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Municipal governments are emerging as important stakeholders in managing the populations and geographic distributions of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in urban and suburban areas of the Northeastern United States. To understand the variation in municipal-level concerns about deer and municipal policies related to deer management, we distributed a questionnaire to all 351 municipalities across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2017 (response rate = 74%) and collected data on local bylaws that influence hunting access. We found that concerns about deer vary across the state and some municipalities are taking action to manage increasing deer populations. In particular, our analysis established the importance of deer and deer management in the suburban regions of Massachusetts, while uncovering many local differences within similar suburban areas. The varying relationships between deer populations, public concerns, and municipal actions illustrated the complex role of municipal decision-makers in shaping wildlife management programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: On February 6, 1978, the largest New England blizzard of the century struck eastern Massachusetts. On request, four days later, the Center for Disease Control provided epidemiologic assistance. On-site disaster assistance provided decision-makers with immediate health surveillance information useful in helping the area return to normal. No outbreaks of infectious diseases and no significant increase in the number of deaths were observed in the week following the blizzard. Some of the deaths which occurred immediately after the blizzard might have been prevented if traffic had been banned earlier. (Am J Public Health 69:1047-1049. 1979.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To estimate the annual prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) in Massachusetts from 2011 to 2015. Methods. We performed a multisample stratified capture–recapture analysis to estimate OUD prevalence in Massachusetts. Individuals identified from 6 administrative databases for 2011 to 2012 and 7 databases for 2013 to 2015 were linked at the individual level and included in the analysis. Individuals were stratified by age group, sex, and county of residence. Results. The OUD prevalence in Massachusetts among people aged 11 years or older was 2.72% in 2011 and 2.87% in 2012. Between 2013 and 2015, the prevalence increased from 3.87% to 4.60%. The greatest increase in prevalence was observed among those in the youngest age group (11–25 years), a 76% increase from 2011 to 2012 and a 42% increase from 2013 to 2015. Conclusions. In Massachusetts, the OUD prevalence was 4.6% among people 11 years or older in 2015. The number of individuals with OUD is likely increasing, particularly among young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of a study on geographic and income disparities in access to health foods in Central Massachusetts. Topics mentioned include unhealthy eating as a modifiable factor to obesity and other chronic diseases, increase in the prevalence of obesity in Massachusetts from 2005 to 2010, and factors influencing food purchasing and dietary intake such as lifestyle choices, income, and distance to the store.

In 1962 the scions of four prominent political families competed for the opportunity to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate: H. Stuart Hughes, Edward M. Kennedy, George Cabot Lodge II, and Edward J. McCormack. The election was significant for reinforcing the trend by which electoral power in the Commonwealth was transferred from Brahmins to Irish Americans, and also for prefiguring a split within the national Democratic Party itself. 530 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only five years ago, same-sex marriage was not legal anywhere in the United States. That changed in November 2003, when the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held in Goodridge v. Department of Health that the state may not deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry. Advocates of same-sex marriage hoped that the decision in Goodridge would prompt courts in other states to recognize this right as well. During the summer of 2006, however, those, hopes were deflated by decisions reached by the highest state courts in New York and Washington. Within a twenty-day period, the New York and Washington courts both held that restricting marriage to different-sex couples is constitutional. In addition, in the wake of the fall 2006 midterm elections, a total of forty-five states now ban same-sex marriage either by constitutional amendment or by statute. In light of these developments, Goodridge seems to have caused a backlash against same-sex marriage, rather than increased acceptance of it. Although numerous commentators have addressed the differences between Massachusetts, on the one hand, and New York and Washington, on the other, less attention has been paid to what these states have in common: Courts in all three states permit same-sex couples to legally adopt children. Given the distinct standards used in same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption cases, little analysis has been done of the similarities and differences between these two sets of cases. This Comment endeavors to fill that gap. By analyzing the reasoning that underlies each set of cases, this Comment reveals glaring inconsistencies. In states that prohibit same-sex marriage but permit same-sex adoption, terms such as ‘marriage’ and ‘family’ and ‘parents’ are defined differently by courts depending on the context in which they are used. This Comment urges courts to reconcile the inconsistencies by embracing the definitions and reasoning used in the majority of same-sex adoption opinions. If courts adopt this proposal, it may allow them to take the first step to legally recognizing same-sex marriage. While this is certainly not an inevitable outcome, it would create a greater cohesiveness in family law and, more importantly, would grant to all citizens the rights and benefits that accompany marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1876 and 1881 Massachusetts experienced an outbreak of human rabies (hydrophobia). The entire state--the Governor, the legislature, the State Board of Health, newspapers, and the citizenry and elected officials of every town and city--reacted to the disease. Central to the response was the Commonwealth's legislature--called the General Court. Through public hearings, their own debates, and the passage of legislation, it resolved widespread fear and anger, mediated conflicting concepts of disease, and promoted social solidarity in the face of an epidemic. This article first narrates the General Court's legislative actions; it then examines the conflicting understandings of disease causality; finally, it explores the social and political rituals the legislature drew upon to deal with this public health crisis. Arguing that public health legislation is simultaneously instrumental and symbolic, this article demonstrates that attention to both enriches the study of epidemics, historical and yet to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the newspaper coverage of the issue of gay marriages in 16 battleground states beginning on September 18, 2003 through November 5, 2004. The research question to be examined is to explain the volume of news articles on the issue of gay marriage. There were several public events that occurred during the aforementioned timeframe. They are: the Massachusetts State Court ruling on gay marriage; the actual gay marriages that took place in several U. S. cities; when President George W. Bush endorsed a federal anti-gay marriage amendment; when Massachusetts began to wed same-sex couples; the Democratic and Republican Conventions; the gay marriage amendments that were before voters in some states; the three presidential debates and the vice-presidential debate; and the general election on November 2, 2004. Time series analysis was conducted of newspaper coverage of the issue of gay marriage in key battleground states during the presidential election year cycle. The purpose of the study was to explain the volume of newspaper stories written on the issue of gay marriage. Was it the issue itself or were there certain events that sparked the news coverage in newspapers and if so, which events? Was it presidential campaign events, like the debates and primary elections, or external events like the gay marriages that were sanctioned by local governments? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers a look at the position of the Catholic Church on the Supreme Court case Goodridge v. the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts in November 2003, in which the court recognized the right of same sex couples to marry. Specifics of the case; Arguments raised by the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts against the decision; Brief history on the political influence exhibited by the Catholic Church in Massachusetts; Information on the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.

In this article, the author discusses the legal, political and cultural landscape in Massachusetts to show that Goodridge was the logical next step of a decades-long process of securing legal and cultural respect for LGBT people and families. At Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and other LGBT movement organizations, we see ending marriage discrimination as enormously valuable to many LGBT people--both those who are harmed by the denial of relationship recognition and the legal protections that recognition would bring, and those who may not marry but believe they are diminished by a state that does not accord them the choice to do so. GLAD did not litigate the marriage issue in Massachusetts precipitously. Short of constitutional litigation, we had made concerted efforts to secure rights and protections for LGBT families through other means, but knew those tools could not address the enormous architecture of protections provided by marriage. Selective litigation must continue because courts say what our constitutional guarantees mean. Several cases are pending, with three different trial court judges post-Goodridge having found the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples unconstitutional.

Focuses on the religion and civil society in Massachusetts. Basis on the right of individual citizens to associate and for their institutions to gain the legal privileges connected with incorporation; Consideration of the freedom of association as a privilege extended to certain institutions that served the common good; Role of law and public policy in defining the contours of civil society and its public sphere.

Examines the mortality rates and trends in Massachusetts before 1860. Criticism on researches conducted on mortality rates and trends in the United States; Methodology; Conclusion.

This article focuses on the birth statistics of Massachusetts during the nineteenth century. The present paper is a report of an investigation which goes part of the way in surmounting the obstacles to our understanding of the trend of American fertility during the nineteenth century by trying to consider the very difficulty which one of these studies was forced to ignore. The difficulty referred to is the degree of under-registration of births in the statistics collected by States. Economist Joseph J. Spengler did try to take this question into account, but the method he used to answer, it failed to produce meaningful results. It should also be pointed out that whereas Spengler was concerned with all six New England States, this study is concerned only with the birth statistics of Massachusetts, which was the first State to inaugurate a registration system and whose birth records are generally considered to comprise the most reliable American statistics of the last century. The investigation covered the years between 1842, when the system was established, and 1901, making a 60-year period extending through the century.