Category: Rushmie Kalke
Local Companies to Benefit from Proposed Defense Appropriations Bill
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 – Five Merrimack Valley companies would be in line for tens of millions of dollars in federal money if Congress passes this year’s defense spending bill, which was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday.
Andover-based Raytheon Corp. would get $10 million for its advanced radar technology, and Malden Mills in Lawrence would receive $14 million for military textile projects as part of the defense department’s funding for military technology research.
“Raytheon is very pleased with Sen. Kennedy’s efforts,” said Raytheon spokesman Thomas Saunders of the Massachusetts senator who lobbied for state companies to be included in the legislation.
General Electric would get $40 million for airplane engine upgrades and parts; Ahura Corp. would pull down $4 million for its handheld chemical and biological agent detectors; and Textron Inc. would receive $9 million for its munitions technology. All three companies have operations in Wilmington.
“Merrimack Valley continues to be a major contributor to military invention, technology and growth,” Kennedy said in a statement to the Eagle-Tribune. “I’m proud that so many of our defense companies call the Merrimack Valley home.”
The bill authorizes a $440.2 billion budget in 2006 for the Department of Defense. Massachusetts companies and colleges would receive $145 million if the bill is passed in its current form.
These funds are in addition to the $35 million for the National Guard and Reserve bases in the state provided in a separate military construction bill, which includes a $17 million allocation for a maintenance shop at Camp Curtis Guild in Reading, $2.5 million for an Army Readiness Center at Camp Edwards on Cape Cod, and $7.1 million for a weapons maintenance and training facility at Barnes National Guard Base in Westfield.
After the defense spending bill is debated on the Senate floor, which could take anywhere from a day to two weeks, it will be voted on and is expected to pass, a spokesperson for the Senate Appropriations Committee said.
Then House and Senate negotiators will meet to iron out any differences between the two chambers’ versions of the bill. After each passes the new version, it would go to the president for signing.
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Local Activists Protest Iraq War in Washington
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 - A gray cloud cover darkened the sky over the Mall Saturday but it didn't dampen the spirit of protesters who came in droves to voice their opinions about the war in Iraq.
"The vast numbers (of protesters) display what people think about the amount of death -not just American but Iraqis too," said 21-year old Thomas Cobb who attends Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.
The yard behind the Washington Monument was filled with people-young, old and of every ethnicity - carrying colorful signs, rallying the crowd with cries of "war is not the answer" or simply witnessing the day's events.
United for Peace and Justice, one of the rally's co-organizers, had anticipated 100,000 to show up for the rally.
A steady stream of people wandered through a makeshift graveyard of tiny wooden crosses. Beyond the graves were rows of combat boots, each pair with a name tag of a soldier who died in Iraq.
Poster slogans showed the diversity of opinions among the protesters. They ran the gamut from outrage about the war, to criticism of the country's interest in Middle Eastern oil, to anger about military budgets and to concerns about apathy.
"If you aren't worried or mad, you're not paying attention," read one sign.
In Cobb's case, he is against the war but he said he was not against the idea of war completely. In Afghanistan "our actions in search of a person, a terrorist were very justifiable." But being in Iraq, he said, doesn't make sense.
Meghan Walsh, 21, a student at Boston University who came with Cobb, said, "There is a time for it but now is the time to send out troops home. We aren't being told the truth."
The criticisms of many of the protesters focused on President Bush. Behind the White House a loud chorus of people chanted, "Shame on Bush."
The march was scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. but didn't begin moving down 15 th Street in front of the Department of Commerce building until an hour later.
Protesters from United for Peace and Justice were slated to lead the march with Cindy Sheehan and the Rev. Jesse Jackson but the congested streets forced them to turn down Constitution Avenue, not part of the parade route.
The group was blocked by 12 horse-mounted police officers and other security personnel. After discussions between police and United for Peace leaders - that left protesters standing around for an hour - the group rejoined the march on the designated route.
Donald B. Abbott, 63, of Andover, met his daughter and two grandsons from Kentucky at the march. He flew from Massachusetts to Baltimore in the morning. Slight hiccups with the subway system meant that he had to jump into a cab with four strangers from a Metro station but he still managed to get to the Mall by 9:30 a.m.
Coming this weekend to express his unhappiness about the war in Iraq was important, he said.
"For me, if there was a time, the time is now," said Abbott, a member of the Merrimack Valley People for Peace.
He said he is hopeful for change and for legislators to listen to the protesters.
"If they haven't heard, they won't be in office much longer," he said.
"But I'm here doing it for my grandsons," Abbott said. "I'm glad they got to take part in it."
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Health Care Inequalities Discussed at National Conference
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 - Prostate cancer can strike any man. But black men have more reason to worry.
While one in six men will get prostate cancer, incidence rates are higher for blacks than for whites, according to the American Cancer Society. And blacks also are twice as likely to die of the disease.
The problem was addressed at a conference here this week hosted by the Waltham-based Prostate Health Education Network Inc., which was founded by Thomas A. Farrington of Concord.
Early detection is key, said Farrington, a five-year prostate cancer survivor, on Tuesday at the African American Prostate Cancer Disparity Summit.
The two-day conference - the first of its kind - had the support of prostate cancer survivor Sen. John Kerry and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.). Legislators, medical professionals and health advocates from around the country stressed the importance of preventive prostate cancer screenings for black men.
"When it comes to prostate cancer, too many African-American men are dying in a health care system that fails to respond to their needs," Kerry said. "The tragedy is that we can do better."
The causes of the disparities, said Dr. Carmen L. Pisc, an oncologist affiliated with the Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, are complex, but involve both genetic background and socioeconomic factors, such as inadequate access to health care.
Blacks make up 12 percent of the country's population, according to 2000 Census data, but account for 24 percent of the nation's poor, a central issue of health care accessibility. In Essex County, for example, blacks are 3 percent of the population, but 6 percent of the people below the poverty level are black.
Doctors agree, however, that early diagnosis can bridge the racial gap in mortality rates. It's getting patients in for screening that is difficult.
Cultural issues play a factor, Pisc said. For instance, in his address to the summit Meeks said: "Brothers cringe at the mention of impotence or incontinence. They think it makes them less of a man. So they don't deal with it."
Pisc said, "Ideally we need to go out into the community" to answer questions and "go out there to have frank discussions and put the issues out on the table."
She said she doesn't turn down opportunities to speak with the community about prostate, breast and skin cancers. With her male patients over 50 years old, she asks a series of questions gauging changes in sexual and urination functions, the "silent symptoms" as she refers to them, and urges primary care physicians she works with to do the same.
In Lawrence, Mayor Michael J. Sullivan formed a health task force in 2002 to address the city's health issues, including prostate and breast cancer. The task force has worked with Lawrence General Hospital, the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and the Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen to offer free prostate screenings for uninsured and underinsured men.
"The real way the city can help is to promote people's health," Sullivan said.
Sullivan received a letter last year from a woman who had forced her husband to go to a prostate screening clinic set up by the task force. The screening detected cancer and the man was given a 95 percent cure rate, Sullivan said.
"It tells me how important this is. We need to continue the effort," he said, adding that there are thousands more men out there who are either afraid to get the tests or don't have the money.
At the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, doctors are being trained to address patients' cultural differences, said Dr. William K. Oh, an oncologist at the hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School.
"People have to see we are interested in helping them," he said.
Oh said researchers have been studying prostate cancer in black men for some time and "there is no evidence that properly diagnosed African-American men will have different outcomes than comparable Caucasian males."
"It is a very important issue," he said. "But it is not getting as much attention as it should."
Health officials in Massachusetts formed a statewide Commission to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities at the beginning of the year, with members from public and private health organizations, the state legislature, and area hospitals.
The commission is scheduled to produce a report in November for Gov. Mitt Romney's office, according to its charter. The report will include recommendations for improving programs and services and will propose statutory and regulatory changes to reduce disparities in health care.
For more information, call toll free 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org .
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BREAKOUT:
• In 2005, an estimated 232,090 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States
• An estimated 30,350 men will die of prostate cancer in 2005.
• Blacks have the highest mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group for all cancers combined and for most major cancers.
• Black men are about 20 percent more likely to get cancer and about 40 percent more likely to die of cancer than white men.
• In general, blacks are less likely to be diagnosed with cancer at an early stage, when treatment is recommended and effective, and are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage of disease when treatment is either not recommended or is less effective.
Source: American Cancer Society
