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 […]
Author Archives: Fred Thys - Independent Staff
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 […]
Posted inGovernment
Outdoor dining is on the menu again, with some changes
Downtown restaurants this year will have to shoulder more of the costs of setting up outdoor dining, a pandemic-born dining option that quickly became popular with many residents and visitors. The Select Board Tuesday decided that the town should stop covering all of the expenses related to installing outdoor dining areas in front of restaurants […]
Posted inGovernment
Nip ban election cost taxpayers $50,000
The Jan. 13 special election that overturned the town’s nip ban cost taxpayers more than $50,000, Town Manager Derek Brindisi told the Select Board Tuesday. That compares with the $57,000 Town Clerk Kelly McElreatch estimated last May’s town election cost. The turnouts for the two elections were about the same, McElreath said, with about 15 […]
Posted inGovernment
MacRae seeks Republican nomination for state Senate seat
Kari MacRae is running for the Plymouth and Barnstable state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Susan Moran. Moran, a Democrat, announced in November that she would not run for re-election. MacRae, 50, a Bourne School Committee member, is seeking the Republican nomination in the Sep. 3 primary. She’ll face off against State Rep. Matt […]
Posted inEducation
‘You need tissues at these ceremonies’
Josh Charpentier beams as he watches his students enter the room for a rehearsal just prior to the main event: their graduation from high school. Charpentier, co-founder and co-director of Plymouth’s Map Academy Charter School, talks them through the upcoming ceremony: giving roses to those who have come to celebrate with them, bringing their loved […]
Posted inGovernment
Two finance committee members quit over handling of vote on homeless shelter
Plans for a $7 million shelter to house up to 26 families in the Plymouth Industrial Park brought long-simmering tensions to a boil during a Plymouth Advisory and Finance Committee meeting Wednesday evening. By the end of the marathon session, two committee members had resigned in protest of how the meeting was conducted. The Plymouth […]