By: John Cuddy – November, 2019 Haverhill’s Gerard Boucher joined the US Marine Corp to avoid getting drafted by the US Army. On the wall of his home sits a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, so he certainly picked an unusual way to avoid the draft. Talking to Gerard and his close friend Carolyn […]
If you enjoy our news coverage please consider making a $1 donation Hello Valley Patriot Readers, It has been 25 years since the state’s education funding formula has been updated. A lack of reform has left school districts significantly underfunded, with insufficient support for special education, English-language learner programs, and school building construction and renovation, among other […]
By: Bill Cushing – November, 2019 The best new network comedy of this fall TV season is the charming and delightful CBS series ‘The Unicorn.’ A unicorn, in this context, is defined as “that elusive creature that all single women are looking for.” Which is a widower and a father who, because he’s only had […]
The election of a new mayor and city council in Methuen, and the impending departure of Mayor James Jajuga will mark the end of conflict, chaos, and controversy that has divided the city and left Methuen’s reputation as a national disgrace. Over the last two years of the Jajuga administration the mayor refused to fulfill […]
By: Bill Cushing – Oct. 2019 Netflix’s ‘Unbelievable’ is the streaming network’s latest bingeworthy drama. It stars Emmy winners Toni Collette and Merritt Wever as two detectives investigating a series of sexual assaults. But even though they are the series top billed stars, they don’t even appear in the first episode. The first hour (and […]
By: John Cuddy -Oct.2019 Dracut’s Pat Walor was born on his family’s farm in Peabody, Massachusetts in 1923 – the second youngest of eleven children. His father was a dirt farmer (Pat’s own description of a vegetable farmer). He recalls his weekly trips into Faneuil Hall in Boston to sell their vegetables on commission. A […]
By: Dani Lengevin – Oct. 2019 “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think,” Adolf Hitler. This should be the current administration’s mantra. As far as I can see, Trump’s administration and most of his followers don’t think or at least have checked the part of their brains that has a conscience […]
By: Brian Genest – Oct. 2019 Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire, especially in Dracut. Just ask town firefighters. As the result of a number of smoldering issues, members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2586, joined by the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, picketed outside the board of selectmen’s meeting, before bringing the […]
By: Rep. Linda Dean Campbell – Oct.2019 One of my top priorities this session and last session, Nicky’s Law, has taken a big step forward in the legislative process. The bill, which I filed to help protect individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities from abuse by care providers, recently received a favorable vote from the […]
Hello Valley Patriot Readers, Recently, I was so pleased to host fellow senators from across the Commonwealth for a listening SenaTOUR of the Merrimack Valley. This was a prime opportunity to make the unique challenges facing our communities salient to legislators outside the region. I opened the SenaTOUR with a policy forum at CI Works, […]
BY: Bharani Padmanabhan – Oct. 2019 On September 24, 2019 Governor Charlie Baker suddenly declared a public health emergency and invoked MGL chapter 17 § 2A, which allows the Public Health Commissioner to “during such period of emergency, take such action and incur such liabilities as he may deem necessary to assure the maintenance of […]
By Rick Bellanti-October 2019 Do you remember that old saying, “Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut – Sometimes You Don’t.” Well you may want to start feeling like adding more nuts to your healthy diet, because those little guys pack an awful lot of goodness in them. It’s a healthy snack that’s good for you […]
Last month, less than 5,000 people voted in the Methuen preliminary election for city council. Methuen has approximately 57,000 people residing in the city limits. That means less than 10% of the people in Methuen bothered to participate in the decision of who represents them in city government. In Lawrence the numbers were frighteningly lower. […]
By: Bharani Padmanabhan – Sept. 2019 This past week, supporters of the rule of law encountered the shameful spectacle of a full page announcement in the Boston Globe, from 70 progressive outfits, condemning the jury verdict in the case of naked extortion by Marty Walsh’s agents. You remember Marty? Former union leader who became mayor […]
By: Bill Cushing – Sept, 2019 The new TV season is upon us and just like every year there are lots of new shows. Which shows are worth devoting your time to? Well, hopefully this column will help you decide the answer to that question. Here are some of the shows I think will […]