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The NYTimes today reports that the US is falling behind in college completion rates when compared to other countries. It’s good to note that UMass Lowell is bucking the worrisome national trend. Between 2007 and 2009, the student success rate increased by about five to eight percent in various measures,…
Read More »Scot’s Heather wins prize in 1861 Both Tewksbury weeklies – The Advocate and the Town Crier – are reporting plans for a summer search for any signs that the “Scot’s Heather” – that won a “New Native Plant” medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society back in 1861 – still grows in the Tewksbury town…
Read More »Lowell is in the Universe. This stuff just blows my mind. The latest cosmic discovery will make anyone pause and consider his or her own place in space. A little more humility would go a long way among the inhabitants of Earth. Makes you wonder why it took so long to…
Read More »If you’re interested in historic election results, please visit our “Elections” page which contains a vast amount of data but is still a work in progress. Thus far, it contains the results of every Lowell City Council election from 1965 to 2009 and today I’ve added our first state election…
Read More »Timothy Egan checks in with his latest NYTimes column, this one about heat waves, extreme weather, the reality of global warming, and the desperate need for smarter federal policies on energy. Read his views here, and consider subscribing to the NYT if you appreciate the writing. My household gets the…
Read More »While nobody was looking, writer-actor-director-baseball wiseman-cultural commentator-allied blogger Jack Neary packed his stuff and moved from Lowell to southern New Hampshire, just over the border in Derry. After Robert Frost trying to run a farm in that town many years ago, this is probably the biggest literary news in Derry. Jack’s…
Read More »The ritual has been going on since the late ’80s now, but anyone with a feeling for the pulse of the city can feel the urban heart pumping at a faster rate starting mid-week of Lowell Folk Festival weekend. It’s always the last full weekend of July—full weekend—which is why…
Read More »Robert Scheer in the online Huffington Post says the GOP will pay politically for their double-standard on demanding pay-as-you-go for jobless benefits but not for their standard proposed upper tier tax cuts. Read his rant here, which I picked up from realclearpolitics.com
Read More »Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking in Beijing, China in 1995 I would like to thank the Secretary General of the United Nations for inviting me to be part of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. This is truly a celebration – a celebration of the contributions women make in every…
Read More »It’s not a scene from the 1966 movie “The Russians are Coming The Russians are Coming!” – it’s 1918 and there really was a submarine – a German U-boat – off the shores of Cape Cod. From today’s Mass Moments: ON THIS DAY… in 1918, people in the Cape Cod…
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