NEWBURYPORT – While the First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist Church (FRSUU) on Pleasant Street is celebrating the beginning of its fourth century serving this city, it is losing its beloved minister, the Rev. Rebecca Bryan. Rev. Rebecca, who is beginning her...
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.
Rachel Bancroft Fires Back
GEORGETOWN – SelectBoard member Rachel Bancroft said last week she has avoided commenting on unfounded attacks on her personally and as a public official, “but in response to the continued attacks on me, I feel the need to set the record straight.” Bancroft called the...
Newburyport Elections Meet and Greet
NEWBURYPORT – Most of the candidates for mayor and city council gathered last week at the Rip Tide on Plum Island for a meet and greet with dozens of voters over pizza hosted by The Townie, a web-based platform for local opinions, ideas and constructive debate. Both...
dugout canoe on Merrimack River
NEWBURYPORT – Aquinnah Wampanoag master canoe builder Johnathan James Perry and Mashpee Wampanoag Darius Coombs launched a mishoon, a dugout canoe, in the Merrimack River on Sunday, to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day. Once a pine, it was turned into a dugout canoe...
Saving People: One Animal at a Time
BOXFORD, MA – August 29 is a date that changed the life direction of Cynthia Sweet, who founded and heads Sweet Paws Rescue. Twenty years ago on that date, Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest storms to hit the U.S., overwhelmed the New Orleans’ levees and flooded...
Is SelectBoard Becoming ‘Dysfunctional?’
GEORGETOWN, MA – SelectBoard member Laura Repplier told Mike Donahue, another SelectBoard member, she can no longer work with him without a third-party being present. On Sept. 10, Repplier emailed him: “Mike, your initiation of this conversation and tenor of your...
Do Rail Trails Need a Speed Limit?
NEWBURYPORT – You’re walking along the popular Clipper City Rail Trail, enjoying the day, talking with a friend or partner while soaking in the views, when suddenly an ebike flies by you with no warning. It doesn’t happen often, but there are complaints being heard by...
Our Neighbors’ Table Expanding to Georgetown
GEORGETOWN – With estimates that as many as 800 residents, or 9 percent of this town’s population, may feel insecure about their or their family’s next meal, Our Neighbors’ Table (ONT) has begun studying how it can deliver food here. “There are probably more people...
Building a Canoe Wampanaoag Style
NEWBURYPORT – Visitors to the Merrimack River waterfront last weekend thought they had stumbled onto a barbecue behind the Custom House Maritime Museum. But instead of a roasting pig, walkers on the Clipper City Rail Trail instead found Aquinnah Wampanoag master canoe...
Newburyport’s Illume Bookstore Adds Art Gallery
NEWBURYPORT – When Donna Marie Sein, the author, and Susan Spellman, the illustrator, launched their series of children’s books last year at Illume Bookstore, Spellman thought the store was a perfect space to exhibit her art. After looking at her portfolio, store...
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