Lowell

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — A man’s body has been recovered from a river in Lowell.

Authorities said a passerby contacted police Wednesday afternoon to report that appeared to be a body in a canal...

A man charged with intentionally setting his wife on fire in a bathtub at their Massachusetts home was ordered held without bail Friday pending a future hearing...

HOOKSETT, N.H. (AP) — A driver found parked and asleep in the middle of Interstate 93 is accused of dragging troopers with his SUV after he woke up, New Hampshire State Police said...

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — One person died and three others were injured when a car struck a utility pole and caught fire in Lowell over the weekend, authorities say...

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts restaurants will soon be able seat up to 10 people at a table and use their bar areas to serve food, Gov...

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man is facing motor vehicle homicide and manslaughter charges for allegedly striking and killing a married couple out for a walk with his car while he was racing another vehicle, prosecutors said Friday...

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — In 2016, following a trip to Ireland, Kevin McEntee of Norwalk, Connecticut, said he did what everyone does nowadays: "I spit in a cup and I sent it to Ancestry."

The results connected him to a family he didn't know existed...

LIBSON, Maine (AP) — One Maine town is showing its moxie this weekend.

The Moxie Festival dedicated to the quirky soda gets underway in earnest Saturday with a parade, music and a chugging contest in Lisbon...

LOWELL -- When they scroll through Instagram or open Snapchat they see the ads.

But these particular eighth-graders aren't interested.

The students are part of a class at Pyne Arts Magnet School, which spent months on research and outreach to file a bill limiting the sale of flavored vaping products statewide to adult-only stores...

LOWELL -- Police are investigating possible gunshots fired on two separate occasions in the Highlands neighborhood -- once at around 2:15 a.m. on April 23 and again at approximately 1 a.m. on April 27, authorities say.

Lowell Catholic defeated PMA, 3-0, behind the play of Sean O'Keefe (7 kills, 7 aces), Patrick McKenna (10 aces) and Calvin Soucy (3 kills, 4 aces).

Scores were 25-13, 25-13, 25-19.

Elsewhere, Central Catholic claimed a 3-1 win over Haverhill.

TYNGSBORO -- A 17-year-old Lowell boy suffered traumatic injuries after being thrown from the bed of a pickup truck in a parking lot on River Road Wednesday night, police said.

Rescuers responded to the parking lot of Ayotte's Stateline Smokin' Joe's, on the Tyngsboro-Hudson, N.H.

WOBURN -- A 22-year-old Lowell man accused of fatally shooting 24-year-old Anthony Luna last year pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge in Middlesex Superior Court Thursday.

Joseph McGillicuddy was arrested Wednesday by state police after a Middlesex County grand jury handed down an indictment in connection with Luna's death, which had remained unsolved for over a year.

LOWELL -- A blaze inside an apartment at the Camelot Court II condos in the city's Pawtucketville neighborhood was extinguished roughly 15 minutes after it was reported to firefighters Sunday night.

The demographics in the city have changed greatly in the last few decades; it has become home to various cultures, bringing a rich vibrancy to the community that should be embraced and learned from.

LOWELL -- A fight between Burger King employees outside the fast-food restaurant in the Highlands neighborhood shortly after midnight Saturday led to the arrest of a Lowell teen who allegedly pulled out a knife during the scuffle, authorities say.

LOWELL -- Police are warning the public about a surge of opioid overdoses in the city.

In the last five days, 10 people have overdosed, including four fatal overdoses, the Lowell Police Department announced in a press release Thursday evening.

LOWELL -- Jurors, lawyers, court workers and defendants fighting one another for parking spaces later this year.

That's the nightmare Lowell city councilors painted Tuesday night amidst concerns that the parking garage near the Lowell Justice Center won't be ready in time...

LOWELL -- The Lowell Firefighters Association vowed from the start that if family members and community groups opposed relocating the Doughboy Statue, they would drop the proposal.

In the wake of the overwhelming message from the Lowell Historical Society -- voting against the plan to move the Acre statue honoring 36 men who gave their lives during World War I -- the firefighters group will no longer push to move the Doughboy Statue.

LOWELL -- You've probably seen at least one of world-renowned local artist Mico Kaufman's bronze sculptures over the years, whether it's of James Abbott McNeil Whistler outside the Whistler House Museum, the Homage to Women on Market Street, or the statue of French composer Claude Debussy on UMass Lowell's south campus near the music department...

LOWELL -- A 60-year-old Lowell man will spend a year in jail and two years on probation after pleading guilty to hitting a heating repairman from Dracut in the head with a meat cleaver.

Chandara Keo, of 79 Canton St., Unit 1R, pleaded guilty last week to armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in connection with the Jan.

LOWELL -- A section of the westbound lanes of Father Morissette Boulevard will be closed to traffic during the evening hours Thursday and Friday for road work, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

LOWELL -- Lowell police are searching for a suspect in an armed robbery that took place on Friday, Nov. 23.

The robbery took place at Chuck's Variety store, 641 School St., at around 10:15 p.m., according to a press release.

LOWELL -- An overloaded extension cord is thought to be the cause of a one-alarm fire in the city's Highlands neighborhood Sunday morning.

No injuries were reported due to the fire that broke out inside the two-family dwelling at 15 S.

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts health officials have confirmed a second case of measles in Lowell and are warning area residents the person went to several public locations, possibly exposing others to the disease...

Sun staff report

LOWELL -- The Lowell Community Health Center is warning the public about measles after a pediatric patient was diagnosed with the contagious respiratory infection on Thursday.

The Lowell, Tewksbury and Groton-Dunstable girls volleyball teams all advanced in state tournament play Thursday.

Girls volleyball

Lowell upset Peabody, 3-0, Tewksbury romped past Charlestown, 3-1, and Groton-Dunstable kept rolling with a 3-1 win over Milford.

Senior captain Laura Heslin and sophomore Liz Tighe scored 2 goals each as Lowell defeated rival Lawrence, 4-0, in a Merrimack Valley Conference field hockey game Tuesday afternoon.

OXFORD, Ohio -- Junior goaltender Tyler Wall made sure the UMass Lowell hockey team enjoyed the program's first visit to Miami (Ohio).

Wall made 36 saves for his fourth career shutout as the River Hawks skated to a 3-0 non-conference victory in their first road game of the season.

Lowell Catholic swept Cathedral, 3-0, behind the strong play of Maggie McGovern with 7 aces and 3 kills and Brenna Riley with 6 aces and 3 kills. Elsewhere Central Catholic, Billerica and Bishop Guertin picked up victories.

TYNGSBORO -- The Greater Lowell Tech Gryphons won all phases of the football game Saturday as they dominated visiting Lynn Tech, 34-8.

The Gryphons (4-1) immediately went on a 12-play drive for 55 yards and Dylan Bishop ran it in on a 4-yard plunge to take a 6-0 lead with 6:33 left on the clock.

LOWELL -- Two people on a motorcycle were hospitalized after a crash that also involved a car in the Pawtucketville neighborhood late Saturday morning.

Lowell Fire Chief Jeffrey Winward said one person was flown by MedFlight to a Boston-area hospital and the other was transported to Lowell General Hospital...

LOWELL -- Two people on a motorcycle were hospitalized after a crash that also involved a car in the Pawtucketville neighborhood late Saturday morning.

Lowell Fire Chief Jeffrey Winward said one person was flown by MedFlight to a Boston-area hospital and the other was transported to Lowell General Hospital.

LOWELL -- A Lowell man is facing multiple charges after striking a 20-year-old woman with his vehicle while fleeing the scene of a fight that broke out in the Belvidere neighborhood around midnight Monday, police say.

LOWELL -- Lori Trahan, the nominee for the 3rd Congressional District seat, was conspicuously absent from a Democratic unity event Friday, but other Democrats, led by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, nevertheless rallied in Lowell for a "blue wave" in November.

LOWELL -- Ten juveniles and one 18-year-old man were arrested downtown Friday afternoon following a large fight that broke out between two groups after school, an incident that resulted in police using pepper spray, police said.

LOWELL -- A year after graduating from UMass Medical School, Kenyan immigrant and former Lowell resident Dr. Noreen "Chioma" Okwara has been selected as a member of the UMass Board of Trustees.

Currently an internal medicine specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Okwara was sworn in to the 19-member board Monday, according to a press release from the governor's office.

LOWELL -- A year after graduating from UMass Medical School, Kenyan immigrant and former Lowell resident Dr. Noreen "Chioma" Okwara has been selected as a member of the UMass Board of Trustees.

Currently an internal medicine specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Okwara was sworn in to the 19-member board Monday, according to a press release from the governor's office.

WILMINGTON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman's 3 ½-foot lizard that went missing nearly a month ago is home again safe and sound...

LOWELL -- Dorothea Rourke can still see her mother reaching for the mill's door handle.

It was usually around 3 p.m. at the end of her father's shift as foreman of the Walsh Mill on Lowell's Meadowcroft Street.

LOWELL -- In the first six months of 2018, the number of opioid-related calls within the city were on the low end of average. Then came July.

"Not only did we go from the very bottom of where the trend is, we skipped going back to the middle and went to the extreme north of it," said Jon Kelly, director of communications and IT of Trinity Emergency Medical Services, during a presentation to the Lowell Opioid Task Force on Friday...

WILMINGTON, Mass. (AP) — A 3 ½-foot lizard is on the loose in Massachusetts, and its owner warns that it could bite...

LOWELL -- An altercation between three men led to several gunshots being fired in the Highlands neighborhood Sunday afternoon, according to police.

Capt. Paul Laferriere said an altercation broke out between a 20-year-old Lowell man and two other men in the area of Smith and Branch streets about 2 p.m.

LOWELL -- By most accounts, Brandon Phillips proved in 2017 he was plenty worthy of being on a Major League Baseball roster.

In 144 games between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels, Phillips batted .285 with 13 home runs, 34 doubles, 60 RBI, 81 runs scored and 11 stolen bases.

LOWELL -- When Tooch Van and his wife, Chhorvivoinn "Chorvy" Sumsethi, were about to have their first child, they knew they didn't want to raise their son in a cramped apartment building that needed frequent pest-control treatments...

LOWELL -- Smoking marijuana while walking through a park or standing on a sidewalk can now result in a ticket up to $300.

The City Council voted 9-0 Tuesday evening to approve the ordinance prohibiting marijuana consumption in public.

LOWELL -- Reggie Smith doesn't like to go into detail about the time he served as an Army combat engineer during the Gulf War.

The 48-year-old Fitchburg resident says he was tasked with handling explosives during his time in Iraq nearly three decades ago...

LOWELL -- Fully funding the education "foundation budget" has been a talking point in the city during the last few weeks as the school system faces a $3.2 million budget shortfall.

On Tuesday, the City Council sent a message to the state: It's time to fully fund the foundation budget and give local communities, such as Lowell, more money for education...

DRACUT -- David Ouellette, a senior code enforcement officer in Lowell, has been hired as Dracut's new health agent -- the top position in the town's Health Department.

"I'm really looking forward at this time of my life to a new, exciting challenge, especially to be in a town such as Dracut," said Ouellette, of Lowell.