By Jim Russell | MassLive A federal judge this week recommended against a motion by the town’s former electric department manager, Wayne Doerpholz, to dismiss a $750,000 whistleblower lawsuit that alleges he permitted a hostile work environment. The lawsuit, filed by South Hadley Electric Light Department employee Robert Blasko, also named the SHELD board of commissioners and a company engineer, Andy Orr, as defendants. Orr

By Todd Feathers | Lowell Sun News DRACUT — Deputy Police Chief David Chartrand has been suspended for two weeks without pay, following a civil service inquiry into his handling of documents in a Dracut lieutenant’s personnel file. An attorney representing Chartrand said he will appeal the ruling, which was made by Town Manager Jim Duggan and based on a report by an independent hearing

By K.C. Myers | Cape Cod Times PROVINCETOWN — Getting rid of Police Chief Jeff Jaran could have occurred more quickly and cost the town nearly $163,000 less than it did, according to newly released minutes from closed-door selectmen meetings. In May 2015, selectmen agreed to pay Jaran $512,797 after an arbitration panel determined he should have been suspended without pay for a year rather

By Todd Feathers | Lowell Sun DRACUT — Town Manager Jim Duggan has scheduled a civil-service hearing Monday to determine whether Deputy Police Chief David Chartrand violated department policy and state law when he released documents regarding a Dracut police lieutenant to The Sun. Chartrand received a letter notifying him of the hearing on Wednesday and through a lawyer expressed his expectation that the hearing