By: Tom Duggan – July, 2015 Salisbury Town Manager Neil Harrington has once again violated state laws governing public records. This time, laws governing the retention of public records as part of a lawsuit. The lawsuit in question was filed by the Tomaselli sisters. Harrington is claiming that permanent documents being sought by Gracemarie and […]
July, 2015 Now that his pal Willie Lantigua is out of office, you will hardly find another politician in Lawrence as slick and sleazy as City Council President Modesto Maldonado. Maldonado was a part of the Lantigua machine. His job in that span of four years on the council was to advance Lantigua’s agenda and […]
July 16, 2015 BOSTON – Next Wednesday, the state’s public records law will be one step closer to being a real law with real penalties, after forty years of being merely a suggestion for public officials to turn over public documents when requested. MGL Ch. 66 mandates that public agencies turn over public documents within ten […]
By: Tom Duggan – July 14, 2015 BOSTON – Lawrence City Councilor Marc Laplante was on Beacon Hill Tuesday testifying for passage of his legislation to increase fines for illegal dumping in Lawrence. If passed, House Bill 1258 would let the City of Lawrence increase the maximum fine for illegal dumping from $300, to between $5,000 and […]
By Christine Morabito – July 2015 Supporters of Cape Wind desperately want you to believe that those opposed to the massive offshore industrial project are afflicted with the “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) syndrome. This conjures up images of affluent, elitist Cape Coders, who cannot bear to have their precious views spoiled by unsightly turbines. […]
By: Bharani Padmanabhan – July 3, 2015 Valley Patriot readers may be familiar with the 17 month long ordeal suffered by young Justina Pelletier at the hands of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the huge effort it took from 100,000 ordinary people from across this great land who came together to […]
Next month The Valley Patriot will be publishing an interview with one of the writers of Faith of Our Fathers, Tom Saab of Salisbury. The movie will be shown at Visionmax on Rt. 110 in Salisbury, MA on July 1st-5th. Any group interested in purchasing 750 tickets can contact Tom Saab to bring a movie […]
June 30, 2015 Secretary of Public Safety Daniel Bennett today announced a reformed security procedure regarding access by attorneys to clients held in Department of Correction facilities in Massachusetts. Bennett says the new regulations are effective immediately, and are designed to strike an improved balance between prison security and personal privacy. “The changes […]
By: Bharani Padmanabhan – June, 2015 This month, Valley Patriot Publisher Tom Duggan was front and center in this state’s media environment for a couple of days. Most media people referred to him by name except for Dan Kennedy who refused to do so while using Tom’s testimony to support the new public records bill. Tom had […]
By: Dani Langevin: June, 2015 Last month I had the pleasure of visiting Methuen High School and sitting in on a meeting of the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance). Several of my colleagues and I are currently organizing such a group at the Marsh Grammar School and wanted to see one in action. I was very […]
By: State Rep. Linda Dean Campbell June, 2015 Massachusetts gets an F grade for access to public records according to some very respected public interest groups. A number of bills have been filed to change this including legislation filed by Senator Ives and co-sponsored by both Representative DiZoglio and myself. As a member of the […]
By: Tom Duggan -June, 2015 A fired guidance counselor in the Lawrence Public Schools, Brenda Sudol-Kirwin, won an arbitration hearing against the schools in August of 2013, for sick leave for injuries she incurred while working in the schools. But Kirwin says the issue is not over and wanted to go public about the abuse […]
Tulimieri also required to make restitution to the Redevelopment Authority in the amount of $21,245 The State Ethics Commission approved a Disposition Agreement (“Agreement”) in which Joseph Tulimieri, the former Executive Director of the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (“CRA”), admitted to violating G. L. c. 268A, the conflict of interest law, by increasing his own compensation […]
By: Jessica Finocchiaro – June, 2015 NORTH ANDOVER—Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump is the first female to serve as Auditor in the Commonwealth’s history, and she spoke frankly about her experiences at the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce’s “Women in Business Series” last month. Members of the Chamber fielded questions as last minute attendees checked […]
Massachusetts Legislators, members of the media and 1st amendment advocates testified last month before a joint House and Senate committee on Beacon Hill, asking legislators to add penalties to the state’s fake public records law. The law, MGL Ch. 66, states that the keeper of records in any municipality or public agency must turn over public […]