If You Build It, They Will Come – Rail Trails and Heroin Trails ~ PAYING ATTENTION with TOM DUGGAN

If You Build It, They Will Come – Rail Trails and Heroin Trails ~ PAYING ATTENTION with TOM DUGGAN

Last month, the state legislature approved giving Lawrence another $1.5M for … get this … improvements to the “rail trail”. For those who don’t know what the “rail trail” is, check this out. Your local and state officials have been spending millions of your tax dollars every year to create pretty walking areas along dead […]

Prayer and Action Can Bolster Gun Control ~ Joe D’Amore

Prayer and Action Can Bolster Gun Control ~ Joe D’Amore

By: Joe D’Amore – Oct. 2017 As I write this, countless families and friends of the victims of the Las Vegas massacre are now receiving the bodies, released from official coroners after a week of inexplicable tragedy. Sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, family members and friends felled in the prime of their lives in a moment […]

Common Sense Updates to State Zoning Laws – IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR IVES

Common Sense Updates  to State Zoning Laws – IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR IVES

By: State Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives – Feb. 2017 Last session, as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses, I was tasked with reviewing proposals for a major overhaul of the state’s zoning laws which have become strained under modern housing pressures. The goal of the comprehensive bill passed by the […]

Housing That’s Affordable for First Responders ~ IN YOUR CORNER with SENATOR KATY IVES

Housing That’s Affordable for First Responders ~ IN YOUR CORNER with SENATOR KATY IVES

By: Senator Katy Ives – Feb. 2017 As regular readers of this column may know, last session I filed a bill to reduce housing costs for veterans by offering a tax rebate to landlords who rent dwellings below market rate to individuals who receive state Chapter 115 veterans’ benefits. In the past legislative session, a […]

Reducing Exposure to Toxins ~IN YOU’RE CORNER WITH KATY IVES

Reducing Exposure to Toxins ~IN YOU’RE CORNER WITH KATY IVES

By: State Senator Katy Ives (D-Newburyport) In my effort to continue to focus these columns on bills that I will file in the next legislative session, I want to discuss in this edition a bill I sponsored last session which sought to reduce human exposure to a dangerous chemical hidden in many items of daily […]

Robito, O’Reilly Attack Chief Coppinger on Pension, Crime in Lynn

Robito, O’Reilly Attack Chief Coppinger on Pension, Crime in Lynn

At the debate for the Democratic candidates in August, Jerry Flynn, Executive Director of the New England Police Benevolent Association, asked the candidates if they would take their pension and the sheriff’s salary if they are elected. Prior to this exchange below, candidate Paul Russell said that he would do the job for free as […]

GOP Candidates for Sheriff Tackle Issue of Homeless Inmates

GOP Candidates for Sheriff Tackle Issue of Homeless Inmates

THE ELECTION IS THURSDAY, SEPT. 8th The Valley Patriot in conjunction with the Greater Lawrence Psychological Center’s Carina Pappalardo, hosted a debate for the Republican candidates for Essex County Sheriff. The event was held at the American Legion on Broadway in Methuen and was covered by both the Methuen and Salisbury cable access channels. The […]

My Thoughts on the Essex County Sheriff’s Race

My Thoughts on the Essex County Sheriff’s Race

September 3, 2016 The most important race on the September 8th primary election ballot is the Essex County Sheriff’s race. The Sheriff is elected for six years and makes about $150,000. He runs all jails and prisons in Essex County and oversees probation, drug and alcohol programs, and decides who goes home early and who […]

2016 Essex County Sheriff Republican Candidate Debate

2016 Essex County Sheriff Republican Candidate Debate

Four of the five Republican primary candidates for Essex County Sheriff debated at the American Legion on Broadway in Methuen. They are: Anne Manning-Martin, Jeff Gallo, Craig Lane, and Jim Jajuga, Jr. Moderating the debate were Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan and Executive Director of the Greater Lawrence Psychological Center, Carina Pappalardo.) CLICK PHOTO TO […]

VIDEO: Essex County Sheriff Democratic Candidate Debate in North Andover

VIDEO: Essex County Sheriff Democratic Candidate Debate in North Andover

  The Valley Patriot newspaper hosted a debate for the Democratic Candidates for Essex County Sheriff at North Andover High School on Thursday, August 18, 2016. The candidates are: Michael Marks, Paul Russell, Jerry Robito, Kevin Coppinger, and Ed O’Reilly.  The debate moderators were: Tom Duggan, Valley Patriot Publisher, Christine Morabito and Jerry Flynn. The […]

Closing the Loopholes on Drunk Driving Laws ~ IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR KATY IVES

Closing the Loopholes on Drunk Driving Laws  ~ IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR KATY IVES

By: State Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives August, 2018 In July, the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation to promote the use of ignition interlock devices by OUI offenders, which test a driver’s blood-alcohol content before starting a car. Mothers Against Drunk Driving and AAA Northeast have endorsed the use of the devices as an effective means to […]

Disparity in Health Care Costs and Services

Disparity in Health Care Costs and Services

By: State Representative Lenny Mirra – July, 2016 Here’s why you should care, and care A LOT, about health care costs: Massachusetts has the highest healthcare costs in the world. No place else spends what we spend per capita on health care and it affects every part of our lives. We’re in the process of […]

Veteran Employment and Housing Security ~ IN YOUR CORNER with SENATOR IVES

Veteran Employment and Housing Security ~ IN YOUR CORNER with SENATOR IVES

The Massachusetts Senate unanimously approved omnibus veterans’ legislation in June known as the Veterans H.O.M.E. Act. State Senator Katy Ives – July, 2016 Senate Bill 2325, “An Act Relative to Housing, Operations, Military Service, and Enrichment,” seeks to improve housing and employment opportunities for military veterans and their families. The bill allows municipalities to offer […]

Kinder Morgan Pipeline Suspension is Victory for Merrimack Valley – IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR IVES

Kinder Morgan Pipeline Suspension is Victory for Merrimack Valley – IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR IVES

By: State Senator Katy Ives May, 2016 Kinder Morgan, a Houston, Texas-based energy infrastructure company, submitted its first letter related to their Northeast Energy Direct Project (NED Project) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on September 15, 2014. It detailed a plan to construct 177 miles of new pipeline from Wright, New York to […]