Current Editorials

Our community witnessed an almost unspeakable tragedy early last week. First and foremost was the loss of a beautiful 13-year-old girl, Savannah Gatchell, her promising young life cut short much too soon. To her family and friends, our sincerest condolences. The 16-year-old driver in the crash that caused her death faces serious criminal charges, yet his family and friends are grieving deeply, too. The pain is widespread, and the healing process will surely be long and arduous for all concerned. Our thoughts are also with…

This week, the Current is regrettably saying farewell to one of its co-founders, Will Dowd.If you know Will — as many of you of course do — you know of his boundless energy, curiosity and love for the town of Marblehead. His unfailing optimism helped fuel the Current from its earliest days. His long history in town gave him a trove of institutional knowledge that was invaluable in informing his coverage of town government affairs. His endless fascination with Marblehead’s history made his stories about…

Last week, the Senate voted 38-2 to approve a bill that would require public school districts to adopt policies that would prohibit students from possessing and using “personal electronic devices” — cellphones — during the school day. The bill also reportedly has the support of Gov. Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Senate President Karen Spilka and the state’s two largest teachers unions. However, according to the Boston Globe, the House has no plans to advance the legislation. Given the mounting evidence that any good…

At one point in our nation's history, measles infected millions of Americans. Later, in the year 2000, the U.S. declared a milestone success in effectively eradicating the disease. In 2025, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the U.S. is seeing the most reported cases in decades. As of July 15, the Centers for Disease Control identified 1,309 confirmed cases in 39 states, including our very own New England neighbors, Rhode Island and Vermont. To put this in context, the CDC identified…

As the longest continuously active association in the New England States Veterans Fireman’s League since 1894, the Okos compete in eight summer musters from Maine to Connecticut. Their recent testing of the 1861 hand-pumped engine Okonmamakamesit at Redd’s Pond demonstrates the team’s commitment to maintaining competitive readiness, not simply displaying antique equipment. Hand tub competitions require physical strength, coordination and teamwork. Teams pump furiously to generate water pressure that can spray streams hundreds of feet, continuing a sport that emerged when steam engines replaced manual…

The Marblehead Festival of Arts has never been a museum piece. Each July, Marblehead dusts off the basics — fireworks, gallery shows, harbor views — and then tweaks the formula just enough to keep locals guessing. Take this year’s debut Pup Party: 150 dogs dunking in kiddie pools and mugging for a costume contest. It could have been a one-off gag. Instead, it felt like a fresh page in the festival playbook — proof that “arts” can mean paw-print paintings if you let it. A…

With numerous contested seats along with two debt exclusion override questions on the ballot, 6,621 registered voters cast their votes during or before the June 10 local election. Just under 40% of all registered voters participated this year, which is a much higher turnout than typically happens. Last year, less than 20% of all voters went to the polls. We offer our thoughts on some of the key results of last week’s election. School Committee: The town issued a strong vote of no confidence to…

For the journalists in our newsroom, covering Marblehead is an endless invitation to look twice. The random road work delay, the cryptic complaint at a Select Board meeting, the caller who begins with “I’m not sure this is important, but …” — each day this quirky peninsula serves up fresh puzzles that refuse to fit in the news budget. Follow one strange lead and suddenly they’re on their third callback, listening to someone’s great-uncle correct someone’s pronunciation of “gerrymandering” or squinting at a blurry PDF…