Sharon Racette says she can taste fumes outside near Plymouth Airport’s main runway. She wonders whether a planned extension of the runway will make it worse. The Plymouth Airport Commission wants to lengthen the runway by 351 feet to 5,001 feet, or nearly a mile long. Racette believes that could bring in more jets, more […]
Author Archives: Fred Thys - Independent Staff
Posted inEnvironment & Health
Plan to pump treated wastewater from harbor to Camelot Park raises concerns
Last fall, fish started dying at Darlene Nickerson’s trout hatchery in Chiltonville. “I knew I should have been testing my water, but it’s expensive,” said Nickerson – who owns Gilbert Trout Hatchery – during a recent walk along her fence-lined and netting-covered brook. “But when you lose them it’s just heartbreaking.” After she finally […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
High-end staffing company owned by Plymouth man fined $2.5 million by state for labor law violations
A staffing company owned by a Plymouth man has been fined $2.5 million by Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell for violating state labor laws. The company, Concierge Services, is owned by Gregory Doyle. Its office is on Franklin Street in Boston, but the company also has a Plantation Road mailing address in Plymouth. Doyle did […]
Posted inGovernment
Desloges seeking Democratic nomination for state rep.
Arthur Desloges is running for the Democratic nomination for the 1st Plymouth district in the Massachusetts House. The seat is open because its current occupant, Republican State Rep. Matthew Muratore, is running for the State Senate. Desloges, a Plymouth resident, will face off against Plymouth School Committee member Michelle Badger and local businessman Scott […]
Posted inCulture
Immigrants find a temporary home, but face an uncertain future
The Baymont by Wyndham Motel in Kingston has become a temporary home to about 300 people from all over the Americas. Ninety-six immigrant families live at the motel off Route 3, where their housing is overseen by the Plymouth Area Coalition for the Homeless. About 75 percent of the families are newcomers to Massachusetts, said […]
Posted inEnvironment & Health
Holtec to pay $200,000 to settle AG’s suit over asbestos disposal at Pilgrim
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell has settled a lawsuit against Holtec, the company charged with decommissioning the Pilgrim nuclear power plant, accusing the company of improperly disposing of asbestos. The complaint, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, contended that Holtec didn’t properly handle waste that contained asbestos and endangered the company’s employees as well as the […]
Posted inEnvironment & Health
Harvard public health professor hopes to bring science to the Holtec debate
Harvard University professor Petros Koutrakis plans to study cancer rates and household radioactive levels in the area surrounding the shuttered Pilgrim nuclear power plant in the Manomet section of Plymouth. The study comes amid increasing concerns about evaporated wastewater from the plant, which shut down nearly five years ago. Koutrakis said his goal is to […]
Posted inGovernment
LaNatra to seek re-election as state representative
State Rep. Kathleen LaNatra, a Democrat whose district includes North Plymouth, is running for re-election. LaNatra, a Kingston resident, made the announcement in an email Saturday. She also represents Kingston, Plympton, and parts of Halifax, Middleborough, and Pembroke. LaNatra sits on the powerful Joint Ways and Means Committee, which controls state spending. As a […]
Posted inGovernment
Planning Board ousts Kuehn from Community Preservation post
The Plymouth Planning Board Monday night stripped one of its members of her appointment to another key town board, the Community Preservation Committee. Birgitta Kuehn had been suspended from being a representative to that committee after she sent an email to fellow Planning Board member Carl Donaldson on Sept. 27 that he called racist. Kuehn […]
Posted inGovernment
Embattled Planning Board member says she’s being muzzled
The chair of the Plymouth Planning Board has decided to ban public comment during a hearing scheduled for Monday, Feb. 12, at which members will decide whether one of their own – Birgitta Kuehn – should be removed as the board’s representative on the Community Preservation Committee. Kuehn’s attorney, Steve Triffletti, said he also will […]