Peter Currier

There is a groundhog in Pennsylvania I would like to have some words with right now.

There is a groundhog in Pennsylvania I would like to have some words with right now.

With a massive round of tariffs implemented by President Trump yesterday afternoon, it will be fascinating to see how prices move for different groceries moving forward. Anything from the food product itself to the materials in the containers could be impacted by higher prices.

Anyone who has gone to the grocery store within the last few days should save those receipts, and see how the prices change. From the Andover Stop & Shop last night:

33 Oz Folgers coffee grounds: $16.99
SoyVay teriyaki sauce: $4.99
Store brand honey: $3.79
Spam: $4.69
10 pack mini cokes: $8.49

Lowell City Council approves new development on Lupoli’s HCID parcels LOWELL — The city of Lowell and large-scale real estate developer Sal Lupoli reached an agreement to finally develop the last four of five contested and long-vacant parcels the former Chelmsford re…

Lowell expands its housing inventory by 270 market-rate units with latest real estate deal approved by the City Council.
www.lowellsun.com/2025/03/27/l...

Billerica Town Manager Clancy Main announces resignation BILLERICA — After less than six months in the role, Billerica Town Manager Clancy Main informed the Select Board in a letter Friday he would be stepping down.

www.lowellsun.com/2025/03/21/b...

Billerica Town Manager Clancy Main has submitted his resignation letter to the Select Board this afternoon after less than a year on the job. More info to come in The Sun soon.

There has been a claim of at least one ICE vehicle spotted in Lowell today. If anyone else has seen something similar, please let me know. Thanks!

I would like to formally propose an annual national holiday on which everybody agrees to not do anything newsworthy for the day.

The Column: Farewell, Arty ARTHUR TINGAS, a lifelong resident of Lowell, who co-owned the Olympia Restaurant on Market Street, died March 9. A Greek flag flew in front of the family-owned business last week, presumably in hi…

This week's packed Column in The Lowell Sun: Loss in a Market Street cornerstone, ADUs, a Smith-Baker reversal, an update on the Rourke Bridge, nomination signatures, an indicted cop and a a local election shaping up.

www.lowellsun.com/2025/03/16/t...

Even if every single one of these immigrants was some sort of super-criminal, the blatant disregard for the separation of powers and checks and balances should terrify every American. It's simple: If they can ignore due process for them, they can do so for you.

Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants despite judge's ruling A federal judge blocks deportations, but flights to El Salvador continue

Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants despite judge's ruling | Click on the image to read the full story

Has a consumer pull back started? A local gas station/garage owner told me his daily receipts are half of what they were 2 months ago.
Sure, there are big economic shifts - job/funding cuts, rising prices - but reporters also have to talk w/small biz owners to take the pulse of the local community.

Just don't let him near any ceramic mugs.

I've been finding myself in a similar place when writing some recent columns on this administration, where I get a few paragraphs in and decide to delete the whole thing because I quite literally do not know where to begin some weeks. I'm glad it isn't just me.

The lying ALONE is monumental (and politicians are already known for having issues with the truth...so it takes a lot to move that needle). But this is Orwellian levels of "flooding the zone with shit". Impossible to even begin to fact check.

As it was designed to be.

I know there is a lot going on right now, but speaking as a journalist, the fact that the president of the United States just publicly threatened the right to protest, and that is not an all-caps headline on the top of every major news page is a damning indictment on the state of American media.

You know that scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off where Ben Stein is droning on about how tariffs worsened the great depression, and the students are shown to be bored or not paying the slightest amount of attention?

Those students have a better understanding of tariffs than this White House.

"Peace for our time," British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Sept. 30, 1938.

The Blitz would begin less than two years later, because dictators don't negotiate in good faith.

Sound familiar?

The Column: Lupoli vs. LINC in HCID parcels? THE LYRICS from the song “How Ya Gonna Keep ’em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree)?” come to mind when thinking about the stalled development on the five Hamilton Canal Innovat…

HCID development, potholes, Dracut politics and a (sort-of-not-really) local connection in the Trump administration in today's Column. I certainly didn't expect to start my piece writing about the Steward crisis and ending it in Ukraine, but alas... www.lowellsun.com/2025/03/02/t...

Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell celebrates the rise of reading among its members The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell took a day Friday to celebrate reading and literacy, and the high reading rate among the hundreds of club members.  Tables in the front room of the Boys …

Kids still want to read, if they are given the means. The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell celebrated Literacy Day among its members to celebrate their high reading rate. www.lowellsun.com/2025/03/01/b...

Cost overruns, 4-month delay forecast for Lowell High project LOWELL — Several bombshells dropped during the Thursday meeting of the School Building Committee for the Lowell High School renovation and rebuilding project, including that the renovation of the 1…

In for a penny, in for more than 40,000,000,000 million pennies ($400 million) - and counting, as Lowell High School renovation/rebuild project is forecast to run over schedule and budget.
www.lowellsun.com/2025/03/02/c...

Billerica Select Board floats 40Y starter home zoning district As the housing crisis continues to grip the region, the Billerica Select Board floated a potential zoning bylaw to encourage the development of starter homes in the town.

MBTA Communities isn't the only tool being employed by the state to tackle the housing crisis. This week the Billerica Select Board discussed an early draft of a zoning bylaw to establish a starter home district somewhere in town through a state law passed in 2022. www.lowellsun.com/2025/02/26/b...

What’s next for Lowell’s migrant families? LOWELL — By this fall, the migrant Haitian and Venezuelan families legally staying at the former Inn & Conference Center will likely be mostly gone. What’s next for these families that we…

They came for legal sanctuary - at the invitation of the U.S. govt. - fleeing unrest and violence in their home countries.

Now Haitian/Venezuelan families staying in Lowell, must make a reverse migration within the next 6 months.
www.lowellsun.com/2025/02/26/w...

Tewksbury Police seek public’s help in locating armed robbery suspect TEWKSBURY — Police are seeking the public’s help to locate a suspect in the Feb. 20 armed robbery of a Main Street gas station.

www.lowellsun.com/2025/02/25/t...

Housing for Lowell’s Highlands neighborhood LOWELL — A long-abandoned parcel was approved for the development of 24 residential units by the Planning Board during its Feb. 20 meeting.

Housing, housing, housing. It may take a couple of years to address the backlog, but it's happening in places like Lowell, MA.
www.lowellsun.com/2025/02/25/h...

Eliot Church receives $50K from Boston Foundation LOWELL — Eliot Presbyterian Church received a $50,000 grant from the Boston Foundation to support the operating costs of its Day Center, which serves homeless individuals in Lowell.

The Boston Foundation comes through in a big way for Eliot Church in Lowell, with a $50K grant to help support its vital homeless outreach mission.

"We rely on grants and donations to operate," Executive Director Joyce Hughes said. "It's a great blessing."
www.lowellsun.com/2025/02/22/e...

Report identifies toxic releases in Lowell’s Highlands neighborhood A report released in January by the Toxic Use Reduction Institute of Massachusetts’s, hosted at UMass Lowell, identified a Highlands company as having the second highest amount of toxic releases in…

Environmental justice communities - low income, minority and low English language skills - can be the site of high levels of toxic releases from co-located manufacturing plants.

The Toxics Use Reduction Institute describes how toxic use reduction is an EJ issue.
www.lowellsun.com/2025/02/11/r...

Health care on wheels to hit the streets of Lowell LOWELL — The phrase “the doctor will see you” takes on new meaning when the Community Care in Reach Mobile Health Unit starts making it rounds in two locations in the city this spring.

The Community Care in Reach Mobile Health Unit - a mobile medical van - is one more tool in the homeless outreach toolkit. The van program brings much-needed care and interventions to the streets of Lowell, as well as other communities in the commonwealth.
www.lowellsun.com/2025/02/09/h...

Dracut officials break ground on Greenmont Senior Housing Project Local and Community Teamwork officials ceremonially broke ground Tuesday morning on an affordable housing development for seniors on Greenmont Avenue in Dracut.

Construction is underway on a 56-unit senior housing development in Dracut. The project has an estimated completion date of June, 2026, and is expected to be fully occupied by that September.

www.lowellsun.com/2025/02/05/d...