Things are coming apart at the seams for the Essex Regional Retirement Board. It appears that Executive Director Tim Bassett's carefully crafted majority on the five-member board - the same one that signed the contract yielding him a 52 percent raise over six years - may be falling apart.

The city is set to borrow $20 million to pay for new federally-mandated sewer improvements - including a renovation of the George P. Riley Wastewater Treatment Plant and continuation of the four-year-old Combined Sewer Overflow project.

He made her nervous as he walked among the beachgoers on that late September afternoon at the southern tip of Plum Island, the woman told investigators.

The face of the Essex Regional Retirement Board changed yesterday morning and could be in for a more substantial makeover.

This important and exciting project will restore the signature landscape feature of the estate: the undulating, half-mile-long, grass lawn that sweeps to a view of the sea and is framed by classical sculptures, Norway spruce, and pine hedgerows.

Christopher Manoloules, shown in this Oct. 1, 2009 file photo as he is led into the courtroom at Barnstable District Court after he was arrested and charged with killing his paternal uncle in Hyannis.

It's always touching to hear about public officials and big government advocates who are filled with compassion for the plight of certain favored people struggling to pay their property taxes.

By contract, Timothy Bassett's minimum salary must be the average of the salaries of the two highest-paid town managers or administrators among the Essex Regional Retirement Board's members.

They're young, they're smart, and most of all, they're successful. Armed with motivation, energy and fresh new ideas, an increasing number of young North Shore professionals are climbing the ladder of success and reaching the top before their 30th birthday.

Meanwhile, although the nursing union National Nurses United has amassed a list of more than 11,000 volunteers, none had been deployed as of Tuesday, nurse and spokeswoman Liz Jacobs said.

Republican Bill Hudak had already set up his 6th District congressional campaign headquarters in Danvers when Scott Brown entered the race for U.S. Senate last September.

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Ipswich schools Superintendent Rick Korb is one of three finalists for a similar position in the Masconomet Regional School District.

With the eyes of the world on earhquake-stricken Haiti, Massachusetts groups and individuals are mobilizing efforts, both large and small, to aid the victims of the disaster.

A holiday for many here in the United States finds many in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation of Haiti still in very dire straits.

Those in Haverhill wishing to donate to victims of the eartquake in Haiti have some local and national options.

Jethro Tull recently revealed dates for an upcoming UK tour in March and April. The group will begin with a March 5th show in Northampton and proceed through an April 11th concert in Sheffield.

Improved water quality from sewage, septic and stormwater upgrades in the nation's iconic clam towns - Gloucester, Essex and Ipswich - are paying off through extended clam harvesting times and open areas.

Democrat Martha Coakley has raised about eight times as much money on the North Shore as Republican state Sen.

The Feoffees of the Ipswich Grammar School, an ancient land trust beset with modern problems, today will announce an agreement to sell its only asset, the area known as Little Neck.