Dracut Forum

The latest talk around the campfires this weekend was that the figures from the state that came to the town after the conference committee completed its job and the budget was sent on to the Governor to be signed showed another cut of $600,000 to Chapter 70 school aid.
Town Manager Dennis Piendak notified the school [...]

According to the Beacon Hill Roll Call in this morning’s Lowell Sun, most of the Greater Lowell constituency, including Colleen Garry, the Lowell delegation (other than Panagiotakos) and Westford’s Jim Arciero all voted against the new state budget because of its being funded via increases in sales and liquor taxes.
Although individual residents in our area [...]

By Matt Murphy,  Lowell Sun

BOSTON — The state sales tax is going up.
So is the meals tax, taxes on alcohol, satellite TV and possibly hotels.
Both the House and Senate yesterday delivered an on-time budget to Gov. Deval Patrick that hikes the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent and lifts the exemption [...]

To all our friends in Suffolk County.. the city of Boston, and of course the State House,
all of us out working today want to wish you a Happy Bunker Hill day.
Its the celebration of a battle the colonials lost, yet made a strong point to the Brittish, and embolded the revolutionaries to go on.
Sort [...]

The Lowell Sun, Political Column
Suffolk County Holidays
JUST WHEN the state Legislature needed to do everything it could to rehabilitate its image following the bruising indictment of former House Speaker Sal DiMasi — the third consecutive speaker to experience ethical lapses — it whiffed.
The Legislature voted last week to preserve a pair of controversial state holidays [...]

I’ve been more and more supportive of Rep Colleen Garry lately. I like the conservative bent to her votes. She’s been doing a good job representing the people of Dracut (who are of a much more conservative attitude than the Boston/Cambridge crowd).
So I was surprised to read this morning that she voted against the amendment [...]