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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…
Read More »The best of these ecosystems will be cities and towns that combine a university, an educated populace, a dynamic business community and the fastest broadband connections on earth. These will be the job factories of the future. The countries that thrive will be those that build more of these towns…
Read More »The MBTA yesterday released two proposals to balance its budget. Each would include fare increases and service decreases. Neither is final; they’re just opening bids in a process that will include public hearings and undoubtedly input from the governor and the legislature. Inside today’s Globe story is this paragraph: Both…
Read More »I caught a portion of today’s Lowell City Council inaugural ceremony on LTC. Things started shortly after 10 am from the Council Chamber with the Lowell High JROTC Color Guard posting the colors and the Lowell High chorus singing the National Anthem. Rev. Paul Ouellette of St Patrick’s Church then…
Read More »Thanks to reader Maxine Farcus for forwarding this great 1949 holiday-time photo showing Lowell’s first and longtime favorite “downtown” Chinese restaurant Chin Lee’s. The sign is at Kearney Square marking an earlier location. By the time it closed it was located on Merrimack Street upstairs on the 2nd floor adjacent to…
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