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The first meeting of the Joint Committee on Redistricting was held today. From the website of the 187th General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts – a statement from the Redistricting Committee cochairs and the first scheduled meetings on the Redistricting Calendar: The Special Joint Committee on Redistricting will study…
Read More »Presentation of the traditonal “Shamrock Bowl’” President Obama – 2010 Since the Eisenhower Administration – the St. Patrick’s Day presentation of shamrocks to the President of the United States has become an important tradition. In 1952 what was then a ceremonial “box of shamrocks” became a custom-made Waterford crystal vase – now…
Read More »Here’s a poem by my old friend Eric Linder, a poet and bookstore owner. He had the Chelmsford Bookstore in Chelmsford Center for a long time and now runs Yellow Umbrella Books in Chatham, Mass., right on the main street.—PM . Nine-Foot Hoop . I put up a basketball hoop…
Read More »Along with these photos of St Patrick’s Rectory at 282 Suffolk Street, Tony Sampas sent the following note: The Irish Cross adorning the St Patrick’s rectory by day and by night. One explanation of the green coloration is that it leached down from the copper flashing. But in America you…
Read More »On March 16, 2011, the much awaited revision of Massachusetts General Laws chapter 188 (The Homestead Law) takes effect. Perhaps the most noteworthy element of this new law is that it creates an automatic homestead exemption of $125,000 for every homeowner without the need to file any document. The law…
Read More »Earlier tonight I presented a report to the city council housing subcommittee on foreclosures in Lowell from 2007 to 2010. The full report is available on the registry of deeds website HERE. The report scrutinized foreclosures conducted in 2008 and 2009 and calculated the time that passed between the various…
Read More »Tony Sampas provides some close-ups of the Ouellette Bridge, named for Joseph Ouellette who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor during the Korean War. The bridge runs from Lelacheur Park on the south side of the river to Top Donut on the north. It’s also known as the Aiken…
Read More »Here’s the late Ken Harkins emceeing the 1989 Lowell City Manager’s St Patrick’s Day Breakfast [youtube]W2XTf4IIG8Q[/youtube] [youtube]9Y1tCu4lgWA[/youtube]
Read More »In this week when we celebrate St. Patrick and all things Irish, it’s natural to think back on the history of the Irish in Massachusetts – the firsts, the lasting contributions and then the prejudice. In his Boston Globe column today, Kevin Cullen tells the story of Barney McGinniskin – “the first Irish cop,…
Read More »The Huffington Post today has an interesting feature about authors who have had success with books they have published themselves. There’s a long tradition of this type of entrepreneurship. Blogging, websites, e-books, and other innovations have taken self-publishing to a whole new and higher orbit. The means of production are now…
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