August 6, 2025 • 37 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Mass Lottery Produces Estimated $1.065 Billion In Net Profit For The Commonwealth In Fiscal Year 2025 - Record-setting sales for Keno and highest prize payout percentage to date for players!
Guest: State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, Chair of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission
1 in 3 children in Massachusetts experiences clothing insecurity. Serious and often overlooked crisis: underwear insecurity. Cocotree Kids, a MA nonprofit, launched $10K fundraising campaign with hopes of providing 2,800 underserved children across Massachusetts with a weeks’ worth of underwear. Campaign kicked off August 5th & they already hit their goal!
Guest: Catherine Maloy, Founder and Executive Director of Cocotree Kids
Teens say they are turning to AI for friendship. More than 70% of teens have used AI companions and half use them regularly, according to a new study from Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using screens and digital media sensibly.
Guest: Dr. Supreet Mann, Director of Research at Common Sense Media
How Goose the water monitor lizard was captured after two weeks on the loose!
Guest: Captain Scott Amati – MA Environmental Police
Mass Lottery Produces Estimated $1.065 Billion In Net Profit For The Commonwealth In Fiscal Year 2025 - Record-setting sales for Keno and highest prize payout percentage to date for players!
Guest: State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, Chair of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission
1 in 3 children in Massachusetts experiences clothing insecurity. Serious and often overlooked crisis: underwear insecurity. Cocotree Kids, a MA nonprofit, launched $10K fundraising campaign with hopes of providing 2,800 underserved children across Massachusetts with a weeks’ worth of underwear. Campaign kicked off August 5th & they already hit their goal!
Guest: Catherine Maloy, Founder and Executive Director of Cocotree Kids
Teens say they are turning to AI for friendship. More than 70% of teens have used AI companions and half use them regularly, according to a new study from Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using screens and digital media sensibly.
Guest: Dr. Supreet Mann, Director of Research at Common Sense Media
How Goose the water monitor lizard was captured after two weeks on the loose!
Guest: Captain Scott Amati – MA Environmental Police
Mark as Played
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 going zy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good Night, Madison, and we'll take over from here, that's
for sure. Hope all of you are ready for a
very interesting Wednesday night. We have four guests tonight in
our first hour, and I think you will enjoy each
of each and every one of them. And in addition
to that, of course, we will deal with topics. We're
going to at nine o'clock have State Auditor Diana Dezaglio
(00:30):
with us. She's kind of turning up the heat on
the state legislature. I'm not going to put the State
Treasurer on the spot with any question about that. In
case she's concerned, don't worry about that. We're gonna be
talking with the State Treasurer and Receiver General of Colmwealth
of Massachusetts in just about ten or fifteen seconds. And
then later on tonight we're going to look at Sydney
(00:50):
Sweeney's well we can't look at it because this is radio,
but we're going to talk about Sidney Sweeney's controversial genes ad.
But without any further do really happy to welcome a
friend of many years, the State treasure and Receiver General
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Honorable Deborah Goldberg. Goldberg,
(01:12):
Welcome to night Side, Dan.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I'm doing great, of course. As one of your many
obligations as state Treasurer, you're also chair of the Massachusetts
State Lottery Commission. And the fiscal year for twenty twenty
five has just wrapped up, and it looks as if
once again, not that it's happens every year, but you
have produced an estimated more than one billion dollars in
(01:38):
net profit for the Commonwealth in fiscal year twenty twenty five.
And that's going up against the advent of sports betting,
so you were more than keeping the lottery afloat, that's
for sure. Congratulations, Well, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It's actually been quite a challenge because with the it's
not just sports betting, which they can do online and
they give you all sorts of freebes to get you going.
But you know, casino gambling came in, sports betting came in,
you've got daily fantasy sports. It's in a highly competitive
(02:14):
environment and they're all for profit. We're not for profit.
When we talk about profit, we're talking about you know,
getting local aid back to local communities, making sure you
can hire another teacher or school nurse plow the streets
when we get tons of snow. Our mission is quite
(02:36):
different than all of these private companies.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So you folks have to every year come up with
new ideas. You have to market your product again against stiffer,
increasingly stiffer competition. That's not an easy task.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, it's particularly not an easy task. You've got to
kind of wrap your head around this. I came out of,
you know, the supermarket business and the private sector, and
the lottery's revenues. The amount of money they actually make
before they then have to pay expenses and stuff is
(03:16):
over six billion dollars a year. But we don't control
our budget, so the legislature decides how much we get
for an ad budget. And for a long time it
was four million dollars a year. I think it's up
to like six or eight or whatever it is. Trust me,
(03:37):
it's a small amount compared to all our competition.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Oh look, you can't turn on the television and NAZI
and ad for sports gambling and sports betting, and there
are just so many companies that now are just jumped
in the middle of that. And you know, if you've
bet five dollars whether you win to lose, you're going
to get two hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
But again, you know, Dan, I have to repeat what
we do is for the local communities. Oh absolutely, someone
you knew, a guy named Bob Crane, that this was
the idea of what you could do to help the
local communities when they started to feel the pressure of
two and a half percent. Prop two and a half
(04:24):
which you know, kept people, kept the communities and the
state from raising taxes more than two and a half
percent even when their expensess would go up ten percent.
So that was what the lottery has been about for
over fifty years. Cool that local communities.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Correct me if I'm wrong, you end up you have
to give Obviously, the way that you keep your your
client hell is giving them a fairly good shot at winning,
you know, and staying in the game. And if I'm
I'm mistaken, your administrative expenses are pretty low, comp very loud.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
They're like two they're two two four something two four
point four percent of revenues that they it's unheard of
in the six billion dollar operating company to have that.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And then you also have to you also have to
give back. I guess you give back I shouldn't say
you give back. Basically, the way the system works is
about eighty one eighty two percent of the money that
is bet has to go back in you know, awards
winnings to the people who are the who are the betters.
(05:41):
I mean if if if people went in bed uh
and nobody won, you know the lot of we've go
out of business. So you've got to pick that number
which is going to keep people interested. Uh.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Also, it's interesting we don't actually pick that number, but
we do have We intentionally have the highest payout percentage
of any lottery in the country. That it's seventy four
percent of total sales go towards our payout and that
(06:14):
is a significant number. Just off the top of my head.
We awarded one hundred and fifty nine prizes valued at
a one million dollars of more or more, and the
largest was a million a year for life. That was
a prize. I'm one of the fifty dollars tickets.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Well, if again, if the if the take is six
billion and you're giving out three quarters of that, that's
about four and a half billion that are going back
to the players. And then on top of that you
got another billion dollars going back to the cities in towns,
and then.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I want to remind people our retailers, our network of
retailers earned three almost three hundred and forty one one
million and commissions and bonuses this past year.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
It's if you have a mom and pop store anywhere
in Massachusetts and you're lucky enough to have a lot
of relcense, that's probably your lifeline as well. So this
it's it's a much more complicated picture than most than
most people realize. Other than that, let me just ask
you a quick question of commonwealth. Are we doing better
(07:28):
with with tax revenues. I keep hearing all of these
stories that talk about people leaving the state out migration.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
We just had the revenue report for July and it
was better than last year, and that certainly isn't what
people anticipated, but not because of people leaving the state.
This was an extremely volatile, uncertain year for everyone, whether
you're a business person, whether you're about your job, whether
(08:01):
you're worrying about your purchasing power and concerned about tariffs,
and that kind of uncertainty has put a little you know,
kind of made people really nervous. Yet today, yesterday I
was able to announce that our pension fund had a
huge increase and is at a record high of being
(08:26):
fully funded. So we stayed the course and focused on
what our strategies are. And no retirees in the state
have to be worrying about how they're going to do.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, you've got The stock market has held on for
a while.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
It's the volatility and the uncertainty.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
No, I understand. But if people sold the day after
April second, they lost some money. But if they held on,
they're ahead of where they were on April second. If
they held on. Treasure Goldberg as always great to talk
with you about facts and figures and numbers. Nobody knows
those numbers better than you do. Certainly love to get
(09:09):
you in some night at some point in the.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Nott But before we hang up, I got to tell
you one important thing that you Dan Ray will care about.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Okay, I care about a lot of things. I'm all
in this.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
This is a biggie Okay. So I lost you know,
I lost my mom, but you didn't know. Two months
later I lost my dog. Oh no, and I haven't not.
I've had dogs since I was twelve years old. Guess
what I have a little puppy.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
What type?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
It's a poodle?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
A poodle? Well, right at my feet right now, I
am dog sitting for my daughter's Corgi. His name is Mustard.
He's a shelter dog and I'll tell you he is
the smartest dog.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Now, my puppy is the smartest suff.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We'll get them both.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
You're a dog person, so I had to share that
with you.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, what's that? What's the puppies name?
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Skippy?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Skippy?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Get me and if you saw him, he looks like
he's skipping and he makes me laugh.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Oh that's They're the best look on your worst day.
They're your best friend as that. But hopefully you.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Won't have to leave on that because I know you're
a dog person. My die in Well, thank you. A
lot of the listeners are too.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Absolutely and I know you're a big dog person as well. Congratulations.
Give Skippy a pet for us, and tell Skippy that
my daughter's Mustard a corgy. I wasn't thrilled about Corgy's,
but this guy has more personality, so yeah, maybe not
as much as Skippy. I'll grant you that.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I'll give them. I'm sure they're equally is cute.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Thanks, Thanks, so much. The state Treasurer and Receiver General
to call him all the Massachusetts Ded Goldberg. Thanks and
also the chair of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission has
always man a treasurer. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Good to you Dan to talk with you as well.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
All right, we take a break here and wee come back.
We're going to talk. You've heard us talk about food
insecurity for kids in Massachusetts. Well there's another form of insecurity,
and that's clothing insecurity. I had never heard of this.
We're going to be talking with the founder and executive
director of Cocoa Tree Kids about clothing insecurity for one
in three children in Massachusetts and what you may be
(11:26):
able to do about it to help out. My name's
Dan Ray. This is Nightside. I will remind you that
if you do and all of a sudden, we're beginning
to get people who are leaving us messages. Just if
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(11:47):
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(12:08):
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Just send us whatever message you want and we'll play
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(12:28):
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My name's Dan Ray. Will be right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
It's night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
All right, welcome back. I'm delighted to welcome Catherine. I
assume it's Malloy. A different spelling is pronounce Malloy. She's
the founder an executive director of Coco Tree Kids. Katherine,
I will admit I may be the only person in
America who doesn't know what Coco Tree Kids is, But
why don't you tell us?
Speaker 5 (13:09):
I'm happy to thank you so much for having me. Yes,
Coco Tree Kids is a nonprofit based in Massachusetts, and
we provide underwear to children in need across the state.
We are the only nonprofit in the area with the
specific focus, so you know, we're really uniquely positioned to provide,
(13:31):
you know, a previously overlooked but essential need for children.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah. I got to be honest with you. When I
saw this right up today, I had never heard. I've
heard of food insecurity. So explain to us you're trying
to raise like ten thousand dollars to provide twenty eight
hundred underserved children across Massachusetts with a week's worth of underwear.
I mean, that is a that's terrible to think that.
(13:58):
I mean, that is a necessity of life. It is
I keep saying to people on issues like this, this
is Massachusetts, not Mississippi. We pride ourselves on being able
to help people. How do we get into this position?
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Well, how we got here, I don't know, but we
are here to help. It is a real it is
a real issue that thousands of children in the state
of Massachusetts are facing. You know, Coquatry Kids was founded
in twenty twenty one and since then we've distributed over
roughly four hundred thousand pairs of underwear to nearly sixty
(14:39):
thousand children across the state. And when you think about underwear,
it cannot be donated unless it's new. So you can
donate clothing and shoes and toys, but underwear has been
this overlooked item for children in need for so long.
(15:00):
Yesterday was National Underwear Day, which is.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yes, I did not know that, though I did wear
my underwear yesterday. Do it every day?
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Well, that is a personal choice, but we National Underwear Day.
There's a National Everything Day, but for us, it's a
big day where we take the opportunity to raise awareness
about underwear insecurity because until you really think about it,
it's quite obvious that underwear is under is not donated
(15:34):
and not not something that's easy to come by.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Okay, so let's talk about this campaign. The campaign kicked
off yesterday, and I guess you've already hit your goal.
You wanted to raise ten thousand dollars and hopes for
providing twenty eight hundred underserved children with a week's worth
of underwear. Yes, how did you hit the goal that quickly?
You must have a pretty good I guess roster of supporters.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Well, I think the need speaks for itself, Dan, I hope, because,
like I mentioned just now, you know, the light bulb
goes off when you're oh, my goodness, children don't have underwear.
Of course they don't. You can't donate underwear. Therefore it's
difficult to come by. So I think we've just been really,
really lucky with having this community of support behind us.
(16:22):
When they hear and recognize the need, it's sort of
a no brainer to rally behind are.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
One of those things that makes sense. Now, I assume
you know, asking people to go to stores, go to Target,
Target and buy underwear and drop it off somewhere. You're
looking for contributions and financial support. So how can people
who are moved by our conversation help you out here?
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Thank you? Yes, our website is a great way to
learn all about our organization. Cocotree kids dot org. We
also have a social media account on Facebook, Instagram, and
so you know, your monetary contribution allows us to purchase
the underwear in bulk at a fraction of retail price
because of where we obtain it through our manufacturers and suppliers.
(17:13):
So we can purchase in bulk and distribute in bulk.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
And then how do families how do you distribute? Do
you distribute through food pantries? I'm just trying to figure
out how you get this needed item and it is
a needed item to kids who are in need.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Yeah, Well, we collaborate with other nonprofits and charities and
youth focused organizations across the state. So from food pantries
to clinics to domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, we partner
with them to understand what the need is for the
(17:52):
children that they serve, and then we distribute directly to
the child through through them. So it's a really collaborative
effort here.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So second last question, you said you have found you
were founded in twenty twenty one that was at the
height of COVID. Uh. Yeah, was there any correlation between
the need you're trying to fulfill and the impact of
COVID or is it just coincidental.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
No, it was absolutely a result of COVID. I think
that you know, you could you saw sort of the
depth and severity of need during that time, And for
me personally, I think helping others just makes you makes
you feel good. So in the in the height of
despair and seeing all these images and news you know
about what was going on and the level of need
(18:39):
across you know, amongst a bunch of different areas, it
really drove me to do something.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah. Perfect, Let's give that website one more time in
case folks it went by them too quickly the first time.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Go right ahead, Sure, cocotree kids dot org c O
C O, t R E E, K I D S dot.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Org All all one word, I'm sure, all one one
three kids dot org. Catherine, thank you very much for
what you do on behalf of the children who you help.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
We'll we'll talk again sometime. Thank you again. Well we
get back. We're going to talk about really a tough
subject here. That's a tough subject underwear insecurity, but there's
also or clothing insecurity generally, but there's also a report
that says a lot of teenagers, believe it or not,
(19:32):
are turning to AI for friendship. That sounds sad. We're
going to talk with the director of research at Common
Sense Media, doctor cuprete Man, right after the news break
at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
It's night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
All right, I want to say welcome to doctor cuprit Man,
who is the director of research at Common Sense Media.
Doctor Man, welcome to night Side.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I understand that I can call you supree, but I
would prefer to stick with doctor Man because I think doctors.
Doctors deserve the respect. So I'm going to I thank
you for that opportunity, but I'm going to address you
as doctor Man. This study says teams attorneyed AI for friendship.
(20:29):
That sounds pretty sad. What's going on?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah, yeah, it was. The study was really interesting. It's
one of the first of its kind. We did a
national survey of just over one thousand teens ages thirteen
to seventeen, and wanted to see how they are using
AI companions for connection and to share secrets. And we
(20:53):
don't have a lot of information about this, so AI
companions are different from other types of AI tools. These
are these are tools that are meant to create connection
where you are role playing, you're talking about your feelings.
And what we found is that there are a lot
of teams who are using AI companions with some regularity.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Okay, so let's look at the positive purpose. What is
the positive purpose for something called artificial intelligent companion? Is
that for the teenagers who are just shy and do
not have that ability to interact with other live human
beings socially.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
It certainly can be It can be a really great
way for adolescents to sort of practice conversations before they
have them in real life with sort of lower stakes.
Right if it's a difficult conversation or conversation they're afraid
might go badly, they can try out different scenarios of
that conversation with an AI companion and not be quite
(21:54):
as nervous when they go into those real conversations. So,
certainly there can be positive ways to use these tools.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
What about I know I'm going to sound no fashion
when I asked this. What about saying to kids, hey,
you know, join join the club at school, join a
sports team, get involved in in the arts program, find
kids who have similar interest as you. I've never seen
two teenagers who really love either baseball or basketball or
(22:25):
hockey not to be able to interact. Why why is
it that that kids these days? And I know that's
a phrase, it's going to make me sound very old,
that they don't have that ability, and the parents kind
of saying, hey, look, you know you what what is
your interest? If your interest is music, is there a
music club at high school? I know you have a
(22:49):
better answer than my question, So go right ahead and
you can destroy me. Go ahead now.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
I mean, I think that what you're saying really is
the right approach for a lot of teams. I think
for a lot of teams, they are you know, finding
satisfying and important relationships in their face to face interactions.
And we actually, in the survey we did ask teens
who use AI companions. We actually as all teams, those
who use and don't use, whether they find AI conversations
(23:16):
as satisfying or more satisfying than human conversations. And what
I think is a really positive side of the survey
is that we found that two thirds of teams said
that AI conversations are less satisfying than their human conversations.
So I think that for a lot of teens, they
are finding greater satisfaction in those face to face kind
of interactions. But then there's that two that one third
(23:37):
of teams that are, you know, finding those AI conversations
to be about as satisfying or even more satisfying than
face to face. And I think that the reality is
there is a group of kids for whom these AI
companions feel like an easier lift. Right, It's kind of
more convenient if you don't have those kinds of face
(23:59):
to face interact if you don't know where to we'll
start forming them. This can be kind of an easier outlet.
Now that doesn't mean that it's necessarily a better outlet, right.
These AI companions are built to be agreeable. They're not
really going to be acting in the way that real
humans would critically think or maybe even talk to a
companion a real person, and they also can be dangerous potentially.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Okay I was. I don't know if my next question
will take us down that path, But my question is
if there are teenagers who are troubled and they believe
that with an AI companion they might be able to
express their feelings, If those feelings are, let I say, suicidal,
(24:44):
homicidal or whatever. Is anyone monitoring these conversations. I mean,
my libertarian friends are going to be screaming at the
radio now. But what I'm saying is if some teenager
has a you know, homicidal instinct or really troubling you know, psychoses,
(25:09):
is there any way that that expression that they may
feel very free to to state to an AI knowing
it's not a person, it's it's it's a it's a
chat opportunity anything like that, or no, not really.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
And that's really the problem here is that you know,
like I said, AI companions are meant to they want
to continue to engage, right, so they're going to be agreeable,
they're going to continue conversation. That doesn't mean that they're
going to have the ability to stop conversations that are
going down a bad path, or that they're able to
kind of intervene in an appropriate way. So the real
(25:50):
challenge here with AI companions is that even though for
some teams it might be a really good outlet when
you start on that downward slide, sometimes that can go
in really dark place and it can be it can
be dangerous and life threatening of thinking.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
About the kid, a twenty year old kid in Pennsylvania
that that took a shot then candidate Trump now President
Trump killing wounding a couple of other people pretty seriously
and killing a firefighter from Butler, Pennsylvania. That if if
that kid, you know, had engaged in that sort of
(26:27):
conversation and even you know kind of was was a
little let his guard down and said, I'm thinking about
you know, taking a shot at the president of the
United States this week or the candidate running for president
that yeah, you know, I just it would be wonderful
if somehow kids who expressed something that clearly, clearly they
(26:53):
was a cry for help, a cry almost into the
wilderness of AI. If some how, some way real people
could reach out and say, gee, I know you've had
some thoughts and some conversations and some impulses which are
really antisocial. Would you like to talk with a real
human That's not possible at this point.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
The reality is we don't always know how AI companions
and AI chaplots are going to respond. Even the creators
don't know how they're going to respond in any given
circumstances because they're you know, acting on the series of
inputs that they've received. And I mean, I think this
is where we certainly need more from both you know,
platform creators, but also from policymakers because this especially in
(27:39):
the hands of young people who don't fully grasp what
this is and sometimes don't fully understand that AI companions
are not real right, that it can be a really
scary place for our most vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I mean, you could have some mainteen year old kid
there's saying, gee, I'm trying to figure out how I
can get a weapon of destruction or how can I
get the show an AR fifteen or an AK forty seven.
And if the AI companion says, oh, here's what you
can do, you can avoid laws in your state, that
guess that'd be pretty scary. I didn't mean to take
(28:16):
you down a dark place here, doctor Man, but I
thought it was necessary to at least balance it out
a little bit and say, this may help a lot
of kids who are a little shy, but it also
might provide information and access to other kids who really
have some issues that need to be addressed professionally.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Absolutely, and I think that that is really the concerning part, right,
is we want to think about, Yes, there are some
kids that might be helped. But overall, I mean, like
I said before, is that downward slide can happen so quickly,
so unexpectedly, and the implications of those are so tragic
that we want to do everything in our power to
prevent that from happening.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I appreciate you sticking with me here. We don't script
questions here on night side, as I guess you know.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I again, I think it was an important conversation and
I really appreciate you respecting my questions. Thank you so much.
Are you still there? Did we lose her? Yeah? Gee,
I hope not. Give her a call back and make
sure she knows that we didn't hang up on her.
And I also wanted to see if there was some way,
if there's a see if there's a website we can
(29:23):
refer some of our listeners to when you when you
reach back to her, well we get back. We have
a We have a happier note to end on Goose,
the water monitor lizard out in Webster, Massachusetts, has been
found captured after two weeks on the loose. The goose
is no longer on the loose. It's a happy ending.
It could have been a more tragic ending, but it's
(29:45):
a happy ending. We're going to talk with Captain Scott
Amadi the mass Environmental Police about the capture and what
happens next for Goose.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on w b
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
We One of the things we like to do here
at WBZ and particularly at Nightside, is follow up on stories.
Tell you the beginning of the story, tell you the
middle of the story, and when we can tell you
the end of the story, and we have a happy
ending for the water monitor lizard named Goose. Goose was
(30:20):
on the loose for two weeks with us. Is Captain
Scott Amai. He's with the Massachusetts Environmental Police, and there's
good news for Goose. One. Goose is safe and sound.
He was found not badly hurt at all, and we'll
find himself forever home. So the first question, Captain AMAI,
(30:41):
welcome to Nightside. I'm going to call you a Scott
if you don't mind, If that's okay.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
That's fine, Yeah, that's fine. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
All right, well, thank you for joining us tonight. So
we know Goose was in at least two states. He
was in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Was he heading back home?
Do you think he was tired of one? You found
him only what a couple of miles from his.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
Home, yes, sir. And actually, to correct it, it wasn't
two states, but it was originally in New Hampshire, of
all places, and then it was brought into Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Well right, no better say on. Once he jumped out
the window and jumped off the porch, he went into
northeast and northwest Connecticut. That was the two states I
was talking about.
Speaker 6 (31:25):
No yet, no, no understood where I was going, sir.
We actually have no definitive proof that he actually entered
into Connecticut. Some of the video footage that was there
turned out to be snapping turtle.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Okay, so then let's assume that you found him where
he went. My understanding he was kind of not concealed,
but he had found himself a little hiding spot, kind
of at the base of the trunk of a tree.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
Yes, sir. Basically he was found almost and again this
is an estimate, I would say, about two to two
and a half miles as the crow flies directly south
of the location. Gate Douglas State Forest is a very
large area actually had quite a bit of area for
the animal to hide in. We were actually very very
lucky to a needle. It a hate that type of finding.
(32:12):
But what ended up happening was on make sure I
get the date correct here, on Wednesday, July thirtieth, he
was witnessed on the side of the road by an
individual sunning himself. And again he's a reptile. To reptiles, yes, yes, sir, yep,
(32:32):
So they need the sun to warm their bodies up
to be able to you know, to be able to function.
They're not warm blooded like mammals and things like that.
So he would come out on the asphalt and warm
himself up. So we marked off the area where he
was and what would end up happening, sir, over the
next couple of days or the next four days total,
or three days total, excuse me. The next day was
(32:53):
very cold, so he wasn't out. Then he was witnessed
almost within five feet of that particular spot, and what
he was doing, unbeknownst to us, was when he'd run
down the hill, he'd end up going into this tree
system or this root system under a tree that was
literally fifteen feet from the road. But until we saw
it with the right angle. It was covered with vegetation,
(33:16):
so it took several of us a few days to
actually find him, and we were wondering what was happening
because something you know, and again he's a smaller lizard
for that for that particular species right now, but he
would make a lot of noise going through and we
would hear no noise immediately. So we lucked out in
one of the DC employees who was there just as
we were about to leave. Manchineddy, did you did you
(33:39):
check in here yet? I said no, I did not,
And I looked down and there was his tongue sticking
coming out at us immediately.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Now, was his tongue challenging you? Or was it just
sort of the nervous habit that he probably had, or
was that it certainly wasn't an effort to say, hey guys,
here I am take me home.
Speaker 6 (34:01):
No, sure, Monitor lizards are very much like snakes. They
will they will basically use their tongue to assist with smelling.
They have Jacobson's organs and the roofs of their mouths
and they'll collect scent molecules and bring it in that way.
And that's that's what he was doing with that.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Well, okay, so I did see the video. He had
some sort of a little like a neck trap. It
didn't look like he was hurt, but whoever had that
neck trap, they they just waited and waited and waited,
and you got them. And he, I guess had some
some scratches on his back, but other than that, he
(34:37):
was in pretty good shape.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
Yes, sir, Yeah, we'd actually tried to catch him for
it took a while because it was a fairly decent
sized little cavern under there, and we basically tricked him
to come out with with with chicken. He's a domesticated animal.
This never would have worked with a wild animal. He's
a domesticated animal used to people feeding it. And basically
what we did was we just went with the simplest answer,
(35:00):
and we took a couple of pieces of chicken, put
it at the roof or at the entrance of the cavern,
and we took two snare poles, one on one side
and one coming from the top. And when he came
out and he got both legs through, that's when we
end up pulling it again. He put up a good
fight for for animal his size, they're very very strong
they're just complete muscles and we got them out. The
(35:23):
wounds that you or the the injuries that you saw
on it, those were previous injuries. That's how come he
ended at the rehabilitators in the first place. That was
from getting stuck underneath another object I spoke to where
he went. Today, he is in great health. There are
no issues with Goose at this time.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, Goose I believe has been relocated up to New Hampshire.
Is that the location.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
No, No, he is at rain Forest Reptile Shows, which
is out of Beverly Surface.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Oh okay, now, so he's going to be with other reptiles.
He's going to make new friends. Who knows, maybe he'll
find a rep tile mate. He could be. He could
be on to quite a quite a life.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
He will be doing quite well at that facility, sir.
They're an excellent facility. Uh. They take care of lots
of critters that we come across and they do a
great job with it.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Have you guys been able to figure out how old
Goose is? I have not.
Speaker 6 (36:19):
I do not know that answer. Rainforest may be able
to provide that. They may actually have it on their
website right now that I do okay, but the interview
the other day, I'm sorry, from the interview the other day,
they believe that he is. They believe he was on
the younger side.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Yeah, okay, And so he's got a good long life
ahead of him. And despite the trauma of the last
couple of weeks or so, the goose is no longer
on the loose, but he's in good hand. So that's
a happy ending to the story. Captain AMAI thank you
very much of the Massachusetts Environmental Police. You're a great communicator.
Thanks for giving us the final story. And if you
(36:55):
see goose sometime, tell him, I said alone, Okay.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
We shall, sir. Thank you for giving us the opportunity.
You have a good night.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Thank you very much, Captain Scott Amity of the Massachusetts
Environmental Police. What a great job to tell help take
care of an animal which obviously was out of his
native climb, that is for sure. Okay, when we get back,
we are going to talk with the State Auditor of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Diane de Zauglio. Seventy two percent
(37:22):
of the people whilst fall voted that she would be
able to audit the state legislature. She's gonna have to
go to court maybe to get the will of the
people accomplished. And she do not doubt Diane Desauglio coming
back on nightside.
It's nice eyes with Dan Ray. I'm going zy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good Night, Madison, and we'll take over from here, that's
for sure. Hope all of you are ready for a
very interesting Wednesday night. We have four guests tonight in
our first hour, and I think you will enjoy each
of each and every one of them. And in addition
to that, of course, we will deal with topics. We're
going to at nine o'clock have State Auditor Diana Dezaglio
(00:30):
with us. She's kind of turning up the heat on
the state legislature. I'm not going to put the State
Treasurer on the spot with any question about that. In
case she's concerned, don't worry about that. We're gonna be
talking with the State Treasurer and Receiver General of Colmwealth
of Massachusetts in just about ten or fifteen seconds. And
then later on tonight we're going to look at Sydney
(00:50):
Sweeney's well we can't look at it because this is radio,
but we're going to talk about Sidney Sweeney's controversial genes ad.
But without any further do really happy to welcome a
friend of many years, the State treasure and Receiver General
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Honorable Deborah Goldberg. Goldberg,
(01:12):
Welcome to night Side, Dan.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I'm doing great, of course. As one of your many
obligations as state Treasurer, you're also chair of the Massachusetts
State Lottery Commission. And the fiscal year for twenty twenty
five has just wrapped up, and it looks as if
once again, not that it's happens every year, but you
have produced an estimated more than one billion dollars in
(01:38):
net profit for the Commonwealth in fiscal year twenty twenty five.
And that's going up against the advent of sports betting,
so you were more than keeping the lottery afloat, that's
for sure. Congratulations, Well, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It's actually been quite a challenge because with the it's
not just sports betting, which they can do online and
they give you all sorts of freebes to get you going.
But you know, casino gambling came in, sports betting came in,
you've got daily fantasy sports. It's in a highly competitive
(02:14):
environment and they're all for profit. We're not for profit.
When we talk about profit, we're talking about you know,
getting local aid back to local communities, making sure you
can hire another teacher or school nurse plow the streets
when we get tons of snow. Our mission is quite
(02:36):
different than all of these private companies.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So you folks have to every year come up with
new ideas. You have to market your product again against stiffer,
increasingly stiffer competition. That's not an easy task.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, it's particularly not an easy task. You've got to
kind of wrap your head around this. I came out of,
you know, the supermarket business and the private sector, and
the lottery's revenues. The amount of money they actually make
before they then have to pay expenses and stuff is
(03:16):
over six billion dollars a year. But we don't control
our budget, so the legislature decides how much we get
for an ad budget. And for a long time it
was four million dollars a year. I think it's up
to like six or eight or whatever it is. Trust me,
(03:37):
it's a small amount compared to all our competition.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Oh look, you can't turn on the television and NAZI
and ad for sports gambling and sports betting, and there
are just so many companies that now are just jumped
in the middle of that. And you know, if you've
bet five dollars whether you win to lose, you're going
to get two hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
But again, you know, Dan, I have to repeat what
we do is for the local communities. Oh absolutely, someone
you knew, a guy named Bob Crane, that this was
the idea of what you could do to help the
local communities when they started to feel the pressure of
two and a half percent. Prop two and a half
(04:24):
which you know, kept people, kept the communities and the
state from raising taxes more than two and a half
percent even when their expensess would go up ten percent.
So that was what the lottery has been about for
over fifty years. Cool that local communities.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Correct me if I'm wrong, you end up you have
to give Obviously, the way that you keep your your
client hell is giving them a fairly good shot at winning,
you know, and staying in the game. And if I'm
I'm mistaken, your administrative expenses are pretty low, comp very loud.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
They're like two they're two two four something two four
point four percent of revenues that they it's unheard of
in the six billion dollar operating company to have that.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And then you also have to you also have to
give back. I guess you give back I shouldn't say
you give back. Basically, the way the system works is
about eighty one eighty two percent of the money that
is bet has to go back in you know, awards
winnings to the people who are the who are the betters.
(05:41):
I mean if if if people went in bed uh
and nobody won, you know the lot of we've go
out of business. So you've got to pick that number
which is going to keep people interested. Uh.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Also, it's interesting we don't actually pick that number, but
we do have We intentionally have the highest payout percentage
of any lottery in the country. That it's seventy four
percent of total sales go towards our payout and that
(06:14):
is a significant number. Just off the top of my head.
We awarded one hundred and fifty nine prizes valued at
a one million dollars of more or more, and the
largest was a million a year for life. That was
a prize. I'm one of the fifty dollars tickets.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Well, if again, if the if the take is six
billion and you're giving out three quarters of that, that's
about four and a half billion that are going back
to the players. And then on top of that you
got another billion dollars going back to the cities in towns,
and then.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I want to remind people our retailers, our network of
retailers earned three almost three hundred and forty one one
million and commissions and bonuses this past year.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
It's if you have a mom and pop store anywhere
in Massachusetts and you're lucky enough to have a lot
of relcense, that's probably your lifeline as well. So this
it's it's a much more complicated picture than most than
most people realize. Other than that, let me just ask
you a quick question of commonwealth. Are we doing better
(07:28):
with with tax revenues. I keep hearing all of these
stories that talk about people leaving the state out migration.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
We just had the revenue report for July and it
was better than last year, and that certainly isn't what
people anticipated, but not because of people leaving the state.
This was an extremely volatile, uncertain year for everyone, whether
you're a business person, whether you're about your job, whether
(08:01):
you're worrying about your purchasing power and concerned about tariffs,
and that kind of uncertainty has put a little you know,
kind of made people really nervous. Yet today, yesterday I
was able to announce that our pension fund had a
huge increase and is at a record high of being
(08:26):
fully funded. So we stayed the course and focused on
what our strategies are. And no retirees in the state
have to be worrying about how they're going to do.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, you've got The stock market has held on for
a while.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
It's the volatility and the uncertainty.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
No, I understand. But if people sold the day after
April second, they lost some money. But if they held on,
they're ahead of where they were on April second. If
they held on. Treasure Goldberg as always great to talk
with you about facts and figures and numbers. Nobody knows
those numbers better than you do. Certainly love to get
(09:09):
you in some night at some point in the.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Nott But before we hang up, I got to tell
you one important thing that you Dan Ray will care about.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Okay, I care about a lot of things. I'm all
in this.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
This is a biggie Okay. So I lost you know,
I lost my mom, but you didn't know. Two months
later I lost my dog. Oh no, and I haven't not.
I've had dogs since I was twelve years old. Guess
what I have a little puppy.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
What type?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
It's a poodle?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
A poodle? Well, right at my feet right now, I
am dog sitting for my daughter's Corgi. His name is Mustard.
He's a shelter dog and I'll tell you he is
the smartest dog.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Now, my puppy is the smartest suff.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We'll get them both.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
You're a dog person, so I had to share that
with you.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, what's that? What's the puppies name?
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Skippy?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Skippy?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Get me and if you saw him, he looks like
he's skipping and he makes me laugh.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Oh that's They're the best look on your worst day.
They're your best friend as that. But hopefully you.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Won't have to leave on that because I know you're
a dog person. My die in Well, thank you. A
lot of the listeners are too.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Absolutely and I know you're a big dog person as well. Congratulations.
Give Skippy a pet for us, and tell Skippy that
my daughter's Mustard a corgy. I wasn't thrilled about Corgy's,
but this guy has more personality, so yeah, maybe not
as much as Skippy. I'll grant you that.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I'll give them. I'm sure they're equally is cute.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Thanks, Thanks, so much. The state Treasurer and Receiver General
to call him all the Massachusetts Ded Goldberg. Thanks and
also the chair of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission has
always man a treasurer. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Good to you Dan to talk with you as well.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
All right, we take a break here and wee come back.
We're going to talk. You've heard us talk about food
insecurity for kids in Massachusetts. Well there's another form of insecurity,
and that's clothing insecurity. I had never heard of this.
We're going to be talking with the founder and executive
director of Cocoa Tree Kids about clothing insecurity for one
in three children in Massachusetts and what you may be
(11:26):
able to do about it to help out. My name's
Dan Ray. This is Nightside. I will remind you that
if you do and all of a sudden, we're beginning
to get people who are leaving us messages. Just if
you like, we would love to remind you of a
really neat way for you to become a part of
the night Side broadcast by utilizing our talkback feature on
(11:47):
the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Make sure you download
and have the free Emphasize on free iHeartRadio app doesn't
cause you a thing. While listening to Nightside Live on
WBZ News Radio, you tap the red microphone talk back
button in the top right corner to send us your
personalized audio message. Could be a compliment, could be a criticism,
I don't care. Just keep it civil, keep it clean.
(12:08):
Also because remember we are on FCC station here, you
got to keep it clean. You get about thirty seconds.
Just send us whatever message you want and we'll play
it back on Nightside. It's that simple. Once again, hit
the red microphone button in the top right corner of
the app. Ball listening to Nightside or during the day,
We'll get it whenever you send it, and then we'll
play it that next night and send us your audio message.
A lot of folks tell me they love to listen,
(12:28):
but they're a little cautious about getting on the phone. Well,
this is the perfect solution. You can send us a message,
comment on what we're talking about, or just tell us
what you think of the show. Generally simple as that.
My name's Dan Ray. Will be right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
It's night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
All right, welcome back. I'm delighted to welcome Catherine. I
assume it's Malloy. A different spelling is pronounce Malloy. She's
the founder an executive director of Coco Tree Kids. Katherine,
I will admit I may be the only person in
America who doesn't know what Coco Tree Kids is, But
why don't you tell us?
Speaker 5 (13:09):
I'm happy to thank you so much for having me. Yes,
Coco Tree Kids is a nonprofit based in Massachusetts, and
we provide underwear to children in need across the state.
We are the only nonprofit in the area with the
specific focus, so you know, we're really uniquely positioned to provide,
(13:31):
you know, a previously overlooked but essential need for children.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah. I got to be honest with you. When I
saw this right up today, I had never heard. I've
heard of food insecurity. So explain to us you're trying
to raise like ten thousand dollars to provide twenty eight
hundred underserved children across Massachusetts with a week's worth of underwear.
I mean, that is a that's terrible to think that.
(13:58):
I mean, that is a necessity of life. It is
I keep saying to people on issues like this, this
is Massachusetts, not Mississippi. We pride ourselves on being able
to help people. How do we get into this position?
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Well, how we got here, I don't know, but we
are here to help. It is a real it is
a real issue that thousands of children in the state
of Massachusetts are facing. You know, Coquatry Kids was founded
in twenty twenty one and since then we've distributed over
roughly four hundred thousand pairs of underwear to nearly sixty
(14:39):
thousand children across the state. And when you think about underwear,
it cannot be donated unless it's new. So you can
donate clothing and shoes and toys, but underwear has been
this overlooked item for children in need for so long.
(15:00):
Yesterday was National Underwear Day, which is.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yes, I did not know that, though I did wear
my underwear yesterday. Do it every day?
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Well, that is a personal choice, but we National Underwear Day.
There's a National Everything Day, but for us, it's a
big day where we take the opportunity to raise awareness
about underwear insecurity because until you really think about it,
it's quite obvious that underwear is under is not donated
(15:34):
and not not something that's easy to come by.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Okay, so let's talk about this campaign. The campaign kicked
off yesterday, and I guess you've already hit your goal.
You wanted to raise ten thousand dollars and hopes for
providing twenty eight hundred underserved children with a week's worth
of underwear. Yes, how did you hit the goal that quickly?
You must have a pretty good I guess roster of supporters.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Well, I think the need speaks for itself, Dan, I hope, because,
like I mentioned just now, you know, the light bulb
goes off when you're oh, my goodness, children don't have underwear.
Of course they don't. You can't donate underwear. Therefore it's
difficult to come by. So I think we've just been really,
really lucky with having this community of support behind us.
(16:22):
When they hear and recognize the need, it's sort of
a no brainer to rally behind are.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
One of those things that makes sense. Now, I assume
you know, asking people to go to stores, go to Target,
Target and buy underwear and drop it off somewhere. You're
looking for contributions and financial support. So how can people
who are moved by our conversation help you out here?
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Thank you? Yes, our website is a great way to
learn all about our organization. Cocotree kids dot org. We
also have a social media account on Facebook, Instagram, and
so you know, your monetary contribution allows us to purchase
the underwear in bulk at a fraction of retail price
because of where we obtain it through our manufacturers and suppliers.
(17:13):
So we can purchase in bulk and distribute in bulk.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
And then how do families how do you distribute? Do
you distribute through food pantries? I'm just trying to figure
out how you get this needed item and it is
a needed item to kids who are in need.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Yeah, Well, we collaborate with other nonprofits and charities and
youth focused organizations across the state. So from food pantries
to clinics to domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, we partner
with them to understand what the need is for the
(17:52):
children that they serve, and then we distribute directly to
the child through through them. So it's a really collaborative
effort here.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So second last question, you said you have found you
were founded in twenty twenty one that was at the
height of COVID. Uh. Yeah, was there any correlation between
the need you're trying to fulfill and the impact of
COVID or is it just coincidental.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
No, it was absolutely a result of COVID. I think
that you know, you could you saw sort of the
depth and severity of need during that time, And for
me personally, I think helping others just makes you makes
you feel good. So in the in the height of
despair and seeing all these images and news you know
about what was going on and the level of need
(18:39):
across you know, amongst a bunch of different areas, it
really drove me to do something.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah. Perfect, Let's give that website one more time in
case folks it went by them too quickly the first time.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Go right ahead, Sure, cocotree kids dot org c O
C O, t R E E, K I D S dot.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Org All all one word, I'm sure, all one one
three kids dot org. Catherine, thank you very much for
what you do on behalf of the children who you help.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
We'll we'll talk again sometime. Thank you again. Well we
get back. We're going to talk about really a tough
subject here. That's a tough subject underwear insecurity, but there's
also or clothing insecurity generally, but there's also a report
that says a lot of teenagers, believe it or not,
(19:32):
are turning to AI for friendship. That sounds sad. We're
going to talk with the director of research at Common
Sense Media, doctor cuprete Man, right after the news break
at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
It's night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
All right, I want to say welcome to doctor cuprit Man,
who is the director of research at Common Sense Media.
Doctor Man, welcome to night Side.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I understand that I can call you supree, but I
would prefer to stick with doctor Man because I think doctors.
Doctors deserve the respect. So I'm going to I thank
you for that opportunity, but I'm going to address you
as doctor Man. This study says teams attorneyed AI for friendship.
(20:29):
That sounds pretty sad. What's going on?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah, yeah, it was. The study was really interesting. It's
one of the first of its kind. We did a
national survey of just over one thousand teens ages thirteen
to seventeen, and wanted to see how they are using
AI companions for connection and to share secrets. And we
(20:53):
don't have a lot of information about this, so AI
companions are different from other types of AI tools. These
are these are tools that are meant to create connection
where you are role playing, you're talking about your feelings.
And what we found is that there are a lot
of teams who are using AI companions with some regularity.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Okay, so let's look at the positive purpose. What is
the positive purpose for something called artificial intelligent companion? Is
that for the teenagers who are just shy and do
not have that ability to interact with other live human
beings socially.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
It certainly can be It can be a really great
way for adolescents to sort of practice conversations before they
have them in real life with sort of lower stakes.
Right if it's a difficult conversation or conversation they're afraid
might go badly, they can try out different scenarios of
that conversation with an AI companion and not be quite
(21:54):
as nervous when they go into those real conversations. So,
certainly there can be positive ways to use these tools.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
What about I know I'm going to sound no fashion
when I asked this. What about saying to kids, hey,
you know, join join the club at school, join a
sports team, get involved in in the arts program, find
kids who have similar interest as you. I've never seen
two teenagers who really love either baseball or basketball or
(22:25):
hockey not to be able to interact. Why why is
it that that kids these days? And I know that's
a phrase, it's going to make me sound very old,
that they don't have that ability, and the parents kind
of saying, hey, look, you know you what what is
your interest? If your interest is music, is there a
music club at high school? I know you have a
(22:49):
better answer than my question, So go right ahead and
you can destroy me. Go ahead now.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
I mean, I think that what you're saying really is
the right approach for a lot of teams. I think
for a lot of teams, they are you know, finding
satisfying and important relationships in their face to face interactions.
And we actually, in the survey we did ask teens
who use AI companions. We actually as all teams, those
who use and don't use, whether they find AI conversations
(23:16):
as satisfying or more satisfying than human conversations. And what
I think is a really positive side of the survey
is that we found that two thirds of teams said
that AI conversations are less satisfying than their human conversations.
So I think that for a lot of teens, they
are finding greater satisfaction in those face to face kind
of interactions. But then there's that two that one third
(23:37):
of teams that are, you know, finding those AI conversations
to be about as satisfying or even more satisfying than
face to face. And I think that the reality is
there is a group of kids for whom these AI
companions feel like an easier lift. Right, It's kind of
more convenient if you don't have those kinds of face
(23:59):
to face interact if you don't know where to we'll
start forming them. This can be kind of an easier outlet.
Now that doesn't mean that it's necessarily a better outlet, right.
These AI companions are built to be agreeable. They're not
really going to be acting in the way that real
humans would critically think or maybe even talk to a
companion a real person, and they also can be dangerous potentially.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Okay I was. I don't know if my next question
will take us down that path, But my question is
if there are teenagers who are troubled and they believe
that with an AI companion they might be able to
express their feelings, If those feelings are, let I say, suicidal,
(24:44):
homicidal or whatever. Is anyone monitoring these conversations. I mean,
my libertarian friends are going to be screaming at the
radio now. But what I'm saying is if some teenager
has a you know, homicidal instinct or really troubling you know, psychoses,
(25:09):
is there any way that that expression that they may
feel very free to to state to an AI knowing
it's not a person, it's it's it's a it's a
chat opportunity anything like that, or no, not really.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
And that's really the problem here is that you know,
like I said, AI companions are meant to they want
to continue to engage, right, so they're going to be agreeable,
they're going to continue conversation. That doesn't mean that they're
going to have the ability to stop conversations that are
going down a bad path, or that they're able to
kind of intervene in an appropriate way. So the real
(25:50):
challenge here with AI companions is that even though for
some teams it might be a really good outlet when
you start on that downward slide, sometimes that can go
in really dark place and it can be it can
be dangerous and life threatening of thinking.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
About the kid, a twenty year old kid in Pennsylvania
that that took a shot then candidate Trump now President
Trump killing wounding a couple of other people pretty seriously
and killing a firefighter from Butler, Pennsylvania. That if if
that kid, you know, had engaged in that sort of
(26:27):
conversation and even you know kind of was was a
little let his guard down and said, I'm thinking about
you know, taking a shot at the president of the
United States this week or the candidate running for president
that yeah, you know, I just it would be wonderful
if somehow kids who expressed something that clearly, clearly they
(26:53):
was a cry for help, a cry almost into the
wilderness of AI. If some how, some way real people
could reach out and say, gee, I know you've had
some thoughts and some conversations and some impulses which are
really antisocial. Would you like to talk with a real
human That's not possible at this point.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
The reality is we don't always know how AI companions
and AI chaplots are going to respond. Even the creators
don't know how they're going to respond in any given
circumstances because they're you know, acting on the series of
inputs that they've received. And I mean, I think this
is where we certainly need more from both you know,
platform creators, but also from policymakers because this especially in
(27:39):
the hands of young people who don't fully grasp what
this is and sometimes don't fully understand that AI companions
are not real right, that it can be a really
scary place for our most vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I mean, you could have some mainteen year old kid
there's saying, gee, I'm trying to figure out how I
can get a weapon of destruction or how can I
get the show an AR fifteen or an AK forty seven.
And if the AI companion says, oh, here's what you
can do, you can avoid laws in your state, that
guess that'd be pretty scary. I didn't mean to take
(28:16):
you down a dark place here, doctor Man, but I
thought it was necessary to at least balance it out
a little bit and say, this may help a lot
of kids who are a little shy, but it also
might provide information and access to other kids who really
have some issues that need to be addressed professionally.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Absolutely, and I think that that is really the concerning part, right,
is we want to think about, Yes, there are some
kids that might be helped. But overall, I mean, like
I said before, is that downward slide can happen so quickly,
so unexpectedly, and the implications of those are so tragic
that we want to do everything in our power to
prevent that from happening.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I appreciate you sticking with me here. We don't script
questions here on night side, as I guess you know.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I again, I think it was an important conversation and
I really appreciate you respecting my questions. Thank you so much.
Are you still there? Did we lose her? Yeah? Gee,
I hope not. Give her a call back and make
sure she knows that we didn't hang up on her.
And I also wanted to see if there was some way,
if there's a see if there's a website we can
(29:23):
refer some of our listeners to when you when you
reach back to her, well we get back. We have
a We have a happier note to end on Goose,
the water monitor lizard out in Webster, Massachusetts, has been
found captured after two weeks on the loose. The goose
is no longer on the loose. It's a happy ending.
It could have been a more tragic ending, but it's
(29:45):
a happy ending. We're going to talk with Captain Scott
Amadi the mass Environmental Police about the capture and what
happens next for Goose.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on w b
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
We One of the things we like to do here
at WBZ and particularly at Nightside, is follow up on stories.
Tell you the beginning of the story, tell you the
middle of the story, and when we can tell you
the end of the story, and we have a happy
ending for the water monitor lizard named Goose. Goose was
(30:20):
on the loose for two weeks with us. Is Captain
Scott Amai. He's with the Massachusetts Environmental Police, and there's
good news for Goose. One. Goose is safe and sound.
He was found not badly hurt at all, and we'll
find himself forever home. So the first question, Captain AMAI,
(30:41):
welcome to Nightside. I'm going to call you a Scott
if you don't mind, If that's okay.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
That's fine, Yeah, that's fine. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
All right, well, thank you for joining us tonight. So
we know Goose was in at least two states. He
was in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Was he heading back home?
Do you think he was tired of one? You found
him only what a couple of miles from his.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
Home, yes, sir. And actually, to correct it, it wasn't
two states, but it was originally in New Hampshire, of
all places, and then it was brought into Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Well right, no better say on. Once he jumped out
the window and jumped off the porch, he went into
northeast and northwest Connecticut. That was the two states I
was talking about.
Speaker 6 (31:25):
No yet, no, no understood where I was going, sir.
We actually have no definitive proof that he actually entered
into Connecticut. Some of the video footage that was there
turned out to be snapping turtle.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Okay, so then let's assume that you found him where
he went. My understanding he was kind of not concealed,
but he had found himself a little hiding spot, kind
of at the base of the trunk of a tree.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
Yes, sir. Basically he was found almost and again this
is an estimate, I would say, about two to two
and a half miles as the crow flies directly south
of the location. Gate Douglas State Forest is a very
large area actually had quite a bit of area for
the animal to hide in. We were actually very very
lucky to a needle. It a hate that type of finding.
(32:12):
But what ended up happening was on make sure I
get the date correct here, on Wednesday, July thirtieth, he
was witnessed on the side of the road by an
individual sunning himself. And again he's a reptile. To reptiles, yes, yes, sir, yep,
(32:32):
So they need the sun to warm their bodies up
to be able to you know, to be able to function.
They're not warm blooded like mammals and things like that.
So he would come out on the asphalt and warm
himself up. So we marked off the area where he
was and what would end up happening, sir, over the
next couple of days or the next four days total,
or three days total, excuse me. The next day was
(32:53):
very cold, so he wasn't out. Then he was witnessed
almost within five feet of that particular spot, and what
he was doing, unbeknownst to us, was when he'd run
down the hill, he'd end up going into this tree
system or this root system under a tree that was
literally fifteen feet from the road. But until we saw
it with the right angle. It was covered with vegetation,
(33:16):
so it took several of us a few days to
actually find him, and we were wondering what was happening
because something you know, and again he's a smaller lizard
for that for that particular species right now, but he
would make a lot of noise going through and we
would hear no noise immediately. So we lucked out in
one of the DC employees who was there just as
we were about to leave. Manchineddy, did you did you
(33:39):
check in here yet? I said no, I did not,
And I looked down and there was his tongue sticking
coming out at us immediately.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Now, was his tongue challenging you? Or was it just
sort of the nervous habit that he probably had, or
was that it certainly wasn't an effort to say, hey guys,
here I am take me home.
Speaker 6 (34:01):
No, sure, Monitor lizards are very much like snakes. They
will they will basically use their tongue to assist with smelling.
They have Jacobson's organs and the roofs of their mouths
and they'll collect scent molecules and bring it in that way.
And that's that's what he was doing with that.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Well, okay, so I did see the video. He had
some sort of a little like a neck trap. It
didn't look like he was hurt, but whoever had that
neck trap, they they just waited and waited and waited,
and you got them. And he, I guess had some
some scratches on his back, but other than that, he
(34:37):
was in pretty good shape.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
Yes, sir, Yeah, we'd actually tried to catch him for
it took a while because it was a fairly decent
sized little cavern under there, and we basically tricked him
to come out with with with chicken. He's a domesticated animal.
This never would have worked with a wild animal. He's
a domesticated animal used to people feeding it. And basically
what we did was we just went with the simplest answer,
(35:00):
and we took a couple of pieces of chicken, put
it at the roof or at the entrance of the cavern,
and we took two snare poles, one on one side
and one coming from the top. And when he came
out and he got both legs through, that's when we
end up pulling it again. He put up a good
fight for for animal his size, they're very very strong
they're just complete muscles and we got them out. The
(35:23):
wounds that you or the the injuries that you saw
on it, those were previous injuries. That's how come he
ended at the rehabilitators in the first place. That was
from getting stuck underneath another object I spoke to where
he went. Today, he is in great health. There are
no issues with Goose at this time.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, Goose I believe has been relocated up to New Hampshire.
Is that the location.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
No, No, he is at rain Forest Reptile Shows, which
is out of Beverly Surface.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Oh okay, now, so he's going to be with other reptiles.
He's going to make new friends. Who knows, maybe he'll
find a rep tile mate. He could be. He could
be on to quite a quite a life.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
He will be doing quite well at that facility, sir.
They're an excellent facility. Uh. They take care of lots
of critters that we come across and they do a
great job with it.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Have you guys been able to figure out how old
Goose is? I have not.
Speaker 6 (36:19):
I do not know that answer. Rainforest may be able
to provide that. They may actually have it on their
website right now that I do okay, but the interview
the other day, I'm sorry, from the interview the other day,
they believe that he is. They believe he was on
the younger side.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Yeah, okay, And so he's got a good long life
ahead of him. And despite the trauma of the last
couple of weeks or so, the goose is no longer
on the loose, but he's in good hand. So that's
a happy ending to the story. Captain AMAI thank you
very much of the Massachusetts Environmental Police. You're a great communicator.
Thanks for giving us the final story. And if you
(36:55):
see goose sometime, tell him, I said alone, Okay.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
We shall, sir. Thank you for giving us the opportunity.
You have a good night.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Thank you very much, Captain Scott Amity of the Massachusetts
Environmental Police. What a great job to tell help take
care of an animal which obviously was out of his
native climb, that is for sure. Okay, when we get back,
we are going to talk with the State Auditor of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Diane de Zauglio. Seventy two percent
(37:22):
of the people whilst fall voted that she would be
able to audit the state legislature. She's gonna have to
go to court maybe to get the will of the
people accomplished. And she do not doubt Diane Desauglio coming
back on nightside.
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