Senate Minority Leader Tarr Secures Passage of Several Amendments Boston- The State Senate today adopted legislation to make certain Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Board records subject to the provisions of a new public records access law. Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) successfully championed the legislation which will apply to all documents made or […]
Lawrence resident James Patrick O’Donoghue has filed an injunction in Newburyport Superior Court, to try and halt his removal from the Lawrence Redevelopment Authority. O’Donogue was appointed February 4, 2014 to fill the unexpired term of Estella Reyes, who left the board after taking office as a Lawrence City Councilor. O’Donoghue claims in his filing with the […]
By: Dr. Frank MacMillan – Jan. 2016 Years end is a good opportunity for us to look back and take stock in what is good and what is not so good. Yes, the turning of the calendar year is an artificial boundary, but why not use this as an opportunity to leave the old behind […]
By: Cheryl Hajjar – Jan. 2016 Today nearly 46% of privately owned companies in the US are at least half owned by women. Women are starting businesses at 4 times the rate of men. However, the path to the C-Suite for women is both exciting and daunting at the same time. Yes, women do have […]
By: Kathy Runge – Jan. 2016 Happy New Year from recall central! Most of us in Lawrence are suffering from recall fatigue, with objections to signatures on the first recall petition due to be heard this month, while the second recall has until the 23rd to collect the required number of signatures. At the December […]
Though we have enjoyed an extremely mild fall, we know all-too-well that winter in New England can quickly sneak up on us and inflict a lot of misery. In addition to backbreaking shoveling and worrying about the snow piling up on our roofs, winter weather causes other issues that we may not necessarily immediately consider […]
By: Bill Cushing – Jan. 2016 Now that 2015 has come and gone, it’s time to look back on a great year of TV. It was very hard narrowing it down, but here are my choices for the best shows of 2015. 10. Bates Motel (A&E)– A&E’s Bates Motel centers on the early years […]
Haverhill resident Stephanie Bellapianta, a freshman at Merrimack College, presented an award to State Representative Brian Dempsey in front of 350 leaders from the state’s higher education sector, at an annual dinner for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM). The December 14 event held at the Seaport Hotel in Boston honored […]
On Saturday, December 19th, Evelyn Rodriguez of the Lawrence/Methuen Community Coalition (LMCC) under the Family Services of the Merrimack Valley, collaborated with the Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) of Methuen High School, as well as Dean Brouder, Mike Caban, and Jackie Rubino. They came together in order to organize a “Sticker-Shock” campaign geared towards underage […]
The story of one foster kid is on the shelves to raise money to help hundreds more. A small non-profit is taking aim at a huge goal. The Foster Kids of the Merrimack Valley is raising money to open a halfway house for kids aging out of the foster system. At the center of their […]
By: Oscar Camargo – Jan. 2015 Since announcing my candidacy, people from the 18th Essex (Andover, Boxford, North Andover, and Tewksbury) have been supportive of my decision. I’m not surprised, given that State Representative Jim Lyons’ three terms have been unaccomplished. Rep. Lyons has accrued one of the lowest committee attendance records in the State […]
By: State Rep. Linda Dean Campbell – Jan. 2016 We have an opportunity in coming weeks in the Legislature to send the Governor a comprehensive piece of legislation to further address the opioid crisis. Legislative action to date includes substantially increased funding for: treatment post-detox; Community Mental Health Centers for both adults and youth; and […]
By: Senator Katy Ives – Jan. 2016 There have been a number of important legislative developments toward tackling public records reform. This month’s column is an opportunity to describe the status of public records legislation in the effort to produce meaningful public records reform this session. At the onset, Senator Jason Lewis filed S.1676, which […]
“We’ve turned a corner,” said Rep. Jim Lyons, “but we still have a long, long way to go.” Reflecting on the first half of the 2015-2016 legislative sessions, State Representative Jim Lyons (R-Andover) noted that it was a productive year marked by many legislative accomplishments, although vital challenges remain to be addressed. “From the beginning,” […]
By: Dani Langevin – Jan. 2016 Meet Hector Black: Hector is a ninety-year-old man who lives in Tennessee. He has been featured on StoryCorps, Radiolab, and The Moth. He fought in World War II and attended Harvard where he studied social anthropology. None of this sounds remarkable, but Hector’s personal story is. Seven years ago, […]