LOWELL — Kate Keefe, a community school manager at Lowell High School, spoke during the public budget hearing of the School Committee on Saturday to make a direct appeal to the body: Please don’t cut my job. “I think everybody realizes that tough decisions need to be made this budget season,” Keefe said. “With that said, I’m here to advocate for the district to fund the community school position at the high school.” The position had been funded through federal grants and COVID-relief funds in recent years, but is not currently included in the district’s $257 million fiscal 2025 budget. It’s on ..read more

An attorney representing suspended Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien accused Treasurer Deb Goldberg of “relying on anonymous witnesses” to build a case against O’Brien as the duo is set to stretch into a third closed-door meeting later this month. Two days worth of private hearings were apparently not enough to resolve a long-running dispute between O’Brien and Goldberg that started when the treasurer abruptly suspended O’Brien last fall, claiming “several serious allegations,” including alleged racially incentive comments, led to the decision. O’Brien has denied the accusation ..read more

LOWELL — The last of the migrant families from Bedford’s Plaza Hotel transferred to Lowell’s Inn & Conference Center on Warren Street this week. According to a communication obtained by The Sun, state Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities Director of Municipal Relations Tyler Newhall wrote in an email on April 30 that, “The National Guard will roll off following departure of this last group of families, and the Bedford Plaza will cease to operate as a family shelter site.” On Thursday, 11 migrant families transferred from the hotel in Bedford to the ICC through the on ..read more

Seema Mehta | Los Angeles Times (TNS) LOS ANGELES — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign was once viewed as a quixotic quest by a scion of a storied political family — an environmental warrior who sullied his family’s name most recently by aligning himself with a political party founded by a segregationist to get on the November ballot in California. But a combination of voter apathy about President Biden and former President Trump, the two main parties’ presumptive nominees, and the Kennedy campaign’s successful targeting of ballot qualification rules across the nation has prompted g ..read more

By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times In the analog days of the 1970s, long before hackers, trolls and edgelords, an audiocassette company came up with an advertising slogan that posed a trick question: “Is it live or is it Memorex?” The message toyed with reality, suggesting there was no difference in sound quality between a live performance and music recorded on tape. Fast forward to our age of metaverse lies and deceptions, and one might ask similar questions about what’s real and what’s not: Is President Joe Biden on a robocall telling Democrats to not vote ..read more

LOWELL — Superintendent of Schools Liam Skinner came before the City Council during its Tuesday night meeting to say he was cleaning house and the books. It was a theme throughout the night’s agenda. He addressed what’s become an annual request by the district of the council to pay so-called “bad bills,” which are invoices that are paid in a fiscal year that is different from the fiscal year in which the purchase order was approved. “It is unacceptable that bad bills be at the rate that they’re at,” Skinner said. “It’s not how the central office will operate or should be operating. It’s a hist ..read more

SHIRLEY — Two candidates vying for a seat on the Select Board sparred over topics such as finances and infrastructure at a recent candidate’s forum hosted by SPACO, the town’s public access cable provider. The two candidates – Conservation Commission Chair Jennifer McGuinness and Finance Committee member Brian Hildebrant – discussed many of the most pressing issues facing the town; encouraging new business; considering a two-tiered tax system; addressing PFAS, or forever chemicals, in drinking water. Held on April 13 at the town offices, Town Moderator Chip Guercio presided over the candidates ..read more

DRACUT — Voters on Saturday will determine who fills an open seat on the Board of Selectmen after what has been a campaign focused on projected budget deficits over the next several years and how the board and the town manager conduct business. Of particular concern is how the board will replace Town Manager Ann Vandal when she retires as early as sometime next year and to continue on the path she has set. Three candidates are vying to replace veteran Selectman Joe DiRocco, who chose not to seek reelection after 20 years on the board. The candidates are Dave Martin, Don Plummer and Josh Taylor ..read more

Molly Crane-Newman | New York Daily News NEW YORK — A judge considered holding Donald Trump in contempt yet again on Thursday for more potential gag order violations as his hush money trial resumed in Manhattan. Before jurors took their seats for the day, state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan heard arguments from prosecutors and the former president’s attorneys concerning four more instances of Trump publicly commenting on witnesses and jurors in the case. Prosecutor Chris Conroy alleged Trump had sought to “infect and disrupt” the proceedings by his repeated remarks, including comment ..read more

People don’t seem to mind the idea of former President Donald Trump acting as a dictator, he told Time magazine in an interview that drew swift rebuke from the Biden-Harris campaign. In a wide ranging interview given to the magazine — and shared by the 45th President Tuesday morning via his Truth Social media platform — Trump was asked to explain comments he made to Fox News host Sean Hannity, in which the former president said he would become a dictator on his first day in office. “A lot of people like it,” Trump reportedly told Time. As might be expected, President Joe Biden’s reelection tea ..read more