Author Archive

Election eve electioneering

I arrived home from work to find an answering machine full of robocalls and one post card in the mailbox. That was from Eileen Donoghue and it featured a pair of shiny black men’s dress shoes with this: With serious issues facing the commonwealth such as job creation, the economy,…

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Roof racks, matchbooks and newspaper ads

Answer: Roof racks, matchbooks and newspaper ads Question: Name three things no longer used in modern political campaigns The Donoghue v Doherty state senate race has given those of us interested in politics much to contemplate. You have two capable candidates who have each raised more than $100,000, and the…

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Public Art in Chicago

Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham was in Chicago last week. Her column today compares the extraordinary commitment to public art by that city with the lackadaisical approach followed in Boston. This past July, I also visited Chicago and concur with Abraham. Above is a photo I took of “Cloud Gate”…

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Banjo and Fiddle Contest

Please welcome Tony Sampas, the newest contributor to richardhowe.com. Tony grew up in Lowell and after two decades in the building trade now works as an archivist at UMass Lowell and as a reference librarian at The Pollard Memorial Library. In 2009 he began making a habit of capturing images…

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Sunday campaign update

With just 48 hours until the primary, local electioneering should peak today and tomorrow. There has been a noticeable uptick in the volume of political info flowing into my home. Friday, there was a robocall from Steve Panagiotakos in support of Guy Glodis, a candidate for State Auditor. Suzanne Bump,…

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Edith Nourse Rogers

As Marie points out in her earlier post, today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Edith Nourse Rogers who represented Lowell in Congress from 1925 to 1960. She is buried alongside her husband, John Jacob Rogers, who preceded her in Congress (serving from 1913 until his death in…

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Remembering 9/11

A friend who is retired from federal law enforcement and who worked at the World Trade Center in the 1990s returned to lower Manhattan a few weeks ago for a special tour of the site and of the “Tribute WTC Visitor Center” which is filled with artifacts from that fateful…

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Images from tonight’s debate

Tonight’s debate between Chris Doherty and Eileen Donoghue, the Democratic candidates for the First Middlesex State Senate seat was held at Nashoba Valley Technical High School in Westford. The candidates were seated at individual tables on the auditorium stage with moderator Michael Goldman’s large lectern separating them (and possibly even…

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Doherty and Donoghue compared

Tonight’s debate at Nashoba Valley Technical High School made one thing quite clear: Eileen Donoghue and Chris Doherty agree on almost every issue. Moderator Michael Goldman did a nice job of establishing that early on. Both oppose the death penalty; both support choice; both support marriage equality; both support casinos;…

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