Member Updates

Courtesy of the Stoneham Sun - The board of directors and staff of Stoneham TV announced that four members of Stoneham TV were presented awards for their outstanding achievement at the 11th annual Alliance for Community Media Northeast Region Video Festival on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Days Hotel and Conference Center in Methuen. The video festival recognizes outstanding public, educational and governmental programming in 20 categories to producers in New England and New York. Television programs are judged on their creativity, technical quality and relevance to the subject area.

Stoneham High graduates Xavier Garcia, Jonathan Garcia and Foley Ibidapo submitted two programs to the festival and received first place in both categories. They achieved this honor in the religious category for their program, “Costa Rica Mission,” a show that documented a mission trip to Costa Rica and they received the award in the diversity category for their program, “Hooah” about the African American Civil War Museum.

Stoneham resident, Randy Perillo, received second place in the sports programming category for his show, “Fifteen Minutes in Stoneham: Football in Stoneham” about the Stoneham High and Stoneham Pop Warner football programs.

The festival committee received over 400 entries for this year’s competition and the Stoneham TV board of directors and staff are proud of this year’s winners.

Stoneham TV is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that is committed to providing a TV forum for the free exchange of information and ideas which reflect the talents, skills interests, concerns and diversity of the Stoneham community. Stoneham TV provides training and assistance to anyone interested in expressing his or her creativity through television production.

For information, call 781-438-8340 or e-mail info@stonehamtv.org.



Mass. Health Care Reform 2.0
The Stoneham Chamber of Commerce is pleased to let you know about a program in which Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), and the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority (the Connector) will provide the most current insight and information about the evolving Massachusetts Health Care Reform Law. There is no charge for this session, but registration is required.
The program will include Mass. Health Care Reform – general implementation update, an explanation of revised Minimum Creditable Coverage regulations and other areas of Connector responsibility, changes to the Fair Share Contribution compliance tests, new quarterly filing requirement, and other updates, practical information and advice on other issues as we head to year-end. To register, visit www.aimnet.org Event dates are November 21, AndoverAndover Country Club, 8-10:30 a.m; December 2, Worcester Beechwood Hotel, 8-10:30 a.m.; December 16, BostonOne Ashburton Place, 9-11:30 a.m.



BOSTON – November 14, 2008 – The Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) today extended the deadline for compliance with standards for how businesses protect and store consumers’ personal information.
Recognizing that the majority of breaches involve the theft of portable devices and that data encryption significantly neutralizes consumer risk if information is lost or stolen, the regulations issued in September call on businesses to encrypt documents sent over the Internet or saved on laptops or flash drives, encrypt wirelessly transmitted data, and utilize up-to-date firewall protection that creates an electronic gatekeeper between the data and the outside world and only permits authorized users to access or transmit data. The regulations were initially set to take effect on January 1, 2009, but in light of intervening economic circumstances, OCABR has extended the deadline in order to provide flexibility to businesses that may be experiencing financial challenges brought on by national and international economic conditions. The new deadlines are as follows:

The general compliance deadline for 201 CMR 17.00 has been extended from January 1, 2009 to May 1, 2009. The date is consistent with a new FTC Red Flag Rule, which requires financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. Businesses addressing the new FTC requirements can now address the state regulations during the same time frame.

The deadline for ensuring that third-party service providers are capable of protecting personal information and contractually binding them to do so will be extended from January 1, 2009 to May 1, 2009, and the deadline for requiring written certification from third-party providers will be further extended to January 1, 2010. This tiered deadline for requiring certification will ensure proper consumer protection and facilitate implementation without overburdening small businesses during harsh economic times.

The deadline for ensuring encryption of laptops will be extended from January 1, 2009 to May 1, 2009, and the deadline for ensuring encryption of other portable devices will be further extended to January 1, 2010. Many data breaches reported to date relate to laptops, and laptops are more easily encrypted than other portable devices such as memory sticks, DVDs and PDAs.
OCABR will continue its outreach and educational initiatives throughout the fall and winter to educate businesses about these important data protection and storage requirements and their respective deadlines.
To review OCABR’s report on data breach notifications, a compliance check list, FAQs and other information related to identity theft prevention, please visit http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocatopic&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Business&L2=Identity+Theft&sid=Eoca.


Stoneham Chamber of Commerce Members were recently recognized in the inaugural issue of the Globe100's Top Places to Work in Massachusetts. The list is created based on the opinions of the workers who populate Massachusetts workplaces in a voluntary employee survey conducted by Workplace Dynamics. Leading the list of 100 best places in the Number 1 position is Winchester Hospital. Congratulations to President Dale Lodge and his community of employees! Comcast Corporation ranked seventh, Baystate Financial Services ranked 12th, Mystic Valley Elder Services ranked 17th and Eastern Bank ranked 77th! Congratulations to each of these members and to their employees!

Elements Therapeutic Massage has announced they are partnering with the Kevin Youkilis Hits for Kids charitable organization, founded by Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis. The organization is dedicated to rallying local and corporate support for charities focused on the health and wellbeing of children.
“We are excited to partner with Elements Therapeutic Massage on this campaign,” said Youkilis. “This is a great way to raise awareness of our organization and rally much needed community support to continue to help children and families in need.” All Elements Therapeutic Massage studios throughout the state will collect donations through November 30,2008. Anyone donating $20 or more will receive an autographed photo of Kevin Youkilis. All those who participate will be entered into a raffle for a free 55-minute massage membership, which entitles the winner to one complimentary massage every month for a year. Some of the organizations that Kevin Youkilis Hits for Kids is working with include The Italian Home for Children, providing a comprehensive network of services to emotionally disturbed children; Christopher’s Haven, which provides lodging for young cancer patients and their families; and Joslin Pediatric Health Services, caring for over 2,500 pediatric patients in Eastern Massachusetts. For more information on the organization, visit http://www.youkskids.org/. The campaign will run in all Elements studios throughout the state through Nov. 30. For more information about Elements Therapeutic Massage or to find a studio near you, visit http://www.findmyelements.com/.