U.S. Senate hopeful Stephen Pagliuca will be stopping by The Eagle-Tribune newsroom today to talk about his campaign to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Pagliuca is the third of several candidates for the seat to stop by the newsroom on the campaign trail. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is scheduled to come in tomorrow. It’s pretty typical during elections for candidates to make the rounds to newsrooms to talk to editorial boards to get their message out and seek endorsement. We’ve been bringing them into our ET TV studio for quick interviews. Here’s our previous chats with state Sen. Scott Brown and U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano:
Booths, chairs and other furniture sits outside Fresh City this afternoon.
Talk about fast food. It was business as usual at Fresh City on Turnpike Street in North Andover yesterday. Customers dined on the franchise’s signature sandwiches, wraps, burritos, salads and stir fry. Today, however, the Fresh City sign that adorned the building is down and by 3 p.m. crews had moved most of the restaurant’s tables, chairs and counters out of the building. Fresh City, by an visual estimation, is closed.
A Fresh City van sits outside the store.
I put in a call to the corporate office this afternoon and haven’t heard back yet. The only information posted on the storefront is a sign saying “closed” and thanking customers for their patronage. I’ll post more if we learn anything.
Fresh City opened its North Andover location on Nov. 10, 2005. If, as it appears, the franchise is permanently gone, its run lasted for four years and two days.
Fresh City has 16 store franchises (well, at least it had 16) in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Virginia.
Map of Route 495 time line from the Mass Department of Transportation Division of Highways.
This morning marked the first day of full implementation of a major traffic shift on Interstate 495. If you’re heading home on 495 North tonight, you’ll have the option of crossing the median and driving on the southbound side of the highway. The splitting of the northbound lane into two lanes on the northbound side and one on the southbound is part of an effort to keep three lanes of traffic open in both directions during a major renovation of six bridges (three in each direction) in the Lowell area of 495.
This is part of a $34 million project that includes replacing six key bridges on 495 in Lowell. Preparations for this work began in August and it’s scheduled to be wrapped up in late 2010 with final work polished off in 2011. Once phase 1 and phase 2 are completed, the crossover lane will switch, sending one lane of the southbound highway onto the northbound side.
There’s actually a pretty good Web site for the project linked below, with time line and key project points, as well as maps and diagrams like the one above showing how traffic will be rerouted during construction. Certainly a project of this magnitude is likely to cause some traffic delays — traffic flow has slowed down slightly since the lane shifts began a month ago. Nevertheless, the scope of the project is pretty large considering the parties involved remain committed to maintaining three lanes of open traffic in both directions during peak hours. According to Nathaniel Curtis of Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates, Inc., one of the projects partners, all six bridges in the project are original to the highway and will be completely replaced.
“There’s two number one jobs,” Curtis said. “Public safety and completing the job on time and on budget. Part of public safety is being able to keep the public moving as best as possible.”
John Michitson with supporters in downtown Haverhill Saturday.
Mayor James Fiorentini stands with supporters Saturday.
I spent Saturday slugging along the campaign trail in Haverhill where City Counselor John Michitson is hoping to unseat current Mayor James Fiorentini. Both candidates and their supporters are pushing hard as election day nears.
Mayor Jim Fiorentini campaigns door to door Saturday.
I split the day in two, riding along with both candidates one at a time as they went door to door. The day certainly revealed differences in the two men’s styles — as well as their connection with voters. Fiorentini moved quickly through neighborhoods, shaking hands and passing out fliers. As the sitting mayor, he’s got easy facial recognition with voters — as evidenced by a 14-year-old who answered one door with “Hi, Mr. Mayor.” He’s quick to point out lack of school cuts to teachers or call back to the office to get a citation for a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
Mayoral hopefull John Michitson campaigns door to door Saturday.
As a city counselor, Michitson isn’t exactly a stranger. But he clearly recognizes that unseating any current mayor is a challenge. Going door to door, Michitson wasn’t moving like lightening. Instead, the mayoral hopeful dug in at each stop, staying five or 10 minutes to talk to residents about their concerns and what they want out of their city government.
We’re working on an audio slideshow of Saturday’s campaign ridealong to be posted by the end of this week. It will give you a snapshot into the world of door knocking and sign wielding in Haverhill.
Well, this morning in Lawrence started out with a bang as demolition crews took down two 100-year-old smoke stacks near Sal’s headquarters. We were on hand to talk to some of the neighbors who grew up looking at those big old stacks. One woman — who does not appear on the video — is 95 and has lived across from the old mill all her life, with several generations of her family still in the home. It was demonstrative of just how tight-knit some of these Lawrence neighborhoods remain despite the changes around them. The twin stacks that served as a backdrop to their home for so many years, however, are now gone. Out with the old and in with the new.
Smoke stacks at Sal's scheduled for demolition tomorrow.
The scheduled implosion of two smoke stacks at Sal’s headquarters in Lawrence tomorrow morning is already shaping up to be a major media event. Let’s face it, destruction — specifically planned destruction where no one gets hurt — draws the crowds.
We’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning. The demolition, which they say will knock the two towers over onto the building they’re placed on, is scheduled to occur at 10 a.m. We’re going to try to setup a live video feed from the site, but no promises there. Trying to wrangle live video from a parking lot with a laptop and shaky Internet connection is problematic at best. We will be filming, however. We’ll post some raw video of the actual toppling tomorrow morning shortly after the event and then give you a more comprehensive video of the event later in the day.
Looks like we’ll have a pretty good seat to view the destruction. I was over earlier today scouting out the designated media section and we should be able to get viewers close up. Personally, I’m hoping for a few flying bricks my way and I promise to keep filming.
Eagle-Tribune TV is going on the road tonight and will be streaming video live from City Hall beginning at 7:30 p.m.
With incumbent City Mayor Michael Sullivan’s term set to expire and 10 candidates vying to replace him, today’s primary results could very well yield a more clear picture of who the real contenders are.
Polls in today’s primary election close at 7 p.m. and results are expected sometime after 8 p.m. We’ll be on hand talking with candidates and supporters about the day’s vote, predictions and city issues. We’ll announce the primary winners as the results come through live on the Web. Check The Eagle-Tribune home page from 7:30 p.m. on to link to the live video feed.
The more “clunkier” the car, the more reason to trade it in, right? Not so. The Cash for Clunkers program is offering incentives for auto owners to turn in their older fuel-inefficient cars for brand new ones, but there’s an age limit. Yes, that’s right, your car may just be too clunky.
Interesting piece in the Los Angles Times on how a lobbyist group for the Specialty Equipment Market Association lobbied to have a provision placed in the Cash for Clunkers program excluding vehicles made before 1984 — likely the most gas-guzzling, clunkiest cars on the road. The organization was seeking to protect the market for used cars and used car parts and services.
Some important points to consider as listed in the Times (citing numbers from Experian Automotive):
There are 4.8 million vehicles older than 25 years on the road today
Those vehicles represent about 2 percent of all registered vehicles
But although they represent a fairly small fraction of cars on the road, they do tend to be some of the worst offenders as far as emmissions and fuel efficincy. It’s difficult to imagine a car owner with a classic wanting to make a clunker trade, but if you’re driving a beat-up 1983 model and getting 13 mpg, you’re out of luck. Then again, with a car at that value are you looking to trade up to a brand new vehicle with new car payments?
One of several images being circulated by LaRouchePAC.
Probably the most extreme and shocking imagery out of yesterday’s crowd gathered outside the president’s town hall meeting in Portsmouth was a picture of Barak Obama with a Hitler mustache. The doctored photo — in various forms — has been popping up at protests around the country. There were several versions at Portsmouth High yesterday. But before you heave your disgust at conservatives speaking out against the president’s health care proposal, take a look at the source.
Democratic activist and perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche. His LaRouchePAC has been circulating materials equating Obama to Hitler.
The posters are being circulated by LaRouchePAC, an organization headed by Democratic activist Lyndon LaRouche. Although LaRouche and followers share criticisms of the president’s proposal with other detractors, they’re not in the same crowd at all. It’s a fine point that we in the media can easily gloss over, but it showcases the many different groups and factions that are speaking out in the health care debate. Looking down the driveway leading to the high school yesterday, one side of the road consisted primarily of those supporting the president’s plan. The other side consited largely of those opposing it. But when you start to pick apart the layers, you find opinions — and affiliations — are not so easily delineated.
Why Hitler? Comparing our president to history’s most reviled leader who systematicaly led the extermination of an estimated 11 to 22 million people (depending on your counting method) is fearmongering at its worst. Hitler sought to purify the Aryan race by killing those who didn’t fit the Nazi ideal. He headed a fascist government that controlled every aspect of its citizens’ lives and forbade dissent. This isn’t Nazi Germany and Obama is no Hitler.
The LaRouche campaign is comparing Obama’s proposal to the health care system that existed in Germany under the Nazi regime. Uder that system, government health care was the only option available to citizens. Probably the more crucial difference, however, is the fact that the system was run by Nazis hell bent on genocide. It’s not a minor point.
Yesterday’s visit by President Barak Obama saw a slightly more civil tone than what we’ve seen in similar town hall meetings across the country. The street outside was filled with its share of charecters, however. I’m posting some of the unedited video we shot yesterday, most of which didn’t wind up in our finished piece.
Warning: there is some foul language here and there.
Noah R. Bombard is a journalist and award-winning former magazine and newspaper editor who works as the multimedia content editor for The Eagle-Tribune.
