Politics

The entry below is being cross posted from Majorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Polls show that two thirds of Americans are mentally exhausted and taking a break from a steady diet of news consumption. Count me among them, at least aspirationally. Since the election, mainstream newspapers, cable and network news have bled readers…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Former Massachusetts Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti is dead at 101. One of my first interviews with him, shown to the left, with my six-year-old son Daniel Arons looking on, was in 1973 at a local political…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Sorry, folks, but I just don’t buy the argument that it was fine for Joe Biden to have pardoned son Hunter not just for the tax evasion and gun charges for which he was convicted but for…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. I was happier than I thought I’d be yesterday morning when Kamala Harris announced her selection of Tim Walz as her running mate. That quiet sense of elation rose to celebration last evening with their first joint…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. It wasn’t long ago that I wrote that I thought there was nothing to be gained by a Trump-Biden debate. Knowing that presidential debates are usually more about style than substance, I said that, if there were to be…

Some personal news today: I have decided not to run for reelection as Northern Middlesex Register of Deeds next year and will retire when my current term ends on January 1, 2025. It has been a privilege to represent you as Register of Deeds, and I sincerely thank everyone who…

Lowell Year in Review: 2022 Here are ten events, local and national, that were significant in Lowell politics in 2022: The first City Council and School Committee elected under the newly adopted hybrid system of local government took office in January. Three councilors were elected city-wide, and eight were elected…

This past week, after a two year hiatus, Americans returned to traditional Fourth of July celebrations. For many, however, recent decisions by the Supreme Court; testimony submitted to the January 6th Committee; and ongoing concerns for the future of democracy, tempered such celebrations. The following piece was written on July…

Editor’s Note: Tooch Van has been a friend for many years and has previously contributed items to this website. A poem he wrote appears in the 2021 edition of The Lowell Review. When I saw Tooch last summer to give him his copy of the Review, he was in the midst of…