IPSWICH/ROWLEY Dinner at Masonic Hall

A delicious free dinner is available from 5-6 PM most Mondays at the Masonic Hall, 70 Topsfield Road, Ipswich. Knowing that hunger presents itself...

Fall 2024 College Honor Students

Nichols College President's  List Carter Renaud of Hampton, N.H. Dean's List Fernando Barranco of Haverhill Gianna Filtranti of Amesbury Jack Ellis...

Groveland Trash and Recycling Survey

by Mike Dempsey The Groveland Select Board and the Trash and Recycling Committee want your input. The committee recommends moving towards automated...

Fall 2024 College Honor Students

Bate's College Dean's List Mikaila Whitaker Bennett of Rowley Gabriella Bellacqua of West Newbury Brigham Young Univ. Honor Society Ian Timothy of...

Georgetown FinCom Advocates $6 Million Property Tax Increase

Georgetown FinCom Advocates $6 Million Property Tax Increase

GEORGETOWN – Despite the voters rejecting a $3 million tax increase last year, town officials here are preparing to ask their property owners this spring to approve a $6 million increase in their property taxes. The tax increase, which would be above the 2.5 percent hike the state allows, may be levied over two years -- $4 million for 2026 and $2 million more for 2027. At that level, projections are that property taxes on a $750,000 house in Georgetown would rise almost $2,000 over the two-year span. The town’s...

Show Your Love for Horses this Valentine’s Day  in West Newbury

Show Your Love for Horses this Valentine’s Day in West Newbury

by Mary Martin President & Founder, NEER, North Inc. WEST NEWBURY – Valentine’s Day always reminds me of the broken-hearted horses I’ve been privileged to help over the years. As founder and president of New England Equine Rescue North, a small non-profit in West Newbury, Massachusetts, I’ve worked with scores of horses and donkeys in dire straits, through no fault of their own. Most of our rescues are from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Some are former race  horses who were pushed too hard and arrive at...

Boxford Honors Fire Department for 2024 Brush Fire Responses

Boxford Honors Fire Department for 2024 Brush Fire Responses

BOXFORD – Town Adminstrator Matt Coogan related that on Monday, January 27th, the Boxford Select Board proudly presented a Resolution of Appreciation to Fire Chief Brian Geiger and the Boxford Fire Department for their extraordinary efforts in battling the 2024 brush fires that threatened Boxford and surrounding communities. In the fall of 2024, the Town of Boxford and other Massachusetts communities faced a severe wildfire emergency, with over 403 fires reported statewide and more than 1,063 acres burned. The...

Ipswich First Responders and Northeast Technical Rescue Team Partner to Rescue Horse

Ipswich First Responders and Northeast Technical Rescue Team Partner to Rescue Horse

IPSWICH – Fire Chief Paul Parisi and Police Chief Paul Nikas report that the Ipswich Fire and Police Departments responded Friday to an incident in which a horse got stuck in a drainage swale. On Friday, Jan. 31, at approximately 12:09 p.m., Ipswich Communications received a report of a horse that was stuck in a drainage swale at 6 Mill Road. Ipswich Police, Ipswich Animal Control and Ipswich Fire responded, and located a 31-year-old horse on its back in the swale with its legs in the air. The horse was not able...

Rowley Windward Crossing Up to 70% Affordable Housing Project May Yet Get  a $500K Taxpayer Boost

Rowley Windward Crossing Up to 70% Affordable Housing Project May Yet Get a $500K Taxpayer Boost

ROWLEY –  Town Meeting in May is likely to reconsider and may reverse a vote from last year to fund a portion of a new affordable housing project near the Market Basket shopping center on Rte. 1. The Rowley SelectBoard voted four to one last week to support a request of $500,000 from Community Preservation Funds for the project, called Windward Crossing, by Harborlight Homes. The recommendation now goes to the Community Preservation Committee for its approval before going to the Town Meeting. The SelectBoard’s...

Are UFOs Real?

AMESBURY – Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), now called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), came to the Costello Senior Center last week. About a dozen senior residents listened enthusiastically to Chris Torres of Salisbury Beach explain how the government and academics no longer believe people are crazy if they believe impossibly fast space ships from another planet are visiting Earth. “We are entering a new era of transparency” about extraterrestrials, Torres said. Notably, a new documentary, the Age of...

Wind Turbine Springs a Leak – Sprays Hydraulic Fluid Over Neighborhood

Wind Turbine Springs a Leak – Sprays Hydraulic Fluid Over Neighborhood

NEWBURYPORT – Mark Rickey's wind turbine, solar panels and a biomass boiler have long been examples of green manufacturing here. But earlier this month, wind and rain caused a container of hydraulic fluid on the turbine to spill into its catch basin, polluting the surrounding neighborhood when the turbine blew it onto houses, cars, and buildings. On the following Tuesday, crews began the extensive clean-up project in the neighborhood along Route 1, while the Department of Environmental Protection supervised....

Georgetown Conservation Commission Details Enforcement Order Against ‘Forest Bathing’ Site

Georgetown Conservation Commission Details Enforcement Order Against ‘Forest Bathing’ Site

GEORGETOWN – While the left hand is all concerned with $48.83 in wrongly submitted mileage reimbursements over a 10-month period (see prior stories), the Georgetown Conservation Commission continues to focus on matters of septic system upgrades, boundary markers to firmly define no-disturb boundaries near wetlands, a failed septic replacement, removal of a deck and creation of an addition, and enforcement of extensive violations into the wetlands where Mr. Tianqui Wang created a party/meditation/forest bathing...

Newburyport Sculture – Blending History, Clipper Ships, and Abolitionists

Newburyport Sculture – Blending History, Clipper Ships, and Abolitionists

NEWBURYPORT – The city expects this spring to install Sail Trace, a tall clipper ship sculpture, in Market Landing Park on the Merrimack River waterfront. Designed and created by Portland, Me. sculptor Aaron T Stephan, the art work, chosen by the city’s Public Art Committee from 20 entries, is likely to be the city’s signature sculpture on its popular waterfront park. Stephan proposed and the committee agreed last week to enhance the metal sculpture with a quotation by 19th century writer and anti-slavery leader...

ROWLEY Antarctica: An Austral Summer Cruise

Thursday, February 20, 1:00 PM Is traveling to the seventh continent on your bucket list? Join photographer Jack Homes and his wife Meg as they walk and cruise Ushaia, the South Shetland Island, and Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula. Call the...

IPSWICH/ROWLEY Dinner at Masonic Hall

A delicious free dinner is available from 5-6 PM most Mondays at the Masonic Hall, 70 Topsfield Road, Ipswich. Knowing that hunger presents itself both physically and relationally, the Ipswich Dinnerbell is a non-profit cooperation of...

NEWBURYPORT Anna Jaques Hospital Community Listening Session

Wednesday, February 12th from 11 a.m-12:30 p.m. Beth Israel Lahey Health and its member hospitals are conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment to better understand the most pressing health-related issues impacting the people living and...

NEWBURYPORT Anna Jaques Hospital Community Listening Session

Wednesday, February 12th from 11 a.m-12:30 p.m. Beth Israel Lahey Health and its member hospitals are conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment to better understand the most pressing health-related issues impacting the people living and...

Brighter Smiles … THE FINAL SAY

Brighter Smiles … THE FINAL SAY

By J. Peter St. Clair, DMD Of the 1048 Brighter Smiles columns published over the last 19 years, I will admit, I repeated a few. Trying to think of new things to write about, other than the importance of an electric toothbrush, water pik, and...

Brighter Smiles … MAKE ‘EM STICK

Brighter Smiles … MAKE ‘EM STICK

Happy New Year! So, how does it feel being back at work? Or, if you are retired, does today feel like any other day? For many people, the New Year is time for resolutions. Gym memberships go up and so do sales of healthier food. I don’t know about...

Brighter Smiles … MAKE ‘EM STICK

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....

Georgetown FinCom Advocates $6 Million Property Tax Increase

Georgetown FinCom Advocates $6 Million Property Tax Increase

GEORGETOWN – Despite the voters rejecting a $3 million tax increase last year, town officials here are preparing to ask their property owners this spring to approve a $6 million increase in their property taxes. The tax increase, which would be above the 2.5 percent hike the state allows, may be levied over two years -- $4 million for 2026 and $2 million more for 2027. At that level, projections are that property taxes on a $750,000 house in Georgetown would rise almost $2,000 over the two-year span. The town’s...

Georgetown FinCom Advocates $6 Million Property Tax Increase

Georgetown FinCom Advocates $6 Million Property Tax Increase

GEORGETOWN – Despite the voters rejecting a $3 million tax increase last year, town officials here are preparing to ask their property owners this spring to approve a $6 million increase in their property taxes. The tax increase, which would be above the 2.5 percent hike the state allows, may be levied over two years -- $4 million for 2026 and $2 million more for 2027. At that level, projections are that property taxes on a $750,000 house in Georgetown would rise almost $2,000 over the two-year span. The town’s...

Show Your Love for Horses this Valentine’s Day  in West Newbury

Show Your Love for Horses this Valentine’s Day in West Newbury

by Mary Martin President & Founder, NEER, North Inc. WEST NEWBURY – Valentine’s Day always reminds me of the broken-hearted horses I’ve been privileged to help over the years. As founder and president of New England Equine Rescue North, a small non-profit in West Newbury, Massachusetts, I’ve worked with scores of horses and donkeys in dire straits, through no fault of their own. Most of our rescues are from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Some are former race  horses who were pushed too hard and arrive at...

Boxford Honors Fire Department for 2024 Brush Fire Responses

Boxford Honors Fire Department for 2024 Brush Fire Responses

BOXFORD – Town Adminstrator Matt Coogan related that on Monday, January 27th, the Boxford Select Board proudly presented a Resolution of Appreciation to Fire Chief Brian Geiger and the Boxford Fire Department for their extraordinary efforts in battling the 2024 brush fires that threatened Boxford and surrounding communities. In the fall of 2024, the Town of Boxford and other Massachusetts communities faced a severe wildfire emergency, with over 403 fires reported statewide and more than 1,063 acres burned. The...

Proposed FY26 ‘Local Aid’ to Cities/Towns

Proposed FY26 ‘Local Aid’ to Cities/Towns

City and town finance managers and finance committees got their first look at anticipated state funding for next year's budgets, when the Massachusetts’s governor recently unveiled her budget proposal for FY26. The currently proposed state spending of approximately $62 billion represents a 6.8% increase of the budget the governor signed last year, and a $10 billion increase since FY 2023. However, money distributed to cities and towns remains...

Wenham Police Participated in Boston Bruins BFit Challenge

WENHAM — Chief Kevin DiNapoli is pleased to share that the Wenham Police Department participated in the 9th Annual Boston Bruins BFit Challenge. The challenge took place on Sunday, Feb. 2 at the TD Garden in Boston. The event invites all first responders and military personnel in the community to walk, run, or step to raise awareness about health and wellness while raising funds for charities. Wenham Police, along with the Hamilton and...

Groveland’s Johnson Creek Dam Slated for Removal

GROVELAND – You'ver probably never noticed what appears as a mere culvert under a road, but the "Johnson Creek Dam" located off Salem Street is slated for removal as part of a long list of state-wide dams deemed inconsequential and/or not being used for their orginal purposes. The dam was inspected in 1979 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England Division and deemed in need of repairs at that time. Last week, the Massachusetts...

AMESBURY GriefShare Support Group Classes

Starting Thursday, February 20,  6:30 PM GriefShare Support Group Classes is for those who have lost a loved one through death and will be held on Thursdays at 6:30 pm from February 20 thru May 1 at the Market Street Baptist Church, 37 Market Street, Amesbury. There is a notebook that goes along with a video series at the cost of $20 donation if able. All are welcome. Parking is available behind the church and in the BankProv lot. To register:...

NEWBURYPORT Anna Jaques Hospital Community Listening Session

Wednesday, February 12th from 11 a.m-12:30 p.m. Beth Israel Lahey Health and its member hospitals are conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment to better understand the most pressing health-related issues impacting the people living and working in the communities we serve. Please join us to hear key themes from our assessment, share your perspective, and discuss potential solutions. All attendees are entered to win a $100 Visa Gift...

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