GEORGETOWN – G. Mello Disposal Corp.’s plans to build a 500-ton transfer station near Interstate 95 got even more complicated last week. Mello, which collects trash in several North Shore communities, already operates a 50-ton transfer station on East Main Street...
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.
Mike Wilson Runs Historic Highway
NORTH PLATTE, NE – As Mike Wilson ran across central Nebraska last week in heats that topped the high 90s and low 100s, the members of the Newburyport Waterfront Trust began discussing how the city might greet him as he crosses the finish line of his 3,000-mile trek...
Essex Pastures ZBA Decision Appealed
IPSWICH – Will Essex Pastures have 191 units like developer John Bruni wants or 141 units that were approved by the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) last month? Will it have the almost 8,000 square feet of retail space as Bruni proposed, or none as the ZBA...
Is That Tesla In Your Rearview Flashing Red Lights?
REGIONAL – If there is any lingering question that electric cars are the future, ask your police chief. He may be driving an all-wheel drive Tesla or will be soon. Newburyport’s Marshall Mark Murray has proposed that the city authorize the purchase of a Tesla as a...
Mike Wilson Running Across Nebraska
SIDNEY, NE – When Mike Wilson was in the first grade, he made a friend, Rhea, who shared the same birthday in January. Fast forward 20 plus years and Rhea’s parents. who live in Pine Bluffs, WY, drove about 60 miles to Nebraska to bring Mike water and sports drinks to...
Who Will Pay to Rebuild Carleton Drive?
GEORGETOWN – Carleton Drive must be totally rebuilt if it is to support hundreds of new vehicles from tractor trailers and packer trucks to cars and pickups, handling trash at the proposed 500-ton transfer station, the Planning Board learned last week. It is unclear...
Affordable Housing V. Salamanders and Frogs
BYFIELD — In recent years as North Shore green space is gobbled up by the growing demand for housing, the battle municipalities face is often whether to side with people, who vote and pay taxes, or salamanders and tree frogs. That issue is before the Newbury...
Waterfront Rail Trail Gap Now Open
NEWBURYPORT – The temperature and the humidity along the Merrimack River felt more like the lower Mississippi River Wednesday as a Dixieland Jazz band led a crowd of rail trail enthusiasts in marching along the newly opened waterfront gap in the Clipper City Rail...
Salisbury Cemetery Wars
SALISBURY — War broke out last week over burial urns, shepherd’s poles and benches before the town’s Cemetery Commission. At the usually peaceful meeting of the town’s cemetery commission, about 20 emotionally distraught residents came to the Town Hall auditorium to...
Mike Wilson Is Headed Into Cowboy Country
RAWLINS, WY – The owner of the Sunset Inn in Wamsutter, WY, gave Mike Wilson a free room for the night when he heard Mike’s story about his running across America to raise money for two worthy charities in Massachusetts and California. Mike, a professional trainer in...
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Priced Right Junk Removal