It's Wednesday, March 13

Follow our news updates and breaking news on Twitter at: @lowellsunnews, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lowellsun, on our mobile app, or on our website www.lowellsun.com. We welcome your suggestions, comments and contributions to staff members via their email addresses below or to Editor Jim Campanini (@suneditor) or jcampanini@lowellsun.com.

Here's a sampling of what Sun staffers, and other news providers, are working on for lowellsun.com and Wednesday's edition of the newspaper.

* Local prominent Democrat shunned. State Rep. David Nangle said he will not take his seat among the Lowell delegation when the Massachusetts Democratic Convention comes to the Mill City this summer. A policy spelled out in the party's 2013 Preliminary Call to Convention says that delegate seats cannot be taken by party members who have shown support for non-Democrat candidates, as Nangle did when he threw his support behind Republican Scott Brown in the 2012 Senate race. Reporter Katie Lannan has the story.

* The UMass Lowell River Hawk hockey team begins its 2013 playoff run Thursday night at the Tsongas Center against the University of Maine. The only problem is UMAss Lowell is on break, and many students are out of town. But that's not stopping university officials from doing

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their best to ensure students are well-represented in what should be a sell-out crowd. Reporter Peter McQuaid is on the fan beat.

* Chelmsford Reporter Grant Welker, gwelker@lowellsun.com, will be in Chelmsford Wednesday evening, covering the political forum featuring five candidates running on the Board of Selectmen.

* After a one-day trial Tuesday in Ayer District Court, a jury found an 80-year-old convicted sex offender, who has come under fire for his boarding homes in Ayer and Littleton that provide housing for recovering addicts and sex offenders, of morals charges. Reporter Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com, was also there.

* The City of Lowell announced this week it has signed a 20-year deal with Soltas Energy, which is expected to bring the city $240,000 annually from solar sites Soltas in developing in other communities. Read the story by lmoran@lowellsun.com, for the details.