Salem's Top 5 Stories of the Week

Here are our top five stories of the week, they are listed in no particular order. Click on the headlines to read the full story.

: Salem's latenight "mystery explosions" have become something of a local conversation piece. The latest report was in the early hours Saturday morning, when residents in Marblehead and Salem called 911 to report hearing what sounded like a firework or gunshot in their neck of the woods.

Council Compromises on Legault to Replace Lovely: The 10-members of the City Council, who failed last Thursday to pick a successor to former Councilor at Large Joan Lovely, took only two ballots Tuesday night to elect William Legault as the 11th councilor.

St. Joseph Church Steeple Comes Down: The demolition of St. Joseph Church continued Wednesday afternoon as demo crews tore down the church's well-known steeple. A small crowd gathered at about 2 p.m. to watch the steeple come down.

Council Unanimously Picks Ryan for President: In less than two minutes, the City Council voted unanimously Monday night to elect Ward 4 Councilor Jerry Ryan as the President of the Council for 2013.

Hawk Saved By Salem Police Back in the Wild: The young Cooper's Hawk that was rescued by police in November after being found in front of a Federal Street home was recently released back into the wild.

For more of this week's stories, check out our news section.