Current Editorials

There was laughter and there were tears as family and friends of Ed Bell came together at the Boston Yacht Club last week to celebrate Ed’s legacy. Longtime colleague and friend Susan Wornick and Ed’s daughter, Andrea Bell Bergeron, co-hosted the first of what we anticipate will be an annual event. Love was in the air as Wornick and Bergeron regaled the crowd with stories about Ed’s past accomplishments and fun-filled anecdotes. The crowd sat in rapt silence (for the most part) as they viewed…

“Winter forms our character and brings out our best.” — Tom Allen Punxsutawney Phil, everyone’s favorite furry weatherman, predicted on Feb. 2 that there would be six more weeks of winter rather than an early spring. He was right! Nearly 30 inches of snow fell in Marblehead in February alone. Total snowfall this winter has been close to 60 inches, according to some accounts. How does Marblehead handle so much snow? What do we do? Who’s responsible? What does it cost, and where does it…

Last week, the Marblehead Current published the latest letter from perhaps the town’s biggest — or at least most vocal — supporters of President Trump. As has happened when we have published previous missives from that same writer, the Current received criticism. We were already considering using this space to address that criticism. Then immigration agents shot and killed a second American citizen in Minneapolis this past weekend. Now, it seems all the more urgent to do so. There are some who think that, as…

On this page last week, we looked back at many of the stories upon which we have reported and opined in 2025. Now, as we publish our final issue of the year, we turn our eyes to 2026 to anticipate what may be some of the major events to come. We start with town financial matters. The budget: Town leaders seem united in the belief that a level-services budget will not be possible absent a general override of Proposition 2 1/2, and the numbers being…

Cooler heads seem to be prevailing as town leaders resume following through on their pledge to minimize the harm caused by youth substance use in response to the town’s most recent tragedy, the crash that cost 13-year-old Savanah Gatchell her life. For that, we are grateful — the topic is too important to let the conversation get derailed by personality conflicts or breaches of protocol. But before we turn the page, it is worth reviewing the conflict involving Board of Health member Tom McMahon, Police…

We share the heartbreak and disappointment that the Marblehead High School community — and the broader community — has to confront a disturbing act of bias, the scrawling of swastikas, the n-word and other graffiti in the school’s bathrooms, for which a 15-year-old male student is facing juvenile charges. Our local educators are no doubt familiar with a number of helpful online guides to assist educators in responding to such bias incidents, as Superintendent John Robidoux has already demonstrated an understanding of what a proper…