Times issues election policy

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The Hull Times will print free announcements of candidacy through our April 21 edition. Final copy deadline is Monday, April 18 at 5 p.m. Please note that no late announcements will be printed.

Announcements should be typed, double spaced, and no more than 500 words. Clear photographs will also be accepted.

We will accept press releases about campaign issues, but not fundraisers. These are the stuff of paid advertisements. Press releases may be published, space available, right up until the May election. We reserve the right to edit or reject any submissions.

During the campaign, the Times may solicit candidates’ views on the issues. Priority will be given to these responses.

Letters to the editor will not be accepted from candidates, and letters supporting or attacking candidates for office will also be rejected. All material published in our May 5 edition – the week before the election – will be subject to close scrutiny because of the lack of opponents’ response time.

Candidates should note that these deadlines may be adjusted if the state Senate election and Hull’s town election are scheduled to coincide on the same day. That would make the May town election May 10 instead of the 16th.

Political ads should be factual and in good taste. We reserve the right to reject advertising that makes assertions that cannot be verified. By state law, all political advertising must be paid for in advance of publication.

For information about advertising, call Roger Jackson at 781 925-9266, or stop by our office at 412 Nantasket Ave.

Press releases and announcements may be delivered to our office, where there is a 24-hour mailbox available, left in our drop box at Nantasket Pharmacy during regular business hours, mailed to 412 Nantasket Ave., faxed to 781 925-0336, or e-mailed to susanhulltimes@gmail.com.

Deadline is Tuesday at 5 p.m. each week. 

(State House News Service) Baker "optimistic" opioid bill gets done before budget debate

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Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday that it's his sense House and Senate negotiators trying to reach compromise on opioid abuse prevention legislation will strike a deal "fairly shortly" and avoid the bill getting caught in the web of late-session dealmaking. 
Despite the fact that he said he's "anxious" to see a bill reach his desk, the governor refused to criticize the pace of progress in the Democrat-controlled legislation and even went out of his way to note funding bills and smaller opioid-related law changes that have reached his desk. 
"I'd like to see it in the next couple of weeks. There's been talk about trying to get it done before the budget becomes kind of the major part of the activity around here," Baker told reporters Tuesday. 
The bills currently under negotiation would take steps to reduce the number of painkillers that can be prescribed at any one time. Continuing to site a statistic that four people die every day in Massachusetts from opioid-related overdoses, Baker would not put a timetable on when his patience might run out. "I get the fact that this is complicated and we proposed some pretty disruptive stuff, but I'm more optimistic about this. It's my sense about this that we're likely to see something fairly shortly, and unless I get told otherwise, I'm going to presume that's going to be the case." 
– Matt Murphy/State House News Service
 

Write On: Journalism Scholarships Available

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The Journalism Education Foundation of New England, a division of the New England Newspaper & Press Association, will award up to ten $1,000 scholarships this spring to high school seniors and college students in the six-state region who aspire to pursue a career in journalism.
This program encourages and supports young people who wish to staff and lead newspapers into the next generation.
The JEFNE scholarship is available to New England residents. Applicants must be a college student or high school senior planning to attend college the following year to study journalism or a related field, and they are required to have a GPA of 3.0 or above.
Interested students can download the scholarship application from www.nenpa.com. The deadline for applications is March 11. For further information please call NENPA at 781-320-8042.

Coast Guard, good Samaritans respond to sinking tug

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The Coast Guard and the Boston Harbor Pilots Association responded to the 55-foot tug boat Emily Anne taking on water with three people aboard Tuesday about 5 miles east of Deer Island in Boston Harbor.
The captain aboard the boat contacted watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Boston to report Emily Anne suffered a breech in its hull and was taking on water in the North Channel entrance of Boston Harbor.
A 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew from Coast Guard Station Point Allerton and an MH-60 helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod launched to help.
The nearby crew aboard the good Samaritan pilot boat Chelsea, from the Boston Harbor Pilot Association, heard the report over the radio, arrived on scene, and recovered the three people. Emily Anne sank moments later.
The Coast Guard Station Point Allerton response boat crew escorted Chelsea to the Boston Harbor Pilots Association pier where emergency medical personnel evaluated the three rescued people.
“Given the nature of the emergency, if not for the quick and heroic response of the Chelsea crew, their lives may have been lost,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Darin Crozier, a watchstander at Coast Guard Sector Boston.
Despite exposure to the cold, all three people were reported to be in good health.
“We were out there and able to help,” said Captain Shawn Kelly, from the Boston Harbor Pilot Association. “If we had been in trouble, I know they would have done the same.”
Pollution investigators from Coast Guard Sector Boston are monitoring the location where Emily Anne sank.

(WCVB) Are turf fields safe? Federal Agencies Launch Research Project

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The Hull School Committee last week voted to have its consultant, Gales Associates of Weymouth, pursue permitting of a synthetic turf playing field through the Hull Conservation Commission later this month. 
The "carpet" for the Hull High field may be constructed of rubber crumb because it's the most cost-effective alternative, SchoolCom members learned. For full details of the board's deliberations relative to the project, see next week's Hull Times. 

In the meantime, Channel 5 TV posted this link today: Are turf fields safe? Federal agencies launch research project.

The investigation is particularly relevant because school officials will be asked to designate the specific material they want to use for field design at the board's meeting Feb. 22 so that the $1.9 million project can go out to bid.

(Fox25) Police looking for accused child rapist on the run

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According to a source who wishes to remain nameless, the police are still looking for the subject of this Fox News report, who has former ties to Hull, as well as several other South Shore communities. 
Anyone with information should contact the State Police at 1-800-KAPTURE. (That's not a typo.) 

Police looking for accused child rapist on the run