By: Kathy Runge – November, 2015 The election has come and gone and the good news is, I should have no scarcity of material for the foreseeable future. The bad news is that Brian DePena was top vote getter in the Councilor at-Large race. Mr. DePena, I will be thrilled if you prove me wrong. […]
By: Tom Duggan – November 29, 2015 RELATED STORIES – PHOTOS (videos below) More than 100 people rallied in support of embattled Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera Sunday on the Campagnone Common, in the wake of two recall petitions to throw Rivera out of office. Rivera is in his second year of a four year […]
Kemal Bozkurt is the first Muslim elected to public office in Lawrence. Bozkurt, the city’s acting library director, ran a sticker campaign for school committee last month as there was not even one candidate on the ballot to fill the seat. Now, Bozkurt is being pressured by members of the city council to either […]
LAWRENCE – The recall effort against Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera by former Mayor William Lantigua supporters has declined into chaos with two separate (legally valid) recall petitions circulating throughout the city to remove the mayor from office. Rivera’s attorney was in court Wednesday asking a judge to put a halt to the second recall, the […]
By: Tom Duggan – 9.22.15 With only 9% of registered voters in Lawrence participating in the city’s preliminary elections, at least one candidate has found himself one vote shy of being nominated for city council. Rich Russell, a Viet Nam veteran and activist at council meetings, placed seventh in an eight way race, being eliminated […]
JUDGES ORDER DOC091715-09172015142844 A Lawrence Superior Court Judge has put a halt to the recall petition against Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera Tuesday, issuing a temporary restraining order on the collection of signatures against the mayor until his challenge to the initial 100 signatures can be heard by the Lawrence Board of Registrars. A recall affidavit was submitted […]
By: Kathy Runge – August 2015 We’re starting campaign season and I’m already preparing myself for the onslaught of robo-calls and junk mail we’ll be receiving in a couple of months. Please don’t vote for candidates that spend thousands of dollars trying to impress you. The more money a local candidate receives in donations, the […]
WHO’S IN AND WHO’S OUT IN CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE RACES Candidates wishing to have their names appear on the September ballot for municipal elections had until close of business on Tuesday to turn in the required number of signatures. The Lawrence City Council is made up of nine members. Six members of the […]
The Pulse with John MacDonald and Tom Duggan. LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD HERE Tonight, Tom Duggan filed in for John. IN the first half of the show he interviewed State Senator Barbara L’Italien about the increase in local aid and the grants that have been approved for Lawrence and surrounding communities. In the second hour Tom […]
By: Kathy Runge – May, 2015 Although, in my opinion, violating the Open Meeting Laws is not unusual for our city council, the newest show of disrespect for city residents has to be the placing of this month’s Semana Hispana fundraising carnival at the South Common with no prior notice given to the neighborhood residents. […]
Lawrence City Councilor Marc Laplante (District F) has filed an Opening Meeting Law complaint to the City Clerk claiming that the city council approved the use of the South Lawrence Common (O’Connell Park) for a carnival without giving proper notice to city residents. The Lawrence City Council has held several illegal meetings without notifying the […]
NO CONFIDENCE It was a night of dysfunction and shocking revelations Tuesday night as the Lawrence City Council was set to take a vote of “No Confidence” in Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera only one year into his four year term. The council, mostly made up of holdovers from the Lantigua administration and loyal to the former […]
By: Kathy Runge – December, 2014 The election has come and gone, the employee residency requirement has been discussed ad nauseam by the council with more to come, and we’ve had more senseless deaths of young people in Lawrence. The residents of Lawrence can breathe a sigh of relief that William Lantigua isn’t on the […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2014 You have to hand it to former Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua. Even as a private citizen, he continues to conspire for revenge against his so-called enemies and everyone he believes has ever slighted him, real or imaginary. Not only has Lantigua been targeting Rep. Marcos Devers […]
By: Tom Duggan – July 18, 2014 Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera has begun the process of finding a permanent fire chief to lead the Lawrence Fire Department. Rivera named the members of what he calls his “Fire Chief Search Committee”, and says he has began the first stages of the search process this week. The function […]