News
Shorty: Did you catch how often choice comes up? Not treatments or techniques, but choosing — how you eat, how you move, what you listen to, even which “knobs” you decide to turn. Jean Nordin talks about health less like a service and more like a series of small, daily acts of attention. Which...
Shorty: Did you notice that the most valuable thing in this project might not be the houses? How about 26 tax bills, no public roads, and a legal argument that keeps plows, paving, and reconstruction off the town’s books — permanently. The board kept saying precedent, but the subtext felt more like...
When the Groton Herald began publishing 47 years ago, it was built on a simple idea: that a small town deserves careful, independent reporting that pays attention and remembers context.
That belief hasn’t changed. The economics around it have.
Like most local newspapers, we have seen steady...
Shorty: Ninety preschoolers, ages three to five — and a price tag north of $700,000 once everything is counted. The committee lingered on houses and pickleball courts, but no one quite said it out loud: that’s a very expensive swing set per child. Maybe that’s the wrong way to think about it. Or...
Shorty: Did you notice what’s really being protected here? Some of the town’s best summer corn — Silver Queen, Butter and Sugar — comes from this stretch of land, and it turns out tractors and trespassing cars don’t mix. Trade a dirt road for a soggy riverbank, keep the cars out, and suddenly both...
Groton’s Donna Nowak was honored on November 17, 2025 at Worcester’s Mechanics Hall with the Department of Correction’s Beyond Excellence Volunteer of the Year Award, recognizing years of service at MCI Shirley that officials said have made a lasting and meaningful impact on incarcerated...
Donna Nowak. Photo by Steve Lieman
Shorty: For more than a decade, Donna has been walking through steel gates not to fix anyone, but to show up. “Watching men suddenly believe they can have positive experiences in life—even if they are lifers—is extraordinary,” she says. And in case that sounds small, she adds: “Supporting someone...
The Groton Conservation Commission showed uncommon unanimity of opinion on January 13, voicing skepticism over a proposed house addition that would place substantial permanent structures within protected wetland buffer zones.
The commission challenged a proposal for 26 Indian Hill Road that...
by Susan Hughes and Jodi Valenti
The wild and scenic Nashua River winds through the heart of our region. For generations, its quiet strength has shaped the identity of this corner of the state, nourishing farms, forests, wildlife, and the communities along its banks—at a moment when statewide...
Photo of Chief Luth presenting the Traffic Cameras initiative to the Select Board, Town Manger and the public in February 2025
Shorty: Did you know Groton’s traffic cameras have actually been up and running since November? Some folks only realized it after spotting one at Route 119 and asking questions online—about data, access, and how all this was approved in the first place.
by Connie Sartini
Recent online...