WHAV (https://whav.net/category/region/)
Area chambers of commerce are getting together for a free, joint networking event in June. Members of the Greater Haverhill and Merrimack Valley Chambers join Beverly, Cape Ann and Salem for appetizers, conversation and mingling with Endicott College and Misselwood staff Wednesday, June 12, 5-7 p.m., at Misselwood Events at Endicott College, 407 Hale St., Beverly. Registration takes place online here. There is a registration link within this story at WHAV.net.
AgeSpan is hosting its milestone anniversary lunch, “50 Years of Inspiring Aging: Celebrating the Power, Value and Voices of Older Adults,” on May 2. The event features keynote speaker WCVB Channel 5’s Chief Meteorologist Emeritus Harvey Leonard. The organization, formerly known as Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley and North Shore, are honoring 50 local people aged 60 and older who provide inspiration through healthy aging, intergenerational experiences, community service, caregiving and activism. “We are celebrating the accomplishments of older adults and want to encourage people to rethink the way they view aging,” says AgeSpan CEO Joan Hatem-Roy. “I am humbled by their service to others and proud to be part of an organization working to ensure everyone has the opportunity to live their lives to the fullest and in the communities of their choice.”
The lunch takes place Thursday, May 2, from noon-2 p.m., at Blue Ocean Event Center, 4 Oceanfront North, Salisbury.
What Groveland officials have been sounding the alarm about came to pass yesterday when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed new federal limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water. As WHAV reported last month, Groveland is scrambling to identify solutions since its existing well water currently tests slightly above the limits for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Called PFAS, for short. While the town is considering options such as an estimated $22 million water treatment plant or buying water from Haverhill, Clint Richmond, conservation chair for the Massachusetts Sierra Club, made a declaration. “These costs should not be borne by ratepayers or taxpayers when the problem stems from decades of industries using these toxic forever chemicals,” he said.
Should Groveland move forward with the option of building a water treatment plant to meet tightened pollution regulations, officials project it will cost about $22 million for construction and piping. A treatment plant is one of three options for meeting expected requirements to serve water largely free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known as PFAS for short. As WHAV previously reported, other possibilities are finding new well sources or buying water from a neighboring community, such as Haverhill. Water and Sewer Superintendent Colin Stokes, the Groveland Water and Sewer Department and the Board of Water Commissioners said in a statement said the plant would be paid over time by water and sewer ratepayers. To reduce costs, they said grants or the State Revolving Fund, with low or zero percent interest could help.
The Pentucket Regional School District was recently recognized by the NAMM Foundation as part of the Best Communities for Music Education list for the fourth consecutive year. Superintendent Justin Bartholomew and Fine & Performing Arts Department Chair David Schumacher said the district is one of 23 schools across Massachusetts to receive the honor of being included on the list. Now in its 25th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts nationwide that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. “Applying for this designation was a massive undertaking involving the coordination of K-12 music faculty, all our district principals and the Pentucket Music Boosters,” Schumacher said. Bartholomew added, “Our students are so passionate about music and the arts, and because of strong community support we are able to provide them with an outstanding music education program.”
The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works to advance active participation in music-making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs.
A grand opening of the state’s first automated Amazon warehouse in North Andover near the Haverhill border brought in such dignitaries as Gov. Maura T. Healey yesterday morning. Amazon workers fill customers’ orders alongside robots at the new building that opened in January, bringing over 1,500 jobs to the area, according to Sergiy Sushalskyy, the facility’s general manager. Higher-ups at Amazon as well as local and state officials packed into a white tent just outside the warehouse for the ceremony. Speakers emphasized the efficient and high-tech nature of the operation, which uses robots the governor said were all built in Massachusetts. Touting the state’s high per capita investment in robotics startups, Healey said “that’s the power of being a leader in technology.
Besides her visit to Amazon’s new distribution facility Monday, Gov. Maura T. Healey visited North Andover High School as part of National Robotics Week. The governor met with the high school robotics club and congratulated them ahead of the Vex Robotics World Championships, which they will compete in later this month. She saw their robotics projects and presented a proclamation for National Robotics Week. Healey also visited MassRobotics, described as the largest independent robotics hub dedicated to accelerating innovation and adoption in the field of robotics. “Massachusetts is proud to be home to one of the lead robotics hubs in the world, and it’s essential that we continue to lengthen this lead through targeted investments like the Mass Leads Act,” said Healey.
Horror writer H. P. Lovecraft was on hand locally to view the total solar eclipse of Aug. 31, 1932. Lovecraft, who spent time in Haverhill during the 1930s because of his contributions to the Haverhill-based amateur journalism publication, “The Tryout,” met amateur pressman W. Paul Cook in Boston. The next day, they headed to Newburyport to view the solar eclipse. Lovecraft had been fascinated by astronomy from an early age.
Groveland firefighters escorted a woman from her Salem Street home after a falling tree broke through the roof Thursday, causing “major” structural damage. The extensive damage at the house at 796 Salem St. was among the worst of the early spring nor’easter that also brought other fallen trees, power outages and flooded and blocked streets Thursday and Friday. Groveland Fire Chief Robert Valentine detailed the scene for WHAV. “She was sitting in her living room.