Boston Discusses the Massacre

Teachers may use this chapter from The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution as a short story for grades 7 – 12., to explore themes of interpersonal conflict, conflict resolution, and the value of law. The chapter “Boston Discusses the Massacre” is taken from The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution (Knox Press, 2020), and used with permission. James Lovell, teacher at the Boston Latin School, discusses the pivotal events of March 5, 1770. As the conflicts that become the American Revolution begin a group of soldiers posted in Boston fired on townspeople in a crowd, killing five. Those in the crowd had heckled the soldiers, who were there to support unpopular taxes imposed by the British. Despite the general animosity of those in Boston towards the regiments quartered among the citizens of the town, townspeople decided the law would be upheld and the soldiers put to a trial to determine their guilt or innocence. In this chapter James discusses with his students the publication of The Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre, which was the collection of depositions of witnesses to the conflict. Questions of law, witness reliability, and pre-meditation form part of the discussion. It is clear from the reading that James is a patriot, but his father, Master John Lovell, with whom he teaches, is a Tory. The reading includes background and context information, vocabulary words, an afterword explaining what happens to James Lovell, some questions, three paragraph writing prompts varied in modes, sources, and standards aligned. Besides questions of law, the reading touches on verbal exchanges with someone with whom one disagrees; questions prompt students to consider how to deescalate conflict in cases when argument seems the only course

From the Boston Stone Jail, 1775

Primary sources can open doors to stories we can only imagine. I share the discovery of an actual letter written by American patriot James Lovell in September of 1775, the more startling because in my research for my historical fiction novel The Cause I had already read a clerk-written version of the letter. I encourage teachers to utilize primary sources to entice their students’ development of narrative, and offer links to excellent sources from the Montana Historical Society

State Methamphetamine Precursor Policies and Changes in Small Toxic Lab Methamphetamine Production

Domestic production of methamphetamine in small toxic labs (STLs) results in significant community safety and health consequences. This paper examines the effects of state-level policies implemented in the middle of the last decade in reaction to a rapid increase in STL labs. These policies focused on controlling access to the methamphetamine precursor chemicals ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and the relationship of such policies with actual STL seizure rates. Data include (a) primary legal research on state laws/regulations in all 50 states in effect as of October 1, 2005; and (b) STL seizure counts for 2004–2006. Results from random effects cross-sectional time-series regression models showed that states with the greatest reduction in STL seizures had comprehensive policies involving quantity limits on methamphetamine precursor purchases, clerk intervention requirements (such as requiring buyer identification) and regulatory agency specification for monitoring compliance and tracking multiple purchases. Criminalizing purchasing violations was not related to STL reductions

Federal Telehealth Policy Changes During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: Associations with Telemental Health Use among Rural and Urban Medicare Beneficiaries

The authors examined 2019–2020 Medicare claims data to compare rural versus urban patterns of change in telemental health use during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors found that telemental health mitigated barriers to mental health services during the pandemic, but were disproportionately beneficial to urban residents. They conclude that to avoid reinforcing existing mental health service access disparities, policies must address factors that limit telemental health use among rural Medicare beneficiaries, especially those over 75 and those from historically underserved communities. For more information on this study, please contact Jean Talbot, PhD at [email protected]

Controlling Methamphetamine Precursors: The View from the Trenches

This paper reports on key informant (KI) and focus group interviews exploring the relationships between methamphetamine small toxic lab (STL) seizures and related activity, and methamphetamine precursor laws. The primary purposes of the KI and focus group interviews were to: 1) examine KIs’ perceptions of the impact of their state’s precursor laws; 2) explore KIs’ perceptions of the organizational and procedural facilitators and barriers to successful implementation of the law(s); and 3) evaluate KIs’ perceptions of the relative importance of various precursor law provisions. Research questions included: 1) What were KIs’ perceptions of the impact of their state’s precursor laws?; and 2) What were KIs’ perceptions of the organizational and procedural facilitators and barriers to the successful development and implementation of the law in their state? This paper is the qualitative analysis companion to (1) a documentation of state methamphetamine precursor laws/regulations in effect as of October 1, 2005 by O’Connor et al.1; and (2) a paper reporting on quantitative analyses related to methamphetamine STL seizures also prepared for the National Institute of Justice by McBride et al2

Incidence Rates of Childhood Asthma with Recurrent Exacerbations in the U.S. Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program

BACKGROUND: Descriptive epidemiological data on incidence rates (IRs) of asthma with recurrent exacerbations (ARE) are sparse. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that IRs for ARE would vary by time, geography, age, race and ethnicity, irrespective of parental asthma history. METHODS: We leveraged data from 17246 children born after 1990 enrolled in 59 U.S. and one Puerto Rican cohort in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes consortium to estimate IRs for AREs. RESULTS: The overall crude IR for ARE was 6.07/1000 person-years (95% confidence intervals (CI) 5.63, 6.51) and was highest for children age 2-4 years, for Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black children and for those with a parental history of asthma. ARE IRs were higher for 2-4 year olds in each race and ethnicity category and for both sexes. Multi-variable analysis confirmed higher adjusted ARE IRs (aIRR) for children born 2000-2009 compared to 1990-1999 and 2010-2017, 2-4 versus 10-19 years old (aIRR=15.36; CI 12.09, 2.99), and for males versus females (aIRR=1.34; CI 1.16, 1.55). Black children (non-Hispanic and Hispanic) had higher rates than non-Hispanic White children (aIRR=2.51; CI 2.10, 2.99 and aIRR=2.04; CI 1.22, 3.39, respectively). Children born in the Midwest, Northeast and South had higher rates than the West (p\u3c0.01 for each comparison). Children with a parental history of asthma had rates nearly three times higher than those without such history (aIRR=2.90; CI 2.43-3.46). CONCLUSIONS: Factors associated with time, geography, age, race and ethnicity, sex and parental history appear to influence the inception of ARE among children and adolescents