Paul Leighton

Feb 21, 2025 | thebeverlybeat.substack.com | Paul Leighton

Notes and quotes on a Friday afternoon …2025 promises to one of the most competitive election years in Beverly in quite awhile. There are three good candidates for the state rep seat that opened up when Jerry Parisella became a judge — city councilors Hannah Bowen and Todd Rotondo, who will meet in the Democratic primary on April 15, and Greater Beverly Chamber of Commerce President Medley Long, who is running as a Republican and will face the Bowen/Rotondo winner in the May 13 final election.

Feb 20, 2025 | thebeverlybeat.substack.com | Paul Leighton

Social clubs like the Beverly-Peabody Elks and the Vittori-Rocci Post and the Franco-American Club have been a big part of the city’s culture for years, and are still hanging in there despite changing times and declining membership. Now there’s a new one coming to town. A nonprofit organization called Albanian Boston Community Inc. purchased the Elks’ long-time location at 39 Bow St. for $1.14 million and plans to open its own club there.

Jan 2, 2025 | salemnews.com | Paul Leighton

BEVERLY — City Councilor Brendan Sweeney announced Thursday that he is running for mayor, kicking off the new year with an early challenge to longtime mayor Mike Cahill. "After 12 years of the same leadership, I believe Beverly would benefit from a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective in the mayor's office," Sweeney said. kAm$H66?6J[ b_[ 92D 366? 2 4@F?4:=@C 2E\=2C86 D:?46 a_aa 2?5 H@C<D 2D E96 2DD:DE2?E E@H? 25>:?:DEC2E@C 2?5 7:?2?46 5:C64E@C 7@C E96 E@H?

Dec 30, 2024 | salemnews.com | Paul Leighton

Teacher strikes. Wildfires. Flooding. And a double shot of Espresso the dead whale. Those were some of the top stories in The Salem News in 2024. But it wasn’t all bad news either. kAmx? $2=6>[ @77:4:2=D 3C@<6 8C@F?5 @? E96 $2=6> ~77D9@C6 (:?5 %6C>:?2=[ 96C2=5:?8 E96 2CC:G2= @7 2 ?6H :?5FDECJ E@ E96 }@CE9 $9@C6] x?

Dec 30, 2024 | salemnews.com | Paul Leighton

BEVERLY — A judge has ordered a new trial in the 1984 Elliott Chambers rooming house fire that killed 15 people in Beverly, a stunning turnaround in a story that has haunted the city for four decades. In a ruling last week, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp cited advances in fire and eyewitness science that he said “cast real doubt” on the justice of James Carver’s conviction on 15 counts of second-degree murder, and ordered that Carver be given a new trial.