Auditor Bump Focuses Efforts to Strengthen Public Benefits Programs Announces that Her Office Identified a Record $15.4M in Public Benefits Fraud in FY16 Boston, MA – Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump has released an annual report on her office’s efforts to identify fraud in the state’s social, safety net programs. The report released this week notes that […]
By: Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives – Nov, 2016 Leading up to the beginning of a new formal legislative session in January, I’m focusing in on which bills will be priorities for me to file, re-file and co-sponsor. My column over these next months will be focused on a number of those bills. This month’s column […]
Cesiah Albarran of Lawrence came to this country in 2013 from Puerto Rico with a recently earned bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico and limited English skills. With the help of family members, she quickly landed a job with Bradford & Bigelow (B&B), a $31M specialty printing company with 140 employees […]
WHAT: 29th annual family-friendly Feaster Five Thanksgiving Day Road Race, one of New England’s largest running events with 10,000+ runners and walkers and an apple pie for all finishers. Every year, Feaster Five participants get up early to run for pie before they sit for turkey. WHEN: Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, Nov. 24 – […]
The highly anticipated premiere of AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ aired on October 23rd to near record ratings. Fans of the show will know that this episode promised to resolve last April’s cliffhanger. That episode ended with our group of survivors being captured by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his followers, The Saviors. Negan was bent […]
Donald Trump not only won the presidential election, he got a higher number of Latino votes on Election Day than Mitt Romney did four years ago. He also did better with women than Romney, and won states that no republican has won in more than 30 years. The fact is, the media propaganda was wrong. […]
Donald Trump wants to build a wall protecting our southern border with Mexico. Hillary Clinton wants open borders. Trump will deport criminals who are also illegal aliens and put them in jail if they come back illegally a second time. Clinton will make them all citizens and give them welfare. Trump wants those here […]
By: Robin Desmet – Oct. 2016 When you start rescuing cats in the neighborhood, the word gets out. Suddenly, people start bringing you cats. Before you know it, other animals start finding their way to your door. I was working at the pharmacy and Jade, a young girl from the neighborhood, walked through the door […]
By: Paul Murano – Oct. 2016 There are Two truths I have concluded about this upcoming presidential election. The first is that Donald Trump has shown himself to be highly immature, self-serving, undignified, pompous, highly insulting, and a terrible candidate. The second truth is that we have a moral obligation to vote for him. Here’s […]
By: Bill Cushing – Oct. 2016 ‘Every year there are a bunch of new TV shows that premiere. Some will make it, some will not. If you read my column last month, you would have seen that one of the new shows I recommended checking out was NBC’s ‘This Is Us.’ ‘This Is Us’ is […]
By: John MacDonald – Oct. 2016 On September 27th, without fanfare or discussion, the Lowell City Council approved raises for themselves and the Lowell School Committee. Currently the City Council each make a stipend of $15,000 per year and the School Committee members make $6,000 per year. Now, with a swift vote and no discussion, […]
BREAKING THEIR WORD ON ENDORSEMENTS In my book, your word is your bond. If you make a commitment and give your word, no matter how inconvenient it is, you keep your word. Unfortunately, I am in the rare minority these days. Last month, The Valley Patriot held two debates with the candidates for Essex County […]
Boston- State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) was named a Legislator of the Year on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 by the New England Police Benevolent Association (NEPBA) for his work on a wide range of criminal justice issues, ranging from effectively penalizing repeat violent offenders, to addressing the ongoing opiate abuse crisis facing Massachusetts. […]
Conservative radio talk show host John MacDonald walked out of his show, live, on the air Tuesday morning, after the 980WCAP radio station owner, Sam Poulten, “invaded” the program to ‘redirect’ the on-air conversation about Hillary Clinton’s emails and give the Clinton party line on what the host was discussing with his guest, Republican, Mary Burns. […]
BOSTON, MA —State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump today released the results of an audit of the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC), which found that the committee did not ensure that out-of-state police officers hired by municipal police departments completed the mandatory online Massachusetts Police Office Orientation Training within the required timeframe. “Communities rely on the […]