The value of your property is dropping, but your real estate tax is going up. Isn't it always the way? The Board of Assessors presented the proposed tax rate to selectmen recently, with Assessor Michael Tumulty noting that the median tax bill is rising by 5 percent.

Residents of Peabody's Ward 4 got a lesson this month in how every vote does, indeed, count.

I am a pretty good cook, but I am a bit flummoxed. My in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving.

Stop pressing your nose against the glass - come inside! Yes, take a tour of some of downtown Marblehead's most historic addresses.

A football signed by Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker and a one-hour massage are among the raffle prizes up for grabs at a fundraiser this Friday to benefit the Salem Alliance of Food Pantries.

But her friends from Marblehead, Swampscott, Salem and beyond have decided it might be time to celebrate a girl who had a profound effect on those around her.

Middleton police may have saved a life - or lives - when they broke up a party on East Street on Tuesday night.

Want to see four young Marblehead chicks strutting through their daily routines on the Internet? There's plenty of drama, including watching statuesque Zoe establish her dominance over the shy Henrietta.

Two Marblehead teenagers are facing multiple criminal charges for a violent beating that left the victim with a concussion, a swollen-shut left eye, and abrasions on his face, neck and hands, according to police.

Andover Bookstore is the second oldest bookstore in the country. So its 200th birthday bash will be celebrated all month as the staffers don't want this party to be a mere flash in the pan.

Singer and songwriter Kate Taylor will bring her earthy vocals and eclectic style to Marblehead's Me&Thee Coffeehouse tomorrow night in what will double as a CD release party of her latest album, "Fair Time!" When it came to write songs for her album, Taylor tapped her childhood with brothers James, Livingston, Hugh and the late Alex in Chapel ...

The missing woman's black Lexus was winched out of the water. By Jenna Russell, Milton Valencia, and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff, and Michaela Stanelun, Globe Correspondent The body of a missing Peabody woman has been recovered from the bottom of a Lynn pond, not far from the bar where she was last sighted in December 2008, authorities said this ...

This blaze at a historic home in Marblehead, Massachusetts, was reportedly caused by the process used to remove exterior paint.

The state is putting all of its transportation eggheads in one basket - and one of them is a Marbleheader.

When police found 22-year-old Taylor Jackson hiding near the scene of her wrecked car early yesterday morning, they say Jackson made one thing clear: "I'm not going to get arrested from a Salem cop," Jackson allegedly told officers.

It's hard to imagine a place more different from this town than Oklahoma, where, according to the song, "the wind comes sweepin' down the plain." Tonight, the Marblehead Little Theatre will offer its opening performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical comedy "Oklahoma" at Veterans Memorial Middle School.

A Salem Superior Court judge yesterday ordered that an alleged five-time drunken driver - found with a pint of vodka in his lunchbox - will remain in custody until trial.

A home for sale in Marblehead will soon be the site for more than just open houses.

For all her awards and accomplishments, esteemed actress Estelle Parsons still feels like she isn't doing enough.

Susan Steigman believes in sharing her love of books. She has been organizing the annual Jewish Book Month events at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore for eight years, and the series kicks off its 15th season on Sunday.