Top Stories - Marblehead Current

17 Jun

Question 1 proposes capital spending in four parts

Will Dowd0 CommentsTop Stories, Town Election Guide

Marblehead has a history of exercising fiscal prudence within the Proposition 2 1/2 framework to finance capital projects. The process usually unfolds with town officials or a group of citizens identifying a capital need, developing a budget and timeline, and embarking on a campaign to garner community support. Debate plays out in the lead-up to Town Meeting. If the project secures a two-thirds vote on the Town Meeting floor, it heads for a town-wide referendum. If the project captures a simple majority in that second…

17 Jun

Marblehead school officials: Question 2 would fund long unmet needs

Will Dowd0 CommentsTop Stories, Town Election Guide

In Question 2 on the Tuesday, June 21 town election ballot, school officials are asking to override by $3 million Proposition 2 1/2, which annually limits increases to property-tax assessments to 2.5 percent. Education officials say the money is needed to fill a significant funding gap in the district’s $43 million budget that has grown over multiple years. QUESTION 2: Shall the Town of Marblehead be allowed to assess an additional $3,051,093 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of the School…

16 Jun

Introducing the Marblehead News Group

Kris Olson0 CommentsAbout Us, Top Stories

What you see here today is just a fraction of what we hope to become — with your help. We are veteran journalists and local residents who for the past several months have been laying the groundwork to launch the Marblehead News Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit news outlet covering the town. Those involved in guiding the effort include (but are not limited to): Ed Bell, former Boston bureau chief of the Associated Press, MHTV host and Marblehead Harbor Rotarian;Jessica Barnett, teaches communications at Salem State…

16 Jun

NOT THE SAME OLD THING: The importance of ‘local’

Kris Olson1 CommentTop Stories, Viewpoints

"The best way to be global is to be local."Alex Atala I know, I know, this quote sounds like some Alice in Wonderland, "Sometimes down is up, sometimes up is down" kind of concept, but really, it's absolutely true. We are all citizens of the world; we all live on this beautiful blue marble and have our humanity in common. But let's face it: When you drill down to a region, a country, a state, city, town, or street, the picture changes a bit, doesn't…

15 Jun

How, where to vote on June 21

Kris Olson0 CommentsTop Stories, Town Election Guide

Polls will be open across Marblehead from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 21 for voting in the annual town election. This year's ballot features contested races for Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Board of Health, Town Moderator, Light Commission and Cemetery Commission. Voters will also decide the fate of two ballot questions proposing overrides of Proposition 2 1/2. Voters must vote in their own precincts. Polling places are as follows: Precinct 1: Old Town House, One Market SquarePrecincts 2 and 3: Abbot Hall Auditorium, 188…

11 Jun

Help us choose a new name!

Kris Olson0 CommentsAbout Us, Local News, Top Stories

An independent dedicated group of local journalists and Marblehead citizens has spent the last several months working toward creating a new independent news source that is hyper-focused on Marblehead and built on a sustainable non-profit model governed by a local board of directors. With the help of a kind local attorney (thanks, David Moran!), we wound our way through the IRS thicket as well as the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office and established a bona fide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Marblehead News Group. We brainstormed…