Politics - Marblehead Current

Moulton wants GI benefits for families of Black WWII vets

15Mar

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Moulton wants GI benefits for families of Black WWII vets

Local social justice and affordable housing advocates are praising Congressman Seth Moulton’s bill to restore GI Bill benefits to surviving Black World War II veterans and their descendants who did not benefit equally after the war due to systemic racism. Congressman Seth Moulton: ‘While our generation didn’t commit this wrong, we should be committed to making it right.’ COURTESY PHOTO / OFFICE OF REP. SETH MOULTON “We at the Marblehead Racial Justice Team applaud this effort as an attempt to make up for a historical wrong that perpetrated a legacy of segregation,” said Rev. Jim Bixby with the MRJT. “It is unfortunate that even this kind of legislation is too little too late. The Black GIs missed out on investment opportunities during our most productive years of economic deve...

24Feb

By William J. Dowd and Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Local News, Municipal Matters, Politics, Top Stories

Breaking news: Town Meeting warrant features 3 override requests

Marblehead officials will present Town Meeting this May with three requests to override Proposition 2 ½ and raise taxes, according to the 2023 Town Warrant that Abbot Hall released Friday afternoon. 2023-Annual-Town-Meeting-Warrant-FINALDownload While no dollar amounts have been attached yet, the warrant’s publication officially confirms that there will be not one but two general override requests, in addition to a debt-exclusion override. Towns pass general overrides to permanently increase the tax base to cover deficits, while debt-exclusion overrides are one-off expenditure requests to fund specific capital improvement projects. The overrides must pass by a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting on May 1 and then a majority vote in a town election in June. “Once approved...

21Feb

By William J. DowdNo Comments

Environment, Local News, Politics, Top Stories

Armini, Crighton’s committee assignments focus on environment, justice, mental health

State Rep. Jenny Armini stumped on environmental issues when she ran for the 8th Essex District seat in 2022, calling climate change "the existential crisis of our time." Now, the Marblehead Democrat will sit on two legislative committees charged with helping curb the adverse effects of climate change. Massachusetts House Speaker Ronald Mariano, Democrat of Quincy, appointed the Marblehead Democrat to the House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change and the Joint Committee on Environmental and Natural Resources. "These assignments offer a tremendous opportunity to shape environmental policy at a critical juncture for the 8th Essex District and the entire commonwealth," Armini told the Marblehead Current. "Marblehead, Swampscott and Lynn are coastal gems, rich...

7Feb

By Chris LisinskiNo Comments

Business, Local News, Politics

Coalition wants $20 minimum wage by 2027

The $15 minimum wage that kicked into effect Jan. 1 was years in the making and took more than five more years to be implemented. Now, with the new rate just setting in, key power players have set their sights on making Massachusetts the first state in the country to move to $20 per hour. Members of the Raise Up Coalition, an influential constellation of organized labor and community groups, will press lawmakers to support legislation laying out four annual minimum wage hikes to bring the standard rate up to $20 by 2027 while nearly doubling the separate minimum wage for tipped workers to $12 per hour. In exchange for special interest groups abandoning their ballot initiatives, Gov. Charlie Baker in 2018 signed legislation increasing the minimum wage to $15. COURTESY PHOTO / THE COM...

1Feb

By Leigh Blander1 Comment

Local News, Politics, Top Stories

Marblehead’s Amy Carnevale elected new state GOP chair

Marblehead resident Amy Carnevale was elected chair of the state’s Republican party on Jan. 31 and is promising to make the Massachusetts GOP more inclusive. "We need to get the party back on track," Carnevale told the Marblehead Current on Feb. 1, the first day of her two-year term. She spoke about her goals for the Massachusetts GOP. Amy Carnevale of Marblehead is the new chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party. "We have some financial and legal challenges. We are in debt. We're trying to determine how much the party owes to vendors." Carnevale said she will also need to deal with accusations that her predecessor, Jim Lyons, violated campaign finance rules by communicating directly with an outside political action committee to do opposition research on Gov. Maura Healey...

23Jan

By William J. DowdNo Comments

Local News, Marblehead Public Schools, Politics, Top Stories

Biotech founder-CEO chosen to fill Marblehead School Committee vacancy

For the next five months, resident Thomas Mathers will serve as an interim member of the Marblehead School Committee. The Marblehead School Committee and the Select Board picked Mathers in a joint meeting on Monday night, interviewing a half-dozen candidates in Abbot Hall over a two-hour period. Mathers will serve out the remaining months of Emily Barron’s three-year term on the School Committee. Tom Mathers, far right, during his interview in Abbot Hall on Monday, Jan. 23. CURRENT PHOTO / WILLIAM J. DOWD In the second round of voting, Alison Taylor and Erin Noonan switched their votes from candidate Don Dewitt to Mathers, giving him the five votes he needed to secure the seat. The pair joined Select Board members Alexa Singer and Moses Grader and School Committee Chair Sarah Fox...

18Jan

By William J. DowdNo Comments

Local News, Municipal Matters, Politics

Terri Tauro, former 8th Essex District candidate, appointed to Marblehead Housing Authority

Marblehead resident Terri Tauro grew up in public housing, and it is a lived experience that she will now bring to the Marblehead Housing Authority's Board of Commissioners. "I lived on Barnard Hawkes Court," she said. "I was there from 3 months old until I was 18." On Wednesday, the Marblehead Select Board and the Housing Authority's commissioners unanimously appointed the former 8th Essex District candidate to fill the vacancy created after former commissioner Joan Cutler resigned in September. Terri Tauro is interviewed by the Marblehead Select Board and the Marblehead Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. CURRENT PHOTO / WILLIAM J. DOWD Tauro said she got acquainted with tenant concerns and issues on the stump before the Democratic primary in September. "I knocked o...

17Jan

By William J. DowdNo Comments

Local News, Marblehead Public Schools, Municipal Matters, Politics, Top Stories

Two drop out of running to fill School Committee vacancy, interviews set for Monday night

And then there were eight running for the Marblehead School Committee vacancy. On Monday night, the Select Board and School Committee will convene a joint meeting to interview candidates and select one to fill the vacancy created when resident Emily Barron resigned in the fall. Eleven candidates submitted applications for the open position. One of those candidates, Ariana Contreras, was ineligible because she was not a registered Marblehead voter. Two others — Joe Patuleia and Laurence H. Winer — withdrew their names, leaving eight candidates as of Thursday afternoon. "It's not unusual for people to withdraw their names," said Kyle Wiley, executive assistant to the Select Board, "especially with such a large pool of candidates." School Committee Chair Sarah Fox said interviews...

5Jan

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Local News, Politics, Top Stories

Rep. Seth Moulton: House speaker battle a symptom of ‘polarization’

Congressman Seth Moulton worries that new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made too many concessions to the GOP members blocking his speakership. COURTESY PHOTO / PHIL ROEDER VIA FLICKR Congressman Seth Moulton, who represents Marblehead and surrounding communities, was sitting outside the House Chamber on the afternoon of Jan. 5, feeling frustrated and concerned as the battle for a new Republican speaker waged on. “This is getting increasingly dangerous for the country,” Moulton told the Marblehead Current that day. “People around the world are looking at the United States and seeing chaos and dysfunction in the Republican party." California Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy was finally elected the new speaker early Saturday morning, Jan. 7, on the 15th vote. Until then, the Ho...

4Jan

By State Rep. Jenny ArminiNo Comments

Local News, Opinion, Politics, Top Stories, Viewpoints

State Rep. Jenny Armini: A charge to keep

Marblehead resident Jenny Armini has been sworn in as the new 8th Essex District state representative today. Armini submitted this column to the Marblehead Current to mark the occasion. Having scrupulously avoided brushes with the law in my 53 years, I was surprised to receive a court summons the other day. Granted, this one came worded in olde English, with a gold seal, signed by the governor, but I was taken aback. “Whereas, it appears, by the returns of votes for Representative… You are therefore hereby summoned to attend a General Court, to be holden at the Capitol, in Boston, on the first Wednesday of the month of January…” Jenny Armini That decorative piece of paper, resembling more an academic degree than a modern court document, conveyed a sense of formal gravity I ha...