Will not commit to quitting council or stepping down as council President if he wins By: Valley Patriot Staff – May, 2012 Lawrence City Council President Frank Moran is a candidate for State Representative in the 17th Essex District. The newly created rep. district was created by the state legislature last year as a […]
By: Jeff Katz – May, 2012 I’ve often shared the story of my daughter, Julia. My little princess is a beautiful girl who loves music, cookies, the ocean and summer breezes. She is nine years old and is just now learning to walk, small little Frankenstein like steps but steps none the less. We still […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL May-2012 Last month Christine Morabito, President of the Greater Boston Tea Party called into WCAP’s Paying Attention Radio Program (980AM) to talk about an explosive and divisive issue facing Tea Parties all over the country: anti-gay (and some would say homophobic) voices within the Tea Party itself. At issue was what Morabito […]
By: Christen Varley – April, 2012 I spent the better portion of last week reading, watching, and waiting for news from the Supreme Court. The hearings held to determine the constitutionality of the individual mandate, as well as the entirety of Obamacare, are over and we Americans must now wait for the verdict. I don’t […]
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX SIMPLE MATH Only 25 percent of Lawrence’s eighth grade students, based on MCAS test results, are proficient in mathematics. The percentage of proficient students increases to only 27 percent in tenth grade (winter 2011), but this can hardly be considered progress since there are roughly 12 percent fewer students remaining to […]
By: Paul Murano – April, 2012 Victoria Reggie Kennedy, wife of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, was slated to be the 2012 commencement speaker at Anna Maria College in Paxton, a Catholic college in the Diocese of Worcester. Her invitation was rescinded by the college last week when the bishop got wind of it. In […]
By: Peter Larocque – April, 2012 The response to an article in March’s Boston Magazine entitled, “Lawrence, MA: City of the Damned” by city politicians and community activist young and old has me scratching my head. I do understand some of their reasoning, but in the end it is just more of the same, […]
It’s time to stop circling the wagons and shooting IN Christine Morabito – April, 2012 The Tea Party’s relationship with U.S. Senator Scott Brown has been dysfunctional at best. In February, leaders from 7 Massachusetts Tea Parties sat down with Brown’s staff to establish an open dialogue and express concerns about his voting record. Despite […]
Warren Talks about Wall Street, A Border Wall and Scott Brown By: Tom Duggan – April, 2012 Professor Elizabeth Warren is one of two Democrats seeking their party’s nomination to square off against incumbent Senator Scott Brown (R) in November. Last month she toured portions of the Merrimack Valley including a new solar farm at […]
Mass. Dept. of Agriculture has Conflicts of Interest: DOA Employees In Bed with Dog Breeders Tom Duggan – May, 2012 The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) has been targeting and harassing dog “rescues” in Massachusetts for years. They are the state agency in charge of regulation and enforcement of the animal industry it the […]
By: Jamison Tomasek – March, 2012 The entire region was buzzing recently as Boston Magazine published an article titled “Lawrence: City of the Damned.” The online version of the magazine added a response from City Councilor Dan Rivera. The Eagle Tribune followed with an editorial which tried to put some positive spins on Lawrence, but […]
By: Peter Larocque – March, 2012 The way the Massachusetts Law that allowed Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester to Takeover Lawrence’s Public Schools is being implemented could be Unconstitutional! According to this law, the Commissioner shall appoint a Receiver to a School District that has been declared chronically underperforming by the State Board of Elementary and […]
By: Diana DiZoglio, March, 2012 Methuen native Jaime Bellavance Coelho is running the Boston Marathon for children’s literacy. ReadBoston is a children’s literacy non-profit that raises money for after school reading programs to support inner city schools. The money she is raising will go toward the Storymobile program, which will distribute free books to kids […]
By: Gary Manion – March, 2012 On Super Tuesday the voters of Lawrence, Tewksbury, Dracut and Andover not only cast votes for President but voted for local and state party committees. Lawrence’s Mayor William Lantigua was on the ballot to be reelected to the Democrat State Committee. His only opponent was Lawrence District “C” City […]
By: William Gunn – March 2013 I submitted a letter similar to the following to a Massachusetts State Legislator asking him to draft legislation that would eliminate the DOR and all income, sales and other taxes in the state to be replaced with a surcharge to every community based on property values. This would allow […]