UMass Board of Trustees OKs In-State Tuition Freeze UMass Board of Trustees OKs In-State Tuition Freeze
UMass Board of Trustees OKs In-State Tuition Freeze All in-state and most out-of-state students at University of Massachusetts campuses will have their tuition frozen during the upcoming academic year. On Wednesday, April 14, the UMass Board of Trustees voted to approve President Marty Meehan’s proposal, which will mark the second-straight year that tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate and graduate students were frozen. “We recognize the very real challenges that our students and their families continue to face due to the pandemic and we are committed to doing everything within our control to lessen the burden while als…
COVID-19: Lost Loved One To Virus? FEMA Will Reimburse Families For Funeral Costs: Details COVID-19: Lost Loved One To Virus? FEMA Will Reimburse Families For Funeral Costs: Details
Covid-19: Lost Loved One To Virus? FEMA Will Reimburse Families For Funeral Costs: Details For those who lost a loved one to COVID-19, the federal government is now offering up to $9,000 for funeral expenses. FEMA announced the program on Thursday, April 8, which is aimed at easing the burden caused by the pandemic. “At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during, and after disasters,” Acting FEMA Administrator Bob Fenton said in a statement. “The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense grief for so many people. Although we cannot change what has happened, we affirm our commitment to help with funeral and burial expenses that many families did not anticipate.” Families that …
COVID-19: Here's New Breakdown Of Massachusetts Cases By County COVID-19: Here's New Breakdown Of Massachusetts Cases By County
Covid-19: Here's New Breakdown Of Massachusetts Cases By County The number of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts continues to increase as the death toll mounts across the state amid what some fear could slowly become a potential fourth wave of the virus. In the latest data released by the state Department of Health, there were 2,252 new COVID-19 cases, which resulted in 36 newly reported virus-related deaths. There were nearly 32,000 active COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts as of Thursday, April 1, up more than 250 from earlier in the week. Younger residents in Massachusetts have seen the largest number of COVID-19 cases confirmed in state laboratories sinc…
COVID-19: Here's Percentage Of Americans Who Think Pandemic Is Improving, New Poll Shows COVID-19: Here's Percentage Of Americans Who Think Pandemic Is Improving, New Poll Shows
Covid-19: Here's Percentage Of Americans Who Think Pandemic Is Improving, New Poll Shows Americans are feeling more optimistic about the nation’s ability to bring the pandemic crisis to an end, according to a new survey. On Friday, March 5, about one year after the pandemic began, Gallup released the outcome of its latest national COVID-19 opinion poll. The survey looked into what American adults are thinking about COVID-19 trends, access to vaccines and tests, and how the pandemic is affecting their lives. Here are some of the survey’s highlights: COVID-19 Gallup found that 60 percent of Americans said the COVID-19 situation in the U.S. is improving. This is the most upbeat…
COVID-19: Fully Vaccinated NY Woman Gets Prescription To Hug Granddaughter COVID-19: Fully Vaccinated NY Woman Gets Prescription To Hug Granddaughter
Covid-19: Fully Vaccinated NY Woman Gets Prescription To Hug Granddaughter A New York grandmother got just the prescription she needed when her doctor wrote to "hug your granddaughter" after receiving her second COVID-19 vaccine shot. Evelyn Shaw’s granddaughter arranged the whole thing with her grandmother's doctor and had him seal the prescription in an envelope for her to open later. As you can imagine, the hug -- Shaw's first in a year because she lives alone and has been isolated since the beginning of the pandemic with just a visit outside her window -- was just what the doctor ordered. The hug.Jessica Shaw/Twitter Shaw, who said she was "stuck in COVID…
Huh? Remote Education Programs Ending, But Will Still Be An Option For Students Huh? Remote Education Programs Ending, But Will Still Be An Option For Students
Huh? Remote Education Programs Ending, But Will Still Be An Option For Students Even though Massachusetts plans this April to end remote and hybrid learning programs created during the pandemic, learning this way will still be an option for students. Families will have the choice to keep their children in hybrid or remote-learning programs or enter their currently in-classroom learners in a remote program. However, the programs are likely to be different than what is being offered now. On Tuesday, March 9, Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley said that hybrid and remote-learning models will no longer count toward meeting the required student learning …
COVID-19: Could A Return To Normalcy Be Near, Despite Concerns Over Variants? COVID-19: Could A Return To Normalcy Be Near, Despite Concerns Over Variants?
Covid-19: Could A Return To Normalcy Be Near, Despite Concerns Over Variants? As COVID-19 rates continue to decrease, many people are feeling cautiously optimistic that normal life will soon resume. A survey of 21 experts found that most of them believe the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, according to research by The New York Times. Americans may be able to get back to their pre-pandemic lives this summer. Unless … Researchers cautioned that people should not underestimate COVID-19.  Although signs are pointing to the end of the pandemic, a shift in the virus or how people respond to it could send infection and death rates to rising again. Fa…
Popular Food Network Star Launches Take-Out Only Massachusetts Restaurants Popular Food Network Star Launches Take-Out Only Massachusetts Restaurants
Popular Food Network Star Launches Take-Out Only Massachusetts Restaurants Food Network star Guy Fieri recently opened 20 new delivery/take-out-only restaurants in Massachusetts - including one in CentralMass. There are Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchens in Westborough as well as Brockton, Medford, Needham, North Attleboro, Reading, and Woburn.  Flavortown is uniquely fit for service during a pandemic. It will be take-out only and chefs will operate out of a “ghost kitchen.” A ghost kitchen is when a business operates out of an existing restaurant. The new locations are not the host of “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives’” first restaurants in the state. Fieri …
Popular Food Network Star Launches Take-Out Only NY Restaurant Popular Food Network Star Launches Take-Out Only NY Restaurant
Popular Food Network Star Launches Take-Out Only NY Restaurant Food Network star Guy Fieri has a new delivery/take-out-only restaurant in New York. “Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen” in Colonie, just outside Albany, opened on Thursday, Feb. 25. Flavortown is uniquely fit for service during a pandemic. It will be take-out only and chefs will operate out of a “ghost kitchen.” A ghost kitchen is when a business operates out of an existing restaurant. The upstate location marks the host of “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives’” second restaurant in the state. The other is in Times Square. Over the past month or so, Fieri has opened 120 similar delivery-only, gho…
COVID-19: This Is How To Prepare Students For Re-Entering The Classroom, CDC Says COVID-19: This Is How To Prepare Students For Re-Entering The Classroom, CDC Says
Covid-19: This Is How To Prepare Students For Re-Entering The Classroom, CDC Says With the Commissioner of Secondary and Elementary School Education calling for all elementary school students to return to the classroom by April, current remote-school students and their parents are preparing to make a big transition. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a three-page checklist for things a family can do to be better prepared for students returning to the classroom. For the most part, the CDC guidelines encourage awareness about services and important contacts, communicating effectively and often with students, and what COVID-19 prevention items s…
US Flags Flying At Half-Staff In Recognition Of 500,000 COVID-19 Deaths US Flags Flying At Half-Staff In Recognition Of 500,000 COVID-19 Deaths
US Flags Flying At Half-Staff In Recognition Of 500,000 Covid-19 Deaths American flags in Massachusetts and around the country are flying at half-staff today, Tuesday, Feb. 23, in recognition of the 500,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19. The US reached this tragic number of deaths on Monday, Feb. 22. More Americans have died of COVID-19 than in all of World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined, according to the White House. The lowering of the American flag is in line with a presidential proclamation that flags should be flown at half-staff at all state and federal buildings. The flag will be flying at half-staff until sunset on Friday. F…
COVID-19: This Is When Life Will Get Back To Normal, Fauci Says COVID-19: This Is When Life Will Get Back To Normal, Fauci Says
Covid-19: This Is When Life Will Get Back To Normal, Fauci Says For as long as the COVID-19 pandemic has been present people have been asking - when will life get back to normal? On Thursday, Feb. 18, Dr. Anthony Fauci made a prediction on when Americans’ jobs and social lives may return to a semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy. In an interview on MSNBC, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said while there are many variables that could change when normal life resumes - if America remains on its current trajectory, life should return to normal by around Christmas, that is, late December. “These are all estima…