“Bend the Fed” by John Edward

John Edward, a resident of Chelmsford who earned his master’s degree at UMass Lowell and who teaches economics at Bentley University and UMass Lowell, contributes the following column There is an intriguing sub-plot to the Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives. Self-proclaimed Libertarian, Representative Ron Paul of Texas,…

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Removing snow banks

When I was a kid in the 1960s, a post-snowstorm highlight was the appearance of the city of Lowell’s giant truck-mounted snow blower on our street. The above photo closely resembles the vehicle I remember: it was orange with a big box for its mechanics on the rear bed and…

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Uneeda Biscuit

Tony Sampas photographed this fading wall mural advertisement for Uneeda Biscuit on Merrimack Street. Prompted by Tony’s photos, I did some quick internet research on Uneeda, which I assumed was another Lowell-based cracker such as Bradt’s. I was wrong. According to Wikipedia, Uneeda was a late 19th Century product of…

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In the Merrimack Valley: Fate of the Merrimack Valley Conference a Political Topic?

Some might wonder about how elected officials take up certain topics. Lately here’s been some buzz about Senator Susan Fargo’s push to name the iconic Rex Trailer as the Commonwealth’s official cowboy. Now it’s a regional school sports league on a legislator’s radar sceen. There’s a story in today’s Eagle Tribune…

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Lowell Folk Festival Time Machine

The SUN story this week about performers for the upcoming 25th Lowell Folk Festival sent me to the vault to find a non-web “log” entry before the blog days about the origin of the Festival. I  was cultural affairs director of the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission at the time. After…

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