Author Archive

On the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend, we found ourselves in a veterinary emergency room with Zoe, our 3-year-old labradoodle. All is well but the circumstances of our visit are worth sharing, so consider this a public service announcement. Here’s what happened: Sunday, September 1, 2024, was a beautiful…

Preparing for a Pandemic By Richard Howe (on September 3, 2009) For many years at the registry of deeds I wrote daily blog entries on real estate matters. But doing that daily is a difficult chore so often I would write about other things, especially world events that somehow affected…

Frequent contributor Steve O’Connor wrote the following essay in 2008 on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It seems appropriate to post it here once again: On September 11, 2001, I was teaching a class at Greater Lowell Tech as a few hundred miles south of us, men guided…

Worse? – (PIP #40) By Louise Peloquin      Delineating the role of the State in public health issues has fueled debate for decades. L’Etoile April 2, 1957 Statism worse than fluoridation Some time ago, while the battle about fluoridation was in full swing, a Chicago professional wrote to the Richmond…

No Lowell City Council meeting this week. Election Results – 18th Middlesex Congratulations to Tara Hong on his victory in the Democratic Primary for the 18th Middlesex District State Representative race. Hong defeated incumbent Rady Mom who has held office since 2015. Here are the results: Tara Hong – 1195…

Olympic Withdrawal By Richard Howe Is anyone else experiencing Olympic withdrawal? It’s the feeling that something is missing in your daily entertainment diet. I am, and the August swoon of the Red Sox and the rebuilding woes of the Patriots aren’t easing the loss. I’ve only ever been a casual…

I’ve updated the Elections Page of this site to reflect the preliminary numbers from yesterday’s Democratic Primary. There were two contested races in Lowell. In the 18th Middlesex State Representative District, Tara Hong defeated incumbent Rady Mom. In the Northern Middlesex Register of Deeds race, Karen Cassella defeated Sokhary Chau…

Interview of Pierre V. Comtois by David Daniel Prolific Lowell author Pierre V. Comtois has a new book. David Daniel recently sat down with Pierre to discuss his just-published Marvel Comics in the Early 1960s. **** Daniel: Marvel Comics in the Early 1960s is the fourth entry in your popular…

The city council met on Tuesday night and while the meeting lasted for more than three hours, no single issue dominated. Most of the time was spent on 14 motion responses and 18 new motions from councilors. With Mayor Dan Rourke absent, the meeting was capably run by Vice Chair…