Foundations
Here's a look at documents from U.S. foundations
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Statement from Prosperity Now on the Delay in Signing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
WASHINGTON, June 24 [Category: Economics] -- Prosperity Now (formerly the Corporation for Enterprise Development) posted the following news release:
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Statement from Prosperity Now on the Delay in Signing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
*
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Marisa Calderon, President and CEO of Prosperity Now, released the following statement following the announcement to delay the signing of the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act:
"The bipartisan progress on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is an encouraging step for families and communities facing one of the most urgent ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, June 24 [Category: Economics] -- Prosperity Now (formerly the Corporation for Enterprise Development) posted the following news release: * * * Statement from Prosperity Now on the Delay in Signing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act * WASHINGTON, D.C. - Marisa Calderon, President and CEO of Prosperity Now, released the following statement following the announcement to delay the signing of the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act: "The bipartisan progress on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is an encouraging step for families and communities facing one of the most urgentfinancial pressures in the country.
Today, the United States is short more than 7 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters For every 100 of these households, only 35 affordable and available homes exist. That is not an abstraction. It shows up in family budgets, longer commutes, delayed savings, missed opportunities, and impossible choices between rent, food, childcare, and health care.
This legislation will not solve the housing crisis on its own, but it can help communities move faster on supply, financing, manufactured housing, and local development barriers.
Now is the time to keep that momentum moving. Families have waited long enough. We encourage leaders to finish the job so communities can begin putting these tools to work."
***
Original text here: https://www.prosperitynow.org/news-and-insights/statement-from-prosperity-now-on-the-delay-in-signing-the-21st-century-road-to-housing-act
* * *
Statement from Prosperity Now on the Delay in Signing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
*
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Marisa Calderon, President and CEO of Prosperity Now, released the following statement following the announcement to delay the signing of the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act:
"The bipartisan progress on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is an encouraging step for families and communities facing one of the most urgent ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, June 24 [Category: Economics] -- Prosperity Now (formerly the Corporation for Enterprise Development) posted the following news release: * * * Statement from Prosperity Now on the Delay in Signing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act * WASHINGTON, D.C. - Marisa Calderon, President and CEO of Prosperity Now, released the following statement following the announcement to delay the signing of the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act: "The bipartisan progress on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is an encouraging step for families and communities facing one of the most urgentfinancial pressures in the country.
Today, the United States is short more than 7 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters For every 100 of these households, only 35 affordable and available homes exist. That is not an abstraction. It shows up in family budgets, longer commutes, delayed savings, missed opportunities, and impossible choices between rent, food, childcare, and health care.
This legislation will not solve the housing crisis on its own, but it can help communities move faster on supply, financing, manufactured housing, and local development barriers.
Now is the time to keep that momentum moving. Families have waited long enough. We encourage leaders to finish the job so communities can begin putting these tools to work."
***
Original text here: https://www.prosperitynow.org/news-and-insights/statement-from-prosperity-now-on-the-delay-in-signing-the-21st-century-road-to-housing-act
Statement from Getty Regarding Return of Fragments to Turkiye
LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The J. Paul Getty Trust posted the following news release:
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Statement from Getty Regarding Return of Fragments to Turkiye
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Working with the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and colleagues at the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Getty has initiated the return of 44 architectural terracotta fragments it acquired between 1977 and 1979.
The transfer is consistent with Getty's policy to return objects to their country of origin or modern discovery when reliable information indicates that they were stolen ... Show Full Article LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The J. Paul Getty Trust posted the following news release: * * * Statement from Getty Regarding Return of Fragments to Turkiye * Working with the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and colleagues at the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Getty has initiated the return of 44 architectural terracotta fragments it acquired between 1977 and 1979. The transfer is consistent with Getty's policy to return objects to their country of origin or modern discovery when reliable information indicates that they were stolenor illegally excavated. The objects are not currently on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
***
Original text here: https://www.getty.edu/news/getty-fragment-return-turkiye
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Statement from Getty Regarding Return of Fragments to Turkiye
*
Working with the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and colleagues at the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Getty has initiated the return of 44 architectural terracotta fragments it acquired between 1977 and 1979.
The transfer is consistent with Getty's policy to return objects to their country of origin or modern discovery when reliable information indicates that they were stolen ... Show Full Article LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The J. Paul Getty Trust posted the following news release: * * * Statement from Getty Regarding Return of Fragments to Turkiye * Working with the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and colleagues at the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Getty has initiated the return of 44 architectural terracotta fragments it acquired between 1977 and 1979. The transfer is consistent with Getty's policy to return objects to their country of origin or modern discovery when reliable information indicates that they were stolenor illegally excavated. The objects are not currently on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
***
Original text here: https://www.getty.edu/news/getty-fragment-return-turkiye
Reason Foundation Issues Commentary: Managing Drug Use on Public Transit - A Case for Smarter Enforcement and Practical Harm Reduction
LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary by drug policy analyst Layal Bou Harfouch and transportation policy analyst Jay Derr:
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Managing drug use on public transit: A case for smarter enforcement and practical harm reduction
Pushing transit agencies to manage a public health crisis places unsustainable pressure on transit workers and exposes the need for a more practical model.
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Public transit systems across the country have become front lines of the overdose crisis. While there is not a single national database tracking overdose deaths ... Show Full Article LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary by drug policy analyst Layal Bou Harfouch and transportation policy analyst Jay Derr: * * * Managing drug use on public transit: A case for smarter enforcement and practical harm reduction Pushing transit agencies to manage a public health crisis places unsustainable pressure on transit workers and exposes the need for a more practical model. - Public transit systems across the country have become front lines of the overdose crisis. While there is not a single national database tracking overdose deathson public transit systems, independent investigations and municipal health data point to a growing problem.
Between 2018 and 2022, Chicago recorded 158 opioid-related overdose deaths on Chicago Transit Authority property, New York City documented 79 fatal overdoses in the subway system in 2022 alone, and Los Angeles Metro recorded 19 fatal overdoses within just the first few months of 2023. As transit agencies are pushed to manage a public health crisis they were never designed to handle, it places unsustainable pressure on transit workers, undermines rider confidence in the transit system, and exposes the need for a more practical model that combines targeted enforcement, public health expertise, and dedicated safety resources instead of expecting a single workforce to do everything.
Public transit systems are increasingly caught in a negative feedback loop. Visible drug use has lowered public confidence and perceived safety on transit, and riders have responded by avoiding certain times and routes, or public transit altogether. Lower ridership leads to less farebox revenue, which in turn lowers the agency's capacity to maintain staffing, cleanliness, safety infrastructure, and service reliability. As service quality declines and workforce stress worsens, more riders disengage from the system, creating additional operational strain and compounding existing workforce shortages, as illustrated below. Each stage of the cycle leaves transit agencies with fewer resources and less institutional capacity than before.
* * *
Chart: Transit Agencies Workforce Strain
* * *
The term "role creep", or "mission creep," is an apt description for what has happened within transit systems: People who were hired to operate public transit (like bus drivers or train operators) are increasingly expected to take on additional roles, such as fare enforcers, social workers, and overdose first responders. These roles require rapid decision-making, de-escalation attempts, overdose responses, and coordination with emergency services. This stretches transit systems beyond their core institutional purpose and places responsibilities onto workers and agencies that they were not trained or designed to manage.
Each overdose response also carries a cost, takes time, and exposes the agency to liability. When a passenger is found unresponsive, frontline staff alert security or law enforcement, coordinate with emergency medical services, and document the incident. Some administer naloxone--an opioid-overdose reversal medication--then manage the aftermath, including the confusion, agitation, or acute withdrawal that can turn volatile onboard or in a station. Routes are delayed, operators are pulled from their primary responsibilities, and other passengers are affected.
This tension between overdose response and transportation workers sits at the center of a 2025 report from the federal Transportation Research Board's Transit Cooperative Research Program, titled "The Impacts of and Response to Drug Use on Transit." The publication reviewed five of the largest U.S. agencies and reached a parallel conclusion: Harm reduction measures such as naloxone administration and syringe access are effective, yet they "may present challenges in ensuring a safe and orderly transit environment for all users." That tradeoff is worth taking seriously, but it's not a reason to abandon either goal. Both harm reduction and transit safety are worth pursuing.
Drug use on transit does not exist in isolation from the broader systems surrounding it. Reason Foundation's interdisciplinary harm reduction framework recognizes that these issues cannot be addressed effectively through siloed policymaking where each agency responds only to its own narrow mandate. Instead, the framework focuses on identifying where systems overlap, where gaps in coordination create avoidable harm, and how agencies can build responses that are practical, proportionate, and operationally sustainable. In the transit context, that means combining transportation policy, targeted enforcement, environmental design, outreach coordination, public health infrastructure, and data-driven evaluation into a shared operational strategy rather than treating each issue as a separate problem with a separate response.
The elements of a proper transit response to the overdose crisis
A workable response to drug overdose on public transit needs to operate like an actual system with defined responsibilities, clear expectations, and dedicated personnel. As the riders who skip fares and those generating safety incidents are largely the same group, both revenue and safety problems can be effectively mitigated at the entry to the system. Fare gates, tap-to-enter or tap-to-exit systems, onboard validation, and visible fare inspection teams create a layer of accountability before problems spread deeper into stations, platforms, buses, or train cars.
Physical barriers to entry apply the same rules to every rider, making them more of a design tool than an enforcement mechanism. Additionally, they can reduce maintenance costs, lower crime, and increase farebox recovery. For example, San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system replaced older waist-high barriers that a fare evader could jump or skip with new six-foot-tall saloon-style fare gates. That change alone is projected to raise revenue by $10 million per year, paying for itself in under a decade.
Beyond the impact on annual revenue, these fare gates also had a major impact on maintenance needs and crime. One thousand fewer hours were spent cleaning up the stations, and crime on BART fell by 41% in 2025. This sort of approach worked in Los Angeles, too. LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said tap-to-exit turnstiles lowered incidents of vandalism and "concerns about safety and security" by 50% at the station where it was implemented. LA Metro data shows that 94% of all arrests on the system and 97% of violent arrests involved riders who did not pay their fare. Buses can't use turnstiles, but the underlying logic still applies. While these findings do not establish that fare evasion causes crime, they suggest that access control and fare validation can play an important role in improving system management, reducing disorder, and identifying recurring safety concerns.
Transit workers also need clearer operational boundaries. Several transit systems have already begun building more specialized response models.
After repeated concerns about safety, disorder, visible drug use, and declining rider confidence, LA Metro established one of the largest "ambassador" programs in the country. Ambassadors are uniformed employees stationed throughout trains, buses, and transit hubs, but they are not armed law enforcement. Their role centers on visibility, customer assistance, de-escalation, wellness checks, and connecting vulnerable riders with services before situations escalate into emergencies. They also carry and administer naloxone during overdose incidents and coordinate with outreach teams, transit security, or EMS when necessary. The program was designed partly to reduce the burden on transit operators and partly to create a more constant human presence throughout the system.
Several agencies have also begun integrating naloxone access directly into transit infrastructure. For example, the Chicago Transit Authority partnered with the Chicago Department of Public Health to install public health vending machines that distribute naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and other harm reduction supplies in transit settings.
Denver Regional Transportation District and LA Metro have also invested heavily in environmental design changes alongside staffing responses. These changes included modified station layouts, improved lighting, expanded camera coverage, restricted access to isolated areas, increased custodial staffing, and redesigned circulation patterns to reduce opportunities for open drug use and disorder in stations with high incident rates. After Denver Union Station implemented environmental improvements, calls for security-related services dropped by 60%.
One feature that makes these programs effective is that they divide responsibilities appropriately. Outreach teams focus on engagement and service connection. Ambassadors focus on visibility and de-escalation. Safety personnel focus on enforcement and emergency response. Transit operators focus on operating transit. Transit agencies that separate these roles more clearly reduce the likelihood that incidents turn into a policing issue or a crisis pushed onto frontline transit staff with little support.
Effective approaches also need to address repeat violators. Riders repeatedly using drugs on transit, threatening passengers, assaulting staff, or creating unsafe conditions will continue to cycle through the system indefinitely without intervention. Temporarily restricting access to transit due to behavioral violations protects other riders while acknowledging that public transportation remains essential for many people trying to access treatment, work, housing, or medical care. Agencies should pair those restrictions with a pathway back into the system through harm reduction education modules, meetings with outreach workers, treatment referrals, or behavioral agreements tied to restored transit access.
Poor data collection remains another barrier to addressing drug-related issues in transit systems. Many agencies still lack consistent tracking for overdoses, repeat incidents, response times, outreach outcomes, or the operational impact these emergencies have on staffing and service reliability. Agencies cannot refine interventions when they do not have a clear picture of where incidents are occurring, who is responding, how long responses take, whether outreach efforts lead to treatment engagement, or which stations and routes consistently generate repeat emergencies.
Public transit systems are not going to solve the overdose crisis on their own, but they also cannot continue functioning as improvised public health systems without a clearer operational structure, better coordination, and more targeted responses. Riders need safe and reliable transportation. Workers need support and defined responsibilities. Transit agencies need revenue to increase response capacity. People struggling with addiction need realistic pathways toward treatment and stability. Agencies that build systems around those realities will be far better positioned to reduce harm, maintain public trust, and keep transit systems functional in the long term.
* * *
Layal Bou Harfouch is a drug policy analyst at Reason Foundation.
Jay Derr is a transportation policy analyst at the Reason Foundation.
* * *
Original text here: https://reason.org/commentary/managing-drug-use-on-public-transit-a-case-for-smarter-enforcement-and-practical-harm-reduction/
* * *
Managing drug use on public transit: A case for smarter enforcement and practical harm reduction
Pushing transit agencies to manage a public health crisis places unsustainable pressure on transit workers and exposes the need for a more practical model.
-
Public transit systems across the country have become front lines of the overdose crisis. While there is not a single national database tracking overdose deaths ... Show Full Article LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary by drug policy analyst Layal Bou Harfouch and transportation policy analyst Jay Derr: * * * Managing drug use on public transit: A case for smarter enforcement and practical harm reduction Pushing transit agencies to manage a public health crisis places unsustainable pressure on transit workers and exposes the need for a more practical model. - Public transit systems across the country have become front lines of the overdose crisis. While there is not a single national database tracking overdose deathson public transit systems, independent investigations and municipal health data point to a growing problem.
Between 2018 and 2022, Chicago recorded 158 opioid-related overdose deaths on Chicago Transit Authority property, New York City documented 79 fatal overdoses in the subway system in 2022 alone, and Los Angeles Metro recorded 19 fatal overdoses within just the first few months of 2023. As transit agencies are pushed to manage a public health crisis they were never designed to handle, it places unsustainable pressure on transit workers, undermines rider confidence in the transit system, and exposes the need for a more practical model that combines targeted enforcement, public health expertise, and dedicated safety resources instead of expecting a single workforce to do everything.
Public transit systems are increasingly caught in a negative feedback loop. Visible drug use has lowered public confidence and perceived safety on transit, and riders have responded by avoiding certain times and routes, or public transit altogether. Lower ridership leads to less farebox revenue, which in turn lowers the agency's capacity to maintain staffing, cleanliness, safety infrastructure, and service reliability. As service quality declines and workforce stress worsens, more riders disengage from the system, creating additional operational strain and compounding existing workforce shortages, as illustrated below. Each stage of the cycle leaves transit agencies with fewer resources and less institutional capacity than before.
* * *
Chart: Transit Agencies Workforce Strain
* * *
The term "role creep", or "mission creep," is an apt description for what has happened within transit systems: People who were hired to operate public transit (like bus drivers or train operators) are increasingly expected to take on additional roles, such as fare enforcers, social workers, and overdose first responders. These roles require rapid decision-making, de-escalation attempts, overdose responses, and coordination with emergency services. This stretches transit systems beyond their core institutional purpose and places responsibilities onto workers and agencies that they were not trained or designed to manage.
Each overdose response also carries a cost, takes time, and exposes the agency to liability. When a passenger is found unresponsive, frontline staff alert security or law enforcement, coordinate with emergency medical services, and document the incident. Some administer naloxone--an opioid-overdose reversal medication--then manage the aftermath, including the confusion, agitation, or acute withdrawal that can turn volatile onboard or in a station. Routes are delayed, operators are pulled from their primary responsibilities, and other passengers are affected.
This tension between overdose response and transportation workers sits at the center of a 2025 report from the federal Transportation Research Board's Transit Cooperative Research Program, titled "The Impacts of and Response to Drug Use on Transit." The publication reviewed five of the largest U.S. agencies and reached a parallel conclusion: Harm reduction measures such as naloxone administration and syringe access are effective, yet they "may present challenges in ensuring a safe and orderly transit environment for all users." That tradeoff is worth taking seriously, but it's not a reason to abandon either goal. Both harm reduction and transit safety are worth pursuing.
Drug use on transit does not exist in isolation from the broader systems surrounding it. Reason Foundation's interdisciplinary harm reduction framework recognizes that these issues cannot be addressed effectively through siloed policymaking where each agency responds only to its own narrow mandate. Instead, the framework focuses on identifying where systems overlap, where gaps in coordination create avoidable harm, and how agencies can build responses that are practical, proportionate, and operationally sustainable. In the transit context, that means combining transportation policy, targeted enforcement, environmental design, outreach coordination, public health infrastructure, and data-driven evaluation into a shared operational strategy rather than treating each issue as a separate problem with a separate response.
The elements of a proper transit response to the overdose crisis
A workable response to drug overdose on public transit needs to operate like an actual system with defined responsibilities, clear expectations, and dedicated personnel. As the riders who skip fares and those generating safety incidents are largely the same group, both revenue and safety problems can be effectively mitigated at the entry to the system. Fare gates, tap-to-enter or tap-to-exit systems, onboard validation, and visible fare inspection teams create a layer of accountability before problems spread deeper into stations, platforms, buses, or train cars.
Physical barriers to entry apply the same rules to every rider, making them more of a design tool than an enforcement mechanism. Additionally, they can reduce maintenance costs, lower crime, and increase farebox recovery. For example, San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system replaced older waist-high barriers that a fare evader could jump or skip with new six-foot-tall saloon-style fare gates. That change alone is projected to raise revenue by $10 million per year, paying for itself in under a decade.
Beyond the impact on annual revenue, these fare gates also had a major impact on maintenance needs and crime. One thousand fewer hours were spent cleaning up the stations, and crime on BART fell by 41% in 2025. This sort of approach worked in Los Angeles, too. LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said tap-to-exit turnstiles lowered incidents of vandalism and "concerns about safety and security" by 50% at the station where it was implemented. LA Metro data shows that 94% of all arrests on the system and 97% of violent arrests involved riders who did not pay their fare. Buses can't use turnstiles, but the underlying logic still applies. While these findings do not establish that fare evasion causes crime, they suggest that access control and fare validation can play an important role in improving system management, reducing disorder, and identifying recurring safety concerns.
Transit workers also need clearer operational boundaries. Several transit systems have already begun building more specialized response models.
After repeated concerns about safety, disorder, visible drug use, and declining rider confidence, LA Metro established one of the largest "ambassador" programs in the country. Ambassadors are uniformed employees stationed throughout trains, buses, and transit hubs, but they are not armed law enforcement. Their role centers on visibility, customer assistance, de-escalation, wellness checks, and connecting vulnerable riders with services before situations escalate into emergencies. They also carry and administer naloxone during overdose incidents and coordinate with outreach teams, transit security, or EMS when necessary. The program was designed partly to reduce the burden on transit operators and partly to create a more constant human presence throughout the system.
Several agencies have also begun integrating naloxone access directly into transit infrastructure. For example, the Chicago Transit Authority partnered with the Chicago Department of Public Health to install public health vending machines that distribute naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and other harm reduction supplies in transit settings.
Denver Regional Transportation District and LA Metro have also invested heavily in environmental design changes alongside staffing responses. These changes included modified station layouts, improved lighting, expanded camera coverage, restricted access to isolated areas, increased custodial staffing, and redesigned circulation patterns to reduce opportunities for open drug use and disorder in stations with high incident rates. After Denver Union Station implemented environmental improvements, calls for security-related services dropped by 60%.
One feature that makes these programs effective is that they divide responsibilities appropriately. Outreach teams focus on engagement and service connection. Ambassadors focus on visibility and de-escalation. Safety personnel focus on enforcement and emergency response. Transit operators focus on operating transit. Transit agencies that separate these roles more clearly reduce the likelihood that incidents turn into a policing issue or a crisis pushed onto frontline transit staff with little support.
Effective approaches also need to address repeat violators. Riders repeatedly using drugs on transit, threatening passengers, assaulting staff, or creating unsafe conditions will continue to cycle through the system indefinitely without intervention. Temporarily restricting access to transit due to behavioral violations protects other riders while acknowledging that public transportation remains essential for many people trying to access treatment, work, housing, or medical care. Agencies should pair those restrictions with a pathway back into the system through harm reduction education modules, meetings with outreach workers, treatment referrals, or behavioral agreements tied to restored transit access.
Poor data collection remains another barrier to addressing drug-related issues in transit systems. Many agencies still lack consistent tracking for overdoses, repeat incidents, response times, outreach outcomes, or the operational impact these emergencies have on staffing and service reliability. Agencies cannot refine interventions when they do not have a clear picture of where incidents are occurring, who is responding, how long responses take, whether outreach efforts lead to treatment engagement, or which stations and routes consistently generate repeat emergencies.
Public transit systems are not going to solve the overdose crisis on their own, but they also cannot continue functioning as improvised public health systems without a clearer operational structure, better coordination, and more targeted responses. Riders need safe and reliable transportation. Workers need support and defined responsibilities. Transit agencies need revenue to increase response capacity. People struggling with addiction need realistic pathways toward treatment and stability. Agencies that build systems around those realities will be far better positioned to reduce harm, maintain public trust, and keep transit systems functional in the long term.
* * *
Layal Bou Harfouch is a drug policy analyst at Reason Foundation.
Jay Derr is a transportation policy analyst at the Reason Foundation.
* * *
Original text here: https://reason.org/commentary/managing-drug-use-on-public-transit-a-case-for-smarter-enforcement-and-practical-harm-reduction/
Getty and Latino Theater Company Present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings"
LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The J. Paul Getty Trust posted the following news release:
* * *
Getty and Latino Theater Company Present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings"
*
The Getty Villa Museum and Latino Theater Company announced today that they will present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings" for the 20th annual "Outdoor Classical Theater" production this fall. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays, Sept. 10 to Oct. 3, at 8 p.m., with previews on Sept. 3-5, at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale July 1.
The ancient story, originally set in fifth-century B.C. Greece, of Antigone ... Show Full Article LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The J. Paul Getty Trust posted the following news release: * * * Getty and Latino Theater Company Present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings" * The Getty Villa Museum and Latino Theater Company announced today that they will present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings" for the 20th annual "Outdoor Classical Theater" production this fall. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays, Sept. 10 to Oct. 3, at 8 p.m., with previews on Sept. 3-5, at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale July 1. The ancient story, originally set in fifth-century B.C. Greece, of Antigoneconfronts themes of loyalty, familial duty and the clash between divine law and state edict. Latino Theater Company's presentation will set the story in pre-conquest Tenochtitlan, Mexico, weaving in pre-Hispanic music and poetry and bringing Aztec mythology into Sophocles' timeless story. The result is a rich historical tapestry that resonates across cultures, pitting love and defiance against tyranny.
"For over 40 years, Latino Theater Company has reflected the vibrant mosaic of Los Angeles, honoring tradition while serving as a source for bold, contemporary stories that explore the U.S. Latino experience," said Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the Getty Museum. "We look forward to seeing how the company brings their creative storytelling to the Villa's outdoor stage for the first time with what promises to be an innovative rendition of Sophocles' classic tale."
"Antigone: In the Language of Kings" is directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, artistic director of Latino Theater Company, and adapted by Evelina Fernandez, associate artistic director of Latino Theater Company.
Latino Theater Company has previously participated in the Getty Villa's " Villa Theater Lab " program with workshop productions including "Letters from the Black Sea" in 2022, "La Olla-Plautus's The Pot of Gold" in 2015 and "Liz Estrada in the City of Angels," an adaptation of "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes, in 2006.
"Antigone is a timeless story of resistance, conscience and the struggle for justice," said Jose Luis Valenzuela, artistic director of Latino Theater Company. "Set in pre-conquest Mesoamerica, Evelina's adaptation draws upon the rich Nahuatl language and mythology to explore universal themes of faith, power and moral duty. We are honored to bring this powerful reimagining to the Getty Villa's Outdoor Theater stage."
"We want to share the beauty of ancient Aztec literature, culture and rituals that most modern audiences are not familiar with," added Evelina Fernandez, associate artistic director of Latino Theater Company. "These traditions carry a profound poetry and wisdom that still speak to the human experience across centuries."
The play will feature costume design by Maria Catarina Copelli, set design by Francois-Pierre Couture, lighting design by Xinyuan Li, sound design by John Zalewski, music by Christopher Garcia, and projection design by Yee Eun Nam. "Antigone: In the Language of Kings" is produced by Latino Theater Company.
An American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted performance will take place on Thursday, Sept. 24.
Prior to the performance, guests will be able to purchase a variety of food and drink options, including a specialty cocktail and a sit-down prix fixe dinner (space limited; Fridays during the run and Saturdays only), inspired by and featuring ingredients from the pre-conquest period.
Thursday night performances are $45 ($40 for students and seniors), Friday night performances are $50, and Saturday night performances are $60. Student and senior discounts are available for Thursday night performances only. Ticket prices for the previews are $30.
Tickets will be available online or by calling (310) 440-7300.
"Antigone: In the Language of Kings" is not recommended for persons under the age of 13.
About Latino Theater Company : Now celebrating its 41st season as a company and its 20th anniversary operating The Los Angeles Theatre Center, the Latino Theater Company was named a 2025 "Nonprofit of the Year" by California State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas. Dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future, the company has operated The LATC, a City-owned facility housed in a former bank building in Downtown L.A.'s historic core, since 2006, producing hundreds of plays, creating over 4000 jobs and helping hundreds of nonprofit organizations by providing space and resources. Recognizing the Latino Theater Company for its "effective first-class theater center operations," the City recently extended the company's initial 20-year lease for an additional 30 years, through 2056. Latino Theater Company was named to the Los Angeles Times "Best of Latino L.A." and was awarded the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's prestigious Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theater. Artistic director Jose Luis Valenzuela is the recipient of multiple awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award from theater review site Stage Raw and the Gordon Davidson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.
***
Original text here: https://www.getty.edu/news/getty-and-latino-theater-company-present-antigone-in-the-language-of-king-
* * *
Getty and Latino Theater Company Present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings"
*
The Getty Villa Museum and Latino Theater Company announced today that they will present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings" for the 20th annual "Outdoor Classical Theater" production this fall. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays, Sept. 10 to Oct. 3, at 8 p.m., with previews on Sept. 3-5, at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale July 1.
The ancient story, originally set in fifth-century B.C. Greece, of Antigone ... Show Full Article LOS ANGELES, California, June 24 -- The J. Paul Getty Trust posted the following news release: * * * Getty and Latino Theater Company Present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings" * The Getty Villa Museum and Latino Theater Company announced today that they will present "Antigone: In the Language of Kings" for the 20th annual "Outdoor Classical Theater" production this fall. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays, Sept. 10 to Oct. 3, at 8 p.m., with previews on Sept. 3-5, at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale July 1. The ancient story, originally set in fifth-century B.C. Greece, of Antigoneconfronts themes of loyalty, familial duty and the clash between divine law and state edict. Latino Theater Company's presentation will set the story in pre-conquest Tenochtitlan, Mexico, weaving in pre-Hispanic music and poetry and bringing Aztec mythology into Sophocles' timeless story. The result is a rich historical tapestry that resonates across cultures, pitting love and defiance against tyranny.
"For over 40 years, Latino Theater Company has reflected the vibrant mosaic of Los Angeles, honoring tradition while serving as a source for bold, contemporary stories that explore the U.S. Latino experience," said Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the Getty Museum. "We look forward to seeing how the company brings their creative storytelling to the Villa's outdoor stage for the first time with what promises to be an innovative rendition of Sophocles' classic tale."
"Antigone: In the Language of Kings" is directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, artistic director of Latino Theater Company, and adapted by Evelina Fernandez, associate artistic director of Latino Theater Company.
Latino Theater Company has previously participated in the Getty Villa's " Villa Theater Lab " program with workshop productions including "Letters from the Black Sea" in 2022, "La Olla-Plautus's The Pot of Gold" in 2015 and "Liz Estrada in the City of Angels," an adaptation of "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes, in 2006.
"Antigone is a timeless story of resistance, conscience and the struggle for justice," said Jose Luis Valenzuela, artistic director of Latino Theater Company. "Set in pre-conquest Mesoamerica, Evelina's adaptation draws upon the rich Nahuatl language and mythology to explore universal themes of faith, power and moral duty. We are honored to bring this powerful reimagining to the Getty Villa's Outdoor Theater stage."
"We want to share the beauty of ancient Aztec literature, culture and rituals that most modern audiences are not familiar with," added Evelina Fernandez, associate artistic director of Latino Theater Company. "These traditions carry a profound poetry and wisdom that still speak to the human experience across centuries."
The play will feature costume design by Maria Catarina Copelli, set design by Francois-Pierre Couture, lighting design by Xinyuan Li, sound design by John Zalewski, music by Christopher Garcia, and projection design by Yee Eun Nam. "Antigone: In the Language of Kings" is produced by Latino Theater Company.
An American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted performance will take place on Thursday, Sept. 24.
Prior to the performance, guests will be able to purchase a variety of food and drink options, including a specialty cocktail and a sit-down prix fixe dinner (space limited; Fridays during the run and Saturdays only), inspired by and featuring ingredients from the pre-conquest period.
Thursday night performances are $45 ($40 for students and seniors), Friday night performances are $50, and Saturday night performances are $60. Student and senior discounts are available for Thursday night performances only. Ticket prices for the previews are $30.
Tickets will be available online or by calling (310) 440-7300.
"Antigone: In the Language of Kings" is not recommended for persons under the age of 13.
About Latino Theater Company : Now celebrating its 41st season as a company and its 20th anniversary operating The Los Angeles Theatre Center, the Latino Theater Company was named a 2025 "Nonprofit of the Year" by California State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas. Dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future, the company has operated The LATC, a City-owned facility housed in a former bank building in Downtown L.A.'s historic core, since 2006, producing hundreds of plays, creating over 4000 jobs and helping hundreds of nonprofit organizations by providing space and resources. Recognizing the Latino Theater Company for its "effective first-class theater center operations," the City recently extended the company's initial 20-year lease for an additional 30 years, through 2056. Latino Theater Company was named to the Los Angeles Times "Best of Latino L.A." and was awarded the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's prestigious Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theater. Artistic director Jose Luis Valenzuela is the recipient of multiple awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award from theater review site Stage Raw and the Gordon Davidson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.
***
Original text here: https://www.getty.edu/news/getty-and-latino-theater-company-present-antigone-in-the-language-of-king-
Foundation for Economic Education Posts Commentary: Razor-Thin Majority Brings Keiko Fujimori to Power
DETROIT, Michigan, June 24 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following commentary by political theorist Jake Scott:
* * *
Peru's New Legacy Leader
A razor-thin majority brings Keiko Fujimori to power.
-
With just over 99% of ballots counted, Keiko Fujimori holds a lead of roughly 40,000 votes over Roberto Sanchez--less than half a percentage point, and the third consecutive Peruvian presidential contest decided by a margin that narrow. Sanchez led through the early days of counting, carried by rural and highland turnout; but the overseas votes, which broke for Fujimori above ... Show Full Article DETROIT, Michigan, June 24 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following commentary by political theorist Jake Scott: * * * Peru's New Legacy Leader A razor-thin majority brings Keiko Fujimori to power. - With just over 99% of ballots counted, Keiko Fujimori holds a lead of roughly 40,000 votes over Roberto Sanchez--less than half a percentage point, and the third consecutive Peruvian presidential contest decided by a margin that narrow. Sanchez led through the early days of counting, carried by rural and highland turnout; but the overseas votes, which broke for Fujimori above63%, pulled the result the other way as the tally crossed 95%.
The outcome is no longer seriously in doubt. What remains in doubt is whether a victory this narrow constitutes a mandate to govern, or merely a turn to occupy the office in impotence.
Fujimori has never held executive power. What she inherits, however, is a name: her father, Alberto Fujimori, governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, stabilizing a hyperinflationary economy and crushing the Shining Path insurgency, albeit with darkly authoritarian techniques for which he was later convicted. Long known as Peru's answer to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Fujimori has cast a long shadow over Peruvian politics ever since.
Keiko served as his First Lady through the latter half of the 1990s, then built her own career: a congresswoman from 2006 to 2011, and the leader of Fuerza Popular ("Popular Force") since. She spent 13 months in pretrial detention on corruption charges tied to Odebrecht financing; a court voided the case in January 2025. She has run for president four times, losing the previous three runoffs by margins under a single percentage point before, now, winning her fourth.
Her governing history is, as a result, tied deeply to her father's. She has spent two decades defending it rather than living it, which is itself a kind of qualification in a country where economic memory often prevails over institutional memory. The model her father installed--trade liberalization, fiscal orthodoxy, an open door to foreign capital--has outlasted eight changes of president in ten years. The claims of Fujimorismo--the governing-economic doctrine named for Fujimori that has dominated ever since his time--is that it alone can be trusted to keep that model standing.
Keiko Fujimori's flagship commitments are, consequently, the two pillars of Fujimorismo itself: a hard line on crime, and an unapologetic defense of the market economy.
The security platform proposes deploying the military against organized crime and prison disorder, taking inspiration both from Peru's own recent past, and Nayib Bukele's divisive tactics in El Salvador. Alongside this, the platform promises expanding video surveillance, and modernizing this apparatus through the use of artificial intelligence to detect corruption in public contracting. She insists that her father's system's abuses will not be repeated.
The economic platform is a much-needed deregulatory shock: cutting investment-approval timelines by 40%, reducing the fiscal deficit from 2.2% to 1% of GDP, and shrinking the state. As for exactly how that shrinking will be achieved besides the aforementioned measures, Keiko is not clear.
Nevertheless, both pillars of the plan were sold on a single word, repeated at her closing rally and in her final debate: order, against the chaos she says the left represents.
That framing carried the affluent, urban, and overseas vote decisively. It did less among the rural and indigenous communities who associate the Fujimori name with her father's abuses of the 1990s and with her own attempt, after losing in 2021, to annul hundreds of thousands of their ballots without evidence. Fuerza Popular's congressional bloc is large enough this term to insulate her from the impeachment threat that has destabilized her predecessors--a structural stability that, it must be hoped, offsets the razor-thin margin of this victory.
The contest was loud well before the ballots were cast. Thousands marched across the capital of Lima, as well as Arequipa and Huancayo in the campaign's final weeks under the banner of "Keiko Out, Fujimori Never Again," led in part by relatives of her father's victims.
The protests continued into the count itself. As Fujimori's lead widened past 98% reporting, civic groups including the youth-led Generacion Z Peru called for fresh demonstrations in defense of the "vote of our brothers and sisters in rural areas," while commentators on social media accused electoral authorities of distorting the count in the right's favor; an echo, almost note for note, of the fraud allegations Fujimori herself made without evidence in 2021, now redirected towards her by the other side.
Public discourse has split along the same fault line that decided the vote. Urban and overseas Peruvians have largely framed the result as a vote for stability over disorder; rural and indigenous communities, where Sanchez dominated by margins in some areas as wide as 85%, have framed it as a re-imposition of an elite their parents fought against in the 1990s.
The Lima city government's threat to sanction marches in the historic center has done little to cool the temperature: both camps describe the other's mobilization in the language of threat rather than disagreement--fraud, danger, regression--leaving little common vocabulary for the country to share once the certification is final. It is a perilous place for a nation when the Loser's Consent necessary for democracy to function collapses entirely, undermined by the rhetoric that places the political opponents beyond the bounds of the body politic.
On international trade, Fujimori's continuity instinct holds. Her deregulatory platform preserves existing agreements, favors deepened ties with Washington, and pressured the outgoing transitional government to honor a contested multi-billion dollar F-16 purchase from the United States. Yet Atlantic Council analysts now expect a more pragmatic posture than her pro-Washington reputation suggested during the campaign: she has avoided explicitly siding against China, recognizing that Beijing remains one of Peru's principal trading and investment partners through the Chancay megaport and its mining concessions. A zero-sum choice between Washington and Beijing, forced upon her by a global context entirely beyond her ability to influence, would undercut the very stability her platform promises to deliver.
Regionally, Peru's position as a Pacific Alliance member and the most credible Pacific gateway between South America and Asia is unaffected by the result: the infrastructure, unlike the presidency, does not change hands every electoral cycle. Peru remains the world's second-largest copper producer and a major exporter of gold, silver, zinc, and molybdenum, with rising mineral prices offering Fujimori a more favorable fiscal backdrop than her recent predecessors enjoyed. Whether that windfall reaches the rural communities who voted overwhelmingly against her is the open question her presidency will be measured against.
Fujimori takes office having narrowly won the argument over which model Peru should keep, without having won the country that model is meant to serve. Her congressional bloc may protect her from the impeachment mechanism that ended four of her predecessors' terms early; but nothing protects her from the deeper accusation now leveled by Sanchez's supporters and echoed in the streets--that her ascent looks less like victory than recapture. The question Fujimori's presidency now poses is not whether Peru's market model can survive another term--that is all but certain. It is whether a government elected on a margin of 40,000 votes can convince the country it was not simply imposed upon it.
* * *
Dr Jake Scott is a political theorist specialising in populism and its relationship to political constitutionality. He has taught at multiple British universities and produced research reports for several think tanks.
* * *
Original text here: https://fee.org/articles/perus-new-legacy-leader/
* * *
Peru's New Legacy Leader
A razor-thin majority brings Keiko Fujimori to power.
-
With just over 99% of ballots counted, Keiko Fujimori holds a lead of roughly 40,000 votes over Roberto Sanchez--less than half a percentage point, and the third consecutive Peruvian presidential contest decided by a margin that narrow. Sanchez led through the early days of counting, carried by rural and highland turnout; but the overseas votes, which broke for Fujimori above ... Show Full Article DETROIT, Michigan, June 24 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following commentary by political theorist Jake Scott: * * * Peru's New Legacy Leader A razor-thin majority brings Keiko Fujimori to power. - With just over 99% of ballots counted, Keiko Fujimori holds a lead of roughly 40,000 votes over Roberto Sanchez--less than half a percentage point, and the third consecutive Peruvian presidential contest decided by a margin that narrow. Sanchez led through the early days of counting, carried by rural and highland turnout; but the overseas votes, which broke for Fujimori above63%, pulled the result the other way as the tally crossed 95%.
The outcome is no longer seriously in doubt. What remains in doubt is whether a victory this narrow constitutes a mandate to govern, or merely a turn to occupy the office in impotence.
Fujimori has never held executive power. What she inherits, however, is a name: her father, Alberto Fujimori, governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, stabilizing a hyperinflationary economy and crushing the Shining Path insurgency, albeit with darkly authoritarian techniques for which he was later convicted. Long known as Peru's answer to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Fujimori has cast a long shadow over Peruvian politics ever since.
Keiko served as his First Lady through the latter half of the 1990s, then built her own career: a congresswoman from 2006 to 2011, and the leader of Fuerza Popular ("Popular Force") since. She spent 13 months in pretrial detention on corruption charges tied to Odebrecht financing; a court voided the case in January 2025. She has run for president four times, losing the previous three runoffs by margins under a single percentage point before, now, winning her fourth.
Her governing history is, as a result, tied deeply to her father's. She has spent two decades defending it rather than living it, which is itself a kind of qualification in a country where economic memory often prevails over institutional memory. The model her father installed--trade liberalization, fiscal orthodoxy, an open door to foreign capital--has outlasted eight changes of president in ten years. The claims of Fujimorismo--the governing-economic doctrine named for Fujimori that has dominated ever since his time--is that it alone can be trusted to keep that model standing.
Keiko Fujimori's flagship commitments are, consequently, the two pillars of Fujimorismo itself: a hard line on crime, and an unapologetic defense of the market economy.
The security platform proposes deploying the military against organized crime and prison disorder, taking inspiration both from Peru's own recent past, and Nayib Bukele's divisive tactics in El Salvador. Alongside this, the platform promises expanding video surveillance, and modernizing this apparatus through the use of artificial intelligence to detect corruption in public contracting. She insists that her father's system's abuses will not be repeated.
The economic platform is a much-needed deregulatory shock: cutting investment-approval timelines by 40%, reducing the fiscal deficit from 2.2% to 1% of GDP, and shrinking the state. As for exactly how that shrinking will be achieved besides the aforementioned measures, Keiko is not clear.
Nevertheless, both pillars of the plan were sold on a single word, repeated at her closing rally and in her final debate: order, against the chaos she says the left represents.
That framing carried the affluent, urban, and overseas vote decisively. It did less among the rural and indigenous communities who associate the Fujimori name with her father's abuses of the 1990s and with her own attempt, after losing in 2021, to annul hundreds of thousands of their ballots without evidence. Fuerza Popular's congressional bloc is large enough this term to insulate her from the impeachment threat that has destabilized her predecessors--a structural stability that, it must be hoped, offsets the razor-thin margin of this victory.
The contest was loud well before the ballots were cast. Thousands marched across the capital of Lima, as well as Arequipa and Huancayo in the campaign's final weeks under the banner of "Keiko Out, Fujimori Never Again," led in part by relatives of her father's victims.
The protests continued into the count itself. As Fujimori's lead widened past 98% reporting, civic groups including the youth-led Generacion Z Peru called for fresh demonstrations in defense of the "vote of our brothers and sisters in rural areas," while commentators on social media accused electoral authorities of distorting the count in the right's favor; an echo, almost note for note, of the fraud allegations Fujimori herself made without evidence in 2021, now redirected towards her by the other side.
Public discourse has split along the same fault line that decided the vote. Urban and overseas Peruvians have largely framed the result as a vote for stability over disorder; rural and indigenous communities, where Sanchez dominated by margins in some areas as wide as 85%, have framed it as a re-imposition of an elite their parents fought against in the 1990s.
The Lima city government's threat to sanction marches in the historic center has done little to cool the temperature: both camps describe the other's mobilization in the language of threat rather than disagreement--fraud, danger, regression--leaving little common vocabulary for the country to share once the certification is final. It is a perilous place for a nation when the Loser's Consent necessary for democracy to function collapses entirely, undermined by the rhetoric that places the political opponents beyond the bounds of the body politic.
On international trade, Fujimori's continuity instinct holds. Her deregulatory platform preserves existing agreements, favors deepened ties with Washington, and pressured the outgoing transitional government to honor a contested multi-billion dollar F-16 purchase from the United States. Yet Atlantic Council analysts now expect a more pragmatic posture than her pro-Washington reputation suggested during the campaign: she has avoided explicitly siding against China, recognizing that Beijing remains one of Peru's principal trading and investment partners through the Chancay megaport and its mining concessions. A zero-sum choice between Washington and Beijing, forced upon her by a global context entirely beyond her ability to influence, would undercut the very stability her platform promises to deliver.
Regionally, Peru's position as a Pacific Alliance member and the most credible Pacific gateway between South America and Asia is unaffected by the result: the infrastructure, unlike the presidency, does not change hands every electoral cycle. Peru remains the world's second-largest copper producer and a major exporter of gold, silver, zinc, and molybdenum, with rising mineral prices offering Fujimori a more favorable fiscal backdrop than her recent predecessors enjoyed. Whether that windfall reaches the rural communities who voted overwhelmingly against her is the open question her presidency will be measured against.
Fujimori takes office having narrowly won the argument over which model Peru should keep, without having won the country that model is meant to serve. Her congressional bloc may protect her from the impeachment mechanism that ended four of her predecessors' terms early; but nothing protects her from the deeper accusation now leveled by Sanchez's supporters and echoed in the streets--that her ascent looks less like victory than recapture. The question Fujimori's presidency now poses is not whether Peru's market model can survive another term--that is all but certain. It is whether a government elected on a margin of 40,000 votes can convince the country it was not simply imposed upon it.
* * *
Dr Jake Scott is a political theorist specialising in populism and its relationship to political constitutionality. He has taught at multiple British universities and produced research reports for several think tanks.
* * *
Original text here: https://fee.org/articles/perus-new-legacy-leader/
Damon Runyon Honors Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD at 80th Anniversary Dinner
NEW YORK, June 24 -- The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation issued the following news release:
* * *
Damon Runyon honors Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, at 80th Anniversary Dinner
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation held its 80th Anniversary Dinner at the Metropolitan Club in New York on Thursday, June 4, 2026. The event raised nearly $1 million to support exceptional young scientists conducting high-risk, high-reward cancer research.
The dinner honored Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the Lester Wolfe Chair in ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, June 24 -- The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation issued the following news release: * * * Damon Runyon honors Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, at 80th Anniversary Dinner The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation held its 80th Anniversary Dinner at the Metropolitan Club in New York on Thursday, June 4, 2026. The event raised nearly $1 million to support exceptional young scientists conducting high-risk, high-reward cancer research. The dinner honored Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the Lester Wolfe Chair inMolecular Biology, and a Professor in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A former Damon Runyon Fellow and former Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator, Dr. Vander Heiden helped define the field of cancer metabolism, or how cancer cells rewire their use of nutrients to support growth and survival.
"When I was a PhD student, this intersection between cancer and metabolism was not something a lot of people were doing," he recalled. "So from a business perspective, funding me to chase this idea was not a good decision."
Fortunately, the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award Selection Committee was looking to invest in precisely this kind of out-of-the-box thinking. Decades later, Dr. Vander Heiden's research has produced a number of life-saving therapies, including a drug that can cross the blood-brain barrier to treat the most common form of brain cancer affecting young adults.
"I feel very lucky and special to have been involved in the development of drugs that actually help real people," Dr. Vander Heiden said.
Current Damon Runyon scientists are following in his trailblazing footsteps. Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Kelly L. Bolton, MD, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine, presented encouraging findings from two clinical trials she is conducting for drugs that target clonal hematopoiesis, a precancerous blood condition. If successful, these drugs would be the first genetically targeted preventative therapies for cancer.
Dinner attendees also heard from Damon Runyon-Bakewell Foundation Rachleff Innovator Mark Yarmarkovich, PhD, at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who pioneered peptide-centric (PC)-CAR T cells, which enable targeting of tumor-specific mutations long considered undruggable with conventional therapies. The first PC-CAR is being evaluated in a first-in-class clinical trial targeting a protein that drives neuroblastoma, and PC-CARs for other cancers are advancing toward clinical translation.
The occasion of the Foundation's 80th anniversary also marked the establishment of the Walter Winchell Society. Named for the famous broadcaster who went on the radio after his good friend Damon Runyon died of throat cancer to raise money for cancer research, the Society recognizes and celebrates the Foundation's emeritus trustees for their vital contributions to the Board over the past 80 years.
"[Walter Winchell] and the original trustees had the vision to support young scientists," said Yung S. Lie, PhD, President and CEO of Damon Runyon. "Over the decades, the Board has chosen to prioritize the possibility of breakthroughs over incremental progress, and our legacy of impact is a direct result of their bold courage."
* * *
Original text here: https://www.damonrunyon.org/event/damon-runyon-honors-matthew-g-vander-heiden-md-phd-80th-anniversary-dinner
* * *
Damon Runyon honors Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, at 80th Anniversary Dinner
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation held its 80th Anniversary Dinner at the Metropolitan Club in New York on Thursday, June 4, 2026. The event raised nearly $1 million to support exceptional young scientists conducting high-risk, high-reward cancer research.
The dinner honored Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the Lester Wolfe Chair in ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, June 24 -- The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation issued the following news release: * * * Damon Runyon honors Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, at 80th Anniversary Dinner The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation held its 80th Anniversary Dinner at the Metropolitan Club in New York on Thursday, June 4, 2026. The event raised nearly $1 million to support exceptional young scientists conducting high-risk, high-reward cancer research. The dinner honored Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the Lester Wolfe Chair inMolecular Biology, and a Professor in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A former Damon Runyon Fellow and former Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator, Dr. Vander Heiden helped define the field of cancer metabolism, or how cancer cells rewire their use of nutrients to support growth and survival.
"When I was a PhD student, this intersection between cancer and metabolism was not something a lot of people were doing," he recalled. "So from a business perspective, funding me to chase this idea was not a good decision."
Fortunately, the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award Selection Committee was looking to invest in precisely this kind of out-of-the-box thinking. Decades later, Dr. Vander Heiden's research has produced a number of life-saving therapies, including a drug that can cross the blood-brain barrier to treat the most common form of brain cancer affecting young adults.
"I feel very lucky and special to have been involved in the development of drugs that actually help real people," Dr. Vander Heiden said.
Current Damon Runyon scientists are following in his trailblazing footsteps. Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Kelly L. Bolton, MD, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine, presented encouraging findings from two clinical trials she is conducting for drugs that target clonal hematopoiesis, a precancerous blood condition. If successful, these drugs would be the first genetically targeted preventative therapies for cancer.
Dinner attendees also heard from Damon Runyon-Bakewell Foundation Rachleff Innovator Mark Yarmarkovich, PhD, at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who pioneered peptide-centric (PC)-CAR T cells, which enable targeting of tumor-specific mutations long considered undruggable with conventional therapies. The first PC-CAR is being evaluated in a first-in-class clinical trial targeting a protein that drives neuroblastoma, and PC-CARs for other cancers are advancing toward clinical translation.
The occasion of the Foundation's 80th anniversary also marked the establishment of the Walter Winchell Society. Named for the famous broadcaster who went on the radio after his good friend Damon Runyon died of throat cancer to raise money for cancer research, the Society recognizes and celebrates the Foundation's emeritus trustees for their vital contributions to the Board over the past 80 years.
"[Walter Winchell] and the original trustees had the vision to support young scientists," said Yung S. Lie, PhD, President and CEO of Damon Runyon. "Over the decades, the Board has chosen to prioritize the possibility of breakthroughs over incremental progress, and our legacy of impact is a direct result of their bold courage."
* * *
Original text here: https://www.damonrunyon.org/event/damon-runyon-honors-matthew-g-vander-heiden-md-phd-80th-anniversary-dinner
Conservation Law Foundation Issues Letter to 4 Companies
BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 24 (TNSletter) -- Conservation Law Foundation issued the following letter to four companies:
* * *
Here is the text of the letter:
June 18, 2026
James F. Kane
President & CEO, A.D. Makepeace Company
President & CEO, ADM Management Corporation
158 Tihonet Road
Wareham, MA 02571
-
Daniel Gorczyca
VP & Project Executive, ADM Agawam Development LLC
158 Tihonet Road
Wareham, MA 02571
-
Michael McVeigh
Registered Agent, A.D. Makepeace Company
Registered Agent, ADM Agawam Development LLC
Registered Agent, ADM Management Corporation
Registered Agent, Read ... Show Full Article BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 24 (TNSletter) -- Conservation Law Foundation issued the following letter to four companies: * * * Here is the text of the letter: June 18, 2026 James F. Kane President & CEO, A.D. Makepeace Company President & CEO, ADM Management Corporation 158 Tihonet Road Wareham, MA 02571 - Daniel Gorczyca VP & Project Executive, ADM Agawam Development LLC 158 Tihonet Road Wareham, MA 02571 - Michael McVeigh Registered Agent, A.D. Makepeace Company Registered Agent, ADM Agawam Development LLC Registered Agent, ADM Management Corporation Registered Agent, ReadCustom Soils LLC
158 Tihonet Road
Wareham, MA 02571
-
RE: Notice of Violations and Intent to File Suit Under the Clean Water Act
To Whom It May Concern:
The Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. ("CLF") hereby gives notice to A.D. Makepeace Company, ADM Agawam Development LLC, ADM Management Corporation, and Read Custom Soils LLC (collectively, "A.D. Makepeace") and its agents and directors of its intent to file suit pursuant to Section 505 of the Clean Water Act (the "Act"), 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1365(a), for violations of the Act specified below. This Notice of Intent to Sue ("Notice Letter") constitutes notice pursuant to 40 C.F.R., Part 135 to the addressed persons of CLF's intention to file suit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts seeking appropriate equitable relief, civil penalties, and other relief no earlier than 60 days from the postmark date of this Notice Letter.
The subject of this action is A.D. Makepeace's failure to comply with the Section 404 of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1344, at four cranberry bog sites in Carver and Plymouth, Massachusetts. At all four sites, A.D. Makepeace has discharged dredged or fill material into navigable waters without authorization from any permit as required by Section 404, resulting in the unauthorized alteration of those waters, including jurisdictional wetlands and perennial streams.
PERSONS GIVING NOTICE
CLF is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of New England's environment, including New England's waters and their uses and benefits. CLF's members' interests are adversely affected by A.D. Makepeace's violations.
LOCATIONS OF THE ALLEGED VIOLATIONS
The violations alleged in this Notice Letter have occurred and continue to occur at the following A.D. Makepeace locations (collectively, the "Sites"):
1. 24 Federal Road/ 0 Golden Pond Road, Carver ("Smith-Hammond Bogs");
2. 46 Federal Road, Carver ("Wankinko1 Bogs");
3. Wareham Road, Plymouth ("White Island Bogs"); and
4. 0 Wihonet (Off East Head Wihonet and Tihonet Road), Plymouth ("Canning Bogs").
PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALLEGED VIOLATIONS
A.D. Makepeace Company, ADM Agawam Development LLC, ADM Management Corporation, and Read Custom Soils LLC are "person[s]" within the meaning of Section 505(a) of the CWA.2
A.D. Makepeace Company and ADM Agawam Development LLC own the Sites where the violations are occurring and continue to occur and that are the subject of this Notice Letter and have owned the locations at all relevant times. A.D. Makepeace Company owns the SmithHammond, Wankinko, and Canning Bogs Sites, and has owned the Sites at all relevant times.
ADM Agawam Development Company owns the White Island Bogs Site and has owned the Site at all relevant times. ADM Management Corporation operates the Site.
Read Custom Soils LLC is a subsidiary of A.D. Makepeace Company and mines, excavates, extracts, and dredges the sand, gravel, and earth materials that comprise the dredged or fill materials that are discharged without a permit. Upon information and belief, Read Custom Soils LLC discharges dredged and fill material into waters of the United States at the Sites.
BACKGROUND
In order to excavate and extract sand and gravel, A.D. Makepeace conducted commercial stripmining at the Sites. This strip-mining involved clearing forests and land of trees and vegetation, leveling hills, removing topsoil, and removing layers of sand and gravel. A.D. Makepeace also dredged underlying aquifers for earth materials. A.D. Makepeace discharged tons of sand, gravel, and dredged material into navigable waters at the Sites, permanently filling acres of wetlands and filling or altering perennial streams. The partial or complete filling of wetlands and streams poses serious risks to the environment and to the safety of surrounding communities.
A. A.D. Makepeace Discharges Pollutants into Waters of the United States.
The Clean Water Act prohibits any person from discharging any pollutant from a point source to waters of the United States unless in compliance with another provision of the Act, such as authorization under Section 404. 3
A discharge of a pollutant is "any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source."4 A point source is "any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance...from which pollutants are or may be discharged."5 Materials such as "dredged soil," "biological material," "rock, sand," and "industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste," constitute pollutants under the Act.6 A.D. Makepeace discharges pollutants from point sources when it discharges Wetlands are "navigable waters" or "waters of the United States" under the Act when they have a "continuous surface connection to bodies that are 'waters of the United States' in their own right, so that there is no clear demarcation between 'waters' and 'wetlands.'"7 Wetlands include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.8 Impoundments of water and tributaries that are "relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water" are considered waters of the United States in their own right.9 Each of the Sites are waters of the United States.10
B. A.D. Makepeace's Operations Require Them to Obtain a Permit Under Section 404 of the Act.
Under Section 404 of the Act, A.D. Makepeace may not discharge dredged or fill material into waters of the United States except in accordance with a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ("USACE") or an exemption under USACE regulations.11
"Dredged material" is any "material that is excavated or dredged" from waters of the United States.12 A discharge of dredged material occurs when dredged material is added or redeposited into waters of the United States.13 "Fill material" is any material, excluding garbage, that, when placed into waters of the United States, "has the effect of replacing any portion of a [water of the United States] with dry land; or changing the bottom elevation of any portion of a [water of the United States]."14 A discharge of fill material is "the addition of fill material" into waters of the United States.15
A.D. Makepeace must obtain an individual permit from USACE, or obtain coverage under a Regional General Permit or Nationwide General Permit, in order to discharge fill or dredged materials into waters of the United States at its Sites. To obtain a permit under Section 404, A.D. Makepeace must demonstrate that (1) no practicable alternative exists that is less damaging to the aquatic environment, or (2) the nation's waters would not be significantly degraded.16 The Act requires A.D. Makepeace to take steps to avoid impacts to wetlands, streams, and aquatic resources, show that potential impacts have been minimized, and provide compensation for all remaining unavoidable impacts.17
ACTIVITIES ALLEGED TO BE VIOLATIONS
At all of the Sites, A.D. Makepeace unlawfully discharged dredged or fill material from a point source into waters of the United States without a Section 404 permit.
A.D. Makepeace conducted commercial sand and gravel mining at its Sites and subsequently discharged fill materials into waters of the United States at each Site. The discharge of dredged and fill materials into the wetlands permanently and drastically altered the shape and topography of the wetlands and impacted hundreds of linear feet of perennial streams.
For example, samples taken in 2025 at the Canning Bogs Site show the presence of human transported material with an odor of biosolids. Aerial images from the Canning Bogs show what appears to be stumps and debris associated with land clearing discharged into the waters. Upon information and belief, the same materials associated with land clearing has been discharged at the White Islands Bogs, Wankinko Bogs, and Smith-Hammond Bogs Sites. The materials that A.D. Makepeace discharged are pollutants under the Act.18
A.D. Makepeace uses excavators, bulldozers, front-end loaders, and other machinery19 to move the dredged and fill materials from its mining and discharge them into the wetlands and perennial streams at the Sites via pushing, grading, and dumping. Aerial images show the use of this equipment at three of the four Sites. Upon information and belief, this equipment was used for dredging and filling at the fourth Site, the Wankinko Bogs, based on the size and scale of the impact.
A.D. Makepeace used the deposited materials to permanently alter the shape and topography of the wetlands and stop the flow of perennial streams, which constitute waters of the United States.
A. A.D. Makepeace's Operations at the Smith-Hammond Bogs Site Violate Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
The Smith-Hammond Bogs Site is on a portion of a 336.5-acre parcel identified by the Town of Carver Assessor as Map 131 Lot 1-3R. The violations are within a 42 square mile Agawam River/Frontal Buzzards Bay subwatershed and within a perennial stream that leads to tidal waters as determined by USGS maps and a river thread created via the USGS StreamStats application. The perennial stream flows to the Wareham River and Buzzards Bay. These waters are all waters of the United States.
A.D. Makepeace altered and filled approximately 58.5 acres of wetlands at the Smith-Hammond Bogs Site, including the complete filling of approximately 6.3 acres which were turned into upland areas, and partial filling of additional areas. A.D. Makepeace's discharge of dredged and fill materials also altered approximately 575 linear feet of perennial stream at the Site.
Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the Smith-Hammond Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
B. A.D. Makepeace's Operations at the Wankinko Bogs Site Violates Section 404 of the Act.
The Wankinko Bogs Site is within an approximately 538-acre parcel identified by the Town of Carver Assessor as Map 131, Lot 2-4. The wetlands at the Site included a perennial stream that connected to the Wankinco River. The Wankinco River flows through Tihonet Pond and into the Wareham River. These waters constitute waters of the United States.
A.D. Makepeace engaged in commercial sand and gravel mining at the Wankinko Bogs Site since 2011. In doing so, it has strip-mined or plans to strip-mine approximately 60 acres of wetlands. Between June 2012 and May 2015, A.D. Makepeace filled the perennial stream, permanently eliminating it. The discharged dredged or fill material remains in place. A.D. Makepeace also entirely filled portions of the wetlands in order to build trucking roads to facilitate its mining operations.
Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the Wankinko Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
C. A.D. Makepeace's Operations at the White Islands Bogs Site Violates Section 404 of the Act.
The White Island Bogs Site is within a parcel of land identified by the Town of Plymouth Assessor as Map 115-000-000A-049 with a street address of 2 River Run Way. The wetlands were formerly connected to a perennial river and stream that flowed into Red Brook and to Buzzards Bay. The Site is within the Red-Brook Cape Cod Canal subwatershed.
A.D. Makepeace discharged dredged or fill material into about 560 linear feet of perennial river and stream, and 20.5 acres of associated wetlands between 2018 and May 2023. The dredged or fill material remains in place.
Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the White Island Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
D. A.D. Makepeace's Operations at the Canning Bogs Site Violates Section 404 of the Act.
The Canning Bogs Site is within a parcel of land identified by the Town of Plymouth Assessor as Map/Lot 126-000-007-003. The Site formerly contained a perennial stream that flowed through the Bogs and into the Wankinco River. The wetlands were also connected to the Wareham River and Buzzards Bay. The wetlands, perennial stream, and rivers are all waters of the United States
A.D. Makepeace discharged dredged or fill material into perennial streams and wetlands at the Site. A.D. Makepeace altered streams by dredging and filling them. A.D. Makepeace dammed the Wankinco River by installing flume/weir devices. A.D. Makepeace also dredged, filled, and altered associated wetlands connected to the Wareham River and Buzzards Bay between May 2015 and January 2021.
Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the Canning Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
DATES OF THE VIOLATIONS
Each day that A.D. Makepeace discharges dredged or fill material without a permit and each day that the material remains in place constitutes a separate and distinct violation of Sections 301(a) and 404(f)(2) of the CWA.20
A.D. Makepeace has not been in compliance at any of the Sites since at least June 2012. A.D. Makepeace illegally discharged fill or dredged material at: (1) Smith-Hammond Bogs between 2018 and 2026; (2) Wankinko Bogs between June 2012 and May 2015; (3) Canning Bogs between May 2015 and January 2021; and (4) White Island Bogs between 2018 and May 2023. The fill materials remain in place at all of the Sites. A.D. Makepeace's violations of Sections 301(a) and 404(f)(2) of the Act are ongoing and continuous, and barring an order to restore the Sites to their original condition, these violations will continue indefinitely.
The allegations in this Notice Letter are based on documents obtained by CLF through publicly available information. If CLF obtains evidence of additional violations of the Act at the Sites, including violations which take place after the date of this Notice Letter, CLF will incorporate those violations into its Complaint. CLF hereby provides notice to A.D. Makepeace of all violations of the Act.
RELIEF REQUESTED
A.D. Makepeace is liable for the above-described violations. Each separate violation of the Act subjects the violator to a penalty of up to $68,445.00 per day per violation for all violations occurring after November 2, 2015, where penalties are assessed on or after January 8, 2025 pursuant to Sections 309(d) and 505(a) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1319(d) and 40 C.F.R. Sec.Sec. 19.1- 19.4. CLF will seek the full penalties allowed by law.
In addition to civil penalties, CLF will seek appropriate declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent further violations of the Act pursuant to Sections 505(a) and (d), 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1365(a) and (d), and such other relief as permitted by law. CLF will seek an order from the Court requiring A.D. Makepeace to correct all identified violations and demonstrate full regulatory compliance.
Lastly, pursuant to Section 505(d) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1365(d), CLF will seek recovery of costs and fees associated with this matter.
CONCLUSION
During the 60-day notice period, CLF is willing to discuss effective remedies for the violations noted in this letter that may avoid the necessity of further litigation. If you wish to pursue such discussions, please have your attorney contact Heather Govern by July 8, 2026, so that negotiations may be completed before the end of the 60-day notice period. We do not intend to delay the filing of a complaint in federal court if discussions are continuing at the conclusion of 60 days.
Sincerely,
Phoebe K. DeMeerleer, Esq.,
Conservation Law Foundation
235 Promenade Street, Ste. 560
Providence, RI 02908
(401) 228-1908
pdemeerleer@clf.org
-
Heather A. Govern, Esq., MA Bar No. 688482
Conservation Law Foundation
62 Summer Street
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 850-1765
hgovern@clf.org
cc:
Lee Zeldin, Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
-
Mark A. Sanborn, Regional Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 1
5 Post Office Square, Suite 100
Boston, MA 02109
-
Bonnie Heiple, Commissioner
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114
-
Citizen Suit Coordinator
Environment and Natural Resources Division Law and Policy Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
* * *
Original text and footnotes here: https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/A.D.-Makepeace-NOI.pdf
News Release here: https://www.clf.org/newsroom/ma-cranberry-grower-and-sand-miner-damaging-wetlands-and-waterways/
* * *
Here is the text of the letter:
June 18, 2026
James F. Kane
President & CEO, A.D. Makepeace Company
President & CEO, ADM Management Corporation
158 Tihonet Road
Wareham, MA 02571
-
Daniel Gorczyca
VP & Project Executive, ADM Agawam Development LLC
158 Tihonet Road
Wareham, MA 02571
-
Michael McVeigh
Registered Agent, A.D. Makepeace Company
Registered Agent, ADM Agawam Development LLC
Registered Agent, ADM Management Corporation
Registered Agent, Read ... Show Full Article BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 24 (TNSletter) -- Conservation Law Foundation issued the following letter to four companies: * * * Here is the text of the letter: June 18, 2026 James F. Kane President & CEO, A.D. Makepeace Company President & CEO, ADM Management Corporation 158 Tihonet Road Wareham, MA 02571 - Daniel Gorczyca VP & Project Executive, ADM Agawam Development LLC 158 Tihonet Road Wareham, MA 02571 - Michael McVeigh Registered Agent, A.D. Makepeace Company Registered Agent, ADM Agawam Development LLC Registered Agent, ADM Management Corporation Registered Agent, ReadCustom Soils LLC
158 Tihonet Road
Wareham, MA 02571
-
RE: Notice of Violations and Intent to File Suit Under the Clean Water Act
To Whom It May Concern:
The Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. ("CLF") hereby gives notice to A.D. Makepeace Company, ADM Agawam Development LLC, ADM Management Corporation, and Read Custom Soils LLC (collectively, "A.D. Makepeace") and its agents and directors of its intent to file suit pursuant to Section 505 of the Clean Water Act (the "Act"), 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1365(a), for violations of the Act specified below. This Notice of Intent to Sue ("Notice Letter") constitutes notice pursuant to 40 C.F.R., Part 135 to the addressed persons of CLF's intention to file suit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts seeking appropriate equitable relief, civil penalties, and other relief no earlier than 60 days from the postmark date of this Notice Letter.
The subject of this action is A.D. Makepeace's failure to comply with the Section 404 of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1344, at four cranberry bog sites in Carver and Plymouth, Massachusetts. At all four sites, A.D. Makepeace has discharged dredged or fill material into navigable waters without authorization from any permit as required by Section 404, resulting in the unauthorized alteration of those waters, including jurisdictional wetlands and perennial streams.
PERSONS GIVING NOTICE
CLF is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of New England's environment, including New England's waters and their uses and benefits. CLF's members' interests are adversely affected by A.D. Makepeace's violations.
LOCATIONS OF THE ALLEGED VIOLATIONS
The violations alleged in this Notice Letter have occurred and continue to occur at the following A.D. Makepeace locations (collectively, the "Sites"):
1. 24 Federal Road/ 0 Golden Pond Road, Carver ("Smith-Hammond Bogs");
2. 46 Federal Road, Carver ("Wankinko1 Bogs");
3. Wareham Road, Plymouth ("White Island Bogs"); and
4. 0 Wihonet (Off East Head Wihonet and Tihonet Road), Plymouth ("Canning Bogs").
PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALLEGED VIOLATIONS
A.D. Makepeace Company, ADM Agawam Development LLC, ADM Management Corporation, and Read Custom Soils LLC are "person[s]" within the meaning of Section 505(a) of the CWA.2
A.D. Makepeace Company and ADM Agawam Development LLC own the Sites where the violations are occurring and continue to occur and that are the subject of this Notice Letter and have owned the locations at all relevant times. A.D. Makepeace Company owns the SmithHammond, Wankinko, and Canning Bogs Sites, and has owned the Sites at all relevant times.
ADM Agawam Development Company owns the White Island Bogs Site and has owned the Site at all relevant times. ADM Management Corporation operates the Site.
Read Custom Soils LLC is a subsidiary of A.D. Makepeace Company and mines, excavates, extracts, and dredges the sand, gravel, and earth materials that comprise the dredged or fill materials that are discharged without a permit. Upon information and belief, Read Custom Soils LLC discharges dredged and fill material into waters of the United States at the Sites.
BACKGROUND
In order to excavate and extract sand and gravel, A.D. Makepeace conducted commercial stripmining at the Sites. This strip-mining involved clearing forests and land of trees and vegetation, leveling hills, removing topsoil, and removing layers of sand and gravel. A.D. Makepeace also dredged underlying aquifers for earth materials. A.D. Makepeace discharged tons of sand, gravel, and dredged material into navigable waters at the Sites, permanently filling acres of wetlands and filling or altering perennial streams. The partial or complete filling of wetlands and streams poses serious risks to the environment and to the safety of surrounding communities.
A. A.D. Makepeace Discharges Pollutants into Waters of the United States.
The Clean Water Act prohibits any person from discharging any pollutant from a point source to waters of the United States unless in compliance with another provision of the Act, such as authorization under Section 404. 3
A discharge of a pollutant is "any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source."4 A point source is "any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance...from which pollutants are or may be discharged."5 Materials such as "dredged soil," "biological material," "rock, sand," and "industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste," constitute pollutants under the Act.6 A.D. Makepeace discharges pollutants from point sources when it discharges Wetlands are "navigable waters" or "waters of the United States" under the Act when they have a "continuous surface connection to bodies that are 'waters of the United States' in their own right, so that there is no clear demarcation between 'waters' and 'wetlands.'"7 Wetlands include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.8 Impoundments of water and tributaries that are "relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water" are considered waters of the United States in their own right.9 Each of the Sites are waters of the United States.10
B. A.D. Makepeace's Operations Require Them to Obtain a Permit Under Section 404 of the Act.
Under Section 404 of the Act, A.D. Makepeace may not discharge dredged or fill material into waters of the United States except in accordance with a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ("USACE") or an exemption under USACE regulations.11
"Dredged material" is any "material that is excavated or dredged" from waters of the United States.12 A discharge of dredged material occurs when dredged material is added or redeposited into waters of the United States.13 "Fill material" is any material, excluding garbage, that, when placed into waters of the United States, "has the effect of replacing any portion of a [water of the United States] with dry land; or changing the bottom elevation of any portion of a [water of the United States]."14 A discharge of fill material is "the addition of fill material" into waters of the United States.15
A.D. Makepeace must obtain an individual permit from USACE, or obtain coverage under a Regional General Permit or Nationwide General Permit, in order to discharge fill or dredged materials into waters of the United States at its Sites. To obtain a permit under Section 404, A.D. Makepeace must demonstrate that (1) no practicable alternative exists that is less damaging to the aquatic environment, or (2) the nation's waters would not be significantly degraded.16 The Act requires A.D. Makepeace to take steps to avoid impacts to wetlands, streams, and aquatic resources, show that potential impacts have been minimized, and provide compensation for all remaining unavoidable impacts.17
ACTIVITIES ALLEGED TO BE VIOLATIONS
At all of the Sites, A.D. Makepeace unlawfully discharged dredged or fill material from a point source into waters of the United States without a Section 404 permit.
A.D. Makepeace conducted commercial sand and gravel mining at its Sites and subsequently discharged fill materials into waters of the United States at each Site. The discharge of dredged and fill materials into the wetlands permanently and drastically altered the shape and topography of the wetlands and impacted hundreds of linear feet of perennial streams.
For example, samples taken in 2025 at the Canning Bogs Site show the presence of human transported material with an odor of biosolids. Aerial images from the Canning Bogs show what appears to be stumps and debris associated with land clearing discharged into the waters. Upon information and belief, the same materials associated with land clearing has been discharged at the White Islands Bogs, Wankinko Bogs, and Smith-Hammond Bogs Sites. The materials that A.D. Makepeace discharged are pollutants under the Act.18
A.D. Makepeace uses excavators, bulldozers, front-end loaders, and other machinery19 to move the dredged and fill materials from its mining and discharge them into the wetlands and perennial streams at the Sites via pushing, grading, and dumping. Aerial images show the use of this equipment at three of the four Sites. Upon information and belief, this equipment was used for dredging and filling at the fourth Site, the Wankinko Bogs, based on the size and scale of the impact.
A.D. Makepeace used the deposited materials to permanently alter the shape and topography of the wetlands and stop the flow of perennial streams, which constitute waters of the United States.
A. A.D. Makepeace's Operations at the Smith-Hammond Bogs Site Violate Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
The Smith-Hammond Bogs Site is on a portion of a 336.5-acre parcel identified by the Town of Carver Assessor as Map 131 Lot 1-3R. The violations are within a 42 square mile Agawam River/Frontal Buzzards Bay subwatershed and within a perennial stream that leads to tidal waters as determined by USGS maps and a river thread created via the USGS StreamStats application. The perennial stream flows to the Wareham River and Buzzards Bay. These waters are all waters of the United States.
A.D. Makepeace altered and filled approximately 58.5 acres of wetlands at the Smith-Hammond Bogs Site, including the complete filling of approximately 6.3 acres which were turned into upland areas, and partial filling of additional areas. A.D. Makepeace's discharge of dredged and fill materials also altered approximately 575 linear feet of perennial stream at the Site.
Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the Smith-Hammond Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
B. A.D. Makepeace's Operations at the Wankinko Bogs Site Violates Section 404 of the Act.
The Wankinko Bogs Site is within an approximately 538-acre parcel identified by the Town of Carver Assessor as Map 131, Lot 2-4. The wetlands at the Site included a perennial stream that connected to the Wankinco River. The Wankinco River flows through Tihonet Pond and into the Wareham River. These waters constitute waters of the United States.
A.D. Makepeace engaged in commercial sand and gravel mining at the Wankinko Bogs Site since 2011. In doing so, it has strip-mined or plans to strip-mine approximately 60 acres of wetlands. Between June 2012 and May 2015, A.D. Makepeace filled the perennial stream, permanently eliminating it. The discharged dredged or fill material remains in place. A.D. Makepeace also entirely filled portions of the wetlands in order to build trucking roads to facilitate its mining operations.
Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the Wankinko Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
C. A.D. Makepeace's Operations at the White Islands Bogs Site Violates Section 404 of the Act.
The White Island Bogs Site is within a parcel of land identified by the Town of Plymouth Assessor as Map 115-000-000A-049 with a street address of 2 River Run Way. The wetlands were formerly connected to a perennial river and stream that flowed into Red Brook and to Buzzards Bay. The Site is within the Red-Brook Cape Cod Canal subwatershed.
A.D. Makepeace discharged dredged or fill material into about 560 linear feet of perennial river and stream, and 20.5 acres of associated wetlands between 2018 and May 2023. The dredged or fill material remains in place.
Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the White Island Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
D. A.D. Makepeace's Operations at the Canning Bogs Site Violates Section 404 of the Act.
The Canning Bogs Site is within a parcel of land identified by the Town of Plymouth Assessor as Map/Lot 126-000-007-003. The Site formerly contained a perennial stream that flowed through the Bogs and into the Wankinco River. The wetlands were also connected to the Wareham River and Buzzards Bay. The wetlands, perennial stream, and rivers are all waters of the United States
A.D. Makepeace discharged dredged or fill material into perennial streams and wetlands at the Site. A.D. Makepeace altered streams by dredging and filling them. A.D. Makepeace dammed the Wankinco River by installing flume/weir devices. A.D. Makepeace also dredged, filled, and altered associated wetlands connected to the Wareham River and Buzzards Bay between May 2015 and January 2021.
Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the Canning Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
DATES OF THE VIOLATIONS
Each day that A.D. Makepeace discharges dredged or fill material without a permit and each day that the material remains in place constitutes a separate and distinct violation of Sections 301(a) and 404(f)(2) of the CWA.20
A.D. Makepeace has not been in compliance at any of the Sites since at least June 2012. A.D. Makepeace illegally discharged fill or dredged material at: (1) Smith-Hammond Bogs between 2018 and 2026; (2) Wankinko Bogs between June 2012 and May 2015; (3) Canning Bogs between May 2015 and January 2021; and (4) White Island Bogs between 2018 and May 2023. The fill materials remain in place at all of the Sites. A.D. Makepeace's violations of Sections 301(a) and 404(f)(2) of the Act are ongoing and continuous, and barring an order to restore the Sites to their original condition, these violations will continue indefinitely.
The allegations in this Notice Letter are based on documents obtained by CLF through publicly available information. If CLF obtains evidence of additional violations of the Act at the Sites, including violations which take place after the date of this Notice Letter, CLF will incorporate those violations into its Complaint. CLF hereby provides notice to A.D. Makepeace of all violations of the Act.
RELIEF REQUESTED
A.D. Makepeace is liable for the above-described violations. Each separate violation of the Act subjects the violator to a penalty of up to $68,445.00 per day per violation for all violations occurring after November 2, 2015, where penalties are assessed on or after January 8, 2025 pursuant to Sections 309(d) and 505(a) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1319(d) and 40 C.F.R. Sec.Sec. 19.1- 19.4. CLF will seek the full penalties allowed by law.
In addition to civil penalties, CLF will seek appropriate declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent further violations of the Act pursuant to Sections 505(a) and (d), 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1365(a) and (d), and such other relief as permitted by law. CLF will seek an order from the Court requiring A.D. Makepeace to correct all identified violations and demonstrate full regulatory compliance.
Lastly, pursuant to Section 505(d) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1365(d), CLF will seek recovery of costs and fees associated with this matter.
CONCLUSION
During the 60-day notice period, CLF is willing to discuss effective remedies for the violations noted in this letter that may avoid the necessity of further litigation. If you wish to pursue such discussions, please have your attorney contact Heather Govern by July 8, 2026, so that negotiations may be completed before the end of the 60-day notice period. We do not intend to delay the filing of a complaint in federal court if discussions are continuing at the conclusion of 60 days.
Sincerely,
Phoebe K. DeMeerleer, Esq.,
Conservation Law Foundation
235 Promenade Street, Ste. 560
Providence, RI 02908
(401) 228-1908
pdemeerleer@clf.org
-
Heather A. Govern, Esq., MA Bar No. 688482
Conservation Law Foundation
62 Summer Street
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 850-1765
hgovern@clf.org
cc:
Lee Zeldin, Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
-
Mark A. Sanborn, Regional Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 1
5 Post Office Square, Suite 100
Boston, MA 02109
-
Bonnie Heiple, Commissioner
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114
-
Citizen Suit Coordinator
Environment and Natural Resources Division Law and Policy Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
* * *
Original text and footnotes here: https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/A.D.-Makepeace-NOI.pdf
News Release here: https://www.clf.org/newsroom/ma-cranberry-grower-and-sand-miner-damaging-wetlands-and-waterways/