This law would help make all police equal
Police officers are 25 times more likely to experience cardiac disease than any other profession, so in 1950, Massachusetts passed the Heart Law, ensuring these officers have proper insurance and retirement care.
FTC warns veterans of VA benefit fraud
In 2025, nearly 400 officers are left out of this care–like college campus, mental health, and MassPORT police–simply because their agencies were not listed in the text of the bill.
Ludlow Senator Jake Oliveira, alongside officers and advocates from across the state, are looking to update the law.
Jose Rivera is the chief of police at Springfield Technical Community College. He suffered a heart attack that began at work, and knew he'd have to return to work quickly to support his family.
'I knew then as I know today that I'm not covered by the Heart Law. Retirement at that point, or even now, would be financially devastating,' said Rivera.
Advocates for the law, including a UMass Amherst lieutenant, clarified that officers seeking benefits from the Heart Law would undergo medical examinations to determine eligibility.
'Including these forgotten officers does not grant automatic shelter. It simply opens the door for them to seek it,' said UMass Amherst Police Lieutenant James Sullivan.
This bill made it through the legislative process to the Senate Ways and Means Committee last session, only for it to stall and eventually die. Seventy years after the original Heart Law, advocates say the time for lawmaker action is now.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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13-07-2025
- Yahoo
Can gambling be ‘responsible' in Mass. and the US in the face of addiction?
'High Stakes: Gambling Addiction, Beyond Borders' is a three-part series by New England Public Media looking at the public health movement to address gambling in Massachusetts and the United States, and what can be learned from two countries with very different models of gambling regulation: Norway and the United Kingdom. This is part three of that series. A few hundred feet into the MGM Springfield casino floor, visitors can find the 'GameSense' office, where, amid the loud clanging of slot machines and table games, an employee often stands alone at a desk. They offer swag to get people to stop by — tissue boxes, luggage tags — and are happy to explain how gambling odds work. If anyone feels they need help reining in their gambling, brochures with the state's helpline number are stacked on the counter. The GameSense program has been a centerpiece of Massachusetts' approach to reducing gambling problems, along with Play My Way, a program that allows people to set their own time and money limits in the state's casinos and with online sportsbooks. The programs focus on the 10% of the population that researchers at UMass Amherst estimate either has a gambling disorder or is at risk of one. But with no national commission on gambling nor nationwide gambling policy, Massachusetts — like every state — is on its own to come up with ways to curb gambling disorders. And many addiction experts think the states could do better. A growing number of health and policy makers say it's time to take bolder — and more unified — action, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized sports betting in 2018 and unleashed an aggressive new industry, now legal in 39 states. (Forty-eight states have legalized at least some form of gambling, including lotteries.) 'All (addictions) except gambling have some kind of intervention by the government to impose some constraints and provide some protection,' Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said. 'The sophistication and complexity of betting has become staggering. And that's why we need … protections that will enable an individual to say no.' Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, a New York Democrat, have filed the Safe Bet Act, legislation that would impose federal standards on all sports betting companies. Among those regulations: no advertising during live sporting events, mandatory 'affordability checks' on high-spending customers, limits on VIP schemes, a ban on A.I. tracking for marketing and the creation of a national 'self-exclusion' database. 'Gambling is a nationwide activity. States are unable to protect their consumers from the promotions and pitches, the excessive and abusive offers — and sometimes misleading pitches — to gamblers from out of state,' Blumenthal said. 'And [states] simply don't have the resources or the jurisdiction legally to provide the full protection that's necessary.' The fallout, according to Jonathan Cohen, author of the book 'Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling,' is putting new generations at risk. 'The landmines are placed in front of young people,' Cohen said, 'and if they don't know any better … they step on gambling as a landmine and it just blows up in their face and they don't even know what happened to them.' The gambling industry has come out strongly against the Safe Bet Act. Joe Maloney, a spokesperson for the American Gaming Association, calls the very concept of federal gambling standards a 'slap in the face' to state regulators across the country. 'You have the potential to just dramatically, one, usurp the states' authority and then, two, freeze the industry in place,' he said. Maloney said the industry acknowledges that gambling is addictive for some people, but he said it has already developed its own solutions through a model called 'responsible gaming.' That includes messages warning people to stop playing when it's no longer fun and entertaining, public education about the low odds of striking it rich and supporting access to treatment for those with gambling disorders. Maloney said there is no need for new federal rules on how companies can offer or advertise their products online or in casinos, which he said would only benefit the unregulated, illegal gambling market. 'There are certain stakeholders that are pretending to represent a certain type of player as a rationale for a one-size-fits-all protection,' Maloney said. But proponents of the Safe Bet Act say the industry's 'responsible gaming' model has failed. 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Public Health Advocacy Institute Executive Director Mark Gottlieb said 'responsible gaming' targets people who have already suffered great harm, while a public health approach, such as limiting what products can be offered and how, is 'preventing people from experiencing that harm in the first place.' But Gottlieb acknowledged that new federal regulations could be a hard sell in today's political climate. If the Safe Bet Act doesn't pass under this Congress, he is hoping states choose to take strong action on their own. Massachusetts gambling regulators declined to comment on any legislation — neither the Safe Bet Act nor a pending state bill that would limit gambling options. But they say they have come a long way since the state legalized casinos in 2011, when the approach to problem gambling was 'much more about making sure that there are brochures that are available that explained the odds of whatever game it was,' according to Mark Vander Linden, who runs the responsible gaming division of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The commission says 64,000 people are currently signed up for a Play My Way account, though only a small percentage choose to set personal limits on time and money spent gambling. About 2,300 people have put themselves on a statewide 'self-exclusion' list that bans them from one or all forms of legalized betting for a period of time. Vander Linden said his office is now adapting to the new risks of online sports betting, which lawmakers legalized in Massachusetts in 2022. 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'The sportsbooks really benefited from the diffuse nature of sports betting and from the fact that we have 50 states and 50 laws about gambling,' Cohen said, 'because they were able to show up at every different legislature and sort of run roughshod over them with their money, their lobbying, to get the sort of laws they wanted on the books.' At the same time, many state legislators are tempted by the promise of new revenue from expanded gambling, said Harry Levant of the Public Health Advocacy Institute. He's concerned that could launch the 'i-gaming' industry — online roulette, blackjack and other casino-style games — which is currently legal in only seven states. 'We have empathy for how hard it is for states to balance their budgets in this current political environment,' he said, 'but states are starting to recognize the answer to that problem is not to further push a known addictive product.' What could convince lawmakers to restrain the gambling market, Mark Gottlieb said, is a groundswell of advocacy from friends and family of people with gambling addiction, the same way that Mothers Against Drunk Driving pushed for blood alcohol limits on the road. 'That is really the thing that has been missing from this movement,' Gottlieb said. Meanwhile, industry critics are not waiting for legislation to pass; they are also turning to the courts. In June, the Public Health Advocacy Institute sued Caesars Online Casino and Harrah's Philadelphia casino over what it calls a 'predatory' promotion designed to 'snare' consumers into more gambling. The city of Baltimore is suing several sportsbooks for their aggressive marketing practices. And Cohen said simply publicizing the risks of gambling — in a way that young people will notice — can work too. 'So whatever sort of counter programming that can be provided to Jamie Foxx playing piano and telling you that gambling is cool, I think that would be the place to start,' Cohen said. 'We don't have to wait for government to do that.' This project was supported by a grant from the Association of Health Care Journalists, with funding from The Commonwealth Fund. It was edited by Dusty Christensen, with help from Elizabeth Román. Red Sox rain delay: Sudden monsoon in DC causes stoppage in 2nd inning Sunday MLB insider tabs 'Rafael Devers duplicate' as perfect fit for Red Sox in free agency Funeral info announced for woman killed in Wrentham single-car crash MLB insider connects ex-Red Sox outfielder to NL West contender 'Our final song': Legendary metal singer plays final epic show amid health issues Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
United Way hosts diaper drive to aid families in need
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Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Youth in Springfield showcase mental health in photo exhibit
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Local youth with the Gandara Center in Springfield use photography to spark conversations about mental health. Why is this attraction billboard on I-91 in Springfield blank? Called 'Rooted in Change, United in Growth,' the youth-led photo exhibit took place at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Springfield. The center invited the public to see powerful visual stories connecting underage gambling, health struggles, and peer pressure. Organizers told 22News that it's more than just an art exhibition, it's a call to action. 'And they are given the opportunity to take photos and captions about messaging in their community, so this is the showcase of the change they want to see in their community, what's happening in their community. It's all about youth voices and they matter,' said Priscilla Martinez-Munoz of the Gandara Center. if you missed the exhibit, you can continue to follow the work of these local young artists on Gandara's Instagram account. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
