Politics - Marblehead Current

Biotech founder-CEO chosen to fill Marblehead School Committee vacancy

23Jan

By Will 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...

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

18Jan

By Will 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...

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

17Jan

By Will 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...

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

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...

State Rep.-elect Jenny Armini gets sworn in today, restoring 8th Essex District representation

4Jan

By Will DowdNo Comments

Culture, Local News, Politics, Top Stories

State Rep.-elect Jenny Armini gets sworn in today, restoring 8th Essex District representation

State Rep.-elect Jenny Armini gets sworn into office today, restoring the 8th Essex District's representation in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Her oath of office comes nearly a year after her predecessor, former state Rep. Lori Ehrlich, resigned in January of 2022 for a job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Marblehead Current sat down with Armini in the fall to discuss what she hopes to do on Beacon Hill; the newspaper's story from that interview can be found below. Jenny Armini was recently in Pleasant Street’s Starbucks when, in relatively short order, it became apparent in at least one way why she topped a six-way primary for the 8th Essex District Democratic nomination in September. “Hi Jake,” Armini said to the barista, clad in a red apron, be...

Lori Ehrlich, former Marblehead state representative, gives farewell address

12Dec

By Lori EhrlichNo Comments

Local News, Politics, Top Stories

Lori Ehrlich, former Marblehead state representative, gives farewell address

The full text of the speech that former state rep. Lori Ehrlich presided over on the floor of the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Monday, Dec. 12. Ehrlich was the 8th Essex District representative for 14 years until she joined the Biden Administration as the Federal Emergency Management Administrations Region 1 administrator on Jan. 31. Marblehead resident Jenny Armini will succeed her when state lawmakers are sworn into office on Jan. 4, 2023. Former state rep. Lori Ehrlich of Marblehead presides over her farewell speech in the chamber of Massachusetts House of Representatives. COURTESY PHOTO / STATE REP. JAMIE BELSITO Thank you Mr. Speaker, and through you to the members. It is a distinct honor and delight to be able to say that one…..last…..time. Deep appreci...

30Nov

By Marblehead League of Women VotersNo Comments

Local News, Municipal Matters, Politics

League of Women Voters Observer Reports, Nov. 30, 2022

The Marblehead Current is pleased to be supplementing its coverage of public meetings with Observer Reports provided by volunteers from the Marblehead League of Women Voters. To learn more about the League and its activities, see my.lwv.org/massachusetts/marblehead. Fair Housing Committee, Nov. 21 At the Oct. 17 meeting, Select Board Chairman Moses Grader made a presentation to the committee informing them that the Select Board (SB) would be reorganizing the Fair Housing Committee.The purpose of the reorganization is to strengthen the FHC by having town officials serve on the board, broadening the committee mandate, empowering them to put initiatives into action, and enhancing communications and interactions with other town boards/committees. On Nov. 16, the Select Board voted to re...

Once a critic, Moulton says Pelosi broke ‘one of the toughest glass ceilings’

17Nov

By Will DowdNo Comments

Local News, Politics, Top Stories

Once a critic, Moulton says Pelosi broke ‘one of the toughest glass ceilings’

Congressman Seth Moulton was a prominent face behind two unsuccessful challenges to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership of House Democrats after the 2016 election and the 2018 election. He has never minced words with regard to his past dissatisfaction with the San Francisco Democrat's leadership. On Thursday, that past history pivoted to “water under the bridge.” Moulton characterized his former political foe as “a historic speaker and legendary Democrat” in a press statement on Thursday afternoon after Pelosi, the first woman to hold the House speakership, announced she would not seek a leadership position when the 118th Congress gavels into session in January. She will, however, remain in Congress to serve her two-year term. The announcement arrives weeks after the...

School Committee, Select Board set timeline to fill Barron vacancy

16Nov

By Will DowdNo Comments

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

School Committee, Select Board set timeline to fill Barron vacancy

Marblehead Select Board has laid out a timeline and process to fill the School Committee seat vacated by Emily Barron in late October. Select Board Chairman Mosses Grader made the public announcement during a Nov. 16 meeting in Abbot Hall’s Select Board Room - with School Committee members and Superintendent John Buckey present. Press-ReleaseDownload More details on how and where residents can submit application materials surfaced on Thursday in a press release. Candidates will need to concurrently send application materials to the School Committee and the Select Board. Two copies of a cover letter and a detailed should be submitted, both on the same day – one to the School Committee and one to the Select Board (by mail, hand-delivered, or by email, addresses belo...