Oscar® Nominated Shorts To Screen at Park Theatre
Live Action, Documentary and Animation have separate screening programs at Jaffrey theatre starting Feb 25
JAFFREY, New Hampshire (February 22, 2022) This year marks the third time The Park Theatre has brought the Academy Awards Oscar® Nominated Short Films to audiences across the Monadnock Region. They will be presented for one week starting this Friday, February 25. The screenings are at 7:30 p.m. nightly (except Monday) and also a matinee on Saturday, February 26 at 1:30 p.m.
This special movie release features the year's most spectacular short films and for a limited time is available to watch in a theatre.
Each nominee is released in one of three distinct feature-length compilations according to their category of nomination: Live Action, Animation, or Documentary. The theatre will have multiple separate screenings for each category.
Each year, the theatrical release of the nominated short films is the world's largest commercial release of short films on the planet, delighting audiences and giving filmmakers unprecedented opportunity to entertain short film fans.
This year's Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 27 and is broadcast on the ABC network at 8:00 p.m. ET.
The nominees are the leading edge of the world's very best in short film and the future of filmmaking and filmmakers.
Please note that the Lisa Action and Documentary short film programs have an equivalent rating of R. No one 17 or younger will be admitted to the Animated category due to adult themes.
Tickets are $9 and $8. For category specific screening times, tickets and more information, go to theparktheatre.org or call the box office at (603) 532-8888. The theatre is located at 19 Main Street in downtown Jaffrey, NH, just 95 minutes from Boston.
Historic Baldwin vs. Buckley Debate Screens at Park Theatre
The acclaimed debate between James Baldwin and William Buckley screens as part of Black History Month at performing arts center in Jaffrey
JAFFREY, New Hampshire (February 21, 2022) In honor of Black History Month, The Park Theatre will screen the historic debate between African American author and activist James Baldwin and public intellectual and conservative author William F. Buckley, Jr. The showing of the film will happen on Sunday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m. in the King Auditorium screening room.
The highly-publicized debate occurred at the Cambridge Union at Cambridge University in Great Britain on February 18, 1965. The topic of the debate was titled "Has the American Dream Been Achieved at the Expense of the American Negro?" This highly charged debate between these two extremely bright men occurred during the height of the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The 60-minute debate aired on the predecessor of PBS (NET - National Educational Television), and the program achieved a record audience rating for the nascent network.
The film is a significant historic artifact about life and issues in the United States and was curiously debated in the UK.
Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. Go to theparktheatre.org to register for your free tickets. You can also call the box office at (603) 532-8888. The theatre is located at 19 Main Street in downtown Jaffrey, New Hampshire, just 95 minutes from Boston.
Park Theatre Produces Irish Festival
St. Patrick's week "Shamrock Festival" includes parade, concerts, comedy, speakers, films, and more
JAFFREY, New Hampshire (February 21, 2022) The Jaffrey St. Patrick's Day Parade returns after a two-year hiatus due to Covid. It will now be part of a week of Irish culture and events produced by The Park Theatre in Jaffrey.
The Jaffrey St. Patrick's Day Parade began in 2018 and came back in 2019 with an audience that made it the second-largest St. Pat's parade in the state after Manchester. Sadly, Covid's effects made it necessary to cancel the 2020 and 2021 parades. It is back in 2022 with more bands, floats, marchers, and performers. The parade will start the festival on Saturday, March 12 at 2pm. It commences at St. Patrick's Parish on Main Street in Jaffrey and winds its way downtown and past the theatre. The parade will be broadcast live from 1 to 3pm on radio station WKNE.
The Park Theatre has taken over the management and production of the parade. They have also created The Shamrock Festival, an eight-day festival of music, dance, comedy, speakers, and movies.
On the evening of March 12, Grammy® winner and co-founder of the global sensation, Celtic Woman, Máiréad Nesbitt, will perform with her famous violin along with the Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki Trio. She has enchanted audiences around the world. She is inspired by her passion for music, Celtic Irish Lore, and Ireland's landscapes. Her concert is at 8pm on March 12, and all reserved-seat tickets are $40.
Irish movie classics will be shown at the festival during the week. Titles include, In the Name of The Father, Barry Lyndon, The Butcher Boy, and Michael Collins. All films will be presented in the Eppes Auditorium on the 27-foot widescreen and 17-speaker ultra surround sound.
Ireland's best-selling novelist Olive Collins is flying from Ireland and will discuss her books and have a talkback on Sunday, March 13 at 4pm. After her talk, The Flying Irish Dancers from Ashby, Massachusetts, will perform. Tickets for this combined event are $6.00.
Boston Irish comedian Mike Donovan will headline the Monad Knock-Knock stand-up "green edition" on St. Patrick's Day, Thursday, March 17 at 8pm. Tickets are $12.
The leading traditional band from Ireland, Téada, will perform on Friday, March 18. The band has a truly worldwide reach. Téada has appeared as a frequent headliner at major music festivals throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Russia, Israel, and Australia. Highlights include a 30,000-capacity stadium concert in Brittany and performances at Rainforest World Music Festival & Penang World Music Festival in Malaysia. They will perform in the Eppes Auditorium at 7:30pm. Reserved tickets are $29, $35 and $39. This concert is sponsored by Grove Street Fiduciary of Peterborough.
The festival ends on Saturday, March 19 at 7:30pm with the Chris Fitz Band from Boston. Chris is the king of blues-rock in New England. This will be a dance concert to accommodate the spirit to dance to Chris' music. The event will utilize the dance floor in the Eppes Auditorium for the first time. All tickets are $20 and it is general admission.
The Shamrock Festival is sponsored by Guinness & Amoskeag Beverage as well as the Monadnock Broadcasting Group. Information and schedules for the festival can be found at theparktheatre.org.
"In our quest to be one of the most dynamic of the new breed of small performing arts centers on the east coast, The Park Theatre is launching a series of franchise events as it marks its sixth month of operation since launching last summer. The first event is the Shamrock Festival week. We will continue with other multi-day events in the future, including the PechaKucha 20X20 storytelling series, NHJazz Festival, BluzeFest, and a comic book convention coproduced with Escape Hatch Books of Jaffrey," said Steve Jackson, CEO, Managing Director of The Park Theatre.
All tickets for events at The Shamrock Festival can be purchased online at theparktheatre.org, via phone (603) 532-8888, or at the theatre box office at 19 Main Street in Jaffrey, NH. Masks are mandatory at all Park Theatre events. The Park Theatre is 95 minutes from downtown Boston.
Nova Arts Events for This Weekend
Nova Arts is proud to continue in person entertainment at 48 Emerald St in Keene NH!
Friday, February 25, The Folksoul Band will be performing. The Folksoul Band creates new music from old traditions, combining horns, vocals, wild rhythms, and New Orleans Mardi Gras spirit to create music for celebration and dancing. No other band sounds quite like this one, or makes music exactly like it. It is high-spirited music generated by the musicians and the instruments themselves, and it's an interesting assortment on both counts! The doors for this event open at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available on our website novaarts.org, under the "events" tab.
Information on The Thing in the Spring can also be found on our website under "The Thing" tab.
Please help us continue to provide live shows by wearing masks when moving about the space.
Nova Arts is supported by and under the fiscal sponsorship of Arts Alive.
Auditor Bump Certifies State Must Pay Communities $2.08 Million for This Year's Elections
Recent re-precincting in 89 communities increased preliminary cost certifications by 11%
BOSTON (February 2, 2022) - In a letter to Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin, State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump determined and certified that the state must pay communities $2,083,736.08 to cover the cost of extra mandated polling hours for the September 2022 state primary and November 2022 general elections.
"Our democracy is strengthened when we make it easier for residents to access the ballot box," Bump said. "Expanding access to the polls is important, but comes at a significant cost to municipalities, which is why the work my office does to ensure they are adequately reimbursed is some of the most important work we do."
In 1983, the Legislature passed the Uniform Polling Hours Law, which mandated that cities and towns open polling locations for at least 13 hours on primary and general election days, an extension from the 10 hours initially required by law. Recognizing that this would be an unfunded mandate on these communities, the Legislature also included language in the bill directing the State Auditor to certify the additional costs communities face to provide these extended polling hours. Based on this certification, the Secretary of the Commonwealth provides funding to offset their expenses. Since 1984, the Office of the State Auditor has certified approximately $32.2 million for direct state payments to cities and towns for this mandate.
In accordance with the Uniform Polling Hours Law, which requires the cost certification to be submitted to the Secretary of the Commonwealth by September 15, the Auditor's Office submitted a preliminary cost certification of $1,877,101.48. The re-districting and re-precincting that occurred following the release of 2020 census data in September resulted in a $206,634.60 (11%) increase in total certification from the preliminary certification, with 89 communities across the Commonwealth impacted. While the City of Boston is still undergoing its redistricting process which may further impact the final certification, it reported the highest anticipated costs at $245,835, while the Town of West Stockbridge reported the lowest, at $229.50.
Bump also renewed her call for the Legislature to address the ongoing unfunded mandate caused by the Early Voting Law.
"Early voting has been a success in the Commonwealth, but the lack of a consistent and predictable method for funding this service has created uncertainty in local government budgets," Bump said. "The state should create a permanent process to allocate funds to cities and towns to provide early voting and vote-by-mail, and it should be modeled after the success of the Uniform Polling Hours Law."
In 2017, responding to petitions from Oxford and Woburn, Bump determined part of the Early Voting Law was an unfunded mandate on cities and towns. Since then, the Commonwealth has not put in place a permanent process to address this cost on communities. Instead, the state has provided relief in ad hoc legislation passed after the 2016, 2018 and 2020 elections to retroactively reimburse communities for their mandated expenses related to this service. Bump has developed and advocated for legislation to create an early voting cost certification process.
Bump's certification is available here.
Municipal breakdown of certified uniform polling hours costs can be found here.
Audit Finds Contracts Authorized by State's Public Construction Agency Did Not Meet Workforce Participation Goals for Women and Minorities
BOSTON (February 23, 2022) - An audit released today by the Office of State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump (OSA) found inadequacies in the state's Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) processes to ensure equal opportunity staffing requirements of its contractors for women and minority participation. The audit, which reviewed the period of January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2020, also found that DCAMM's internal control plan was not updated with a coronavirus pandemic component as required by the Comptroller's Office, and employees' cybersecurity awareness training certificates were not retained by DCAMM. This audit is one in a series of performance audits that focuses on equitable access and equitable results for services and programs provided by state agencies and their contractors.
"Both state law and state contracts impose on contractors obligations to create opportunities for women and non-white persons to move into these well-paid jobs in the design and construction of public infrastructure. DCAMM has not been diligent in its monitoring and enforcement of these requirements. All state agencies must ensure that the jobs we create through state spending afford opportunities for all demographics, not just those groups who have traditionally held the positions. I am glad to see that DCAMM is implementing our recommendations in this area; it is important that they stay vigilant and proactive on these issues moving forward," said Auditor Bump.
The audit found that DCAMM did not have sufficient processes in place to effectively monitor its contractors' compliance with workforce participation goals for women and minorities. According to state guidelines, each construction contract should include workforce participation goals of 15.3% of the hours of construction work performed should be done by minority workers and 6.9% by female workers. The audit found that of the 127 construction contracts active during the audit period, 120 (95%) did not meet the women's workforce participation goal, 78 (61%) did not have any hours worked by women. In addition, 81 (64%) of the 127 contracts did not meet the minority workforce participation goal, and 36 of those (28%) did not have any hours worked by minorities.
The audit also found issues with documentation at DCAMM. Specifically, the audit found that there were no cybersecurity awareness training certificates in the personnel file for any of the 424 active DCAMM employees in 2019, and issues were identified in the documentation of information supporting DCAMM's Fiscal Year 2020 annual report submitted to the state legislature. Additionally, DCAMM's internal control plan was not updated with a 2019 coronavirus pandemic component, as required by the Office of the Comptroller's internal controls guidance issued in September 2020.
To address the issues identified, the audit recommends DCAMM develop policies and procedures to monitor its contractors' compliance with achieving workforce participation goals for women and minorities, update its internal control plan when significant changes occur, and keep cybersecurity awareness training certificates in employee personnel files. Based on its response, DCAMM is taking steps to address these issues.
DCAMM is the state agency responsible for capital planning, public building construction, facilities management, and real estate services for the Commonwealth. It manages more than two billion dollars annually in state-funded construction projects and 550 active leases, consisting of more than five million square feet of office space that house state agencies. DCAMM received state appropriations of $19,118,113 and $22,603,445, respectively, for fiscal years 2019 and 2020.
The full audit report is available here.
US Department of Labor recovers $221K in back wages, damages for nursing staff after re-investigation again finds violations at treatment facility
Clearbrook Treatment Center continued to shortchange workers' overtime wages
LAUREL RUN, PA (February 24, 2022) - An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor recovered $221,307 in back wages and damages for 32 nursing staff employees of a Luzerne County treatment center found to be intentionally shortchanging workers of their overtime pay repeatedly.
A consent judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Feb. 18, 2022, ordered payment of the back wages and liquidated damages by defendants Banyan Treatment Center LLC, Wilkes-Barre Treatment LLC which operates as Clearbrook Treatment Center in Laurel Run, and Banyan's Vice President of Human Resources Joseph Bozza. The court's action follows an investigation by the department's Wage and Hour Division that determined the employer manually deducted a 30-minute break from nurses unable to take their lunch breaks. By doing so, the employer failed to pay full wages to the affected workers.
In addition to the back wages and liquidated damages, the court ordered Clearbrook to pay a $33,184 civil money penalty, assessed by the department due to the repeat and willful nature of the violations. A 2019 investigation by the division found the treatment center committed similar violations.
"Caregiving employees often respond to emergencies, answer phones or monitor public facing posts during their meal breaks. The time they spend doing so is time worked and they must be paid for that time," explained Wage and Hour District Director Alfonso Gristina in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. "Clearbrook Treatment Center's staff provide their clients with essential services and they deserve to be paid all of their hard-earned wages. The Wage and Hour Division will not tolerate willful violations of workers' rights."
"This consent judgment will help to ensure that employees are paid for all of the hours they work, and that employers who violate the law are held accountable," said Adam Welsh, Counsel for Wage and Hour with the department's Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia.
Owned by Banyan Treatment Center in Pompano Beach, Florida, Clearbrook Treatment Center provides inpatient drug rehabilitation services at locations in Laurel Run and in Winchendon, Massachusetts. Banyan Treatment Center operates 14 locations in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Texas.
For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. The division protects workers regardless of immigration status and can communicate with workers in more than 200 languages.