IPSWICH – The Special Town Meeting last week approved all articles, honored a native son, who has been a policeman for 32 years, chief for 17, and put cats on notice that they may not be rowdy. The cat bylaw, which passed 140 to 18, placed cats on an even keel with...
Stewart Lytle
Stewart Lytle is the lead reporter for The Town Common newspaper. Before joining The Town Common, he was a national correspondent for Scripps-Howard Newspapers in Washington, D.C., covering the Pentagon and Congress. He has also written for newspapers in Dallas, TX, and Birmingham, AL.
As a national reporter for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain, Stewart wrote the inside story on military life of soldiers and sailors and their families. He landed on aircraft carriers, experienced oxygen deprivation for high-altitude flight training and crawled through the mud with Marine snipers.
One of his proudest achievements outside of journalism was assisting USAA Chairman Robert McDermott in securing federal legislation that mandated air bags in vehicles.
Stewart is also a novelist and has written non-fiction books. He is currently working on a non-fiction book and screenplay about an incident that occurred in Boston.
His first novel, Iron City Conspiracy, explores power in a city. It features a black newspaper editor solving the bombing of a historic black church in a tough Alabama town.
Following in the footsteps of his idol, Ernest Hemingway, Stewart has completed a new novel about a love affair in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. The book, Montserrat, is based on a true story and has been made into a screenplay that will become an international feature film.
A graduate of Phillips Academy and Princeton University, Stewart lives with his wife, Mary, in Newburyport.
Ipswich Faces $1.2 Million Budget Deficit
IPSWICH –The SelectBoard voted last week to accept $390,000 from the federal Emergency Management Administration that will be used to hire two additional firefighters for the 19-person fire department for three years. But it was unclear if the town might have to...
Neighbors Express Concern Over Proposed Georgetown Lithium Battery Facility
GEORGETOWN – The Conservation Commission and Planning Board are considering allowing a Battery Electrical Storage System (BESS) to be installed at the former G. Mello Trash Disposal Corp. site on Main Street. [Mello moved to a new, modern location less than a mile...
Rowley: Finding an Affordable House 15 Years Later
ROWLEY – If even one affordable housing is a gem in this over-heated market, Rowley has had a diamond in the rough in its downtown area for 15 years. In 2010, as a condition of construction, the town’s Planning Commission granted Kenneth Hamilton, manager of local...
Georgetown’s Zaalee Pottle Crowned the 2026 Jr. Queen at Topsfield Fair
GEORGETOWN – For most contestants to be the 2026 Jr. Queen of the Topsfield Fair, their challenge was picking a beautiful dress, getting over their nerves and having good answers to the questions the judges asked. Zaalee Pottle also had a challenge to see as well as...
Newbury Firefighters/Town Working Through Rent Dispute
NEWBURY – Municipalities and firefighters are accustomed to negotiating over wages and benefits, but the rent on the station? And for more than a year? What is unusual is the station and some equipment housed there are owned, not by the town, but by the firefighters –...
West Newbury/Newburyport Bridge to Open
NEWBURYPORT/ WEST NEWBURY – Closed to vehicles for eight years, the Middle Street/Plummer Springs Bridge on the border of West Newbury and Newburyport saw its first vehicles cross the Upper Artichoke Reservoir, the drinking water supply for both communities, following...
Petition Fights for Clean Merrimack
REGIONAL – A Plum Island resident, “fed up” with watching sewage flow down the river, polluting the island waters and the Parker River Wildlife Sanctuary, has started a petition with almost 2,000 signatures urging state and local officials to “take decisive action...
Plum Island Slated for Huge Sewage Monitoring Program
PLUM ISLAND, Mass. — Maintaining a sewer system on a barrier island sand bar is never an easy task. And the sewer system on this ever-more-populated island is no exception. For all its challenges, the PI sewer system has enhanced the island’s charm by producing the...
Camera at Rowley Market Basket is Not a Flock
ROWLEY, Mass. – The camera focused on the parking lot at Market Basket here is surveilling snow and ice accumulations, not license plates, according to Police Chief Michael Balsley. When Chair Sherri David of the Rowley SelectBoard heard a variety of concerns from...
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