Monthly Archives: October 2022

Opinion

Witch hunt or hoax? Will Donald Trump ever be held accountable for anything?

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Since Donald Trump left office in January 2021, he has been faced with a range of criminal and civil investigations as officials probe everything from his alleged mishandling of classified documents to his involvement in the Jan. 6 assault on our Nation’s Capital.

On Aug. 8, the FBI carried out an unprecedented lawful search warrant on the former President’s Mar-a-Lago beach front resort in Palm Springs Florida he calls home, to find classified documents believed to be taken by Trump from the White House when he left office.

On Aug. 26, the Justice Department released a highly redacted copy of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant.
The affidavit states the federal government has launched a criminal investigation into the “improper removal and storage of classified information in an unauthorized space, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of recruitment records” according to Time Magazine.

As stated in the affidavit the investigation began as a result of a tip from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in February informing the Justice Department that they had received 15 boxes of records on Jan. 18 from Trump’s office in Mar-a-Lago. The boxes that were reported by the NARA to contain “highly classified documents” per the affidavit.

The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation to determine how such documents were removed from the White House and ended up in storage at Mara-a-Lago.

The affidavit also stated that the Justice Department had “probable cause to believe” that additional classified documents were still being stored at Mar-a-Lago.

During the Aug. 8 search, the FBI removed 11 more sets of classified documents including some that were marked “Top Secret,” according to news reports.

The Washington Post had reported that documents describing a foreign government’s nuclear capability was found by federal officers as well as other documents detailing Top Secret U.S. operations so “closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them.”

More than 10,000 documents without classifications markings were also recovered, according to unsealed documents.

Trump was issued a subpoena back in June to return any other government documents he was in possession of.

Two of Trump’s cracker jack lawyers signed an affidavit saying that there were no more government documents left at Mar-a-Lago, that they had all been returned to the NARA

Trump attorney Alina Habba went as far as to go on the Charlie Kirk show and said she personally “scoured” the former president’s Mara-a-Lago residence and personal office with explicit permission from Trump just days before the FBI raided the estate to recover more highly sensitive documents.

Habba claimed to have searched “all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc.”

This could potentially open up Habba to her own legal problems if she knowingly lied to government authorities.
In July the Washington Post reported that the Justice Department had opened up a criminal investigation into Donald Trump for his actions surrounding the Jan. 6 riot.

Authorities are probing into whether Trump violated the law in his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election by not only pressuring former Vice President Mike Pence to send the votes back to the states he lost as well as an alleged effort made by Trump to submit an alternate slate of electors for the electoral college vote count to swing the election in his favor.

According to The Washington Post, federal prosecutors have questioned two top aides to former Vice President Pence before a grand jury and were asked questions about conversations with the former president and his legal counsel. On Sept. 13 the Justice Department issued over 30 more subpoenas to people within Trump’s orbit, including former White House Council Pat Cipiloni, to appear in front of the grand jury, according to CNN

A criminal investigation is also underway in Fulton County, Georgia, for another Trump alleged act to overturn the 2020 election.

The now famous phone call that Trump made to Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger on Jan. 2 urging him to find “11,780” votes in his state to win it. One more vote than President Joe Biden had received.

Trump did not see the phone call as corrupt. Trump took to his failing platform Truth Social to say that it was an ‘absolute perfect phone call to the Secretary of State.”

A House Select Committee is also conducting an ongoing investigation into the former president’s involvement in the Jan. 6 riot separate from the investigation by the DOJ.

The bipartisan committee has conducted thousands of interviews from witnesses.

The highly rated televised hearings have been able to paint a picture of what happened leading up to and on Jan. 6 and who was involved in the process.

Senator and committee member Adam Kinssinger (R-IL) stated that he believed the committee has uncovered that “various criminal acts” had been committed.

When Kissinger was asked if he thinks the Jan 6 committee will make a criminal referral to the DOJ, he responded that “We need to finish our investigation before we start doing that.”

These investigations all revolve around his time as President. These investigations do not include the legal trouble he is in in the State of New York.

Trump has taken to Truth Social to state that’s “The political persecution of President Donald J. Trump has been going on for years, with the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax # 2, and so much more, it just never ends . It’s political targeting at its highest level.”

 

 

 

Home Page Featured News, News

Mobile Market fights food insecurity

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People look at the food available at the Mobile Market on the Haverhill campus
NECC community members explore the free food options at the Mobile Market on the Haverhill campus on Sept. 27. Sarah Peirson, Correspondent

Food insecurity within community college systems has increased leaving roughly half of school populations to struggle with maintaining food presence in their homes, according to Rutgers Graduate School of Education.

Northern Essex Community College provides a program under the name “Mobile Market,” which is a farmers market for students, staff and faculty who are in need of healthier food options.

The group members of this committee meet once a month to provide some relief to people who are struggling with food insecurity.

Students and staff are able to access the exact date and times of the market by going to the NECC homepage, click events and scroll through the month they are looking for to find the Mobile Market’tab.

 

Once you click on the tab there is a summary with all of the information you might need.

Natalie Wooldridge is a community resource assistant at Northern Essex CommunityCollege and also manages the food pantry.

She has participated in the ‘Mobile Market’ program for just over a year, and urges awareness of this program that happens once a month at the Student Center on the Haverhill campus and the Dimitry building on the Lawrence campus.

“We hope to limit food insecurities within community college systems starting here at NECC. It is not a well known topic amongst college students so with this we hope people feel supported,” Wooldridge states.

Wooldrige and her colleagues wish for more awareness of the program and hope more people in need utilize this resource.

On Tuesday, Sept. 27, the program set up tables and signs outside of the Student Center.
Fruits and vegetables of a wide variety were laid out for students and staff to grab in a shopping bag provided by the Mobile Market. You are required to register either online prior to the event or in person.

Once you are registered you are eligible to grab whatever it is you might need for free.

Savanna Masters, a student here at Northern Essex for over a year states that she had not heard of this program before.

“I feel like more should be done by everyone to eliminate food insecurity,” she said. “It is inspiring to learn that NECC has joined in on trying to provide for those in need.”

In hopes to help the program, Masters suggests how different students and staff members could present meal plan ideas for the month or for holidays.

“This would add a wide variety of meals that are in a cost effective and healthy manne,” Masters said.

If you or a loved one who attends Northern Essex Community College are in need of food support, this program is here to support you and your needs.

Register today on the NECC homepage website to ensure your food supply for next month.

Upcoming Mobile Markets:

Tuesday, Oct. 25
Tuesday, Nov. 22
Tuesday, Dec. 6

Locations and Times
Haverhill: Behrakis Student Center, Noon to 1 p.m.
Lawrence: Dimitry “L” Building, 1 to 2 p.m.

Registration is required once a semester for the Mobile Market.
Registration is limited to NECC students, faculty, and staff.

To register, visit:
https://www.necc.mass.edu/current-students/student-resources/community-resources/food-support/farmers-market/

Slider, Sports

Knights soccer domination win over Bay Hawks

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On Saturday Oct. 8, NECC Knight dominated Bristol Community College Bay hawks 6 to 1 at home.

Assistant head coach Marcos Viera Filho was taken over for coach Eusebio Marote who did not attend in the game because he was sick.

“Momentum is actually key word,” Viera Filho said. “Something we going to talk about in our pre game talk right before kick off basically carried that momentum into our third potential win just keep it rolling,” he said before the game.  

Bay hawks are desperate and anxious for a win as they were winless 0-6 heading into Oct. 8 contest against the Knights.

Game time officially started at 12:03 pm.

The Knights didn’t waste no time scoring four goals in the first 18 minutes of the game.

Knights facing Bristol soccer at home
Knights facing Bristol soccer at home Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

Two goals from Fadi Serhan of Middletown and both assist of Serhan goal came from Sam De Amorim of Methuen.

De Amorim had two assist and a goal in a rout of 6-1 win on Saturday afternoon.

“I am glad that we took the win, I am glad that I help my team with two assist and one goal everyone here play really good and I’m happy about the result,” De Amorim said after the game.  

Ethan Mugwany of Haverhill scored the third goal of the game in the 12 minutes mark in a assist of Johnathan Diaz of Methuen.

Diaz in the 18 minutes mark make it 4-0 in favor of the Knights unassisted on the play.

In the 31 minutes mark Steve Sime of Haverhill increased their lead to 5-0.

In the first half the Knights had nine shots and  Bay Hawks zero shots on goal. The Knights also had four corner kick in the first half while Bay Hawks had one. The Knights had one foul and Bay hawks had zero. The Knights had two offside while Bay Hawks had one. No team had a yellow card Knights had one fouls and Bay Hawks 2. The Knights had two offside and Bay Hawks one.

I ask assistant coach Viera Filho how huge was having a five goal lead into the half ?

“Yeah it was big, but sometimes it’s a little worried because sometimes we might unconsciously  get the foot of the pedal but at least the guys keep it rolling and manage to put a couple goals in the second half so I am happy with that,” he said.

The Knights got ball first in the second half. 50 minutes into the game it came the sixth goal for the Knights it was De Amorim who scored who already had two assist in the ball game.

Jake Igoe of Haverhill in the 57 minutes was given a yellow card.

In the 85 minutes Nicolas Cordosa De Silva of Fall River who  scored on a penalty kick that broke the Knights shutout.

In the 89 minutes the referee gave  Guilherme Lisboa of Tauton  a yellow card.

The Knights had eight shots on goal while Bay hawks had seven. The Knights had two corner kicks and Bay hawks none. The Knights had four fouls while Bay Hawks had 6.  The Knights and Bay hawks both had two  offside a piece.

I ask assistant coach  Viera Filho, who took over Saturday contest for Coach Marote, about his first career managerial win.

“It feels good man, it feels good most important we got the win collectively as a team we got a lot of guys in there typically don’t get big minutes that’s the biggest part,” he said.

Slider, Sports

Knights blank Mass Bay in Newton

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Knights volleyball in a match against Mass Bay
Knights volleyball in a match against Mass Bay Photo by Editor-in-Chief / Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

On Thursday Oct. 6,  NECC Knights defeated  Mass bay in three straight set in Newton.

Knights won set one  25-14,  set two  25-23 and set three 25-12.

The start time of the game was 7:06 p.m.

The Knights was in business early in the game — they were motivated and hungry for a win on the road.

The Knights were on a 5-2 run in the first set and with a mini run the Knights increased their lead to 12-6.

Haileigh LaFlamme of Pelham, N.H., hit the ball and the ball barely got in and the Knights got the point.

Ashley Martinez of Lawrence pass it to Anny Lomete of Lawrence  and that point give the Knights the finishes touches for set one as they won 25-14.

“I was very happy with the first set we set what we used to and I think that really work well for us,” said  assistant head coach Marissa Reardon of Lawrence.

The Knights in the second set that energy that they had from the first set  carried over and they were determined that this set would be theirs and they were going to have a two set lead leading into the third.

In the second set the Knights had a three point lead over Mass Bay, all of a sudden they couldn’t hold up to that lead as they were losing 10-6.

 Reardon who was taking over for coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill called a time out. After the time out the Knights went on a 5-2 run.

It was a close game, it was thick and thin in the second set. The Knights eventually tied the game up.

A spike by Knights captain Caroline Burns of Haverhill made it 18-17 in favor of the Knights.

The Knights eventually was down by a point late in the second set as Mass Bay tied the game at 18 and took a 19-18 lead.

The Knights then took the lead 20-19 and Mass Bay tied 20 on each side it was a nail bitter game, every point meant something for this two teams. You can see it on the players that was playing in the court and the one that was in the bench.

The Knights was up 23-22 when assistant head coach active head coach Reardon called a timeout.

The Knights eventually won the second set 25-23.

“In the second set we tried to do a little something new. I think the girls did will we haven’t run that rotation yet and I think telling them where we going thirty second before it started I think they did pretty well for that,” said Reardon.

In the third set the Knights begin the set scoring the first six point to have a 6-0 lead over Mass Bay.

Mass Bay made it a little interesting, scoring five straight point after the Knights started the set on 6-0 run the game know was 6 to 5 in favor of Knights.

The Knights increased their lead to eight points when the Knights was up 19 to 11.

Finally the Knights defeated Mass Bay 25 to 12.

“I feel is important not just as assistant coach but as a incoming player it’s very rewarding you can learn a lot from it and I think this girl are willing to work for it,” said Reardon.

Slider, Sports

NHTI blank Knights volleyball at home

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On Wednesday Oct. 05  NECC Knights lost three sets to none against NHTI in the Sport and Fitness Center in the Haverhill Campus.

Knights lost the first set 25-11, Knights lost the second set 25-20 and the third set 25-12.

The game officially started at 6:33 pm.

The last time NHTI faced the Knights NHTI defeated the Knights to begin the 2022 campaign.

The Knights started the first set weekly they were down 5-0 and 12-3 the Knights got into rhythm and were on a 6-1 run.

NECC Knights head coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill called a timeout when the Knights was losing 17 to 9.

Kathleen Perez-Flores of Lowell had a few unbelievable save during the first set that prevented NHTI from scoring, but it wasn’t enough as NHTI defeated the Knight’s 25-11.

The Knights in the second set was having energy and put this game a good battle against NHTI. It was back and forth battle eventually the Knights had a three point lead over NHTI. That lead was washed away the NHTI tied the game and eventually took 11-9 lead.

The Knights was losing 22-19 and eventually they lost the second set 25-20.

On the third set the Knights was down early they were losing 7 to 4 but you can feel the energy that they had during the game. The Knights were down 12 to 6 during the game.

They were trying their best to still be in the game and to make it close, but the Knights didn’t succeed, they were down by 11 as the Knights were down 20 to 9. Eventually NHTI defeats the Knights on the third set and defeat the Knights in three straight set.

Slider, Sports

Knights Soccer improve to .500 with a win over Holyoke

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On Saturday, Oct. 1, the NECC Knights defeated Holyoke Community College three goals to one.  

I interviewed NECC Men’s Head Coach Eusebio Marote before the game. He mentioned to me, “usually we had their number the past couple of years, couple wins, but this year it looks (like) they had a different team, they just tied Roxbury not too long ago 3-3. They (are) going to be a competitive team so I think they’re going to fight, they’re going to work hard and yeah we (are) just going to try to match their level of intensity. We are at home hopefully that will help us in our advantage as well and you know go from there, “ he said.

I asked coach Marote if it was an advantage or a disadvantage for the Knights that they haven’t played for a week ?

“I think it’s a little bit of both definitely. I had some guys injured but it definitely helps for recovery and we prep a lot this week, we played a lot and went from there you know, he said.

Holyoke had the ball first to begin the game.

The Knights had two offsides the first eight minutes of the game.

Sam De Amorim of Methuen scored the first two goals of the game for the Knights.

Knights soccer against Holyoke
Knights soccer against Holyoke Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

“(De Amorim) is definitely huge for us. Last year when we recruited we expected for him to do this stuff for us and it’s something that we needed for last season. So he has been doing what he’s got to do, he is our type of guy and we go from there,” Marote said after the game.

De Amorim scored what would have been the third goal of the game, which would have been the score three to nil, with a hat trick, but the official waived the point off because the call on the field was offside. The goal did not count and the score remained two nil in favor of the Knights.

The Knights were up 2-0 at the half.

I interviewed De Amorim after the game. “It is really important, the other team when you win a half like that and the other team just tends to not believe as much, ”he said. “And then what happens with their team they had their heads down all the time for the second half and we were winning three nil. Unfortunately we got scored on but that didn’t affect us a lot so it was a really important win for us right now,” he said.

The Knights had three corner kicks while Holyoke had four. The Knights had nine shots on goal while Holyoke had three. The Knights also had three offside while Holyoke had none.

The Knights started the kick for the second half.

51 minutes into the game one of the Knights player kicked the ball and it hit right in the front of the face of the Holyoke goaltender. The trainer came and the goaltender was removed out of the game.

Johnathan Diaz of Methuen scored to made it 3-0 Knights.

On the 69  minutes of the game the referee give a yellow card to Knights goaltender Anhuar Ramos Garcia of Nashua, N.H, and a player of Holyoke as well.

Later on during the game Ramos Garcia made a nice save for the Knights, preventing from Michael Grochowski of Westfield from scoring.

On the 78 minutes Caden Hebert of Easthampton scored for Holyoke to make it 3-1 Knights as the shutout was over with just 17 minutes left.

In the second half the Knights had two corner kicks, Holyoke had none. The Knights had eight shots on goal and Holyoke had five. The Knights only had one offside in the second half, Holyoke had none. Both team had at least one  yellow card in the final 45 minutes of the game.

Slider, Sports

Knights Volleyball loses to Bulldogs in Charlestown

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On Thursday, Sept. 29, NECC Knights lost three sets to none against Bunker Hill Community College for a conference division game in Charlestown.

The Knights lost the first set 25-18, they lost the second set 25-21 and they lost the third set 25-19.

 The game was scheduled for 6 p.m. but the league changed it to 6:30 p.m. start time and the game officially started at 6:33.

The Bulldogs started off scoring the first three points of the game, a spike by Caroline Burns of Haverhill made sure that the Knights had their first point in the first set.

The Knights were looking for a comeback in the first set but it wasn’t enough as the Bulldogs defeated the Knights 25-18.

In the first set they were serving errors, spiking out of bounds and I felt they was not a lot of communication. Those mistakes caused the Knights to lose their first set.

After the game I interviewed NECC Women’s Volleyball head coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill.

“Yeah I agree, one of the challenges for this group is just consistency and I mean serving I felt part of that was momentum and in rhythm we got to get kind of into a rhythm kind of get comfortable I think they were little intimidating by the crowd but just the consistency. We worked and it’s a challenging for me as a coach. I’m going to work with the assistant I may do some research solving this issue is the consistency piece. Take a breath before you serve do it well in practice and we do it for a little bit in the game and we stopped. Gets here attack position we do it will in practice and we do it good for a little bit in the game and then we stopped. Call the ball, same situation when you set the back row who ever is setting when you set the back row call the specific hitter because then it will avoid a communication problem in our end…” he said.

In the second set, few spikes by Burns put the Knights up early in the game.  

Knights facing Bulldogs in the road
Knights facing Bulldogs in the road Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

“Yeah, she was I love working with Caroline she always hustle and she set that internalization piece she does that great. You can see it as a coach when were doing drill I give her feedback and suggestion you can tell you can see their body language immediately puts it in practice and I love that and that’s why I think she is good as good she is. That’s why I think she continue to progress I’ve seen her progress a lot during the last month, so I am not surprised that she is killing it in a game,” Pelosi said.

Unfortunately the Bulldogs tied the game and coach Pelosi wanted a time out but it wasn’t granted by the officials.

The Knights were looking for a little come back, which they seemed to be achieving. The Knights were up 21 to 19, they just needed four more points to win the set.

Instead the Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run to finish the second set to defeat the Knights 25-21.

The Knights in the third set had an encore performance of Kathleen-Perez-Flores of Lowell scoring the first seven points in the third set while she was serving. On Tuesday, Sept. 27 against Quinsigamond she scored the first nine points to begin the second set.

Despite the Knights going on a 7-0 run the Bulldogs they just never gave up the Bulldogs were on a 5-1 run against the Knights.

It got pretty intense the Knights were eventually down for a few points but it was really close in the game.

The referee was explaining something to coach Pelosi. After the game he told me what the officials was saying to him “I wasn’t going to bring that up but since you ask that was another example of not doing the basic. We been running the same lineup this is at least four games with the same line up. The only changes we had, we had Heather (Walsh) serving sometimes but I think she done that for three games know. So, I think is three games with this exact same lineup and we screw up the line up the wrong person serve in free point and you know I think it was 19-21 that could’ve gone either way absolutely and you know we gave away a free point that something I didn’t cover as a coach because I thought that we had it down so as you probably know the momentum piece,  we fought well for most of the game and in that situation thinks like that can be critical in a tight game.  

The Knights eventually lost the third set 25-19 and got shutout by the Bulldogs three sets to none.

Slider, Sports

Knights volleyball defeat Wyverns in three sets

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On Tuesday Sep. 27, the NECC Knights defeated Quinsigamond Community College Wyverns three sets to none. In the Sports and Fitness Center in Haverhill Campus.

The game was scheduled for 6 p.m. but the league changed it to 6:30 p.m. start time and the game officially started at 6:33.

The Knights won the first set 25-4, they won the second set 25-10 and the third set 25-12.

The Knights started the game aggressive, they had a few runs in the first set 7-1, 14-2 and a 18-3 run. The Knights completely embarrassed Wyverns in the first set as they won the set 25 to 4.

Knights captain Kathleen Perez-Flores of Lowell was serving and scored the first nine points to begin the second set.

Knights volleyball in a match against Wyvers
Knights volleyball in a match against Wyverns Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez

“I’m well, yeah I was a little tired, I’m not going to lie I’m old. So I get a little tired but we played a very good game and we got the run that we needed to get and when we serve we will get runs,” she said.

The Wyverns had no chance to beat the Knights on Tuesday evening as the Knights were on a 21-7 run in the second set and it was enough to beat the Wyverns 25-10 and have a command two sets to none lead as the Knights were one set away to blank Wyverns.

The Knights were looking to defeat the Wyverns on back to back games as on Saturday the Knights went on the road to Quinsigamond and defeated the Wyverns three sets to none.

The Knights never lost their focus and were always in strong command as the Knights started the third set where they left off the first two sets. The Knights were on a 6-1 run and a 14-5 run as they defeated Wyverns in three straight sets.

After the game NECC Women’s Volleyball head coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill said “I think it was a combination of things. I think we were communicating better, positioning was better in this game and definitely serving. I think the crowd realized that we were doing some serving committing the specific spots. I think we’re doing some of the fundamentals well. I think that our moral was high, that’s why we saw, I think the fact that we were up in score our main players feel better by themselves and that confident boast (helped them) to play a lot better,” he said.