nonprofit NEADS and James “Chip” Harrington from the Massachusetts Department of Correction. Together, they offer a powerful look into the transformative partnership between NEADS and correctional facilities—and how this unique collaboration is changing lives through the training and placement of world-class service dogs. From fostering rehabilitation and purpose within prisons to creating life-changing bonds between dogs and their future handlers, this conversation is one you won't want to miss.EPISODE NOTES: Behind the Leash: How Service Dogs Transform Lives—Inside and Outside Prison WallsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-like-dogs-service-dogs-and-working-dogs-pet-life-radio-original--6668004/support.

Dr. Catherine Brown, State Epidemiologist and State Public Health Veterinarian at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, discusses ASTHO's recent meeting with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and the importance of the One Health approach; a recent ASTHO blog article details the importance of preparing to ensure animals are accounted for during radiological incidents; Dr. Dave Chokshi, Chair of the Common Health Coalition, explains the changes made to FDA regulations ahead of respiratory vaccination season, and how the coalition can help public health leaders prepare; and ASTHO will hold its next succession planning webinar on September 18th, with a focus on laying the groundwork and incorporating data into planning efforts.  ASTHO Web Page: One Health Webinars ASTHO Blog: Planning for Animal Needs During a Radiological Incident Common Health Coalition ASTHO Webinar: Succession Planning Part 2 of 3: Laying the Groundwork  

It's Monday, September 8th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Russian pastor sent to prison labor camp for sermon On September 3, Russian Pastor Nikolay Romanyuk, age 63, was found guilty of making “Public calls to implement activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation,” reports International Christian Concern.   Despite the Russian pastor's age and poor health conditions, the court sentenced him to four years in a prison labor camp.   In a statement before the court, Pastor Romanyuk said, “Yes, I gave a sermon in which I touched on military, albeit forced, murder. I do not retract what I said. I set forth my personal view and attitude towards the taking of a human life. This is my personal attitude as a clergyman.”  Pastor Romanyuk gave his now-criminal sermon a week after Russia partially mobilized its forces against Ukraine in September 2022 at the Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church in a suburb of Moscow, Russia.   From the pulpit, Romanyuk preached, “It was written in our [church] doctrine that we are pacifists and cannot participate in this. It is our right to profess this on the basis of Holy Scripture.”  Svetlana Zhukova, Pastor Romanyuk's daughter, wrote on social media, “Imagine, Dad was convicted for his opinion, his position. There is no crime. Not a single person suffered from his actions. The state did not suffer at all.”  Acts 5:29 says, “We must obey God rather than men.”  Ted Cruz torches Tim Kaine for describing God-given rights as 'very, very troubling' Here in America, on September 3rd, the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee addressed the nomination of Riley Barnes to be Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. In response to Barnes' introductory statement before the committee, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia objected to Barnes who underscored Secretary of State Marco Rubio's assertion that our rights come from God, not government, reports The Christian Post. Listen. KAINE: “This is a quote from Secretary Rubio, our rights come from God, our Creator, not from our laws, not from our governments. I find that very, very troubling. … “The notion that our rights do not come from our laws or our government should make people very, very nervous, because people of any religious tradition, or none, are entitled to the equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment. It shouldn't matter what their religious background is, what they think about God or the Creator, what their church affiliation is.” Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, another member of the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee, took issue with Senator Kaine. CRUZ: “Senator Kaine said, in this hearing, that he found it a radical and dangerous notion that you would say, ‘Our rights came from God and not from government.' I just walked into the hearing as he was saying that and I almost fell out of my chair, because that ‘radical and dangerous notion,' in his words, is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created. “And if you do not believe me, then you can believe perhaps the most prominent Virginian to ever serve, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote, in the Declaration of Independence, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator,' -- not by government, not by the Democratic National Committee, but by God, -- ‘with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' “I have to say, it is stunning to me that the principle that God has given us natural rights is now deemed by Democrats some radical and dangerous notion. Mr. Jefferson was right when he wrote those words. Government exists to protect those rights.” Christian foster parents sue Massachusetts for requiring them to support ‘gender transitions' A pair of Christian foster families in Massachusetts is suing the state for barring them from fostering more children based on their refusal to affirm gender confusion among kids in their care, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Nick and Audrey Jones, who have cared for seven small children since 2023; and Greg and Marianelly Schrock, who have cared for 28 children since 2019. Despite both couples effectively providing needed, loving homes without incident, the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families decided they can no longer continue to do so unless they're willing to affirm the gender confusion of future kids placed with them, including support for so-called “gender transitioning” and the use of biologically inaccurate pronouns. Their attorneys said, what Massachusetts is doing “is a violation of foster parents' religious freedom under the First Amendment as well as a reckless rejection of needed homes for orphaned or abandoned children.” Matthew 18:6 says, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in Me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Jimmy Stewart's World War II heroism and his father's promise to pray And finally, do you recognize this voice? “Mary, I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow and the next day and next year, and the year after that. I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet, and I'm gonna see the world: Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum. Then, I'm coming back here and go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred  stories high. I'm going to build bridges a mile long.” If you guessed Jimmy Stewart, you're right.  He is the actor who famously portrayed George Bailey in the Christmas film “It's A Wonderful Life.” You'll be glad to know that Hollywood is now producing a movie about Stewart's life entitled “Jimmy” starring K.J. Apa, reports FaithWire.com. After earning five Oscars, Stewart felt somewhat of a “hollowness.” At that time in the early 1940s, the world's instability was coming to a head, with war clouds on the horizon. Stewart made a stunning decision. He had been a private pilot, but he decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He said, “I want to be something more than just a Tinseltown hero. I wanted to serve my country, serve my fellow Americans.” Stewart became a squadron commander — a job that involved leading thousands of men in bombing runs during the war. His father, Alexander, who will be portrayed by Neil McDonough, wrote a  letter which he slipped into Jimmy's uniform pocket before he went and that included a copy of Psalm 91, a Scripture which underscores the Lord's comfort and presence.  His dad wrote, “I will be praying for you the whole time you're away that God will be with you. You'll make it home safely.”  Jimmy Stewart kept that letter with him in his uniform on every mission that he went on. Providentially, the actor did make it back home, though he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after seeing hundreds of his men shot down and killed. By the time Stewart left the battlefield, he was far from the Hollywood leading man he was before fighting on the frontlines. An old friend named Frank Capra, a Hollywood director who also served in World War II, told Stewart he had the “perfect role” for him.  It was “It's  A Wonderful Life.”  God used that film to re-energize Stewart's career. Alexander Stewart, his father, embodied the verse found in Malachi 4:6.  “[God] will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, September 8th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Nurses Out Loud with Kimberly Overton, BSN, RN – I speak with Izzy Rivera about his family's battle against the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families after refusing a vitamin K injection. Their children are taken and vaccinated against their wishes, exposing corruption, government overreach, and violations of parental rights. This powerful story calls for justice, accountability, and the defense of family sovereignty...

Nurses Out Loud with Kimberly Overton, BSN, RN – I speak with Izzy Rivera about his family's battle against the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families after refusing a vitamin K injection. Their children are taken and vaccinated against their wishes, exposing corruption, government overreach, and violations of parental rights. This powerful story calls for justice, accountability, and the defense of family sovereignty...

If you live with depression, anxiety, or chronic illness, or if you want to understand how peer support can make a real difference, this episode with Rob Walker is for you.More info, resources & ways to connect - https://www.tacosfallapart.com/podcast-live-show/podcast-guests/rob-walker-2In this episode of Even Tacos Fall Apart, I sat down with Rob Walker, a peer support leader who brings decades of lived experience with depression, anxiety, and type 1 diabetes to his work. Rob lives outside Boston, works with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and has been helping shape the peer support workforce both in his state and around the world. He's also a father of three and a dog dad to Hank, his rescue beagle.Rob shared how his career has grown out of turning hard personal experiences into meaningful advocacy. He helps oversee the Certified Peer Specialist training program in Massachusetts, where people with lived experience learn how to share their own stories in ways that support others. Beyond that, he and a team from Dartmouth College created a training during COVID that taught peer specialists how to provide support remotely using tools like Zoom, Discord and Teams. What started as a small project has now trained more than 3,000 people across the U.S. and internationally.When asked what being a peer support specialist means to him, Rob said it gives purpose to years of difficult times. Instead of seeing his diagnoses as only negative, he has found a way to use those experiences to connect with others and remind them they are not alone. He also stressed that the heart of peer support is the relationship, not the method of delivery. Whether it's a Zoom call, text or even playing a video game online, what matters is the connection.Rob was candid about challenges too. One ongoing frustration is the way clinical language can reduce people to their diagnoses. He explained how often professionals see him or others as 99 percent “the illness” and only one percent “everything else.” In reality, his diagnosis is just a small slice of his identity, alongside being a father, friend, husband and colleague. He wants more professionals to see people for their whole selves, not just a label.We talked about how important advocacy is, both at the legislative level and in everyday life. Rob encouraged listeners to follow bills in their state, join advocacy organizations, and speak up when policies affect people with mental health challenges. On a personal level, he suggested simple acts like checking in with friends, sending a quick text or offering to listen. Often those small efforts make the biggest difference.Self-care was another key theme. Rob admitted he doesn't always follow his own advice, but he tries to schedule downtime and recognize the signs when he's slipping. He emphasized that people working from home during the pandemic shouldn't expect perfection. His reminder: give yourself a break, seventy percent is good enough and don't feel guilty about it.Rob also opened up about living with type 1 diabetes since age 15 and how managing both physical and mental health requires attention to sleep, nutrition, and knowing his warning signs. His honesty about symptoms like fatigue, irritability, and hearing voices during severe depression gave listeners a real picture of what those struggles can look like.He closed with a powerful wish: to erase the misconception that people with mental illness are violent. In fact, they are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. His final advice was simple but important: be kind to others and to yourself.

Dr. Mike Pistiner is not just an allergist and immunologist, he's also an allergy dad and fierce patient advocate. In this episode, Dr. Mike breaks down what allergies are, typical signs and symptoms and how they're treated. Have you been curious about when is the right time to use epinephrine? Then this episode is for YOU! Tune in today!Michael Pistiner, MD, MMSc is Director of Food Allergy Advocacy, Education and Prevention for the MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Food Allergy Center. He has a special interest in food allergy and anaphylaxis education and advocacy, infant food allergy management,  healthcare provider education, facilitating collaborations between the medical home and school health, and maintaining quality of life in children (and their families) with food allergies.  Dr. Mike is author of "Everyday Cool With Food Allergies", co-author of the "Living Confidently With Food Allergy" handbook, and co-founder and content creator of AllergyHome.org.Dr. Pistiner is a fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), where he is a member of the Section on Allergy and Immunology Executive Committee, Council on School Health and the Massachusetts Chapter of the AAP. He is also a member of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.Additionally, he serves on the medical advisory board of Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America, New England Chapter and is a voluntary consultant for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health School Health Service Unit.To learn more about the Food Allergy Management Bootcamp at MassGeneral visit: https://www.massgeneral.org/children/food-allergies/food-allergy-management-boot-campTo learn more about the FAMP-It resource visit: https://famp-it.org/

In this week’s episode, Jennifer welcomes Danielle Laurenti, a Massachusetts corrections officer with over fifteen years of experience, including service as a sergeant in both female and maximum-security male facilities. Danielle began her career as a young single mother, driven by her passion for law enforcement and desire to support her family. Over the years, she has become an advocate for women’s rights within the corrections system, particularly in response to recent Massachusetts laws requiring female officers to conduct strip searches on transgender inmates. Danielle shares her personal story as both a public servant and a sexual assault survivor, bringing a critical perspective to evolving workplace safety issues. Jennifer and Danielle delve into the controversial changes brought about by the 2018 Massachusetts crime bill, which mandates that strip searches in correctional facilities be conducted based on inmates’ gender identity rather than biological sex. Danielle details the psychological and ethical challenges faced by female corrections officers asked to perform invasive searches on biologically male inmates, citing both personal trauma and the broader issue of consent. The discussion uncovers the lack of training, union consultation, or opportunity for officers to opt out, raising concerns about workplace harassment, women’s rights, and public safety. They explore federal and state discrepancies, compare procedures in other settings like TSA, and emphasize the ongoing fight for equal rights and consent within the corrections profession. This episode confronts the intersection of gender identity, legal mandates, and women’s workplace autonomy, while advocating for systemic change and greater awareness. “The law is exposing women to sexual situations with men they don’t know, men they are not consenting to. They’re being forced; they’re being threatened. And you’re creating new victims and you’re revictimizing previous victims.”~Danielle Laurenti This week on Political Contessa: How Danielle Laurenti began her career as a corrections officer in Massachusetts The impact of the 2018 Massachusetts crime bill on corrections officers’ roles Federal vs. state law in handling strip searches of transgender inmates Danielle’s experience as a sexual assault survivor in the workplace The lack of training and union involvement prior to policy changes The ethical and psychological impact on female officers carrying out invasive searches Comparisons to consent protocols in other public settings, such as the TSA The call for equal rights and consent for corrections officers Resources: Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) Article on Danielle’s story Massachusetts Department of Correction Awaken Your Inner Political Contessa Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Political Contessa. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. Spotify I Stitcher I Apple Podcasts I iHeart Radio I TuneIn I Google Podcasts Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media. And if you’ve ever considered running for office – or know a woman who should – head over to politicalcontessa.com to grab my quick guide, Secrets from the Campaign Trail. It will show you five signs to tell you you’re ready to enter the political arena. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Walmart settles a lawsuit and will pay $5.6 million dollars, Maverik will retain 63 employees in Des Moines and is offering eight others relocation packages, and Global Partners files a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Dr. Robert Goldstein, ASTHO Member and the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, takes us through how his department is using the Public Health Infrastructure Grant. PHIG Partners Web Page PHIG Newsletter  

CheloniaCast is joined by Michela Coury, Freshwater Turtle Biologist for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game and all-around turtle biologist and researcher. Michela did her master's thesis on Spotted Turtle ecology and movement and has vast field experience with various other North American turtle species. In her current position with the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game she is tasked with protecting the state's turtle populations through habitat management, fieldwork, data collection/analysis, and outreach. The conversation dives into Michela's upbringing into turtles, experiences in the field and the many rewarding aspects of the world of turtle conservation. There is also much discussion about Spotted Turtle home range, the use of R in spatial analysis, and some wild fieldwork stories. Check out the podcast that Michela co-hosts, the Field Stories Podcast, here: https://www.youtube.com/@FieldStories.podcast Be sure to follow Michela's Instagram to follow along with her adventures saving turtles and biodiversity: https://www.instagram.com/michiganbiologist/?hl=en Learn more about the CheloniaCast Podcast here: https://theturtleroom.org/cheloniacast/ Learn more about the CheloniaCast Podcast Fund here: https://theturtleroom.org/project/cheloniacast-podcast/ Follow the CheloniaCast Podcast on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter @cheloniacast Host and production crew social media - Jason Wills - @chelonian.carter / Michael Skibsted - @michael.skibstedd / Jack Thompson - @jack_reptile_naturalist_302 / Ken Wang - @americanmamushi / Wyatt Keil - @wyatts_wildlife_photography / Paul Cuneo - @paul_turtle_conservation42 / Alex Mione - @alex.mione / Ethan Hancock - @ethankinosternonlover / Torsten Watkins - @t_0_.e

This week it is a huge pleasure to be able to bring you this cross-over episode with Kwame Sarfo-Mensah and his fantastic channel, #IdentityTalk4EducatorsLIVE (https://www.identitytalk4educators.com/podcast). Kwame's work is full of insights gained through his own practice as a maths teacher and educational coach and consultant, and through his over 200 conversations with amazing educators and leaders. Kwame Sarfo-Mensah is the founder of Identity Talk Consulting, LLC, a global educational consulting firm that specializes in developing K-12 teachers into identity-affirming educators. Additionally, Identity Talk Consulting, LLC is licensed as a DESE-approved professional development provider and a Minority Owned Enterprise within the Commonwealth for Massachusetts. Prior to starting his firm, he served as a middle school math teacher in Philadelphia, PA and Boston, MA for nine years. Kwame holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and a Master's Degree in Elementary Education from Temple University.As a staunch ambassador and advocate for teacher empowerment, Kwame has spoken at numerous national education conferences and worked diligently to support the recruitment and retention of teachers of colour in the education system. In January 2019, he was one of 35 Massachusetts teachers of colour selected by Commissioner Jeff Riley to be in the inaugural cohort of the InSPIRED (In-Service Professionals Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity) Fellowship, an initiative organized by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE) for veteran teachers of colour to recruit students of colour at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels to teach in targeted districts within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As an InSPIRED Teaching Fellow, he facilitated professional development workshops for aspiring teachers at universities such as Boston College, UMass Boston, and Worcester State University and has served as a guest speaker for non-profit teacher pipeline programs such as Teach Western Mass, Generation Teach and Worcester Public Schools' Future Teachers Academy.Throughout his 17-year education career as a classroom teacher, author, and consultant, Kwame has earned numerous accolades for this work, which include being honored as the 2019 National Member of the Year by Black Educators Rock, Inc. and being recognized as a Top Education Influencer by brightbeam, Inc. in 2021 and 2022. His work has been featured in Education Week, WGBH News, Edutopia, Ed Post, The International Educator (TIE), Teaching Channel, and The Tavis Smiley Show. His latest book, "Learning to Relearn: Supporting Identity in a Culturally Affirming Classroom" (https://learning2relearn.com/), received the 2025 IPPY Awards Gold Medal for Education (https://ippyawards.com/blog/2025-medalists-categories-35-65) and the 2024 Foreword INDIES Award for Education Book of the Year (https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/finalists/2024/education/)! Kwame has also authored 'From "Inaction" to "In Action": Creating a New Normal for Urban Educators' (2020) and 'Shaping the Teacher Identity: 8 Lessons That Will Help Define the Teacher in You' (2018).Connect with Kwame: https://www.identitytalk4educators.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwame-sarfo-mensah/https://www.instagram.com/kwam_the_identity_shaper/

If you're feeling wiped out from nonstop video calls, struggling to focus, or just wondering why remote life feels so exhausting, this episode is for you.More info, resources & ways to connect/support - https://www.tacosfallapart.com/podcast-live-show/podcast-guests/rob-walkerIn this episode of Even Tacos Fall Apart, MommaFoxFire sits down with returning guest Rob Walker from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health to talk about something most of us have experienced but don't always know how to explain: Zoom fatigue.Rob, a peer support advocate and father of three (plus a beagle named Hank), opens up about how remote work has changed not just how we connect but how we function. Since the pandemic hit, our personal and professional lives have been jammed into the same tiny box - literally, on screen. Coffee chats, therapy appointments, team meetings, happy hours and even first dates have all been flattened into the same platform. No wonder our brains are short-circuiting.Rob breaks it down: video calls demand more brainpower. Without in-person body language or spatial awareness, we spend calls analyzing eye contact, wondering about delays, and stressing about how we're coming across... all while staring at ourselves in a tiny box. That constant cognitive load drains energy fast. Throw in back-to-back meetings with zero breaks, and you've got a recipe for exhaustion, irritability and what Rob calls “brain mush.”But it's not all bad. Rob points out some positives, like how remote access has actually improved mental healthcare for some. In his work, he's seen people gain access to support and specialists they might never have been able to reach otherwise. Telehealth, Zoom therapy and online support groups are now part of the new normal... and for many, they're more convenient, more affordable and more accessible.They talk about practical ways to fight Zoom fatigue, too. Rob recommends building breaks into your schedule, stepping away from screens and doing things offline. A walk outside, cooking a new recipe, or sitting in a different room for lunch can make a big difference. And just because you can do everything on Zoom doesn't mean you should. Sometimes, an email or phone call really is enough.The conversation also touches on the emotional toll of social distancing - especially for people who miss hugs, handshakes and real-life hangouts. Rob suggests tapping into other ways of connecting: online hobby groups, cooking classes, gaming with friends, even walking therapy sessions. Pets, weighted blankets and asking your kids for hugs also made the list as ways to soothe touch starvation.They wrap up by busting one of the most damaging myths about depression: that people who are struggling are just being lazy. Rob is clear - depression isn't laziness. It's an illness. People dealing with it are not weak or unmotivated. In fact, they're often some of the most resilient people out there.This episode is full of honest, funny and practical insights into what it means to live, work, and stay connected in a world where everything feels just a little too virtual. Whether you're working from home, burned out from video calls or just trying to stay human in the middle of it all - this one's worth a listen.

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Report shows that despite all the rhetoric from Governor Abbott and other state leaders, Texas itself is not participating with ICE under 287(g) agreements. This despite a bill that was just passed, SB 8, that sort-of (with no teeth) makes the state's sheriffs participate. What a flim-flam on all of us. Read the story, even DPS testified again the the bill.“According to Texas DPS data, more than 443,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked in Texas jails, The Center Square reported. Yet DPS and TDCJ have signed no MOAs with ICE.By contrast, Democratic-led Arizona's Department of Corrections and Massachusetts Department of Corrections are participating in the JEM.”Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Gun rights, Second Amendment bills that passed the Legislature.Texans will no longer be able to use food stamps (SNAP) to buy candy, soda. And, no “lab-grown meat” in Texas.Governor Abbott signs the bail reform measures that passed – not enough did including the most important related measures in SJR 87.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

This conversation, with transit guru Stephanie Pollack, is one of my favorite conversations we've recorded on here. For one, I had a blast recording — Stephanie's funny, and she's got a killer Boston accent. For another, she explains some of the ideas I care about incredibly well — how well-intentioned regulations turn bad, how political pressures make simple things hard to pull off, why building in the real world is so hard. She taught me a huge amount about building transit. And she's a great storyteller.For context, Pollack was the deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration for the first half of the Biden admin. Before that, she served as the secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT). And a while before that, before she was in the business of building stuff, she was an environmental activist who sued the the Massachusetts DOT for building stuff. We get into that evolution in her career here.This conversation is one of a series of conversations over the coming months about transit: why it's gotten so hard to build, who fights over it, and what it takes to build something people love.We discuss:(00:00) Introduction (00:54) Federal vs. State Transit Funding Structure (02:58) Transit vs. Highway Agency Operational Differences (04:58) Stephanie's Career and Perspective Changes(10:39) The Massachusetts Big Dig Project (11:34) Cost Overruns and Project Estimates (17:04) Inflation in Infrastructure Projects(18:28) The Four Ps of Project Delays (23:50) NEPA and Environmental Review(34:19) The Green Line Extension Project (43:39) Project Redesign and Procurement Innovation(58:20) Advice for Secretary DuffyThanks to Sofia Scarlat and Emma Hilbert for their audio and transcript edits. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

#968: Are school inspections the accountability tool we've overlooked? with Erik RobelenOn this week's Education Gadfly Show podcast, former Education Week reporter Erik Robelen joins Mike and David to discuss school inspections—what they are, how they might fit into accountability systems, and who's actually using them in U.S. schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber highlights a study on how AI tools can help middle school math teachers personalize their lessons.Recommended content: Erik Robelen, “The Full Measure of a School,” Education Next (Spring 2025).Erik Robelen, “England's School Inspections Get a Makeover,” Education Next (Spring 2025).Maryland State Department of Education, Blueprint for Maryland's Future: Expert Review Team Colorado Department of Education, State Review Panel: School Review Protocol, SchoolWorks LLC (2024).Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Charter School Site Visit Protocol, (2024) Rizwaan Malik, Dorna Abdi, Rose E. Wang, and Dorottya Demszky, Scaffolding Middle-School Mathematics Curricula With Large Language Models, EdWorking Papers (April 2025)Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at sdistler@fordhaminstitute.org.  

The Massachusetts Department of Education proposes that state vocational schools use admission lotteries. This proposal comes after years of criticism by some claiming the current admissions process at Vo-techs across the state, lock marginalized students out. Instead of ranking applicants on selective criteria like grades, recommendations from guidance counselors, and personal interviews, schools would be limited to using attendance and discipline as screening criteria for students to enter the lottery pool. Jamie Gass, the director for school reform at the Pioneer Institute checked in with Dan to discuss.Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!

Adrienne Ammerman, Founder and CEO of Arclet, explains how her platform will help health communicators; Amelia Poulin, ASTHO Assistant Director of Emerging Infectious Disease, breaks down a blog article on what states are doing to combat syphilis and congenital syphilis; and Dr. Robbie Goldstein, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and an ASTHO member, will give the keynote address for the Advances in Global Disease Surveillance event. Arclet Web Page ASTHO Blog Article: States Amending Policies to Slow Congenital Syphilis Increases Advances in Global Disease Surveillance: An Introduction to BEACON Web Page ASTHO Web Page: Subscribe  

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠It's YOUR time to #EdUp In this episode, brought to YOU by the ⁠⁠InsightsEDU⁠⁠ 2025 conference& Ellucian LIVE 2025 YOUR guest is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dr. Noe Ortega, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education YOUR host is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dr. Joe Sallustio How is Mass Reconnect & Mass Educate making college more accessible & affordable? Why is credit transfer still a major challenge in higher education? How are student services evolving to support both traditional & non-traditional learners? What role does Massachusetts play in shaping the future of higher education? How can institutions rebuild trust & demonstrate their value proposition? Why is maintaining diversity, equity & inclusion critical in higher education? Listen in to #EdUp Do YOU want to accelerate YOUR professional development? Do YOU want to get exclusive early access to ad-free episodes, extended episodes, bonus episodes, original content, invites to special events, & more? Do YOU want to get all this while helping to sustain EdUp? Then ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TODAY⁠⁠ - $19.99/month or $199.99/year (Save 17%)! Want to get YOUR organization to pay for YOUR subscription? Email ⁠⁠⁠EdUp@edupexperience.com Thank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp! Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠ ● Join YOUR EdUp community at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The EdUp Experience⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We make education YOUR business!

We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!Massachusetts Republican Party Reelects Amy Carnevale As Chairperson. Amy Carnevale checked in with Dan.Daniel Valez, Spokesman for TSA New England says the deadline (May 7, 2025) for the REAL ID is fast approaching! Are you ready? If you don't have a REAL ID, what do you need to board a plane flying domestically?Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch reacted to ruling by The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection over the rebuilding of Long Island Bridge.Emily Mew - Director of EDS for Massachusetts - Salvation Army explains how to help the victims of the CA wildfires. What they need most.Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!

Dr. Robert Goldstein, Commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and an ASTHO Member, describes how SAPHE 2.0 will promote health equity throughout the state; Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama State Health Officer and ASTHO President, is quoted in a recent Governing article that details the rise of bird flu in dairy cattle and weighs the risk to humans; and Dr. Anne Zink, former Chief Medical Officer for the Alaska Department of Health and ASTHO's 80th President, has been appointed as a Lecturer and Senior Fellow at the Yale School of Public Health. Boston Globe News Article: New law aims to shore up and equalize state's public health services SAPHE 2.0 Fact Sheet Governing News Article: Bird Flu Continues to Spread. What Are the Risks for Humans and Cows? Yale School of Public Health News Release: Dr. Anne Zink Appointed as Lecturer and Senior Fellow at YSPH  

Dr. Robert Goldstein, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and an ASTHO Member,  discusses the containment and prevention of the spread of infectious disease as part of ASTHO's Legislative Prospectus Series; Allyson Belton, Director of Education and Training for the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine and a Co-Lead of ASTHO Divers Executives Leading in Public Health program, looks back on how far the program has come as the fifth cohort kicks off; and ASTHO's newest member is Gina DeBlassie, the Interim Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Health. ASTHO Web Page: 2025 Legislative Prospectus Series ASTHO Web Page: Diverse Executives Leading in Public Health ASTHO Web Page: Gina DeBlassie ASTHO Web Page: Stay Informed  

Unexploded Bomb: Where the COVID-19 Vaccine Deaths Are Really Hiding. Epoch Times. Part 1- Evidence: How CDC Buried Vaccine Death Data https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/evidence-how-cdc-buried-vaccine-death-data-5575113 Frontline Health   Views 88.8K • Jan-27-2024 Today on Frontline Health we interview John Beaudoin, an electrical engineer and author of “The Real CdC.” On January 18, 2022, Cassidy, a seven-year-old girl died from COVID-19 complications in Massachusetts. Her story was broadcast on local networks. Beaudoin saw it too, but he had questions. “I'm thinking, for everything I know about the data, there's no way a seven-year-old girl died from COVID,” he said. Beaudoin ran eight public records requests. “I ran them through other people so that the state wouldn't deny me,” he said. That's how he was able to obtain the entire death certificate database of Massachusetts with no redactions, from the year 2015 through 2022. At the time, he says it was a total of 420,000 records. Cassidy's cause of death was in there too. Her death certificate vaguely listed “complications of coronavirus-19 viral infection.” “Okay, well, what kind of complications? Why didn't they list anything like pneumonia [or] ARDS?” he said. “Why is there nothing else listed? Did she have a heart attack? How does somebody die from COVID with no other symptoms?” Beaudoin decided to turn to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). After running a few requests, he came upon one record that could have belonged to Cassidy. “The report was made on January 15th, that's a couple days, two or three days before she died.” This particular VAERS record describes a 7-year-old girl vomiting for 8-10 hours after her first COVID-19 vaccine injection. After her second injection, she had severe abdominal pain, 103 degree fever and no bowel movement for three days. If this VAERS record actually belongs to Cassidy, then her cause of death should have been listed as a vaccine. “I want to know, is that the same girl? The state won't tell me so I'm suing the governor of the state, the public health commissioner, chief medical examiner and four individual medical examiners.” But Cassidy's case “was the tip of the iceberg,” says Beaudoin. He has uncovered many more questionable death certificates in the Massachusetts death database that have not attributed “vaccine” as the cause of death when there was evidence of severe vaccine reaction. “It's not willful ignorance,” Beaudoin said. “This is intentional withholding of information from the public that would save the lives of the public.” Follow Dan on

I have been noticing some resurgence of the hatred of rednecks, though it comes from those who don't actually know any. A woman who calls herself a CEO in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, is actively trying to make it harder for people to drive trucks like the Ford F-150. She doesn't hate trucks though, she's afraid of and hates the rednecks who drive them. I want to educate people as to what and who us rednecks are. According to Google we are political reactionaries, wanting to go back to how things were. Is that a bad thing?What does God's Word say? Exodus 20:1515 “You shall not steal.John 6:31-3531 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'[a]”32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.Proverbs 9:10-1210 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.11 For through wisdom[a] your days will be many,    and years will be added to your life.12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;    if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.Galatians 3:2828 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.Episode 1,561 Links:American Farmer Says It Should Be Illegal What The Government & Lobbyists Have Done To The Farming IndustryListen to how much they hate you: Monica Tibbits-Nutt on F-150's "We can't price them high enough or put enough fees on them enough, to stop the type of person who wants to buy" an F-150 which she considers a "horrible" "18 wheeler"Over 55 cars stolen in the past 48 hours in Oakland, California. This makes 3rd world countries look like rookies."You can literally walk into a retail store every single day of the year and steaI $949 worth of merchandise"Gov. Ron DeSantis signs law letting religious chaplains into public schools, can offer support services to studentsBREAKING: Gavin Newsom just released a new ad saying Trump is going to order police stop women crossing state lines and force them to take pregnancy testsWhiskey Myers - Ballad of a Southern ManJewish Professor DENIED entry at Columbia University, where he works as an assistant professor, after Palestinian activists blocked all Jews from entering. Staff at the university also deactivated his access card.4Patriots https://4Patriots.com/Todd Stay connected when the power goes out and get free shipping on orders over $97.    Alan's Soaps https://alanssoaps.com/TODD Use coupon code ‘TODD' to save an additional 10% off the bundle price.  Bioptimizers https://bioptimizers.com/todd Use promo code TODD for 10% off your order. Sharpen your edge and reach your potential with Mushroom Breakthrough by Bioptimizers.     Bonefrog   https://bonefrogcoffee.com/todd Use code TODD at checkout to receive 10% off your first purchase and 15% on subscriptions.  Bulwark Capital  Bulwark Capital Management (bulwarkcapitalmgmt.com) Call 866-779-RISK or visit online to get their FREE Common Cents Investing Guide. EdenPURE https://edenpuredeals.com Use code TODD3 to save $200 on the Thunderstorm Air Purifier 3-pack. GreenHaven Interactive Digital Marketing https://greenhaveninteractive.com Your Worldclass Website Will Get Found on Google!  Liver Health https://GetLiverHelp.com/Todd Order today and get your FREE bottle of Nano Powered Omega3 and free bonus gift. Native Path Krill https://nativepathkrill.com/todd For a limited time get Native Path Antarctic Krill Oil for as little as $23 per bottle.  

Howie plays part of the statement from Monica Tibbits-Nutt, the CEO and Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. She has concocted very creative new ways to raise revenue in the Bay State...that means raising taxes on YOU. Then, Howie shares a sneak peek of his latest episode of Meet the Experts featuring new author Michael Walsh.

Unexploded Bomb: Where the COVID-19 Vaccine Deaths Are Really Hiding- Frontline Health and Two Clips from X/Twitter. Unexploded Bomb: Where the COVID-19 Vaccine Deaths Are Really Hiding | John Beaudoin Pierre Kory Asks One Simple Question the FDA and CDC Don't Want to Answer “NO LIVES WERE SAVED” by the COVID-19 injections, says researcher and scientist   Unexploded Bomb: Where the COVID-19 Vaccine Deaths Are Really Hiding | John Beaudoin Frontline Health Views 144.6K • Feb-03-2024 On this episode of Frontline Health, we continue our conversation with John Beaudoin, an electrical engineer and author of “The Real CDC.” Watch Part 1 here. Mr. Beaudoin has been analyzing his home state's death database from the Massachusetts Department of Health to determine if there were any safety signals after the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. “What I learned a year and a half ago is that 2020 was a year of excess respiratory [deaths],” said Mr. Beaudoin. But that changed when the vaccines rolled out in early 2021. Based on Mr. Beaudoin's analysis, excess respiratory deaths, which include pneumonia and COVID, went down in 2021. “While at the same time, the blood and circulatory causes of death went up instead of down,” he said. “So what people are dying from, they're dying from ... cardiac stroke, pulmonary embolism, gastrointestinal hemorrhages, aortic arch dissections, more than the respiratory, which went down at the same time.” Follow Dan on