SAUGUS Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Vol. 27, No.52 -FREE- www.advocatenews.net Published Every Friday YEAR IN REVIEW: 2025 781-233-4446 Wednesday, December 24, 2025 Cover Stories of 2025 S By Mark E. Vogler tories about the biennial town election made the front page of The Saugus HONORED BY THE TOWN: Nancy Prag and Eugene Decareau displayed their 2025 “Person of the Year” Awards at the 44th Annual Saugus Founders Day Celebration in front of Saugus Town Hall on Sept. 13. Please see inside for coverage highlighting interesting people and events over the past year. (Saugus Advocate photo by Mark E. Vogler) Advocate 13 times during 2025 – dominating the local town news more than any other story. Coverage of a busy Annual Town Meeting garnered six front-page stories. Stories about Saugus Public Schools made the cover four times. Stories about WIN Waste Innovations and its trash-to-energy plant on Route 1 – usually the topic that gets the most cover stories in any given year – was on the cover just three times this year. There were eight other topics that made the front page two times. They included the proposed third fire station for the west end of town (which has been broadened into a public safety building), change in the Veteran Services director at Town Hall, the hiring of a new executive director for the Saugus Housing Authority, ongoing concerns about the future town marijuana business, the dog park proposed for the Stocker Playground, adjustments to the town’s overlay district on Route 1, concerns about the Jughandle traffic light on Route 1 in Peabody, and this year’s budget season leading in to the Annual Town Meeting. Here is a month-to-month review of the front-page stories that appeared in The Saugus Advocate over the past year. JANUARY Board of Health Chair Maria Tamagna urged representatives of WIN Waste Innovations to participate in the proceedings of the Ash Landfill Closure Committee instead of avoiding discussion about a situation that’s inevitable. The 2026 fiscal year spending plan proposed by Superintendent Michael C. Hashem is nearly $2.5 million more than the $33.8 million operating budget approved at last May’s Annual Town Meeting. Selectmen voted unanimously to approve a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) loan totaling $900,000 to make major improvements in the town’s water system. The Conservation Commission prepared to begin its review of the potential impact of the proposed Stocker Field Dog Park on the area’s wetlands after Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree’s Office announced that it had COVER STORIES | SEE PAGE 2 Mid-grade Regular 2.67 3.37 3.39 $3.41 Full Service ULS $2.959 Order online at angelosoil.com Kerosene Now Available! Over 47 Years of Excellence! 1978 - 2025 FLEET CARD Check Out Our LOW PRICES!
2 Publizr Home