November 11, 2025 • 38 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Cash Benefits and financial support most veterans don't know exist…
Guest: Paula Almgren - attorney specializing in VA benefits and long-term care
The new salary transparency law in Massachusetts. What does it mean for you?
Guest: Bethany Moulthrop - job recruiter at Talener in Boston
The National Toy Hall of Fame inducted Battleship, Slime, and Trivial Pursuit into the class of 2025!
Guest: Shane Rhinewald - Senior Director of Communications at the Museum of Play (which is where the National Toy Hall of Fame is)
Rob Gronkowski announces that he will ‘retire as a Patriot’ this week!
Guest: Khari Thompson – Boston Globe Sports reporter/writer
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm doing Mazy Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is Veterans Day, November eleventh, which celebrated the end
of World War One, and some people thought it actually
in effect started World War Two, the Treaty of Versaill, etc.
But Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe has an article
in his Arguable Calumn Today column today which is quite
(00:27):
the contrary. Very interesting read with Jeff Jacoby. This is
also Remembrance Day in Canada, so there's a lot for
us to celebrate tonight. We celebrate the service of everyone
who put on the uniform in this country, and we
will be doing a Veterans salute later on tonight at
eleven o'clock, and I will invite all of you to
(00:47):
honor a veteran, a neighbor, a friend, a family member,
maybe a close family member who served in some form
or fashion during their lifetime in the service of the
US military. Or if you want to be a Canadian caller,
that's okay as well. We have lots to do tonight.
We're going to talk with Republican grubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve
(01:12):
about what I think is a crazy idea the state apparently,
under the leadership of Governor Heally, may actually give cities
and towns in Massachusetts the authority to triple triple your
auto excise tax. Those are the taxes that you paid
to the community. We'll get to that, and we'll also
(01:34):
talk about that betting scandal. Now not just in the NBA,
but in Major League Baseball. Two pitchers for the Cleveland
Indians are in big trouble and if they are convicted,
they will spend a lot of time in federal prison.
This is a serious story. We'll talk about that at ten.
But we have four great guests tonight. In the first
(01:56):
one appropriately focuses on veterans. We're going to speak with
an attorney, Paula Almgren. Paula specializes in VA benefits and
long term care. She's going to tell us and those
of you who are veterans out there or family members
of veterans, please pay attention because she's going to tell
us about some benefits and financial support that most veterans
(02:18):
might not even realize exist. First of all, atturning Algren,
hope I got that pronunciation correctly.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Welcome to night Side, Thank you, glad to be here. Dan,
Happy veterans day.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Right back at you, right back at you. So tell
us everybody knows about VA benefits, but there's every veteran
should be in touch with their local you know, veterans representative.
Tell us what you have found out or what you
have discovered that maybe some veterans might not be aware of.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, there's several different benefits from the VA. But that's
a benefit that we we use a lot for our
elderly veterans, their spouses and their widows. Is a benefit
called a pension with aid in attendance, and this is
a cash benefit. So the veteran has to have served
one day active duty during an official declaration of wars.
(03:17):
It has to be They don't have to have been
in the front lines. They just have to been activated
during official wartime dates. And then their assets, their care
costs have to exceed their income. So if someone's home
and they have four thousand dollars a month of care
and they are combined, Let's say it's a veteran with
a spouse and their combined income is three thousand, so
(03:39):
they have a shortfall of a thousand, So that veteran
would be eligible for two seven hundred and ninety five
dollars a month, which is thirty three thousand, five hundred
and forty eight dollars a year. There is you know, asset.
The assets have to be under one hundred and fifty
nine to two forty does not include the primary home vehicles,
(04:01):
personal belongings. So it's a huge benefit.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So hard.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Three.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
The numbers are tough on radio, as I'm sure you know.
But let's talk about eligibility. You said in a declared war.
We haven't had a declared war in this country in
reality since World War Two? Does this not apply to
men and women who served in Korea, Vietnam, in other
military actions that we've taken in the Middle East.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, so we have, we're still under an official declaration
of war. So the wartime dates and these are things
like I could send you if you want to link
them somewhere, but their wartime dates are you know, there
was World War two of Korean conflict was fifty to
fifty five, and then the Vietnam era. That's there's different
(04:52):
periods for boot on the ground, Vietnam bets and then
all Vietnam bets that is fifty I've to seventy five
or sixty four to seventy five, and the Golf War
is nineteen ninety and there's still it hasn't ended data.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Even though they weren't technically declarations of war by Congress.
And I know a big deal was made about Korea
was a military action and it was really United Nations action.
But obviously a lot of American soldiers died in Korea.
Fifty eight thousand died during Vietnam, and thousands died in
(05:34):
the Middle East activities. So I just want to make
sure that people realize that this does apply at any
period of time when we were engaged in armed conflict.
And so you do not have to be a veteran
who was in Vietnam. If you had a day of
active military duty during one period of Vietnam circus sixty
(05:55):
four to seventy five, that would apply. So again, what
you're saying is that you quoted a figure of I
think it was thirty three thousand dollars. How do we
get to that figure because you talked about the hypothetical
figure of a veteran who needed four thousand dollars a
month care and they had a shortfall of they only got,
(06:20):
you know whatever, three thousand dollars. How did they get
to the thirty three thousand dollars figure, which was a
really big, big number.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So as long as you meet the criteria, and one
of them is, you know, you have to need the
aid and attendance of another, so you have to need
help with your activities a daily living, and then your
care costs have to exceed your income. So when you
get to a negative number, you get the full benefit.
And so for a married veteran it's two thousand, seven
(06:50):
hundred and ninety five dollars a month. For a veteran
alone without a spouse, it's two three hundred and fifty
eight dollars a month, which is you know, twenty eight
thousand dollars a year. And for the widows of the
wartime veterans, they are getting fifteen fifteen a month, which
is still eighteen thousand dollars a year towards.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Their care costs.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
And it's not taxable because it's reimbursement towards care, So
it's not a taxable benefit from the VA.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Okay. And the best thing, Paul, it would be if
there are individuals I see that there's I have on
my page here a veteran Veterans benefit. You have a
book about elder care of the rules, but that's broader
than veterans. How can full contact you? Is your law
(07:40):
group the Berkshire Law.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Group, Yes, But for the VA benefits, most people deal
with the local Veterans agent or the Veterans Service Agent,
and they are through like disabled American veterans, the Veterans
of Foreign Wars, the Vietnam Veterans of America. Those agencies
also have Veterans Service Officers bsos are called. And then
(08:06):
a lot of the towns in cities across Massachusetts and
all states in the country have veterans agents. So you
just want to make sure you're picking someone who's done
this before and then knows the rules of the VA.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeh. Many many years ago, a friend of mine who
was actually shot and wounded, not badly, but suffered a
gunshot wound in Korea came across a little known benefit
that I guess if you had ever suffered a shotgun,
a shot wound, or you know, a bullet wound and
(08:42):
could prove it, you were eligible. He told me for
forty thousand dollars, and I was practicing law at the time,
I said, well, let me walk, let's go down from
the JFK building, federal building.
Speaker 5 (08:53):
Here in Boston.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah. Yeah, and he had figured it out. We walked
in the JFK building and a couple of hours later
he walked out with a check for forty thousand dollars
because it was legitimate. He had been wounded in during
a battle and not critically, but had been shot and
it was the records were there, and I had never
(09:15):
heard of it. I didn't practice law in veterans area.
But but my friend who shall remain anonymous but has
now passed on, he knew what he was talking about.
A pretty sharp guy. And so there are benefits out
there if folks want to get in touch with you.
I don't know if this would help you or your
(09:37):
your practice, or if you want to give us a
way in which they can contact you, great, If you'd
prefer not, that's okay as well, your choice.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Well.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Really, what most veterans who are eligible for benefit to
do is they go to the Veterans Service officers because
they're military best one. They they know exactly how to
deal with the VA and how to put that. You
have to put your paperwork in perfectly with the VA perfect, absolutely.
And there's another thing. All veterans, even if they're not
wartime veterans, there's a vent. There's benefits through the Veterans
(10:08):
Healthcare so a system. It's the VAHA and so all
veterans can apply for this benefit and if you're eligible,
you can get into the VA Healthcare system. And it
makes a difference for them because it helps with home care,
durable medical equipment, eyeglasses. If you get a prescription from
(10:30):
a VA doctor, you pay usually no copay. So a
lot of my veterans who are in the VA Healthcare system,
they will go to a VA doctor for certain prescriptions
that are really expensive for them to a toward. So
they so there's the VA Healthcare system and that's a
form called ten ten easy, and that's another thing that
(10:52):
the Veterans Service officers help them with.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Again, be in touchdown Veterans agent. That's that's as support
first step. I'm running over, but I don't mind running
over to benefit bedtfand's. But I do have another guest
coming up, so I'm going to bid you ado for
now and let's keep in touch and love to have
you back on this for any other topic. Paula All right.
Thank you very much, Paul, appreciate the time. When we
get back, when I talk about the new salary transparency
(11:17):
Laura in Massachusetts, what does it mean for you? I
don't think it's as simple as some people portray it,
but we'll find out. We're going to talk with a
job recruiter uh here in Boston, and I think Bethany
Mothrop will have a lot of answers for our questions
coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WAZ Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Like to welcome Bethany Molethrop. Bethany, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 6 (11:45):
How are you, hey, Dan?
Speaker 4 (11:47):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You're a job recruiter at a company called Tallenter in Boston.
First of all, I'm not familiar with talentner. Tell us
what Talenter does.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Yeah, we are at technology staffing for We're headquartered in
New York City, but I work out of our Boston office.
We've been around for twenty years now, placing technology professionals
into jobs.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Well, we have just I believe, passed a new salary
transparency law here in Massachusetts, and I'm a little confused
about it, but I want to make it very clear.
You can't walk into the boss's office tomorrow and say, Hey,
what is Mary Beth over there, who does the same
job as I make. What is Bill the guy who's
(12:33):
the legal council here, what does he make? Explain what
salary transparency means in the context of the Massachusetts law.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Yeah, yeah, So this rolled out almost two weeks ago
on October twenty ninth. It applies to all employers with
twenty five plus employees. They have to disclose the pay
range for each of the positions, whether that's publicly posted
or internally posted, or they're using a third party agency
to post that role. So you know, as far as
(13:05):
like asking your employer what your coworkers making, can't really
directly do that. You know, you can ask your own
job range, you know, and kind of deduced from there,
or you know, an internal job that you're transferring to
or applying to, so you could know within a certain
range of what your coworker would be making, but can
can't exactly ask directly like that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So so right, But what I'm saying is, if if
you're in a I don't know, an office setting, uh,
and you're dealing with I don't know, you know, advertising sales,
a lot of those jobs. You earn more money the
more sales you make. You might have a base pad,
(13:46):
But I just wanted I don't want to put people
in a position where they're going to go into the
boss and say, hey, mom, how much does Joe make
over there? What did what did jos W two form
look like a year ago? You can ask you can
ask a question about a range, but you don't have to.
I guess. Let's say they give you a range, say well,
(14:07):
you could make anywhere and particularly a job interview, from
fifty to one hundred thousand dollars. You can't then say, well,
who's the highest? Who makes one hundred thousand dollars here? Right? Right?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So you get a range for.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
It, which is helpful, but you still have to do
a little figuring in your own mind.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Right, Yeah, I mean this is this is a range
based off of base salaries, not necessarily commission bonus that
sort of stuff. So you know, it's essentially a range
in good faith, right like most employers should be doing it,
you know, a realistic range rather than you know, a
crazy range of you know, twenty thousand dollars to two
(14:53):
hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Right, Okay, So so you hope that your employer will
be honest with you. What is it? Is it critical
these days to when you're applying for a job to ask, okay,
what is the range and how long does it take
to me get to the to the top area of
the range? Is that a legitimate question that they have
(15:16):
to give you a legitimate response to.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Yeah, definitely. You know, our headquarters actually based in New
York City, that rolled us out a few years ago,
so we've you know, and acted this across the organization
as a whole, and honestly, you know, it's very well
received on both sides of the spectrum. Candidates want to
know that they're applying and spending time interviewing for jobs
(15:40):
that they can actually afford, ones that are going to
be relevant. And on the flip side, you know, it's
beneficial to employers because they're not going to waste time
interviewing candidates only to find out that they're thirty to
fifty k off at the end of the process.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And then what about if a company wants to be
a little tricky and assign different titles to different jobs. Uh,
in effect, the same job by a different title, if
you know what I'm saying. Uh? Are the companies try
to get around this this requirement by doing that, and
(16:15):
well you're you're you're dealing. You're applying for what we've
posted as a sales representative. Uh. The other people are
called sales coordinators or something, you know, just change it?
Can they? Can they mess around with the language or no?
Speaker 5 (16:31):
I mean, if somebody applies for a job and they're
ultimately not a for that position, whether that's you know,
they don't have the experience for the role, you know,
or they you know, are well above the experience required
for the role. They can you know, switch titles and
switch roles in the interview process as long as they
are you know, transparent, being like, hey, you know, I
actually think you're a betterefit for this role. This is
(16:52):
the position, These are the details, This is you know,
the salary range for this one. I guess, like my
biggest thing, in my biggest piece advice to employers is
just consistency is key with your pay structure, right, Like
you want to get ahead of it, like take the
time to lay it all out, and I want to
emphasize consistency over fairness. You can't say one thing's fair
(17:13):
because not always apples to apples in comparison.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
We get a lot of people saying, well, hey, my
friend graduated from the same school, the same program. We
have the same number of years of experience. He's making X,
but I'm only making hy right, Like, you need to
be able to confidently explain you know why you're going
to pay that person X, you know, and do so right,
and things to be consistent, you know, same scope, influence
(17:39):
impact for each role. You know, benchmarking data, all that
sort of stuff like that happens all the time. So
you want to know what your compensation philosophy is. You know,
I don't know what you're worth for that company, but
I do know where you fit in here, right yep.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
And then last question is in your sense that this
new transparency law will end up with a lot of litigation.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
You know what?
Speaker 5 (18:05):
In general, like it should it should be less. I mean,
obviously there's going to be some reporting in New York City.
There's not as much reporting as what we were seeing
that's going to happen with Massachusetts, But in general it
should be you know, less of that because you know
these salary ranges are going to be transparently posted ahead
of time, so there should be less, you know, salaries.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know, that's a good thing. That'll make for a
happier workplace, which will theoretically will benefit the business owners. Yes,
you explained it really well, Bethany, thank you very much.
I read a couple of well I've read several news
articles about it, and there was a little bit of confusion.
But you've done a great job. Beth Toy Mothrop, thank you.
If folks want to get in touch with your company,
most people when they do something here on the program,
(18:49):
I'd love to give them an opportunity to give a
website anywhere that you would want either employers to consult
with you or employees. Is that beneficial? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
W W do w dot talenter dot com or feel
free to email me at Bmolthrop at talenter dot com.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Okay, let's let's spell talent. We don't need the w W.
It's t a l e n e r dot com.
T a l e n e r dot com. And
your last last name is called Mothrop, which is m
o u l t h r o P. And your
first name is Bethany, give us the the director me
one more time.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yep, it's b as in boy Moulthrup m o U
l t h r O p at talenter dot com.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Perfect, perfect, Okay, hopefully they got that all and Rob
probably wrote it down as well. You never know, we'll
drive a little business in your direction. Thanks Bethan. I
enjoyed it very much. You've been a great guest.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Appreciate it all right, Thanks Dan.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
All Right, we had the news coming at the bottom
of the air. We're a couple of minutes later on that,
but that's okay. We get back with a talk with
Shane Reinwald. He's the senior director of Communications at the
Museum of Play, which is actually is where the National
Toy Hall of Fame is located, and we're going to
talk about some of the new inductees into the National
(20:08):
Toy Hall of Fame. There should be a fun interview
right after the news break at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w BZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Well, the National Toy Hall of Fame has made its
decisions for the class of twenty twenty five. Shane Rerhinwaald
is the senior director of Communications at what's called the
Museum of Play, which is where the National Toy Hall
of Fame is located. Shane, where is the nation? Seems
like every hall of fame is probably in Cleveland, Ohio
(20:43):
these days, I think roll Hall of Fame. Where are
you guys located?
Speaker 4 (20:48):
We are not in Cleveland, Ohio. We are in Rochester,
upstate New York.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Rochester. We used to call that Kodakville in the day
when Kodak. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Yeah, there's a lot of the a lot of the
mark that Kodak left throughout all of Rochester.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
All right, Okay, so let's talk about the Toy Hall
of Fame. How long has it been in business?
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Well, the Hall of Fame has been around since the
late nineteen nineties. That actually started out of the museum
in Salem, Oregon, and we acquired it from them in
the early two thousands, so just past the twenty five
you in mark just a few years ago. We had
a big anniversary celebration in that year and actually alled
the public for the first time vote in one toy
(21:35):
solely public vote.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Now is your open you? It's called the Museum of Play,
and as my I think I've corrected that, and if
I'm not, please feel free because I'm only reading what
they're giving me that You're the senior directive Communications at
the Museum of Play. And inside the Museum of Play
is where the National Toy Hall of Fame is located.
(21:57):
So I assume you have visitors every year, but probably
a lot of visitors in the summertime.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yes, absolutely, yeah, So the strong National Museum will Play.
It's more than a city block long. It's sort of
a mega wonderland of play history. We have the world's
largest collection of play related objects, so toys, board games, puzzles,
and so the National Toil of Fame, which is a
program of the museum. So that's why I started somewhere
else and came to the museum.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
That for us is an.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Outlet to be able to talk about why toys are
so important to all of us, why they're so formative,
and it's always fun around this time of the year
to get everybody involved in that sort of passionate debate
about what are the best of the best to well.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
It's great conversation, particularly a view of the holiday season
Honukah and Christmas. So this year the Toy Hall of Fame.
The new inductees. I have Battleship slime. I'm not even
sure I want to ask what that is, but I
will trivial Pursuit. Everybody knows truvily pursued. When was trivial
(23:02):
Pursuit invented? And I know there's been many, you know,
diype versions of trivial Pursuit, But when was the original
trivial Pursuit?
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah, definitely many iterations, but it was produced or first
grade in the nineteen eighty so it's been a out
just about forty years now. And what was unique about
that is that board games at the time often were
thought of as things that children play, so, you know,
you think of candy Land and games like that, and
Trivial Pursuit was one of the first games that really
was adult centric, where you had to have that experience,
(23:34):
that life experience, and that base of knowledge to be
able to play it. And I actually remember as a
kid seeing my parents play and trying to play it
and finding it very impossible. At that time, well, they had.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
The advantage of age and experience. So let's talk about battleship.
Is that a game I'm not familiar with Battleship.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Yeah, so Battleship's been around a long time. It actually
goes back more than one hundred years. That started as
ton of paper games. Most people will probably think of
the plastic version of this full down version that Milton
Bradley created in the nineteen sixties, and it's you know,
the iconic phrase of U sunk my battleship is really
wrapped up in that. I think sort of the peak
(24:15):
of pop culture popularity around Battleship was earlier, around twenty twelve.
There was a movie made, they call it a movie
called Battleship that was super loosely based on the game,
but that I think kind of showcase that this board
game hadn't made it as far as you know, being
around for decades and decades and the popular cultures like geist.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Okay, the only three that I have is Battleship, Trivial Pursuit,
and Slime. And so I've said slime for last. Please
tell us what slime is.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
So the fun thing about slime, So the first commercial
Slime was produced in the mid nineteen seventies. But Slime
is sort of this and I think you know, parents
out there that have kids probably are all pretty familiar
with that. Kids seen to love it, but it's something
that you can make yourself. But they are also commercial
versions of it available, and it's you know, it's got
(25:07):
the X factor that kids love. It's this looey gooey
substance that feels like it's on the verge of, you know,
being water and melting all over your floor and carpet,
but it's not. And it's it's fun. It's taptile and
really for kids, it's something that they can spend a
lot of time doing. Imagine that to play with.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
You know, my favorite toy is a kid I spent
hours playing with my against my brother. It was hockey
with marbles. It was like the early incarnations of you
could move the hockey guys. They were obviously metal. We
have the Canadians and the maple Leafs, who probably came
out of Canada. Has that. I don't even know what
(25:48):
you call it. We just called it, you know, playing
playing hockey with marbles and there was a goalie and
a goal uh and a net and you try to
score goals. Is that in the National Hall of Fame?
Because if it isn't, it was the best part of
the childhood.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Games you have, you have got to nominate it, so
it's not But the great thing is that anybody in
the public can nominate. The museum would played dot org.
We love to hear from people about what they played with,
what had impact on them.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
What This was huge in the sixties, I mean huge
last sixties. You didn't. It wasn't like some of the
more advanced games now where they have like the looks
like a big puck. This was marbles. So you were
firing a marble back and forth and you could everyone's
while you could wing, you wing your opponent. But yeah,
(26:36):
there was It was great. It was you. It was
almost like you know the soccer game kids play now
where they can move the soccer players up and down.
It's the similar. It's yeah, yeah, but this was with
hockey players on a rink. It was you know, a
red line, two blue lines face off circles, and the
players were somewhat limited. They can only they could spin,
(26:58):
uh and if you caught it right, you could you
could you could fire that marble. I'm stunned that you
don't have that. Let me ask you this, do you have.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Like the bubble hockey game, which we do have at
the museum that's playable, but yeah, not in the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Well, that's the one where where you have where you
where you're hitting.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
So that's kind of in that same vein.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Well, you're kind of hitting it. I think what you're
talking about there is you're you're firing a disc back
and forth and you can kind of wing it off
the sideboard and and try to score. Is a little
slot at each end of the game. Is that Is
that the one you're talking about?
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:33):
There, Well there's the air hockey, but then there's a
bubble hockey that had the players like you're talking about
that you can spin and they It wasn't a marble though,
So bubble you're talking about hockey in there? No, it's not.
I think it's been nominated before, but now, yeah, particularly myself,
So I've got to I've got a push for that internal.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Rochester, New York. You're almost in Canada. I mean you
have the same No, no, pattern is Canada.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Exactly have today in November.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, I understand that it normally starts up there a
little earlier, I think, but that's okay, don't worry, You'll
get some more. Look, I really enjoyed a chain. You're
a good sport senior director of communications. How many folks
walk through there every year? You must have some sort
of Do you get half a million people over the
course of a year.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Yeah, so, uh so last year was seven thousand, which
was our biggest year.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Boy, that's great. That's great. That's that's attendance for like
a great Triple A minor league baseball team. Okay, that's no,
I'm serious. That that is a big Yeah, that's a
good That is a really good attendance. Shane, thank you
so much, really enjoyed the conversation. We'll have you back
and folks can go to Rochester, New York. The Strong
(28:47):
National Museum of Play is the official name the Strong
National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York, not Minnesota. Uh,
thanks so much, Shane. Talk to you again.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
The sports motif going. You're going to talk about Rob Gronkowski,
the Gronks decision to retire this week as a New
England Patriot. He will sign a one day contract. No,
you won't see him back on the field, but he
will be honored I'm sure at Chillette Stadium. We'll talk
with carry Thompson, Boston Globe Sports reporter, right after the
break here.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Of night Side night Side with Dan Ray, I'm Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I would argue that probably the most lovable sports figure
in Boston in the last I don't know, twenty years
is not necessarily Tom Brady. It's really probably Rob Gronkowski.
This was a guy who really had fun playing football
with us. As Carrie Thompson, Boston Globe Sports for porter
(29:50):
and writer, Hey Carry, welcome back. How are you hey? Dan? Great?
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Thanks for having me on My.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Pleasure, My pleasure. Gronk always had this joy viva being
a football player, and uh, I don't think anybody seemed
to enjoy it more than Rob Gronkowski. He, of course,
along with Tom Brady, finished their careers down in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
They both won another Super Bowl ring down there. But
Gronk has stayed close, stayed active, very accessible here in
New England. Uh has he make is? He make it
his home and he seems to be around everywhere? Is
he is he become? Is this guy who grew up
in Buffalo decided to move south into the warmer weather
and live in the greater Boston area.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
Oh, that's The funny part about Gronk, he's kind of ubiquitous,
Like we see him everywhere. We see him on soot Sports,
we see him, we see him, we see him dedicating
a playground in Boston. And actually, how cool was that
the Gronk playground?
Speaker 2 (30:49):
That was Actually I love that word, by the way,
ubiquitous because that does describe Gronk in retirement. So what's
the deal here? I guess there was. I saw a
story in one of the channels today that there was
a woman who was instrumental in uh planning of the playground.
(31:12):
Uh you know, on the esplanate that that Gronk was
responsible for. Did you cover that part of the story,
And if you did, it's pretty I.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Did not, But I bet I've read the same story
that you did, which was ESPN's Mike Reethe reporting, And
according to Mike, it was Susan Hurley, who actually just
passed on November first from cancer. But she she had
befriend befriended Gronk, and Gronk actually credited her with the
idea to get this one day contract done at Gillette
(31:44):
for for Wednesday. So uh, she had some poll for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, So is this going to be tomorrow. Is this Wednesday?
Speaker 6 (31:52):
Yes, tomorrow, it's gonna be. It's gonna be tomorrow, and
it's gonna be twelve fifteen at Gillette Stadium. They've called
a press conference, so oh yeah, it be. It'd be
a good timing. I'll hit that and then heads to
the Celtics game in the law.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, the busy daut But you know, a lot of
people don't understand the significance of it. But these guys
who play the vast majority of their career with one
team and then make a few bucks in free agency
or whatever, they want to come back, and they want
to retire as a member of the team that they
really were so associated with. They did it for Tom Brady,
(32:29):
and now they're doing it for Rob Garkowski. I bet
it's going to be a fairly emotional day tomorrow. As
crazy as that sounds, oh no doubt.
Speaker 6 (32:37):
So many motions. I mean, we're honoring one of the
greatest tight ends of all time. I mean, he's up
there in the record books for pretty much every statistical category.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
I can't think of anyone else who would compare to Grokowski,
including Travis Kelce. With all apologies to Travis Kelce. I'll
take Gronkowski any day of the week.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
I mean, yeah, I'm with you, And obviously I grew
up here in Boston, so I will I will co sign.
But we've had some good ones, so I mean Antonio Gates,
you know, Francis is up there. Yeah, Russ Francis even
more modern like Tony Gonzalez was really good for a
long time. But I do agree that Gronk in terms
of dominance and winning, I think Gronk is number one.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I go back to Fred Arbanez for the Kansas City
Chiefs back in the sixties when Lenny Yon was fired
to ball hit, But no Gronk. Certainly, I cannot think
of another one another tight end that was more dominant.
Gates would be probably the closest that that that I
could come up with. Uh. The other thing, whenever I
think of Gronkowski, and I don't know if you've thought
(33:46):
of this, but I think about the two guys who
were drafted. I think they were drafted the same year,
he and Aaron Hernandez and took obviously a road which
took him down a pretty dark alley. And it's no
longer with us convicted suicide allegedly and Gronkowski who just
(34:06):
seemed to always enjoy what he was doing, where Fernandez
was much more of a quiet, almost a brooding figure.
You look at those two guys and you say to yourself,
one will live in history as maybe the greatest tight
end in the history of the National Football League, and
the other lives in you know, questionable infamy. You know,
(34:26):
sad story. One is a sad story, and one is
a really joyful story. And the joyful story culminates tomorrow.
How how big a story do you think it will
be tomorrow amongst the sport I guess four, five and seven.
All the all the TV stations will be there, You
guys will be there, all the newspapers will be there.
(34:46):
And I hope you get a chance to sit with
him for a few minutes and ask and ask some
questions and have some fun with it, because it's gonna
be a It's gonna be a great I would bet you.
I would hope that some of the TV sports stations,
and I should talk to my pel Steve Burton, they
should cover that live. Do you think it will be
covered live or no?
Speaker 6 (35:07):
There's definitely gonna be some way to stream it. Whether
the Patriots do it themselves and on social media or
the TV stations pick it up. But I would bet
that the Patriots would have a stream going somewhere, for sure.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
I would. That's the sort of thing that I would
if I knew it was going at twelve fifteen, I
would be in front of the TV set to watch it.
Because let me ask you this. You know him. I've
never met him, But my question to you as a
reporter is you've been in his company? Is he as
good a guy in person and as fun in person
(35:42):
as he appears to be whenever you see him on television.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Well, honestly, I'm one of the younger reporters on the beat,
so I got here in twenty twenty two, so Goronk
was gone by the time I got here. I did
get him one on one once, just over zoom, but
I actually haven't interviewed him in person.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
I can speak.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
I can speak as a fan because I was a
Patriots fan back in the day. And nobody's more fun
than the Yo Fiesta Fiesta guy. I mean, come on now,
like when you when you're talking Gronk, we're talking greatness,
we're talking fun, and we're talking an outsized personality that
matches his game. And you know that's that's what makes
(36:23):
him really interesting.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Well, I love, for example, the football drop from the
helicopter and catch you your helicopter like like a catcher,
try to catch a pop fly behind home plate. And
sure enough he caught it, and that thing's coming down at.
Speaker 7 (36:35):
A pretty good clip. Yeah, he's, he's, he's. He's a
brilliant marketer. He's a brilliant and he marketed himself. Carry,
I really appreciate you a couple of years ago. You
have fun to talk to him man, and I love sports.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
I basically do you know politics and card events here,
but I actuality, Carry. I wanted to be a sportscaster
when I was really young.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
That was my goal.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
So I ended up in the broadcasting business. But I
just when I get to do sports, it's really it's
really a lot of fun. And I appreciate anytime you'll
come on with us. Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
Hey, you do a good job at it. Thanks for
having me on.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Right Garry, I follow your stuff for the Globe. You
do a great job. Thanks again. We are done with
the hour and when we come back, we're going to
get into my Bailey Wick, which is the serious stuff.
Apparently there's a move up at the Massachusetts State House
to allow cities and towns to up to triple our
(37:33):
automobile excise tax. Now, if you have a car in Massachusetts,
you pay food the knows every year with your auto
excise tax. And we're gonna be talking with Grubernatro candidate
Brian Shortsleeve who has brought this to my attention and
why he says if he's elected governor, this is not
gonna fly. I'm not sure it might not hit the
(37:54):
books before that, but you'll get a good sense of
Brian short Sleeve right after the nine o'clock news here
on Nightside
It's nice Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm doing Mazy Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is Veterans Day, November eleventh, which celebrated the end
of World War One, and some people thought it actually
in effect started World War Two, the Treaty of Versaill, etc.
But Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe has an article
in his Arguable Calumn Today column today which is quite
(00:27):
the contrary. Very interesting read with Jeff Jacoby. This is
also Remembrance Day in Canada, so there's a lot for
us to celebrate tonight. We celebrate the service of everyone
who put on the uniform in this country, and we
will be doing a Veterans salute later on tonight at
eleven o'clock, and I will invite all of you to
(00:47):
honor a veteran, a neighbor, a friend, a family member,
maybe a close family member who served in some form
or fashion during their lifetime in the service of the
US military. Or if you want to be a Canadian caller,
that's okay as well. We have lots to do tonight.
We're going to talk with Republican grubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve
(01:12):
about what I think is a crazy idea the state apparently,
under the leadership of Governor Heally, may actually give cities
and towns in Massachusetts the authority to triple triple your
auto excise tax. Those are the taxes that you paid
to the community. We'll get to that, and we'll also
(01:34):
talk about that betting scandal. Now not just in the NBA,
but in Major League Baseball. Two pitchers for the Cleveland
Indians are in big trouble and if they are convicted,
they will spend a lot of time in federal prison.
This is a serious story. We'll talk about that at ten.
But we have four great guests tonight. In the first
(01:56):
one appropriately focuses on veterans. We're going to speak with
an attorney, Paula Almgren. Paula specializes in VA benefits and
long term care. She's going to tell us and those
of you who are veterans out there or family members
of veterans, please pay attention because she's going to tell
us about some benefits and financial support that most veterans
(02:18):
might not even realize exist. First of all, atturning Algren,
hope I got that pronunciation correctly.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Welcome to night Side, Thank you, glad to be here. Dan,
Happy veterans day.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Right back at you, right back at you. So tell
us everybody knows about VA benefits, but there's every veteran
should be in touch with their local you know, veterans representative.
Tell us what you have found out or what you
have discovered that maybe some veterans might not be aware of.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, there's several different benefits from the VA. But that's
a benefit that we we use a lot for our
elderly veterans, their spouses and their widows. Is a benefit
called a pension with aid in attendance, and this is
a cash benefit. So the veteran has to have served
one day active duty during an official declaration of wars.
(03:17):
It has to be They don't have to have been
in the front lines. They just have to been activated
during official wartime dates. And then their assets, their care
costs have to exceed their income. So if someone's home
and they have four thousand dollars a month of care
and they are combined, Let's say it's a veteran with
a spouse and their combined income is three thousand, so
(03:39):
they have a shortfall of a thousand, So that veteran
would be eligible for two seven hundred and ninety five
dollars a month, which is thirty three thousand, five hundred
and forty eight dollars a year. There is you know, asset.
The assets have to be under one hundred and fifty
nine to two forty does not include the primary home vehicles,
(04:01):
personal belongings. So it's a huge benefit.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So hard.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Three.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
The numbers are tough on radio, as I'm sure you know.
But let's talk about eligibility. You said in a declared war.
We haven't had a declared war in this country in
reality since World War Two? Does this not apply to
men and women who served in Korea, Vietnam, in other
military actions that we've taken in the Middle East.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, so we have, we're still under an official declaration
of war. So the wartime dates and these are things
like I could send you if you want to link
them somewhere, but their wartime dates are you know, there
was World War two of Korean conflict was fifty to
fifty five, and then the Vietnam era. That's there's different
(04:52):
periods for boot on the ground, Vietnam bets and then
all Vietnam bets that is fifty I've to seventy five
or sixty four to seventy five, and the Golf War
is nineteen ninety and there's still it hasn't ended data.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Even though they weren't technically declarations of war by Congress.
And I know a big deal was made about Korea
was a military action and it was really United Nations action.
But obviously a lot of American soldiers died in Korea.
Fifty eight thousand died during Vietnam, and thousands died in
(05:34):
the Middle East activities. So I just want to make
sure that people realize that this does apply at any
period of time when we were engaged in armed conflict.
And so you do not have to be a veteran
who was in Vietnam. If you had a day of
active military duty during one period of Vietnam circus sixty
(05:55):
four to seventy five, that would apply. So again, what
you're saying is that you quoted a figure of I
think it was thirty three thousand dollars. How do we
get to that figure because you talked about the hypothetical
figure of a veteran who needed four thousand dollars a
month care and they had a shortfall of they only got,
(06:20):
you know whatever, three thousand dollars. How did they get
to the thirty three thousand dollars figure, which was a
really big, big number.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So as long as you meet the criteria, and one
of them is, you know, you have to need the
aid and attendance of another, so you have to need
help with your activities a daily living, and then your
care costs have to exceed your income. So when you
get to a negative number, you get the full benefit.
And so for a married veteran it's two thousand, seven
(06:50):
hundred and ninety five dollars a month. For a veteran
alone without a spouse, it's two three hundred and fifty
eight dollars a month, which is you know, twenty eight
thousand dollars a year. And for the widows of the
wartime veterans, they are getting fifteen fifteen a month, which
is still eighteen thousand dollars a year towards.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Their care costs.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
And it's not taxable because it's reimbursement towards care, So
it's not a taxable benefit from the VA.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Okay. And the best thing, Paul, it would be if
there are individuals I see that there's I have on
my page here a veteran Veterans benefit. You have a
book about elder care of the rules, but that's broader
than veterans. How can full contact you? Is your law
(07:40):
group the Berkshire Law.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Group, Yes, But for the VA benefits, most people deal
with the local Veterans agent or the Veterans Service Agent,
and they are through like disabled American veterans, the Veterans
of Foreign Wars, the Vietnam Veterans of America. Those agencies
also have Veterans Service Officers bsos are called. And then
(08:06):
a lot of the towns in cities across Massachusetts and
all states in the country have veterans agents. So you
just want to make sure you're picking someone who's done
this before and then knows the rules of the VA.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeh. Many many years ago, a friend of mine who
was actually shot and wounded, not badly, but suffered a
gunshot wound in Korea came across a little known benefit
that I guess if you had ever suffered a shotgun,
a shot wound, or you know, a bullet wound and
(08:42):
could prove it, you were eligible. He told me for
forty thousand dollars, and I was practicing law at the time,
I said, well, let me walk, let's go down from
the JFK building, federal building.
Speaker 5 (08:53):
Here in Boston.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah. Yeah, and he had figured it out. We walked
in the JFK building and a couple of hours later
he walked out with a check for forty thousand dollars
because it was legitimate. He had been wounded in during
a battle and not critically, but had been shot and
it was the records were there, and I had never
(09:15):
heard of it. I didn't practice law in veterans area.
But but my friend who shall remain anonymous but has
now passed on, he knew what he was talking about.
A pretty sharp guy. And so there are benefits out
there if folks want to get in touch with you.
I don't know if this would help you or your
(09:37):
your practice, or if you want to give us a
way in which they can contact you, great, If you'd
prefer not, that's okay as well, your choice.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Well.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Really, what most veterans who are eligible for benefit to
do is they go to the Veterans Service officers because
they're military best one. They they know exactly how to
deal with the VA and how to put that. You
have to put your paperwork in perfectly with the VA perfect, absolutely.
And there's another thing. All veterans, even if they're not
wartime veterans, there's a vent. There's benefits through the Veterans
(10:08):
Healthcare so a system. It's the VAHA and so all
veterans can apply for this benefit and if you're eligible,
you can get into the VA Healthcare system. And it
makes a difference for them because it helps with home care,
durable medical equipment, eyeglasses. If you get a prescription from
(10:30):
a VA doctor, you pay usually no copay. So a
lot of my veterans who are in the VA Healthcare system,
they will go to a VA doctor for certain prescriptions
that are really expensive for them to a toward. So
they so there's the VA Healthcare system and that's a
form called ten ten easy, and that's another thing that
(10:52):
the Veterans Service officers help them with.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Again, be in touchdown Veterans agent. That's that's as support
first step. I'm running over, but I don't mind running
over to benefit bedtfand's. But I do have another guest
coming up, so I'm going to bid you ado for
now and let's keep in touch and love to have
you back on this for any other topic. Paula All right.
Thank you very much, Paul, appreciate the time. When we
get back, when I talk about the new salary transparency
(11:17):
Laura in Massachusetts, what does it mean for you? I
don't think it's as simple as some people portray it,
but we'll find out. We're going to talk with a
job recruiter uh here in Boston, and I think Bethany
Mothrop will have a lot of answers for our questions
coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WAZ Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Like to welcome Bethany Molethrop. Bethany, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 6 (11:45):
How are you, hey, Dan?
Speaker 4 (11:47):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You're a job recruiter at a company called Tallenter in Boston.
First of all, I'm not familiar with talentner. Tell us
what Talenter does.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Yeah, we are at technology staffing for We're headquartered in
New York City, but I work out of our Boston office.
We've been around for twenty years now, placing technology professionals
into jobs.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Well, we have just I believe, passed a new salary
transparency law here in Massachusetts, and I'm a little confused
about it, but I want to make it very clear.
You can't walk into the boss's office tomorrow and say, Hey,
what is Mary Beth over there, who does the same
job as I make. What is Bill the guy who's
(12:33):
the legal council here, what does he make? Explain what
salary transparency means in the context of the Massachusetts law.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Yeah, yeah, So this rolled out almost two weeks ago
on October twenty ninth. It applies to all employers with
twenty five plus employees. They have to disclose the pay
range for each of the positions, whether that's publicly posted
or internally posted, or they're using a third party agency
to post that role. So you know, as far as
(13:05):
like asking your employer what your coworkers making, can't really
directly do that. You know, you can ask your own
job range, you know, and kind of deduced from there,
or you know, an internal job that you're transferring to
or applying to, so you could know within a certain
range of what your coworker would be making, but can
can't exactly ask directly like that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So so right, But what I'm saying is, if if
you're in a I don't know, an office setting, uh,
and you're dealing with I don't know, you know, advertising sales,
a lot of those jobs. You earn more money the
more sales you make. You might have a base pad,
(13:46):
But I just wanted I don't want to put people
in a position where they're going to go into the
boss and say, hey, mom, how much does Joe make
over there? What did what did jos W two form
look like a year ago? You can ask you can
ask a question about a range, but you don't have to.
I guess. Let's say they give you a range, say well,
(14:07):
you could make anywhere and particularly a job interview, from
fifty to one hundred thousand dollars. You can't then say, well,
who's the highest? Who makes one hundred thousand dollars here? Right? Right?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So you get a range for.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
It, which is helpful, but you still have to do
a little figuring in your own mind.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Right, Yeah, I mean this is this is a range
based off of base salaries, not necessarily commission bonus that
sort of stuff. So you know, it's essentially a range
in good faith, right like most employers should be doing it,
you know, a realistic range rather than you know, a
crazy range of you know, twenty thousand dollars to two
(14:53):
hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Right, Okay, So so you hope that your employer will
be honest with you. What is it? Is it critical
these days to when you're applying for a job to ask, okay,
what is the range and how long does it take
to me get to the to the top area of
the range? Is that a legitimate question that they have
(15:16):
to give you a legitimate response to.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Yeah, definitely. You know, our headquarters actually based in New
York City, that rolled us out a few years ago,
so we've you know, and acted this across the organization
as a whole, and honestly, you know, it's very well
received on both sides of the spectrum. Candidates want to
know that they're applying and spending time interviewing for jobs
(15:40):
that they can actually afford, ones that are going to
be relevant. And on the flip side, you know, it's
beneficial to employers because they're not going to waste time
interviewing candidates only to find out that they're thirty to
fifty k off at the end of the process.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And then what about if a company wants to be
a little tricky and assign different titles to different jobs. Uh,
in effect, the same job by a different title, if
you know what I'm saying. Uh? Are the companies try
to get around this this requirement by doing that, and
(16:15):
well you're you're you're dealing. You're applying for what we've
posted as a sales representative. Uh. The other people are
called sales coordinators or something, you know, just change it?
Can they? Can they mess around with the language or no?
Speaker 5 (16:31):
I mean, if somebody applies for a job and they're
ultimately not a for that position, whether that's you know,
they don't have the experience for the role, you know,
or they you know, are well above the experience required
for the role. They can you know, switch titles and
switch roles in the interview process as long as they
are you know, transparent, being like, hey, you know, I
actually think you're a betterefit for this role. This is
(16:52):
the position, These are the details, This is you know,
the salary range for this one. I guess, like my
biggest thing, in my biggest piece advice to employers is
just consistency is key with your pay structure, right, Like
you want to get ahead of it, like take the
time to lay it all out, and I want to
emphasize consistency over fairness. You can't say one thing's fair
(17:13):
because not always apples to apples in comparison.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
We get a lot of people saying, well, hey, my
friend graduated from the same school, the same program. We
have the same number of years of experience. He's making X,
but I'm only making hy right, Like, you need to
be able to confidently explain you know why you're going
to pay that person X, you know, and do so right,
and things to be consistent, you know, same scope, influence
(17:39):
impact for each role. You know, benchmarking data, all that
sort of stuff like that happens all the time. So
you want to know what your compensation philosophy is. You know,
I don't know what you're worth for that company, but
I do know where you fit in here, right yep.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
And then last question is in your sense that this
new transparency law will end up with a lot of litigation.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
You know what?
Speaker 5 (18:05):
In general, like it should it should be less. I mean,
obviously there's going to be some reporting in New York City.
There's not as much reporting as what we were seeing
that's going to happen with Massachusetts, But in general it
should be you know, less of that because you know
these salary ranges are going to be transparently posted ahead
of time, so there should be less, you know, salaries.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know, that's a good thing. That'll make for a
happier workplace, which will theoretically will benefit the business owners. Yes,
you explained it really well, Bethany, thank you very much.
I read a couple of well I've read several news
articles about it, and there was a little bit of confusion.
But you've done a great job. Beth Toy Mothrop, thank you.
If folks want to get in touch with your company,
most people when they do something here on the program,
(18:49):
I'd love to give them an opportunity to give a
website anywhere that you would want either employers to consult
with you or employees. Is that beneficial? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
W W do w dot talenter dot com or feel
free to email me at Bmolthrop at talenter dot com.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Okay, let's let's spell talent. We don't need the w W.
It's t a l e n e r dot com.
T a l e n e r dot com. And
your last last name is called Mothrop, which is m
o u l t h r o P. And your
first name is Bethany, give us the the director me
one more time.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yep, it's b as in boy Moulthrup m o U
l t h r O p at talenter dot com.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Perfect, perfect, Okay, hopefully they got that all and Rob
probably wrote it down as well. You never know, we'll
drive a little business in your direction. Thanks Bethan. I
enjoyed it very much. You've been a great guest.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Appreciate it all right, Thanks Dan.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
All Right, we had the news coming at the bottom
of the air. We're a couple of minutes later on that,
but that's okay. We get back with a talk with
Shane Reinwald. He's the senior director of Communications at the
Museum of Play, which is actually is where the National
Toy Hall of Fame is located, and we're going to
talk about some of the new inductees into the National
(20:08):
Toy Hall of Fame. There should be a fun interview
right after the news break at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w BZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Well, the National Toy Hall of Fame has made its
decisions for the class of twenty twenty five. Shane Rerhinwaald
is the senior director of Communications at what's called the
Museum of Play, which is where the National Toy Hall
of Fame is located. Shane, where is the nation? Seems
like every hall of fame is probably in Cleveland, Ohio
(20:43):
these days, I think roll Hall of Fame. Where are
you guys located?
Speaker 4 (20:48):
We are not in Cleveland, Ohio. We are in Rochester,
upstate New York.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Rochester. We used to call that Kodakville in the day
when Kodak. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Yeah, there's a lot of the a lot of the
mark that Kodak left throughout all of Rochester.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
All right, Okay, so let's talk about the Toy Hall
of Fame. How long has it been in business?
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Well, the Hall of Fame has been around since the
late nineteen nineties. That actually started out of the museum
in Salem, Oregon, and we acquired it from them in
the early two thousands, so just past the twenty five
you in mark just a few years ago. We had
a big anniversary celebration in that year and actually alled
the public for the first time vote in one toy
(21:35):
solely public vote.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Now is your open you? It's called the Museum of Play,
and as my I think I've corrected that, and if
I'm not, please feel free because I'm only reading what
they're giving me that You're the senior directive Communications at
the Museum of Play. And inside the Museum of Play
is where the National Toy Hall of Fame is located.
(21:57):
So I assume you have visitors every year, but probably
a lot of visitors in the summertime.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yes, absolutely, yeah, So the strong National Museum will Play.
It's more than a city block long. It's sort of
a mega wonderland of play history. We have the world's
largest collection of play related objects, so toys, board games, puzzles,
and so the National Toil of Fame, which is a
program of the museum. So that's why I started somewhere
else and came to the museum.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
That for us is an.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Outlet to be able to talk about why toys are
so important to all of us, why they're so formative,
and it's always fun around this time of the year
to get everybody involved in that sort of passionate debate
about what are the best of the best to well.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
It's great conversation, particularly a view of the holiday season
Honukah and Christmas. So this year the Toy Hall of Fame.
The new inductees. I have Battleship slime. I'm not even
sure I want to ask what that is, but I
will trivial Pursuit. Everybody knows truvily pursued. When was trivial
(23:02):
Pursuit invented? And I know there's been many, you know,
diype versions of trivial Pursuit, But when was the original
trivial Pursuit?
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah, definitely many iterations, but it was produced or first
grade in the nineteen eighty so it's been a out
just about forty years now. And what was unique about
that is that board games at the time often were
thought of as things that children play, so, you know,
you think of candy Land and games like that, and
Trivial Pursuit was one of the first games that really
was adult centric, where you had to have that experience,
(23:34):
that life experience, and that base of knowledge to be
able to play it. And I actually remember as a
kid seeing my parents play and trying to play it
and finding it very impossible. At that time, well, they had.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
The advantage of age and experience. So let's talk about battleship.
Is that a game I'm not familiar with Battleship.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Yeah, so Battleship's been around a long time. It actually
goes back more than one hundred years. That started as
ton of paper games. Most people will probably think of
the plastic version of this full down version that Milton
Bradley created in the nineteen sixties, and it's you know,
the iconic phrase of U sunk my battleship is really
wrapped up in that. I think sort of the peak
(24:15):
of pop culture popularity around Battleship was earlier, around twenty twelve.
There was a movie made, they call it a movie
called Battleship that was super loosely based on the game,
but that I think kind of showcase that this board
game hadn't made it as far as you know, being
around for decades and decades and the popular cultures like geist.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Okay, the only three that I have is Battleship, Trivial Pursuit,
and Slime. And so I've said slime for last. Please
tell us what slime is.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
So the fun thing about slime, So the first commercial
Slime was produced in the mid nineteen seventies. But Slime
is sort of this and I think you know, parents
out there that have kids probably are all pretty familiar
with that. Kids seen to love it, but it's something
that you can make yourself. But they are also commercial
versions of it available, and it's you know, it's got
(25:07):
the X factor that kids love. It's this looey gooey
substance that feels like it's on the verge of, you know,
being water and melting all over your floor and carpet,
but it's not. And it's it's fun. It's taptile and
really for kids, it's something that they can spend a
lot of time doing. Imagine that to play with.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
You know, my favorite toy is a kid I spent
hours playing with my against my brother. It was hockey
with marbles. It was like the early incarnations of you
could move the hockey guys. They were obviously metal. We
have the Canadians and the maple Leafs, who probably came
out of Canada. Has that. I don't even know what
(25:48):
you call it. We just called it, you know, playing
playing hockey with marbles and there was a goalie and
a goal uh and a net and you try to
score goals. Is that in the National Hall of Fame?
Because if it isn't, it was the best part of
the childhood.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Games you have, you have got to nominate it, so
it's not But the great thing is that anybody in
the public can nominate. The museum would played dot org.
We love to hear from people about what they played with,
what had impact on them.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
What This was huge in the sixties, I mean huge
last sixties. You didn't. It wasn't like some of the
more advanced games now where they have like the looks
like a big puck. This was marbles. So you were
firing a marble back and forth and you could everyone's
while you could wing, you wing your opponent. But yeah,
(26:36):
there was It was great. It was you. It was
almost like you know the soccer game kids play now
where they can move the soccer players up and down.
It's the similar. It's yeah, yeah, but this was with
hockey players on a rink. It was you know, a
red line, two blue lines face off circles, and the
players were somewhat limited. They can only they could spin,
(26:58):
uh and if you caught it right, you could you
could you could fire that marble. I'm stunned that you
don't have that. Let me ask you this, do you have.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Like the bubble hockey game, which we do have at
the museum that's playable, but yeah, not in the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Well, that's the one where where you have where you
where you're hitting.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
So that's kind of in that same vein.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Well, you're kind of hitting it. I think what you're
talking about there is you're you're firing a disc back
and forth and you can kind of wing it off
the sideboard and and try to score. Is a little
slot at each end of the game. Is that Is
that the one you're talking about?
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:33):
There, Well there's the air hockey, but then there's a
bubble hockey that had the players like you're talking about
that you can spin and they It wasn't a marble though,
So bubble you're talking about hockey in there? No, it's not.
I think it's been nominated before, but now, yeah, particularly myself,
So I've got to I've got a push for that internal.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Rochester, New York. You're almost in Canada. I mean you
have the same No, no, pattern is Canada.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Exactly have today in November.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, I understand that it normally starts up there a
little earlier, I think, but that's okay, don't worry, You'll
get some more. Look, I really enjoyed a chain. You're
a good sport senior director of communications. How many folks
walk through there every year? You must have some sort
of Do you get half a million people over the
course of a year.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Yeah, so, uh so last year was seven thousand, which
was our biggest year.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Boy, that's great. That's great. That's that's attendance for like
a great Triple A minor league baseball team. Okay, that's no,
I'm serious. That that is a big Yeah, that's a
good That is a really good attendance. Shane, thank you
so much, really enjoyed the conversation. We'll have you back
and folks can go to Rochester, New York. The Strong
(28:47):
National Museum of Play is the official name the Strong
National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York, not Minnesota. Uh,
thanks so much, Shane. Talk to you again.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
The sports motif going. You're going to talk about Rob Gronkowski,
the Gronks decision to retire this week as a New
England Patriot. He will sign a one day contract. No,
you won't see him back on the field, but he
will be honored I'm sure at Chillette Stadium. We'll talk
with carry Thompson, Boston Globe Sports reporter, right after the
break here.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Of night Side night Side with Dan Ray, I'm Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I would argue that probably the most lovable sports figure
in Boston in the last I don't know, twenty years
is not necessarily Tom Brady. It's really probably Rob Gronkowski.
This was a guy who really had fun playing football
with us. As Carrie Thompson, Boston Globe Sports for porter
(29:50):
and writer, Hey Carry, welcome back. How are you hey? Dan? Great?
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Thanks for having me on My.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Pleasure, My pleasure. Gronk always had this joy viva being
a football player, and uh, I don't think anybody seemed
to enjoy it more than Rob Gronkowski. He, of course,
along with Tom Brady, finished their careers down in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
They both won another Super Bowl ring down there. But
Gronk has stayed close, stayed active, very accessible here in
New England. Uh has he make is? He make it
his home and he seems to be around everywhere? Is
he is he become? Is this guy who grew up
in Buffalo decided to move south into the warmer weather
and live in the greater Boston area.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
Oh, that's The funny part about Gronk, he's kind of ubiquitous,
Like we see him everywhere. We see him on soot Sports,
we see him, we see him, we see him dedicating
a playground in Boston. And actually, how cool was that
the Gronk playground?
Speaker 2 (30:49):
That was Actually I love that word, by the way,
ubiquitous because that does describe Gronk in retirement. So what's
the deal here? I guess there was. I saw a
story in one of the channels today that there was
a woman who was instrumental in uh planning of the playground.
(31:12):
Uh you know, on the esplanate that that Gronk was
responsible for. Did you cover that part of the story,
And if you did, it's pretty I.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Did not, But I bet I've read the same story
that you did, which was ESPN's Mike Reethe reporting, And
according to Mike, it was Susan Hurley, who actually just
passed on November first from cancer. But she she had
befriend befriended Gronk, and Gronk actually credited her with the
idea to get this one day contract done at Gillette
(31:44):
for for Wednesday. So uh, she had some poll for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, So is this going to be tomorrow. Is this Wednesday?
Speaker 6 (31:52):
Yes, tomorrow, it's gonna be. It's gonna be tomorrow, and
it's gonna be twelve fifteen at Gillette Stadium. They've called
a press conference, so oh yeah, it be. It'd be
a good timing. I'll hit that and then heads to
the Celtics game in the law.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, the busy daut But you know, a lot of
people don't understand the significance of it. But these guys
who play the vast majority of their career with one
team and then make a few bucks in free agency
or whatever, they want to come back, and they want
to retire as a member of the team that they
really were so associated with. They did it for Tom Brady,
(32:29):
and now they're doing it for Rob Garkowski. I bet
it's going to be a fairly emotional day tomorrow. As
crazy as that sounds, oh no doubt.
Speaker 6 (32:37):
So many motions. I mean, we're honoring one of the
greatest tight ends of all time. I mean, he's up
there in the record books for pretty much every statistical category.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
I can't think of anyone else who would compare to Grokowski,
including Travis Kelce. With all apologies to Travis Kelce. I'll
take Gronkowski any day of the week.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
I mean, yeah, I'm with you, And obviously I grew
up here in Boston, so I will I will co sign.
But we've had some good ones, so I mean Antonio Gates,
you know, Francis is up there. Yeah, Russ Francis even
more modern like Tony Gonzalez was really good for a
long time. But I do agree that Gronk in terms
of dominance and winning, I think Gronk is number one.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I go back to Fred Arbanez for the Kansas City
Chiefs back in the sixties when Lenny Yon was fired
to ball hit, But no Gronk. Certainly, I cannot think
of another one another tight end that was more dominant.
Gates would be probably the closest that that that I
could come up with. Uh. The other thing, whenever I
think of Gronkowski, and I don't know if you've thought
(33:46):
of this, but I think about the two guys who
were drafted. I think they were drafted the same year,
he and Aaron Hernandez and took obviously a road which
took him down a pretty dark alley. And it's no
longer with us convicted suicide allegedly and Gronkowski who just
(34:06):
seemed to always enjoy what he was doing, where Fernandez
was much more of a quiet, almost a brooding figure.
You look at those two guys and you say to yourself,
one will live in history as maybe the greatest tight
end in the history of the National Football League, and
the other lives in you know, questionable infamy. You know,
(34:26):
sad story. One is a sad story, and one is
a really joyful story. And the joyful story culminates tomorrow.
How how big a story do you think it will
be tomorrow amongst the sport I guess four, five and seven.
All the all the TV stations will be there, You
guys will be there, all the newspapers will be there.
(34:46):
And I hope you get a chance to sit with
him for a few minutes and ask and ask some
questions and have some fun with it, because it's gonna
be a It's gonna be a great I would bet you.
I would hope that some of the TV sports stations,
and I should talk to my pel Steve Burton, they
should cover that live. Do you think it will be
covered live or no?
Speaker 6 (35:07):
There's definitely gonna be some way to stream it. Whether
the Patriots do it themselves and on social media or
the TV stations pick it up. But I would bet
that the Patriots would have a stream going somewhere, for sure.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
I would. That's the sort of thing that I would
if I knew it was going at twelve fifteen, I
would be in front of the TV set to watch it.
Because let me ask you this. You know him. I've
never met him, But my question to you as a
reporter is you've been in his company? Is he as
good a guy in person and as fun in person
(35:42):
as he appears to be whenever you see him on television.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Well, honestly, I'm one of the younger reporters on the beat,
so I got here in twenty twenty two, so Goronk
was gone by the time I got here. I did
get him one on one once, just over zoom, but
I actually haven't interviewed him in person.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
I can speak.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
I can speak as a fan because I was a
Patriots fan back in the day. And nobody's more fun
than the Yo Fiesta Fiesta guy. I mean, come on now,
like when you when you're talking Gronk, we're talking greatness,
we're talking fun, and we're talking an outsized personality that
matches his game. And you know that's that's what makes
(36:23):
him really interesting.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Well, I love, for example, the football drop from the
helicopter and catch you your helicopter like like a catcher,
try to catch a pop fly behind home plate. And
sure enough he caught it, and that thing's coming down at.
Speaker 7 (36:35):
A pretty good clip. Yeah, he's, he's, he's. He's a
brilliant marketer. He's a brilliant and he marketed himself. Carry,
I really appreciate you a couple of years ago. You
have fun to talk to him man, and I love sports.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
I basically do you know politics and card events here,
but I actuality, Carry. I wanted to be a sportscaster
when I was really young.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
That was my goal.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
So I ended up in the broadcasting business. But I
just when I get to do sports, it's really it's
really a lot of fun. And I appreciate anytime you'll
come on with us. Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
Hey, you do a good job at it. Thanks for
having me on.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Right Garry, I follow your stuff for the Globe. You
do a great job. Thanks again. We are done with
the hour and when we come back, we're going to
get into my Bailey Wick, which is the serious stuff.
Apparently there's a move up at the Massachusetts State House
to allow cities and towns to up to triple our
(37:33):
automobile excise tax. Now, if you have a car in Massachusetts,
you pay food the knows every year with your auto
excise tax. And we're gonna be talking with Grubernatro candidate
Brian Shortsleeve who has brought this to my attention and
why he says if he's elected governor, this is not
gonna fly. I'm not sure it might not hit the
(37:54):
books before that, but you'll get a good sense of
Brian short Sleeve right after the nine o'clock news here
on Nightside
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