WORCESTER COUNTY NEWS
Brian Meifert drops pounds and inspires others to...
CLINTON -- Two years ago, Brian Meifert would have laughed in the face of anyone who told him he would run five miles during his lunch break at work.
Leominster Emergency Management puts out the call...
LEOMINSTER -- Leominster Emergency Management is calling a summit meeting with 17 churches and synagogues asking for help raising reserve volunteers who can work at shelters during disasters and emergencies.
Only sheer talent will prevail at Barber Battle
FITCHBURG -- Whoever told you haircuts are a time for gossip and conversations about the weather was wrong.
Team Colors
Brian Whitney, owner of Bay State Apparel, a subcontractor for VF Corporation which holds apparel licenses for the NFL, reviews a color separation filter at their factory in Leominster Saturday afternoon.
Lancaster OKs permit for affordable housing
LANCASTER -- The Zoning Board of Appeals has approved a comprehensive permit for the construction of an affordable-housing development to be located off of Mill Street Extension, according to Planning Director Noreen Piazza.
T-shirt printer: Pats victory would be win-win for...
LEOMINSTER -- If the Patriots win the Super Bowl, Brian Whitney won't be able to celebrate like other fans.
Leominster garage will increase spaces for rail...
LEOMINSTER -- The North Leominster commuter rail station opened in 2005, and every one of the parking lot's 140 spaces were full almost immediately.
Lunenburg farmer taps into new market
LUNENBURG -- Lunenburg resident Jim Lattanzi has operated a successful beef and pork farm on Hill Road for several years, but now he's undertaking a new and sweeter challenge -- maple sugaring.
Get Your Head in the Game! Go Pats!
Rob Crespo, a barber at Thumbs Up Barbers on John Fitch Highway in Fitchburg gives a New England Patriots logo haircut to Julio Moralez, Jr.
Students get lesson in animal care
FITCHBURG -- Fitchburg High School students got a lesson in proper animal care Friday, as part of Animal Care Education Awareness Month.
Marine mom steps up for the wounded
FITCHBURG -- For Bonny Hillman, it would have been harder not to get involved. Hillman, 46, formed Helping Hands for our Heroes several months after her son, Justin Hillman, 23, left for Afghanistan with his Marine unit last April.
Fitchburg Ward 4 Democrats to caucus
FITCHBURG -- Registered Democrats in Fitchburg's Ward 4 will hold a caucus at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb.
Ashburnham woman charged with OUI
FITCHBURG -- An Ashburnham woman arrested for drunken driving early Friday later exhibited severe mood swings during booking, according to court documents.
Health officials get peek into future
FITCHBURG -- Administrators from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester were in Fitchburg Friday to tour the future site of Community Health Connections on the Burbank Campus of HealthAlliance Hospital.

Westminster senior center plan headed to May vote
WESTMINSTER -- Most local senior centers have their own, municipally owned home, and the town of Westminster would like to join those ranks.
Layover station a hot topic in Westminster
WESTMINSTER -- After months of questions as to whether the layover station would provide freight rail access to other parcels at the Westminster Business Park, representatives from the Montachusett Regional and Massachusetts Bay transit authorities
Shots fired in Fitchburg
FITCHBURG -- Police responded to Westminster Street early Monday morning after receiving several calls of shots fired, and found five buildings with evidence of gunshot damage, Sgt.
Local Briefs
Kids can turn back time to Colonial era WESTMINSTER -- The Westminster Historical Society is offering a five-day program, "Time Travel Adventures: Colonial Life in Westminster," to show children in grades 4, 5 and 6 what family life was like in
Bike trails, bridges OK'd; group still wary
WESTMINSTER -- The Conservation Commission, satisfied with the Crocker Pond Recreation Area Committee's notice of intent for the bike trails and stream bridges, unanimously approved the document at its meeting Wednesday evening.
Westminster OKs pursuing rail-noise study
WESTMINSTER -- Selectmen authorized Town Planner Stephen Wallace to meet with town counsel Kopelman & Paige in regard to questions revolving around the layover station for the West Fitchburg commuter-rail station and the town's plans to conduct
Ed Dube remembered for his service, bravery
WESTMINSTER -- Ed Dube had a knack for saving people's lives, including a co-worker suffering from a heart attack during his time as a security guard at Digital Equipment Corp.
Westminster Planning Board puts wind power bylaw...
WESTMINSTER -- The Planning Board, working on crafting a wind power bylaw for the past few years, presented a draft of the proposed law to a crowded selectmen's meeting room at Town Hall Wednesday night and found it needs significant reworking based
Local man charged with pot possession
WESTMINSTER -- A Leominster man stopped for speeding on Route 2 eastbound near Exit 26 on Thursday just before 9 p.
Westminster company lands $4.8 million solar pact
MediaNews WESTMINSTER -- A local subsidiary of TechPrecision Corp. has landed a $4.8 million contract to supply Poly Silicon chambers for the solar market to an unnamed customer.
Chief concerned about layover station
WESTMINSTER -- Although nearly all of the discussion in town regarding the proposed Wachusett commuter rail station has focused on the layover station at Westminster Business Park, Fire Chief Brenton MacAloney is instead concerned about the closure
Library relents, allows Girl Scout display
WESTMINSTER -- Forbush Memorial Library trustees Thursday adopted an exception to their rules barring private displays so the Girl Scouts can exhibit items celebrating the organization's 100th anniversary in March.
Official admits DPW dumping in wetland
WESTMINSTER -- Two Townsend residents with properties in Westminster informed the Public Works Commission at their meeting Thursday night that the Department of Public Works has been plowing and dumping snow into a wetland.
Westminster Little League official offers to fund...
WESTMINSTER -- There may be lights at the South Street ball field come spring, if the local Little League has its way.
Ashburnham-Westminster schools secure tech grant
ASHBURNHAM -- Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District Director of Technology Eric DeHays announced at the School Committee meeting Tuesday night the district has been awarded a $167,000 USDA Rural Development Distance Learning and
Habitat for Humanity gets clearance to use...
WESTMINSTER -- Documents from Land Court support town ownership of the 12-acre property bisected by Frog Hollow Road that Habitat for Humanity North Central Massachusetts has been seeking to build on, according to Executive Director Maggie
Grant application for Old Town Hall approved
WESTMINSTER -- Selectmen approved Town Planner Stephen Wallace's draft application for a Department of Housing and Community Development downtown initiative grant which would fund the assistance of an experienced professional in developing
Westminster firefighters douse three-alarm blaze
WESTMINSTER --Firefighters battled heavy smoke and flames to extinguish a three-alarm structure fire at 193 Davis Road Sunday afternoon.
Westminster launches town website
WESTMINSTER -- The town launched its new Virtual Town Hall website last week, a move town officials say will make forms and information more readily available to residents, and be easier to navigate than its previous site.
Fitchburg City Council OKs barrier for road near...
FITCHBURG -- The City Council voted unanimously to approve a plan to block off part of the 5th Massachusetts Turnpike near the Westminster line, screening nearby residents from the future site of the city's second train station after a public
Farmer's vegetables have significantly higher...
WESTMINSTER -- M.L. Altobelli's crops have a secret: The nutritional values of the vegetables she grows are significantly higher than those of average produce found at a traditional grocery store.
Parents invited to add to worldwide ceremony's...
WESTMINSTER -- The North Central Massachusetts chapter of the Compassionate Friends invites all parents and families who have lost a child, regardless of age, to participate in a Worldwide Candle Lighting ceremony Sunday, Dec.
Town OK with new Wachusett ski area
WESTMINSTER -- The Conservation Commission has decided there are no wetlands resource areas in a portion of the Wachusett Mountain slope the ski resort would like to use for glade skiing.
Smile for the Camera!
A goat rests on a small deck outside a barn at a farm belonging to organic gardener M.L. Altobelli in Westminster, Saturday afternoon.
Study: Station won't affect business park's rail...
WESTMINSTER -- The layover station yard will not interfere with the other lots in the Westminster Business Park and their ability to access the rail for freight usage, according to Town Planner Stephen Wallace.

  Robotics team studying food safety
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