News
Conway teen held captive for nine months said she never lost her will to survive
By ALYSSA DANDREA
Handcuffed with a jacket over her head, Abigail “Abby” Hernandez could hear the squeezing and popping of her cellphone as her captor attempted to break it into pieces. The man who had taken her at gunpoint and threatened to slit her throat in Conway...
Plaintiff says $275K settlement sends a message to DCYF
By ETHAN DeWITT
To the plaintiff, the settlement is no small sum: $275,000 paid by New Hampshire taxpayers after Ashley Rossiter brought a wrongful termination lawsuit against the state’s Division for Children, Youth and Families. But Rossiter says the message is...
Cape Cod beaches: Playgrounds for tourists, and young sharks
By PHILIP MARCELO
As another beach season draws to a close on Cape Cod, researchers are trying to figure out what’s driving the increase in shark sightings and encounters – including the state’s first attack on a human since 2012.One prominent researcher suggests the...
Former Concord High principal Gene Connolly dies after fight with ALS
By RAY DUCKLER
Gene Connolly, Concord High School’s immensely popular principal who became a symbol of perseverance and courage through his battle with ALS, died Sunday morning, school officials confirmed. He was 62.Connolly was diagnosed in 2014 with amyotrophic...
Concord cemetery for mentally ill hidden in plain sight
Two recent comments by Geoff Souther were stunning in light of his background.Souther, who spent parts of 45 years working at the New Hampshire State Hospital, only recently learned that the big white cross – the one clearly visible from Clinton...
A bridge between New England, old England runs through Henniker
By ELIZABETH FRANTZ
Towns in central New Hampshire have been turning 250 years old for decades, but few can count their namesake’s great, great, great, great, great, grand daughter as a celebrant.“It’s lovely. I’m thrilled,” the honorable Jane Elizabeth Henniker-Major of...
Swenson Granite is still quarrying hard but wants to do it sideways rather than from on high
By DAVID BROOKS
Almost two years after being purchased by a Quebec firm, Concord’s iconic Swenson Granite Quarry has expanded operations slightly on Rattlesnake Hill, even as it starts reconfiguring its approach to tackle one of the paradoxes of mining.“The deeper we...
When seeking lost hikers, cellphone signals are both more useful and less useful than you might think
By DAVID BROOKS
We’re all familiar with crime-scene forensics, or at least the TV version that is the central plot point for every single cop show, but I must admit the concept of cellphone forensics is new to me.Fortunately for a hiker who was lost for two days in...
Yet another set of hikers get stranded, rescued in Huntington Ravine
By DAVID BROOKS
Another day – or, rather, night – another rescue on the “hardest trail in the White Mountains.” Five hikers were rescued late Thursday after getting stranded in Huntington Ravine on the side of Mt. Washington, without lights or gear to stay overnight...
Bedford superintendent resigns amid controversy over sex-assault case
By HOLLY RAMER
A school superintendent in Bedfore resigned Friday over his decision to allow employees to publicly support a guidance counselor who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old student.Bedford Superintendent Chip McGee said in a statement that he decided to step...
A N.H. bridge over troubled waters is looking for an identity
By RAY DUCKLER
At the Pumpkin Seed Bridge – a relic with a rich history and an uncertain future that spans the Pemigewasset River – a few seconds can seem like a long time.Jump from the bridge itself, a 103-foot drop, and three seconds take on a new meaning. Videos...
Aching for answers: Family of man found dead in river saddened, confused
By LEAH WILLINGHAM
Chris Audet was drawn to thewater.Whether he was fishingfor hornpout or bringing his kids to Horace Lake or Tucker Pond to swim – the water was the place to which the Loudon native always returned.“I think he just felt free being in the water,” said...
N.H. explores turning Ruggles Mine into state park
By HOLLY RAMER
This mine is your land? A 215-year-old mineral mine – site of an enormous pit with tunnels and caverns that make up the oldest and largest mine of its kind in the United States – could someday belong to you and me. State officials are in...
Two sets of unprepared hikers had to be rescued off Mount Washington
Two sets of hikers setting off during hot weather in the valley were stymied by falling temperatures and the difficulty of trails, and had to be rescued Friday while trying to hike up Mount Washington.Both sets of hikers had to be helped off the...
N.H. police talk marijuana enforcement on the border with legal-pot states
By JACOB DAWSON
Police Chief Andy Shagoury’s town of Tuftonboro is nestled on Lake Winnipesaukee and sits about 20 miles from New Hampshire’s border with Maine. Marijuana is legal in Maine, and the reality of people bringing the dried plant into the Granite State...
When it comes to fireworks, everything is legal again in New Hampshire
By JACOB DAWSON
With Fourth of July just around the corner, New Hampshire residents have every possible pyrotechnic option to choose from for entertainment, which has fire safety officials warning that it just means more ways to get hurt.This year it’s legal to buy...
Concord Direct laying off dozens, closing web printing department
By ETHAN DeWITT
A local marketing company with deep ties to Concord plans to lay off 40 employees and close down its web printing operations, the company announced Tuesday.Concord Direct – previously known as Concord Litho – will shut down those operations by the end...
A solar panel in the New Hampshire woods is old enough to run for president
By DAVID BROOKS
In 1979, or maybe it was 1978, Ralph Jimenez and Linda Graham got tired of lighting their off-the-grid home via candles, Coleman lanterns and kerosene lights, and they decided to take a high-tech plunge.Thirty-nine years later (or maybe 40, but...
In this store, Diane the near-50-year-old turtle helps you come out of your shell
By RAY DUCKLER
Diane greeted her guests with a pullup, peeking over the edge on top of her 60-gallon home, hoping Jim Tonner had brought her a snack.And he had. Tonner, who co-owns TwinDesigns Gift Shop with his twin brother, Brad Tonner, gave a strawberry to the...
Donald Hall, a giant of American poetry, dies at 89
By MIKE PRIDE
Donald Hall, one of the last major American poets of his generation, died Saturday night at Eagle Pond Farm in Wilmot, where he hayed with his grandfather during boyhood summers and later cultivated a writer’s life. Hall was 89 years old and had been...
