Fitchburg News

COURTESY PHOTO Kaytlin David, 21, of Athol, left, a participant of The Arc of Opportunity of North Central Massachusetts' Urban Youth Collaborative Program, sits with Arc client Jane Lafond, 49, of Winchendon, at the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens in South Deerfield.

The contractor for the extension to the Fitchburg rail line has been chosen, with S&R Construction Enterprises nabbing the $22.9 million contract from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Fitchburg Public Schools' Annual Junior-Senior Relays scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at historic Crocker Field, have been postponed until next week because of inclement weather.

Around 9:15 p.m. police observed a Nissan Altima with a loud exhaust on Water Street and attempted to pull it over.

The City Council has sent to a first reading an ordinance change that Housing Director Ryan McNutt says will give the city the upper hand in dealing with chronic problem properties.

The Holiday Inn will change hands once again, and the purchasing company intends to expand the hotel's water park and convert the exposition center into additional hotel rooms and family recreation and entertainment space.

Two alleged burglars chose the wrong home to break into late Tuesday night, as they quickly found that it belonged to a Fitchburg police officer who promptly apprehended them.

City police have released a photo of a man they say is a suspect in a Monday morning shooting on Marshall Street that forced the temporary lockdown of two schools.

The City Council has approved a city code change that will allow residents by right to operate home-based contracting businesses provided there is no outward evidence of such business.

A Fitchburg woman allegedly punched her mother and 10-year-old daughter Tuesday morning because she didn't want to watch the girl while her mother worked, according to court documents.

A falling utility pole on Lancaster Street led to a triple transformer fire, a large mineral oil spill into a nearby stream and an hours-long power outage Monday.

A former Fitchburg State University student was arraigned Monday on dangerous-weapon charges stemming from a March 28 incident in which he was allegedly found to possess several knives, a bow and arrows and what campus police believe to be several empty containers of synthetic marijuana and amphetamine-like drugs known as "bath salts," according to ... (more)

An argument over a Fitchburg man's alleged drug use led to him allegedly punching his girlfriend in the face and resisting arrest Sunday evening, according to court documents.

A Leominster man charged in the recent vandalism spree at Laurel Hill Cemetery was ordered by a judge Monday to write a 500-word essay before his next court date and to stay out of all graveyards.

The animal cruelty trial of James Ferreri of Lunenburg was put on hold until September to allow the Supreme Judicial Court to determine if the welfare of animals constitutes an emergency that eliminates the need for a search warrant.

Witnesses said multiple gunshots were fired on Marshall Street sometime before 9 a.m. Monday morning, resulting in police blocking off the street between Jackson and Simonds streets.

Ethan Oliver of Littleton, an eighth-grader at Applewild School in Fitchburg, will go to the National History Day competition in June at the University of Maryland.

The HomeOwnership Center of North Central Massachusetts is hosting a first-time homebuyer class beginning June 11 at the Twin Cities CDC office, 470 Main St.

In collaboration with the Massachusetts Credit Union League, and the Credit Union Community Hope Initiative, IC Federal Credit Union participated in their Children's Book Month during April and collected more than 250 "gently used" children's books.

The city's police are understaffed, overworked and unhappy that Mayor Lisa Wong does not intend to fill two anticipated retirement vacancies in fiscal 2014, according to police union President Officer Keith Bourne.