By: Former State Rep. Lenny Mirra – 3/24 Back in 1927 U.S. Rep. Robert Bacon of New York secured funding for a new Veterans Bureau hospital on Long Island and was horrified when a contractor from Alabama won the bid and came to New York with a crew of Black construction workers. This led to […]
By: Lenny Mirra – Feb. 2024 For a party that claims to be so concerned about protecting democracy Democrats are working awfully hard to make sure you don’t get a chance to vote for the “wrong” candidates. It’s not enough that the party worked diligently to discard legal ballots and make sure they never get […]
Lenny Mirra ~ 12-23 Back in 2022 I had the honor of representing Massachusetts on an Immigration Task Force for the National Conference of State Legislators where I joined state legislators from across the country to find ways to fix our broken immigration system. What I remember most is that after just a few zoom […]
Nov. 2023 Emails obtained by The Valley Patriot reveal that a number of voters in Rowley had their ballots discarded and uncounted in last November’s election where Kristin Kassner (D-Hamilton) won the 2nd Essex State Representative seat by one vote over Lenny Mirra (R-Georgetown). Minutes taken during the recount in that race reveal that […]
by: Rep. Adrianne Ramos Budget season is officially beginning! On March 1, Governor Healey released her administration’s version of the FY24 budget. Included in the Governor’s budget is a local aid increase of over 8% from FY23. After speaking with officials from every town in the 14th Essex, it is clear that our municipalities are […]
A close race, a recount, a court challenge and legislative action, resulted in the 1st Essex District State Rep. Lenny Mirra winning his reelection by 100 votes then losing by one vote. Mirra appeared on the Paying Attention! Podcast last week (iTunes, iHeartRadio, YouTube, PodBean) to give us the exclusive on how the entire apparatus […]
With the districts for state representative being changed this year, left wing Democrat Christina Minicucci of North Andover has decided not to run for reelection. There are two candidates running to replace her on the November 8th state ballot. They are Joe Finn, and Adrianne Ramos. To be fair to the voters we took the bio […]
By: State Rep. Lenny Mirra – Aug. 2022 Can a group of Democrats meet with a group of Republicans and decide, unanimously no less, on ways to revamp our election system and improve its integrity? Apparently, the answer is yes, and I saw this firsthand at a Common Ground Workshop put on by Braver Angels, […]
A Veteran, Father, Husband, Brother, and Hero By: John Cuddy – May, 2022 On April 16th of this year, a reunion was held on the shore of Rock Pond in Georgetown, Massachusetts. Family and friends gathered to remember a Haverhill Veteran, Frederick “Buddy” Hansen, a husband, brother, and dad, who drowned in this pond while […]
By: State Senator Katy Ives – April, 2017 Early Voting passed into law in 2014 and this past presidential election was the first in which residents were allowed to vote before Election Day. This is an advantageous concept for many people that want to vote but can’t get to the ballot box on one given […]
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 […]
By: State Rep. Lenny Mirra – Feb. 2017 Getting your appendix removed can be an expensive thing. This routine surgery costs an average of about $16,000 in the U.S., and even higher in places like Massachusetts. But in Switzerland the average cost is about $6,000, and only $2,000 in Spain. For a hip replacement the […]
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 […]
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 […]