WAMC Northeast Report on WAMC

Two organizations in Western Massachusetts have joined to create a support group for those suffering from brain injury, hoping to provide a needed service in Northern Berkshire County.

Scott Doane, a case manager with Berkshire Family and Individual Resources, or BFAIR, said that he didn’t see his own need for a support group for those living with acquired or traumatic brain injury, until long after he realized he was affected himself.

A national watchdog group that espouses the importance of the separation of church and state is calling upon the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to stop including prayers during official events. In response, a Chaplain Alliance is asking West Point officials to allow such prayers to continue.

A new poll finds voters overwhelming support for many of the items that Governor Andrew Cuomo is pushing, including parts of the newly enacted gun control law.  

Steve Greenberg, with Siena College, says the poll asked voters whether they wanted New York to have the strongest anti gun laws in the nation, including banning assault weapons and outlawing magazine clips that hold more than seven bullets.   Greenberg says the measures have broad support, at 73% to 26%.

The Vermont School Boards, and the Vermont Superintendents, Associations have released a five point agenda that they say will create a world-class education system in the state.

The agenda for a World Class Education system includes universal access to pre-K education, creation of Innovation Zones, personal learning plans, revision of the collective bargaining system and greater family involvement in education.  Vermont Superintendents Association Executive Director Jeff Francis says the state has a good public education system, but in a global economy it must be better.  Francis explains that the associations began crafting the five-point plan last fall.

The Governor of Massachusetts has filed new legislation that would introduce stricter regulations on gun ownership. The bill includes strict background checks and closing licensing loopholes. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

Governor Patrick announced the legislation just over a month after the shooting deaths of children and educators in the massacre in Newtown, Conn, and only one day after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the SAFE Act, putting tighter restrictions on gun ownership in the Empire State.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is expected to call for higher taxes in his State of the Commonwealth address tonight.

Governor Deval Patrick started making the case for higher taxes Monday when he endorsed a plan from the state department of transportation to increase spending by more than $1 billion a year on the highway system, commuter rail and regional transit authorities.

Your afternoon regional weather summary with meteorologist Garett Argianas.

The interview won’t air until tomorrow, but the story that Lance will admit to Oprah of using performance enhancing drugs makes us all ask the same question.  Does Oprah still have a network?

That’s really the only revelation likely to come from the dialogue, since only the most ardent disbelievers still imagined Lance rode clean all these years.  He’ll tell the public limited facts about the process, although allegedly he won’t admit to being the so called “ring leader” of the sophisticated drug program.  He’ll simply admit to being just another guy in the peloton who doped to stay relevant, just like everyone else on the road.  He’s part of the gang, just no Al Capone.  Given Armstrong’s actions over the years, it’s hard to image this to be true.  But truth seekers will have to settle for this for the time being.

The new firearms limitations passed in New York State include provisions that restrict those with mental illnesses from gun ownership. While mental health advocates don’t have a problem with tightening the state’s gun laws, they are concerned that the mental health clauses could inadvertently create more problems.