If you enjoy our news coverage please consider making a $1 donation December 18, 2019 Methuen Mayor Jim Jajuga has asked the courts to delay – once again – the December 16th arbitration of the Police Superior Officer’s Union Contract dispute. The city has asked for the postponement until March 10th-12th putting the controversy square in the […]
Last week, the Methuen City Council had the chance to beautify a collapsing piece of public property on Union St., costing city taxpayers absolutely nothing. The state was willing to pay the full cost of the project. Instead of accepting the contract, however, two councilors harpooned the project, telling the public – and their fellow […]
REPORT: Four Councilors Benefited from Police Contract Vote The state Inspector General’s Office (IG) is an independent state agency that conducts investigations of government agencies and makes recommendations when wrongdoing is found. The IG investigated the process of the City of Methuen’s superior officer’s contract approval that has long been the subject of dispute. The […]
Feb. 2019 The Inspector General’s report on the approval of the Methuen Superior Officers’ contract was scathing and eye opening to those who have not been paying attention to Methuen politics. The report is harsh with criticism of former Mayor Zanni, current Mayor Jajuga, the previous city council, and others. It detailed how the former […]
SUPERIOR OFFICERS LETTER TO THE CITY The Methuen Police Superior Officer’s Union is taking the city to court over the illegal activity on the city’s part in passing their contract and changing the terms of the contract in what they believe is an violation of the Wage Act. Last night the Methuen City Council agreed […]
The City of Methuen is in a serious crisis. Not just a funding crisis but a management crisis, a leadership crisis and most frightening a structural crisis as a municipality.First, we had the previous city council which was so corrupt and incompetent that it will take a decade or more to rectify the financial and […]
School Committee Member Calls Mayors Behavior a “Disgrace” and a “Circus” VIDEO OF MEETING DISCUSSION AND SHOUTING MATCH 9-11-18 Methuen Mayor Jim Jajuga has violated the state’s open meeting law by sending out emails to the entire school committee telling them how they should vote on an upcoming matter before the committee. As mayor, Jajuga sits as chairman […]
The City of Methuen is in a financial mess that has resulted in the mayor and city council having to borrow $4M from the state. That $4M loan comes at a heavy price. That price is state control over the city’s finances in the form of either a fiscal overseer or a financial control […]
July, 2018 While voting on last year’s Methuen city budget and union contracts there were at least five (of nine) members of the city council who had a conflict of interest because they had immediate family members working for the city. The state’s conflict of interest laws say that elected officials with family members on […]
By: Bharai Padmanabhan ByMaura’s friends are the luckiest. To have the Attorney General in your corner is the best Get Out of Jail Free card. Many decisions are discretionary but can apply to mere “hoi polloi”. Where is the fun in that? To be truly special your friend must break a law for you. That […]
By: Bharani Padmanabhan – Oct. 2017 In Whitman this week a confirmed heroin-abusing narcissist in an Audi rammed a Chevy into a truck. The woman driving the Chevy was crushed on the spot. After the crash the drug addict left the other woman dying and ran on foot to meet her drug dealer to purchase […]
Yup, it’s the scenario from hell for anyone who cares about the conditions of the City of Lawrence, how it affects the surrounding communities, and indeed the rest of the state. You know, the people paying all of Lawrence’s bills because they still can’t get their act together after 50 years of fake loan […]
By: Tom Duggan – July 25, 2017 Lawrence City Council candidate Francisco Paulino says he is so sick of the special favors City Councilor Estella Reyes has been getting with her property on Haverhill St. that he had to show people so they could see for themselves. On Tuesday, Paulino got word that Lawrence DPW workers […]
By: Tom Duggan – July 17, 2017 `In response to the State’s Office of Campaign and Political Financing (OCPF) demanding he disclose donors to his campaign, Lawrence City Councilor and mayoral candidate Modesto Maldonado, says the OCPF is “wrong” in its’ assessment of his campaign finance reports, and said the media should be more focused […]
By: Tom Duggan – July 8, 2017 OCPF-contributions maldonado OCPF-expenditures maldonado According to The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, (OCPF) an enforcement arm of the Secretary of State’s Office, Lawrence City Councilor Modesto Maldonado has taken more than $2,410 in campaign contributions that have not been accounted for. Maldonado is running for mayor […]