By: Tom Duggan Embattled Lawrence City Councilor Sandy Almonte, who represents the District “A” Prospect Hill neighborhood, has resigned from her position just one month after being arrested for assault and resisting arrest in Nashua, NH. Almonte will be arraigned in Nashua, district court on September 9th. The City Council has scheduled a special meeting […]
Reggie Autumn Craft & Vendor Fair to be held on Saturday, October 29, 2016 at Greater Lawrence Technical School Andover, MA. We are looking for interested crafters and vendors interested in participating inthefair. Spaces are $25.00. For more information and an application please contact SOuellette@glts.net or CLewis@glts.net. OVERHEARD: At a recent high school scholarship night […]
June 3, 2016 Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a public records reform bill Friday, after a joint conference committee of the Massachusetts legislature negotiated and reached a final deal on final language of the bill. For the first time in the state’s history, members of the public and the press will be able to hold […]
TOP 8 FACEBOOK PET PEEVES # 1 CLICK BAIT: You have seen it in your newsfeed on Facebook. The title will say something like: “Two year old climbs into box with rattlesnakes, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IS STUNNING!” This is a cheap and annoying stunt to get you to click the link and it’s called […]
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H4333 5-23-16 On Monday, a joint conference committee of the Massachusetts legislature negotiated and reached a final deal on a new public records reform bill for the first time in 40 years. CHANGES TO THE PUBLIC RECORDS LAW If signed by Governor Baker, the new law, (Final BillH4333) , would allow judges to award legal costs and attorney […]
By: Tom Duggan – 5-15-16 LAWRENCE – The gymnasium of the old high school on Haverhill St. was filled to capacity Sunday afternoon as Dominican citizens who live in the City of Lawrence, Massachusetts turned out in large numbers to vote for the next Dominican President. Dominican citizens who have dual citizenship with the […]
Each year The Valley Patriot gives awards in three categories to people who volunteer, contribute, or pitch in during the many special projects and charities the newspaper is involved with throughout the year. The three categories of awards are: The Valley Patriot Goodwill Ambassador Award, The Valley Patriot President’s Award, and The Valley Patriot Editor’s […]
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 […]
HEROES – REP. DIANA DIZOGLIO (Methuen) and STATE SENATOR KATY IVES (Newburyport). Both DiZoglio and Ives worked tirelessly to get my public records bill a fair hearing in sub committees, made sure they were voted out of those committees favorably, held strong on penalties for law breakers, and then forced a full vote in the […]
By: Tom Duggan – Dec. 11, 2015 The recall efforts against Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera was dealt a critical blow Friday as recall supporters fell 655 signatures short of the 5,645 required to trigger a special election to throw Rivera out of office. This is only one of two recall efforts to unseat Rivera. Both recalls are being […]
In November of 2013, (then) Lawrence City Councilor Dan Rivera defeated incumbent Mayor Willie Lantigua by 84 votes. After a recount was conducted, and Rivera was again declared the winner, Mayor Lantigua told The Valley Patriot that he would be coming back to run against Rep. Marcos Devers and then, working full time to recall […]
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: Maria Fiato. Christine Ryan, and Tom Duggan Nov. 23, 2015 MASSACHUSETTS – After nearly five years of trying to get the Massachusetts legislature to reform the state’s impotent public records law, Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan says that they have made a good first step towards holding public officials accountable for not turning over […]
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 […]
PERISOCOPE – With the advance of technology, The Valley Patriot is now using a cell phone application called Periscope to do live video interviews online. On Election Day, we were able to get out to Lawrence and Methuen to interview the candidates and some of their supporters. As soon as we got LIVE on the […]