Current Editorials

The crises with mental health and substance abuse in America are well documented. For too many years, there was not enough attention focused on the scale of what is now seen as a twofold epidemic.  Seeking professional help and admitting to mental health struggles would often lead to stigmatizing the very people needing help. Complicating the need for more access to professional care, we had to confront the COVID pandemic of the past three years. Fortunately, the tide is turning, and more attention is being…

When Marbleheaders attend Town Meeting this spring, among the decisions they are likely to face is whether to place on the ballot a question to raise their own and their neighbors’ property taxes.  The 2023 Town Meeting warrant will be published later this month. A permanent override for school costs was defeated in June 2022, and the town hasn’t approved a general property tax override since 2005. We won’t use this space to comment now on the merits of past or upcoming overrides. Rather, it…

Kudos to the Planning Board for approving a zoning proposal that could help Marblehead chip away at its long-standing affordable housing needs should Town Meeting adopt it in May. And Marblehead, a community where 77 percent of its housing stock is single-family homes, is desperately short of affordable housing, according to the 2020 Marblehead Housing Production Plan. Of the 8,135 households in Marblehead, 2,404 — or 29 percent — are classified as low-income. Two-thirds are cost burden, meaning they spend 30 percent of their income…

We wish Marblehead High School Principal Dan Bauer and Assistant Superintendent Nan Murphy well as they step up to the corner offices in Danvers and Dedham, respectively. They are well-deserved promotions for both. And no, the sky isn't falling on Marblehead schools. Bauer was the right person for the job here when he was hired in 2016. The High School needed a lot of TLC, and he was the one uniquely qualified to offer it. His hale and hearty persona was welcomed in the high…

“Garbage.” That was one reader’s assessment of our story exploring the legality of duck hunting on Crowninshield (Brown’s) Island, which was published in our Jan. 11 edition. Specifically, the reader charged the Current of “condoning illegal activity.” He then — helpfully — pointed us to Section 5C of Chapter 131 of the Massachusetts General Laws, which makes it a crime to “to intentionally... block, follow, impede or otherwise harass another who is engaged in the lawful taking of fish or wildlife." In other words, the…