BOSTON – Three men were sentenced today in federal court in Boston for conspiracy to defraud the United States and mail fraud in connection with a scheme to obtain government contracts. Frank Apicella, 63, of Groveland, Mass.; Michael Sforza, 59, of Alpharetta, Ga.; and James Apicella, 37, of Kingston, N.H., were sentenced by U.S. District […]
GROVELAND – Groveland Police Chief Jeff Gillen report that a 48-year old Haverhill man was arrested last night for the murder of Patsy Schena in Groveland a week ago. Mr. Schena was found deceased in his home at 20 Governors Road on June 21. Leedell Graham was arrested at 52 Cedar Street in Haverhill at […]
By: Joe D’Amore – April, 2019 My wife and I recently treated three relatives to a birthday celebration for one of them. Two of them are in their 80s, and one of them is soon to be 90. They’re sisters. They grew up in the Great Depression, under circumstances that exceed most understandable, modern measures […]
By: Casey Pratt – August, 2018 Groveland and Boston are two vastly different communities in Massachusetts, which have vastly different governing bodies. From a distance, local government simply seems like a smaller version of city government. Groveland has an executive branch in the form of the Board of Selectmen, and a legislative branch in the […]
By: Joe D’Amore – July 16, 2018 This is what a veteran explained to me along with lots of heartfelt details about his life on a recent fishing trip organized by Dick George of 101st Airborne Division Association of Newburyport. Mr George collaborated with several wonderful organizations to fill a fishing boat that cast […]
GROVELAND – Recently our team facilitated the DementiaLive™ program to nurses, case managers and social workers at Nichols Village Independent Living Community in Groveland, MA. The program consisted of 20 health care professionals from across the Merrimack Valley. Celeste Begley, CCM, CDP, Community Relations Director, and Victoria Guskiewicz, CCM, MS, Community Relations Coordinator from our […]
By: Joe D’Amore – May, 2018 The Federal Assault Weapon’s Ban (AWB) enacted in 1994, prohibited the manufacturing, for civilian use, a variety of fire-arms loosely categorized as assault weapons, as well as detachable, large capacity magazines. It was a subsection of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The aim was […]
GROVELAND — Fire Chief Robert B. Lay has retired from the Groveland Fire Department after a long career. Lay has served as a firefighter for 44 years, and has spent his entire firefighting career in Groveland. Groveland’s fire chief is part-time, so in addition to his career in the fire service, he worked full-time for […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]