Recall Petition #1 Falls Short Against Rivera, Mayor Says He will Investigate Forgeries and Fraud, Call Out Opponents

Recall Petition #1 Falls Short Against Rivera, Mayor Says He will Investigate Forgeries and Fraud, Call Out Opponents

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 […]

Lawrence Mayor Says He was “Deceived” on Polartec Closing, Layoffs Come One Day Before Anniversary of Historic Mill Fire

Lawrence Mayor Says He was “Deceived” on Polartec Closing, Layoffs Come One Day Before Anniversary of Historic Mill Fire

Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera says he has been “deceived” in the closing of Polartec on Broadway in Lawrence. The mayor released a statement late on Thursday saying that when he met with the company over their purchasing a similar business in Tennessee. Rivera says he was assured when they made that purchase that the Lawrence […]

Two Lawrence Men Charged in Identity Theft Fraud Scheme, Had More Than 800 Names and SS#’s

Two Lawrence Men Charged in Identity Theft Fraud Scheme, Had More Than 800 Names and SS#’s

BOSTON – Two Lawrence men were charged in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with a scheme to file fraudulent federal income tax returns using stolen identities. Furvio Flete-Garcia, 42, and Juan Santiago, 36, nationals of the Dominican Republic, were indicted on conspiracy to defraud the United States, theft of government property, access device […]

FEDS ARREST LAWRENCE MAN FOR RECEIVING $146K IN STOLEN TAX REFUND CHECKS

FEDS ARREST LAWRENCE MAN FOR RECEIVING  $146K IN STOLEN TAX REFUND CHECKS

BOSTON – A Lawrence man was arrested today on charges that he received stolen U.S. Treasury checks.  Rolfi Espinal, 49, was indicted on 24 counts of receipt of stolen public money and ­­two counts of making false statements.   The indictment alleges that from approximately September to December 2011, Espinal accepted fraudulent U.S. Treasury checks totaling […]

More Than 100 Rally for Embattled Lawrence Mayor, Rivera Says Opponents Are Corrupt

More Than 100 Rally for Embattled Lawrence Mayor, Rivera Says Opponents Are Corrupt

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 […]

Women In Combat

Women In Combat

By: Rep. Linda Dean Campbell – Nov. 2015 Over this past summer, we saw two women graduate from the Army’s Ranger School, our military’s premier course for both leadership and light infantry combat. While there has been a long ongoing debate upon whether American women should fill military occupations associated with close combat, we are […]

VAV Donates 26 Copies of “Veteran Heroes In Our Neighborhood” To All 1st Grade Classrooms in Methuen

VAV Donates 26 Copies of  “Veteran Heroes In Our Neighborhood” To All 1st Grade Classrooms in Methuen

METHUEN – Francisco Urena, Massachusetts Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs, is recommending a children’s book “Veteran Heroes In Our Neighborhood” by Valerie Pfundstein and recently introduced the book to VAV Board Members. In an effort to help Secretary Urena with his mission to help educate children about Veterans, VAV donated 26 copies of “Veteran Heroes In Our […]

Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini Announces New Automated Trash Collection Program! 

Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini Announces New Automated Trash Collection Program! 

HAVERHILL – The City and Capitol Waste Services, the City’s trash hauler, are pleased to announce Haverhill’s new wheeled trash cart program. In the spring of 2016, the City will be switching from traditional trash barrels and manual trash collection to a new technologically advanced waste collection system. The program is designed to improve collection […]

 Baker-Polito Administration Announces Free Admission to State Parks Over Thanksgiving Weekend

 Baker-Polito Administration Announces Free Admission to State Parks Over Thanksgiving Weekend

BOSTON-  In light of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, today, the Baker-Polito Administration announced that all entrance and parking fees to state parks and forests will be waived for visitors starting on Thursday, November 26, 2015 to Sunday, November 29, 2015, as a way to give thanks to all those who have served and continue to […]

Methuen Mayor Zanni Lays Out His Priorities for His Final Term

Methuen Mayor Zanni Lays Out His Priorities for His Final Term

By: Tom Duggan – November, 2015 Methuen Mayor Steve Zanni was re-elected to his third and final term last month. Methuen has a charter provision that limits the consecutive terms a mayor can serve to three. Mayor’s serve for two years. Mayor Zanni was first elected to the Methuen School committee and then the city […]

First Muslim Elected in Lawrence Being Pressured to Resign … Does Lawrence Have Islamophobia?

First Muslim Elected in Lawrence Being Pressured to Resign … Does Lawrence Have Islamophobia?

  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 […]

School Cover-ups Must Not Be Tolerated ~ VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL, Nov. 2015

School Cover-ups Must Not Be Tolerated ~ VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL, Nov. 2015

Last month, The Valley Patriot broke three exclusive stories on-line concerning cover-up situations in the Methuen and Lowell Public School systems. First: Lowell High School Headmaster Brian Martin and his administrative staff tried to cover up the fact that Lowell School Committeeman Steve Gendron’s son, Chris, was engaged in racist behavior at school. Gendron’s son […]

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