Lawrence Mayor Lantigua Accused

Educator Says Mayor has Conflicts of Interest, Lack of Leadership    By: Tom Duggan, April, 2010 According to Essex County District Attorney Jon Blodgett’s indictment of Lawrence School Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy, Mayor Willie Lantigua’s State Rep. campaign received materials printed at the Lawrence Public Schools in 2007. Now Lantigua will preside over hearings to fire […]

Playing the race card in 2010

Is it time for City Councilor Grisel Silva to resign?     By: Robert O’Koniewski, Esq., – March, 2010   Just how far Lawrence can sink has yet to be seen. The recent events surrounding Mayor Lantigua’s insistence on keeping, and then resigning from, his State Representative job certainly has enabled us to plunge to the […]

The City of Lawrence has No Idea What is About to Hit Them

The City of Lawrence has No Idea What is About to Hit Them

  PAYING ATTENTION with Tom Duggan – November, 2009 Few people can really understand the magnitude of the changes that are about to occur in the City of Lawrence with the election of State Representative Willie Lantigua (da chief). Not only did Willie win an overwhelming victory on Election Day, but almost every one of […]

Who Will Lead Lawrence? An Evaluation of the two Candidates for Mayor in 2009

By: Tom Duggan – October, 2009 ELECTION EDITION Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan is finishing his final term because the city charter limits the mayor’s job to two, four year terms. Sullivan defeated Isabel Melendez in 2001 and Marcos Devers in 2005. Ironically Willie Lantigua endorsed and supported Isabel Melendez in ’01 but flipped in ’05 […]

Hazardous Waste Leak in Lawrence

Hazardous Waste Leak in Lawrence

By: Tom Duggan – August, 2009 First Mercury then Sodium Bisulfite When Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan found out that mercury was being illegally stored at the old water pumping station on South Street two months ago, he ordered Inspectional Services Director Myles Burke and the Lawrence Fire Department to inspect other city owned property to […]

Lawrence Fined Nearly $50K for Failing to Test Drinking Water for Ecoli

Lawrence Fined Nearly $50K for Failing to Test Drinking Water for Ecoli

  By: Tom Duggan – July, 2009 Documents obtained by The Valley Patriot last month revealed that operators at the City of Lawrence’s brand new $26 million water treatment facility failed to test the city’s drinking water for a bacteria called E.coli from July 2008 to February 2009. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) […]

An Exclusive Interview with Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy

An Exclusive Interview with Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy

  By: Tom Duggan, May, 2009 Lawrence School Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy granted an exclusive interview with The Valley Patriot where he discussed for the first time to anyone, the details of recent media scandals involving his office, teachers and principals under his command and the spate of bad publicity in the daily newspaper concerning the […]

North Andover Family caught in Mumbai, India terrorist attacks

North Andover Family caught in Mumbai, India terrorist attacks

North Andover woman recounts how she and her family became caught up in India’s terrorist attack By: Erin Mary Ackerman – January, 2009 Editors note: The following is a first hand account of North Andover resident Erin Mary Ackerman (and her family) who went to Mumbai, India last month just as the terrorist attack began […]

Mayoral Candidate in legal dispute

Mayoral Candidate in legal dispute

Israel Reyes at the center of lawsuit over allegations on May Street     By: Paula Porten  December, 2008   Former Lawrence City Councilor and candidate for Mayor, Israel Reyes, is wrangled in a lawsuit involving May Street Partners, LLC, Reyes Group, Inc. and several properties on May Street in Lawrence.  May Street Partners owns the […]

Andrea Traficanti Files for Permanent Disability

Andrea Traficanti Files for Permanent Disability

Fired Attorney’s Firm Member Made Millions on Taxpayers   Valley Patriot Staff – November, 2008 Former Lawrence city hall worker Andrea Traficanti will be back in court next month seeking permanent and total disability benefits after filing a new claim with the Department of Industrial Accidents.    Her claim now is that she is permanently and […]

Riverwalk Law Center to bring 250 jobs to Lawrence

Riverwalk Law Center to bring 250 jobs to Lawrence

  By: Tom Duggan – Ocotober, 2008  The City of Lawrence is about to be the home of a new concept in legal services according to Al Zappala president of All things Sicilian, and Sal Lupoli of Sal’s Pizza and Sal’s Riverwalk.  Zappala and Lupoli say they intend to create a series of “boutique” law […]

Eagle Tribune Cuts 52 Jobs

    By: Tom Duggan – September, 2008 The Eagle Tribune newspaper, head-quartered in North Andover and owned by Alabama-based Community News-paper Holdings, Inc. announced last week that at least 52 employees have been laid off in the largest ever downsizing measure taken by the company. In a memo to employees, publisher Al Getler, a […]