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Daily Update 8/25: Working to Save and Create Jobs

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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

 

Today: Tuesday, August 25, 2009

 

  • The Patrick Administration today announced that Massachusetts public high school students once more scored near the top in performance and participation nationally on the 2009 SAT exam while making gains in performance on the reading and math exams. "Our students make me so proud," said Governor Deval Patrick. "This achievement is a credit to their hard work and the commitment of their teachers and families. We owe it to them to sharpen our focus on closing the achievement gap and giving all students access to the best education possible." Learn more here.

 

  • Keeping with Governor Patrick’s commitment to preserve Massachusetts farms, the Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR) today announced the administration has targeted nearly $1 million toward agricultural economic viability projects in rural areas during FY 2009, while preserving 1,626 acres of farmland. Learn more here.

 

In the Press:

 

  • Expanding Access to Broadband – Under Governor Patrick’s leadership to expand broadband services throughout Massachusetts, the state is seeking $105 million in federal economic stimulus funds to improve broadband access in the western part of the state, and to draw an accurate map of available broadband services statewide. The Massachusetts Broadband Institute filed its request for the last week, with plans to invest $100 million to create a fiber-optic data network that would reach into 43 western Massachusetts communities that now have little or no broadband access. The state estimates the project could create up to 3,000 jobs, and bring high-speed Internet service to more than 20,000 households and 5,700 businesses.
  • Read more in the Boston Globe.

 

 Governor Patrick signs the broadband bill into law last year as local schoolchildren look on.

 

  • Working to Save and Create Jobs – Through continued efforts by the Patrick-Murray Administration to quickly use federal recovery funds to help put people back to work, “a six-month tally of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, believed to be the first report of its kind by a major city in the country, shows Boston has received $172.6 million in federal funds, which has helped launch 41 construction and work-training projects. The city has also used that money to leverage another $162.2 million in matching state and private grants, for a total investment of $334.8 million citywide.” Roughly $720,000 in funding to help in the cleaning and redevelopment of contaminated sites in Dorchester and Roxbury. Lieutenant Governor Murray credited the federal economic stimulus program with saving thousands of jobs and playing a key role in helping to stabilize the state’s economy. “Were it not for federal stimulus money here in Massachusetts and around the country I don't think we would have been that successful in stabilizing the economy, which was on the precipice of depression," Murray said. The state expects to receive approximately $9 billion total from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
  • Read more in the Boston Globe, Metro, Telegram & Gazette, and Sentinel and Enterprise.
  • Read a story in Mass High Tech about British Pharmaceutical company Shire announcing plans to invest $460 million and create 750 jobs by expanding its operations in Lexington – signaling its intent to stay and grow in this global hub for the life sciences. “The company’s growth in Lexington is the result of Shire’s decision to keep its footprint in Massachusetts; The commitment of $40.5 million in tax incentives and grants for public infrastructure from the state and the town of Lexington influenced the decision to expand.”

 

  • Vision for Rail Network – As part of Governor Patrick’s vision for the New England High Speed and Intercity Rail Network, the Patrick-Murray administration submitted the first in a series of formal applications for High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail federal stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Thanks to the support of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation, the Obama Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation announced a plan to identify $8 billion in federal stimulus ARRA funds for High-Speed and Intercity Rail, supported by additional federal transportation funds.  Learn more about the Learn more here.