The Daily Item from Lynn, Massachusetts • Z18

wednesday, november 6, 2013 the daily item b7 Obituaries state Anne M. Serino, 60 state director of adult education Lynn Mrs. Anne M. Serino, age 60, of Lynn, died unexpectedly Sunday afternoon at her home. She was the beloved wife of the late Ronald Lee Newhall.

Born in Lynn, she was the daughter of the late Angelo Serino and Lillian (Pallotta) Serino, and the sister of the late Richard Serino. She graduated from St. High School in Lynn in 1970 and from Salem State College in 1974. Anne was incredibly passion- ate about adult education and worked for many years as the director of Operation Bootstrap in Lynn before becoming the director of adult education at the Massachusetts Department of Education. She loved her community and was the Girls Inc.

of Lynn Woman of the Year in 2003. An accomplished cook, Anne loved to entertain her friends and family. Anne is sur- vived by her two children, Marcy Newhall of Swampscott and Lee Newhall of Lynn; she is also survived by many cous- ins and nieces. Service information: funeral service will be held in the CUFFE- MCGINN Funeral Home, 157 Maple Lynn, on Friday at 11 a.m. Visiting hours Thurs- day 4-8 p.m.

Gifts in her memory may be sent to Girls Inc. of Lynn, 50 High Lynn, MA 01902. Interment will be in Pine Grove Ceme- tery. For online register book please visit www.cuffemc- ginn.com. Serino Scott L.

McSwiggin, 58 of a-Plus appliance service Co. Lynn Mr. Scott L. McSwiggin, age 58, of Lynn, died Friday eve- ning in the Tewksbury Hospital after a brief illness. Born in Lynn, he was the son of Marcia (Ripley) McSwiggin of Lynn and the late Robert McSwiggin.

He attended Lynn schools and was a graduate of Lynn English High School. He was the owner and opera- tor of A-Plus Appliance Service Co. Scott had a deep passion for motorcycles, as well as sports, especially the Celtics and Patri- ots. He loved animals, especial- ly dogs. In addition to his mother, he leaves his two sons, Michael E.

McSwiggin and Adam L. McSwiggin, both of Swamp- scott. He was the brother to Gail A. Lawrence of Wilmington, Cindy Cormier of California and the late Cathy Gallant. For- mer husband of Ellen (Levine) McSwiggin of Marblehead.

Also survived by several niec- es and neph- ews, grand- nieces and a grandnephew. i information: i a i i a i will be held in the CUFFE- MCGINN FUNERAL HOME, 157 Maple Lynn, on Fri- day from 4-7 p.m. Relatives and friends invited. Burial in Pine Grove Cemetery will be private for family and close friends. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be sent to Northeast Animal Shelter, 347 Highland Avenue, Salem, MA 01979.

For online memorial and guest- book, please visit www.cuf- femcginn.com McSwiggin Edmund A. Mallett, 72 Formerly of lynn BILLERICA, Mass. Edmund A. Mallett, 72, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013.

He was the son of the late Edmund and Margaret Mallett, formerly of Lynn. He is survived by his wife Jeanne Mallett of Billerica, his sister Georgianna Mallett Feick and many beloved cousins on the North Shore. He also leaves an extended family of children, grandchil- dren and great-grandchildren. Service information: His ashes will be spread over the Colorado Rockies where he loved to visit his stepson and family. House poised to overhaul welfare by Matt Murphy State HouSe NewS Service BOSTON House lawmak- ers on Wednesday will consider a comprehensive reform of the welfare system as the state grapples with stagnant unemployment and a spike in homelessness that has policy- makers searching for ways to get the poor off public assis- tance and into more stable employment.

Democratic House leaders have put forward a $20 million plan that would simultane- ously seek to crack down on fraud and the misuse of pub- lic welfare spending, while also striving to match qualify- ing public assistance recipi- ents with job training and placement to get them off wel- fare and into the workforce as soon as possible. The bill, rewritten by House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey, adopts a simi- lar framework to the legislation approved by the Senate in June, allocating $6 million for the cre- ation of new program called Pathways to Self-Sufficiency. The program, however, differs from the structure proposed by the Senate and would have a stronger emphasis on placing welfare applicants in jobs with regional employers over offer- ing other training and educa- tion options, an official said. The Senate plan relied more heavily on help from the Com- monwealth Corporation, chaired by Labor Secretary Joanne Goldstein, to match welfare recipients with jobs or training and community col- lege opportunities. Architects of the House bill also opted against offering a one-year health care subsidy for employers that hire through the welfare-to-work program, an incentive included in the Senate bill.

Anyone over 18 applying for public benefits who is not enrolled full-time in a second- ary school or educational training program would be required under the House bill to participate in the Pathways programs, which includes assistance for child care in the first year as recipients transi- tion to work. Dempsey, a Haverhill Demo- crat, had previously suggested the House would tackle welfare reform in September when the Legislature returned from its summer recess, but the process of rewriting the Senate bill took considerably longer with the committee releasing a pro- posed draft last Friday. Dempsey was not available to discuss the bill on Tuesday, but House leaders plan to detail the proposal for Democratic mem- bers during a closed door cau- cus on Wednesday before the floor debate. No bill summary or press release from Ways and Means was available, but the bill itself is available online. The House has previously voted for many provisions in the bill that were added to the annual budget produced by House Democrats, but were rejected by the Senate.

Senate President Therese Murray pre- ferred to separate the issue from the spending debate, knowing welfare reform would be a priority for her final term as president. Given the weekend and Mon- day to consider and file amend- ments, House members filed 78 proposed amendments to the Ways and Means bill. Some of the amendments seek to strengthen the anti-fraud mea- sures, while others look to go beyond the parameters of the welfare system to raise the min- imum wage and required employers to offer earned sick time benefits to employees. With separate legislation yet to surface relative to the mini- mum wage and earned sick time, Rep. Denise Andrews (D-Orange) proposed an amend- ment that would increase the $8 minimum wage to $11 an hour over three years and tie future increases to inflation, and also filed an earned sick time amendment.

Both the minimum wage and earned sick time are the subject of sig- nature drives this fall intended to give voters a chance to decide the issues in 2014 if the Legisla- ture act. Though the decision ulti- mately rests with the House clerk, officials involved in the drafting say it is likely that any amendments that pertain to a section of the bill will be ruled out of order. The welfare bill would require cash benefit recipients to pro- vide a Social Security number within three months of enter- ing the system, and would pro- hibit the use of Electronic Ben- efit Transfer cards at foreign money exchange agencies to prevent public dollars from being wired to families over- seas. The bill also reduces the time of allowable benefit extensions beyond the initial 24 months of assistance to three months, down from six months, and increases the work-require- ment exemption age from over 59 to over 65. Welfare recipients who leave Massachusetts for more than 30 days can be pre- sumed to have abandoned their residency under the bill, a decrease from the current 60-day window.

The Department of Transi- tional Assistance and recipi- ents would be held to a number of reporting requirements under the proposed law to track the success of the welfare-to- work plan and make sure bene- fits are not be wasted. Those convicted of traffick- ing food stamp benefits would be subject imprisonment for up to 10 years, a maximum $25,000 fine, or both under the new criminal penalties in the bill. The legislation also proposes to suspend benefits for recipients with a balance of more than $1,500 unless they contact DTA, and authorizes the state to recoup cash benefits in excess of $2,500. For families on welfare, income earned by dependent children working part-time and enrolled full-time in school would be excluded from the income eligibility guidelines for benefits, and pregnant teens aged 16 to 20 would become eli- gible for benefits and teen par- ent shelters during their entire pregnancy as long as they meet shelter and school attendance requirements. House Minority Leader Brad Jones has filed an amendment that would direct the Depart- ment of Transitional Assis- tance to develop regulations by 2019 to move toward a cashless benefits system, a change sup- porters argue will reduce fraud and inappropriate spending, but one critics say will limit ability to use the cash assistance for expenses like babysitting.

Other amendments include proposals by Republican Reps. Jim Lyons and Geoff Diehl to require benefits applicants to provide a Social Security num- ber or Green Card number at the time of application. Smoother transition sought for adults with intellectual disabilities by COlleen Quinn State HouSe NewS Service BOSTON School districts and state agencies that help people with intellectual disabil- ities would be required to improve their coordination for young adults who continue to need services once they finish school, under legislation law- makers are contemplating. Many young adults are ing through the and gains made through special education services are being lost when students reach adult- hood, advocates told lawmakers on the Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities Com- mittee Tuesday. People with intellectual dis- abilities often still need servic- es after they turn 22 years old, and the right support in early adulthood will mean less peo- ple in residential placements, according to those pushing for the legislation, filed by Rep.

Mark Cusack (D-Braintree) and Sen. Gale Candaras (D-Wilbra- ham). Under federal law, students qualify for special education ser- vices from their school district until they turn 22. Some then qualify for services from state agencies, depending on their IQ. Too often the transition from school to adult services is made at the last minute or not at all, advocates told lawmakers.

A few young adults with cog- nitive disabilities told lawmak- ers they do not know what will happen to them when they no longer receive services. Christopher Brown, a Bel- mont resident, said he gets help remembering to take his medi- cation, budgeting and finding a job. worried I might get lost after he said. Eric Rice, who turns 22 this month, said he gets help with vocational training, counseling, budgeting, and many other skills to help him become independent. He said he worries he will face the same fate as a friend of his who became homeless once he lost services.

do not want that to happen to he said. The bill bridges the gaps between schools and the adult services system by requiring state agencies to attend at least one meeting before the student leaves school, according to Janine Solomon, an attorney at the Boston law firm Kotin, Crabtree Strong. It gives peo- ple the chance to meet face to face to devise a plan, Solomon said. Dubbed the to Suc- bill, the legislation would require that an individualized transition ized education planning meeting be held no later than two years prior to the anticipated departure date either their graduation date or their 22nd birthday. Along with school offi- cials, representatives from the Department of Developmental Services or Massachusetts Reha- bilitation Commission would be required to attend.

Richard Glassman, an attor- ney at the Disability Law Cen- ter, said the goal is to every- body in the same before the young person ages out of receiving special education ser- vices from their school. Many young adults are not getting transitional services, increasing the chances that they will home and lan- advocates said. People with autism often do not qualify for adult services depending on their IQ level, according to former state Rep. Barbara whose son Rudy has autism. There are thousands of chil- dren who have grown up with educational supports, who then do not qualify for adult servic- es, she said.

Those who do not meet the intellectual disability definition a 70 IQ or lower do not qualify for services from the Department of Devel- opmental Services, according to said there was no coordination between her individualized education plan and his adult services plan. His paperwork was not handed over to MassRehab until the day he graduated at age 21, she told lawmakers. Two years later, he is unem- ployed and living at home, she said. Photo assoCiated Press this July 23, 2013 photograph shows massachusetts state Police sgt. sean murphy, right, a tactical photographer, and his son, Connor Patrick murphy, as they arrive at state Police headquarters in Framingham for his hearing to determine his duty status after he released images of the arrest of the bos- ton marathon bombing suspect.

Mass. sergeant who leaked Tsarnaev photos retires BOSTON (AP) A Massa- chusetts state police photogra- pher who leaked dramatic pho- tos of the bloodied Boston Mara- thon bombing suspect during his capture has retired, just days after he was disciplined for his actions, the agency said Tuesday. Sgt. Sean Murphy was a 25-year veteran who took crime-scene pictures as part of his duties. After Rolling Stone magazine put a photo of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover, which was criticized as inappro- priately glamorous, Murphy gave 14 photos of cap- ture to Boston Magazine.

The unauthorized release included a shot of a disheveled Tsarnaev with the red dot of a rifle laser sight boring into his fore- head as he surrendered in April. Three were killed and more than 260 wounded in the April bombing. Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty. Murphy retired Friday after internal charges against him were upheld including unau- thorized dissemination of infor- mation, insubordination, unsat- isfactory performance and viola- tion of departmental rules and regulation, state police spokes- man David Procopio said. Procopio declined to describe the penalties that Murphy faced, citing privacy laws gov- erning employee records.

Murphy could not be reached for comment Tuesday. His attor- ney, Leonard Kesten, said he was not forced out of the police force. is over. He has his time Kesten said. is getting a full pension, and decided to move Murphy admitted publicly to leaking the photos, which were published in July, saying in a statement to Boston Magazine that Tsarnaev is evil and that his photos show the Bos- ton bomber, not someone fluffed and buffed for the cover of Roll- ing Stone Still, Murphy faced a short suspension and was placed on desk duty.

He was eventually transferred from department headquarters in Framingham and was assigned to the mid- night shift at the Athol bar- racks in north-central Massa- chusetts. Murphy never reported to work there because of an injury unrelated to his job, Procopio said. Mass. teenage drivers getting in fewer traffic accidents BOSTON (AP) The num- ber of new teenage drivers involved in traffic accidents in Massachusetts has been cut in half since 2007 when the state boosted the amount of training required of young drivers, state officials said. But the drop in the number of accidents also came at a time when the number of 16- and 17-year-olds with a Massachu- setts license plunged by one-fourth, according to Boston Globe analysis.

Sixteen- and 17-year-old driv- ers were involved in a little more than 6,400 crashes report- ed to police last year, compared with 12,673 in 2006, according to preliminary figures from the state Department of Transpor- tation. The number of the most serious accidents those caus- ing injuries or deaths has fallen even faster. is proof positive that the law is said Rachel Kaprielian, who oversees the Registry of Motor Vehi- cles. The 2007 law more than tripled the number of hours teens must spend driving under their par- supervision to 40 hours. It also doubled the number of hours needed with an instructor behind the wheel to 12, and required parents to attend a two- hour seminar in order for driv- ers under 18 to get their license.

And it increased the penalties for unsafe driving, which may have encouraged licensed teens to be more careful, officials said. The law also drove up the cost and hassles of obtaining a driv- license, prompting some to put off the process, according to teens. teens are also more likely to rely on other modes of transportation. younger generation for whatever reason appears to be more willing to accept biking and public transportation as a mode of said Michael Knodler a civil engineering professor at the University of Massachusetts who has studied driver safety. The recession also meant fewer teens were working, lead- ing to less need to drive, and less money to buy a car..