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This past Tuesday, just 90 minutes before the Lowell City Council inauguration ceremony commenced, I appeared as a guest on WCAP to discuss past mayoral elections. Host Ted Panos eventually asked me about the process of selecting a mayor and about the mayor’s duties and responsibilities under the city’s Plan…
Read More »Thanks to the Beat Museum in San Francisco and its website www.kerouac.com, here’s news about a film release date for the movie version of Jack Kerouac’s legendary novel “On the Road.” The cast includes Amy Adams, who starred in “The Fighter” and Viggo Mortensen of “The Lord of the Rings”…
Read More »Today’s Globe North section has a story on Hong Net of Lynn and Vesna Nuon of Lowell who both took office as city councilors in their respective cities this week. The story also gives credit to Rithy Uong for being the first Cambodian-American ever elected to a city council in…
Read More »Yesterday the Patrick/Murray Administration announced an increase in critically needed funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), increasing the maximum benefit to help low-income residents in Massachusetts heat their homes this winter. The Commonwealth is expected to receive an additional federal funding increase in the coming weeks that…
Read More »An issue I’ve returned to repeatedly in winter’s past is the failure of many in the city to clear the sidewalks in front of their homes of snow thereby making it difficult and even dangerous for walkers, be they kids going to school or adults seeking exercise, to pass. While…
Read More »With the city of Lowell just having elected its youngest mayor and one of Irish descent – Patrick O. Murphy, it’s interesting to read the MassMoments story today about Hugh O’Brien. O’Brien was sworn-in on this day – January 5, 1885 – as the city of Boston’s first Irish-born Mayor. O’Brien’s swearing-in…
Read More »Writing quite moderately about Mitt Romney today, NYTimes opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof reviews past charges of flip-flopping candidates and reminds of us of Paul Tsongas calling Bill Clinton “a pander bear” in 1992—there are photos of Paul holding up a stuffed panda bear at campaign rallies. I don’t know who came…
Read More »Here’s the third group of South Common haiku from the Facebook postings in November and December. If we ever get a pile of snow this winter, I’ll try to write another batch with the Common in white.—PM . South Common Haiku Set (III) . Who has not looked up and seen…
Read More »MassMoments reminds us today that Harry “Bucky” Lew – the first African American to play professional basketball – was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on January 4, 1884. On this day …in 1884, Harry Haskell Lew was born in Lowell to a family that had long been active in the struggle for…
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