Fitchburg News

Silence fell over Susan Bunish's fourth-grade classroom last week as her students collected 10 stones apiece from boxes in the center of the room and sat down on the floor to play with them.

Neighborhoods in Fitchburg and Southborough made the cut for the recently released list for America's 1,000 Richest Neighborhoods .

A natural play area for children at Green Acres and gateway streetscape improvements are among this year's federal Community Development Block Grant projects.

Police say a convenience-store robbery early Thursday morning in Littleon may be the latest hit from a group of hooded thieves with a preference for Newport cigarettes.

Store clerks in Littleton were held up by three armed men recently, they say they could see their lives flash in front of them.

An independent group reviewing the state's troubled Department of Children and Families has recommended the agency reduce social worker caseloads, improve background checks on foster homes, use mobile technology for field work and conduct initial medical screenings for children coming into their system.

Fitchburg police say their special training to respond to suicide and other mental-health calls is paying off as they are helping more people get into hospital bracelets instead of handcuffs.

A Gardner man charged in the murder of a Fitchburg man last June has been indicted in Worcester Superior Court on charges incurred during the course of his incarceration.

A Fitchburg man was given five years of probation Thursday after pleading guilty in Worcester Superior Court to manslaughter in the fatal beating of another Fitchburg man in 2012.

For my column celebrating St. Patrick's Day next week, I wanted to get the real scoop from somebody who was Irish -- perhaps favorite foods of the day, traditions they follow on St. Patrick's Day, what it means to them to be Irish.

Christine Coleman of Templeton and Michael Hildreth of Ashburnham, juniors in Monty Tech's cabinetmaking program, sell raffle tickets for a custom-made, solid cherry-wood Shaker-style dining room set that students in the program made.

Collaboration and making education work from birth through college are going to be the keys to success in Gateway Cities such as Fitchburg and Leominster, local education officials said Wednesday.

A five-minute stroll through that light-filled, clean space can lift spirits and inspire creativity.

LED streetlights with dimming controls, automated meters and the ability for public-safety officials to tap into the system to brighten or flash the lights in emergency situations, may be in the city's future.

The Scharmett family recently reopened the Quick 'n Clean Car Wash at 511 John Fitch Highway to bookend the Fitchburg Car Wash it owns at the other end of the road.

The City Council's Finance Committee on Tuesday night approved a $5 increase in traffic fines requested by Traffic Specialist Paul McNamara, making all civil moving violations in the city $55.

A Leominster man was arraigned in Fitchburg District Court on Monday on allegations of sexually abusing his girlfriend's daughter repeatedly between 1992 and 2000.

A Fitchburg native is looking for a local venue to donate its services for a benefit show he would like to organize for hit-and-run victim Kervens Elysee.

Heagney, who currently is resident agent in charge of the Rochester, N.Y., field office for the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was one of three finalists for the position.

Fitchburg police confirmed the driver of a vehicle that rolled onto a South Street lawn was transported by LifeFlight medical helicopter to UMass Memorial Hospital in Worcester with what Sgt.