Malden Catholic Announces First Quarter Honor Roll
Malden Catholic students have successfully completed the first marking period of the 2024-2025 school year. High honors were achieved by: Boxford...
Taxpayers’ Additional $2.6 Million Outlay Will Keep MEVA Rides Free
REGIONAL – Powered by a state grant of $2.6 million, Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (MEVA) will continue to operate fare free at least...
New Pastor Brings Reporter’s Eye and Fresh Approach to Rowley
ROWLEY – Rowley’s first church has a new pastor who’s bringing a fresh approach to ministry in this growing community. This fall, the Rev. G....
New England Aquarium Ice Sculpture Stroll
This winter, as nearly 500 endangered sea turtles have received rehabilitative care at the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital after being...
Hillies Workout @ Groveland’s Veasey Memorial Park
Wednesdays, 7:00 AM & Saturdays, 8:00 AM at the bottom of Nun's Hill; all weather - bring water, yoga mat, and light hand weights. All skill...
Auditions for “Skin of Our Teeth”
The North Shore Players, a Danvers community theater, announces open auditions for Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize play, “The Skin of Our Teeth.”...
HISTORY CORNER: Newburyport’s Confederate General
By Joseph Oliver Special to The Town Common ––––––––––––––––– Although we like to see ourselves as virtuous, we all have skeletons hidden in our...
Buckle Up for a Wild 2025
REGIONAL – While attention will inevitably be focused in coming months on what appears to be a year of political chaos in the nation’s capital, 2025 is shaping up to be a busy and contentious year for North Shore residents. Buckle up as the opposition to a proposed state mandate for multi-family housing hit a wall last week as 2024 ended, the deadline for approving new zoning districts. There will also be issues about the design and cost of new schools. Efforts are underway to clean up the Merrimack River. And on...
ConCom Director Suspended Over $48
GEORGETOWN – With several building permits delayed and a leaking septic tank unrepaired because the town administrator suspended the town’s conservation director, the five-member Board of Selectmen met last week for an hour to decide the fate of Michele Grenier. But the town’s governing board came to no resolution on the conservation agent because the town lawyer had to leave. The SelectBoard scheduled a second meeting on the issue for Monday. The Town Common will report in coming editions on what resolution the...
Tom Rush is coming to the Newburyport Fire House Center on January 3 & 4
Tom Rush is a gifted musician and performer, whose shows offer a musical celebration…a journey into the tradition and spectrum of how music can passionately touch the lives of people everywhere. His distinctive guitar style, wry humor and warm, expressive voice have made him both a legend and a treasure to audiences around the world. His shows are filled with the laughter of terrific story-telling, the sweet melancholy of ballads and the passion of gritty blues. Rush’s impact on the American music scene has been...
2024: A Tough Year for the Iconic Pink House
2024: A Tough Year for the Iconic Pink House NEWBURY – It lost windows and portions of the roof, but the Iconic Pink House was remembered at Christmas. Federal officials had roofing and windows removed from the Pink House just in time for the arrival of winter rains, sleet, and snow - in a move that appears to ensure the building will be damaged beyond repair and force its final destruction, despite the pledge of the local elected senator, representatives, and Massachusetts' governor.
Forced Housing Deadline Looms – Massachusetts Government Seeks to Force Explosion of Large-Scale Developments in 177 Cities/Towns
REGIONAL – In 2025, housing will again be a very hot potato communities along the North Shore and throughout eastern Massachusetts have to handle. For several years, residents and would-be homebuyers have grappled with the challenge of low inventories of housing and rapidly rising costs. The median price of a home in the state has hit a record of $600,000. To try to solve the low-inventory, high-cost problems, the state mandated a remedy designed to encourage towns and cities served by the Massachusetts Bay...
Taxpayers’ Additional $2.6 Million Outlay Will Keep MEVA Rides Free
REGIONAL – Powered by a state grant of $2.6 million, Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (MEVA) will continue to operate fare free at least until July. At its February meeting, the MEVA board will decide whether to make fares free...
Plum Island Property Owner Moves to Replace Closed 125-Seat Restaurant with Four Multi-Story Condos
NEWBURY – With the former owner of the Plum Island Grille facing a felony criminal charge for vandalizing the popular, but now closed restaurant, property owner Mark Friery is planning to tell the town in the next couple of weeks that he will seek...
Brighter Smiles … 21 SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESS IN 2025
At the end of each of the past 19 years, I have used this space to publish these 21 Suggestions for Success authored by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Cut this out and put it on the refrigerator. Read this list often and take these suggestions to heart....
Priced Right Junk Removal
Buckle Up for a Wild 2025
REGIONAL – While attention will inevitably be focused in coming months on what appears to be a year of political chaos in the nation’s capital, 2025 is shaping up to be a busy and contentious year for North Shore residents. Buckle up as the opposition to a proposed state mandate for multi-family housing hit a wall last week as 2024 ended, the deadline for approving new zoning districts. There will also be issues about the design and cost of new schools. Efforts are underway to clean up the Merrimack River. And on...
The Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District Granted $4.9 million to Purchase Electric Buses
The Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District will receive $4.9 million via the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to replace 17 diesel buses with new electric buses. The district plans to acquire the new buses by working with Highland Electric Fleets wiith office locations listed in Beverly, Mass. and Denver, Colorado. Conventional diesel buses cost from $135,000 to $150,000 when purchased new. Taxpayers will dole out approximately double...
Salisbury: Civil War Roundtable Meeting
Civil War Roundtable of the Merrimack January Meeting, January 8, 7:30 PM, Hilton Senior Center, 43 Lafayette Road, Salisbury, Mass. This month's topic will be "Currency in the Civil War" presented by Andrew Andrioloulos & John Manning
Malden Catholic Announces First Quarter Honor Roll
Malden Catholic students have successfully completed the first marking period of the 2024-2025 school year. High honors were achieved by: Boxford First Honors Sarah Beers '26 Sharlyn Nunez '26 Danvers First Honors Joseph DeBernardo Jr. '26 Julia Hardiman '25 Julia Lembo '27 Emily Lovell '27 Dalila Meyers '27 Second Honors Thomas DeBernardo '27 Caitlin Jezowski '27 James Muise '28 Aviana Panacopoulos '25 Ella Panacopoulos '28 Georgetown Second...
Taxpayers’ Additional $2.6 Million Outlay Will Keep MEVA Rides Free
REGIONAL – Powered by a state grant of $2.6 million, Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (MEVA) will continue to operate fare free at least until July. At its February meeting, the MEVA board will decide whether to make fares free permanently. To determine the full benefits of operating fare free, the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission has hired the consulting firm, Stantec. Its report on the study, which shows benefits that even MEVA...
New Pastor Brings Reporter’s Eye and Fresh Approach to Rowley
ROWLEY – Rowley’s first church has a new pastor who’s bringing a fresh approach to ministry in this growing community. This fall, the Rev. G....
New England Aquarium Ice Sculpture Stroll
This winter, as nearly 500 endangered sea turtles have received rehabilitative care at the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital after being...
Hillies Workout @ Groveland’s Veasey Memorial Park
Wednesdays, 7:00 AM & Saturdays, 8:00 AM at the bottom of Nun's Hill; all weather - bring water, yoga mat, and light hand weights. All skill...
Plum Island Property Owner Moves to Replace Closed 125-Seat Restaurant with Four Multi-Story Condos
NEWBURY – With the former owner of the Plum Island Grille facing a felony criminal charge for vandalizing the popular, but now closed restaurant,...
Brighter Smiles … 21 SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESS IN 2025
At the end of each of the past 19 years, I have used this space to publish these 21 Suggestions for Success authored by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Cut this out and put it on the refrigerator. Read this list often and take these suggestions to heart. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery. Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent. Give people more than they expect and do...
Priced Right Junk Removal