Readers clicked on the Concord Monitor website more than 15 million times in 2021, but some news stories clearly stood out online more than others.
A healthy dose of COVID-19 content along with stories of tragedy, mishaps and statewide issues with no easy solutions was the most viewed. Here’s a rundown of the Monitor’s most read stories of the year, from the tenth to the top spot.
“Spike in lumber prices hasn’t translated much into higher timber value, at least not yet” (Monitor, 4/10)
Staying at home during COVID gave people the time to tackle the home projects they’d been putting off, like finally getting around to that shed they’ve been meaning to build. But when it came time to buy the lumber for those projects, COVID gave them something else — sticker shock. The price of lumber basically doubled in a single year due to demand and supply chain issues. Reporter David Brooks explored whether these high prices were a boon to New Hampshire’s sawmills and logging industry. The answer was a hearty “not really.”
Much of southern and central New Hampshire consists of hardwood forests, whereas the bulk of the construction industry uses faster-growing softwoods such as pine, spruce or fir. Those softwood species become more common in northern parts of the state. Even as demand soared, sawmills could only cut so much wood. As a result, the trees in the forest didn’t suddenly become worth twice as much.
“As lumber markets have spiked, local mills have done what they can to capitalize on that. But until someone truly adds capacity – might be new kilns, new sawmill, a new line at a sawmill, a really major investment – they can’t just turn the knob and make twice as much lumber as they did yesterday,” said Eric Kinglsey, an industry consultant.
That story was read 28,068 times online.
Note: Our 11th most-read story (that did not make the list) also by David Brooks, dealt with another supply chain issue causing soaring prices for a different commodity: chicken wings.
“Third dose vs. booster: Doctors explain vaccine recommendations” (Monitor, 8/26)
COVID affected virtually everything in 2021, including when and how people could sign up to receive vaccines at the beginning of 2021, followed by a near equal scramble to get booster shots as the Delta and Omicron variants began to spread at the end of the year. Many stories focused on those who were against mask and vaccine mandates on grounds of personal freedom. A few focused on those who ignored warnings about the disease until they caught it. The next COVID-related story to enter our top 10 by health reporter Teddy Rosenbluth examined the difference between third vaccine shots and booster shots. While the contents of the shots were largely identical, who could get them, and when they could get them, varied. For example, a third shot was available 28 days after a second shot to anyone who had a compromised immune system, such as patients receiving active cancer treatment and those who received an organ transplant. Boosters, on the other hand, were available to the public eight months after their second dose. For many people, that fell between Nov. 2021 and Jan. 2022. That story was read 28,198 times online.
“Some in the Epsom area insist they’ve seen a mountain lion; Fish and Game remain skeptical” (Monitor, 8/28)
Few things get people as riled up as the question of whether mountain lions have returned to the New Hampshire wilderness. Many people swear they’ve seen the large predatory cats, but little physical evidence like scat or even a photograph exists. Columnist Ray Duckler waded into the fray after a woman in Chichester insisted a mountain lion was just a few yards from her house.
“There is a very low possibility of seeing them in the Eastern states,” said Pat Tate, a wildlife biologist with New Hampshire Fish and Game. “The most common species (seen) is the bobcat, and people, in their eyes, say they see a mountain lion.”
But there is still that slim chance they did in fact see what they thought they saw.
“I will say that I can not rule out what they say, but at the same time, I can not verify what they saw,” Tate added. The story was viewed 29,213 times online.
“Communities show support for Ouellette family ahead of Saturday services for brothers” (Monitor, 9/15)
This was one of the most tragic stories of the year, as two brothers from Bow died suddenly in a car crash on Interstate 89. Older brother Nicholas was a 16-year-old junior at Bow High School and played on the football team. Six-year-old Gavin was a first-grader at the elementary school and was his older brother’s shadow. After the accident, teams from across the state started wearing the number 55, Nick’s number on the football team, and players and spectators observed 55 seconds of silence in their honor. The story was read more than 30,000 times online.
“Tech billionaire Alex Karp gives $180k to ousted hermit River Dave” (Monitor, 8/19)
The story of “River Dave” Lidstone, a reclusive hermit who was jailed for refusing to leave the cabin he built along the Merrimack River on private land, caught national attention. Reporter Cassidy Jensen visited river Dave at his homestead days after he was released from jail. The judge let him free after his cabin burned down while he was still incarcerated. The story captured the attention — and generosity — of Palantir Technologies CEO and billionaire Alexander Karp, who wrote Lidstone a check for $180,000. Lidstone is still looking for a property of his own to call home. The story was read 34,368 times online.
“‘Teacher Loyalty’ bill would restrict how U.S. history, especially racism, can be discussed in school” (Monitor, 12/3)
During the last legislative session, New Hampshire Republicans passed a law guaranteeing “freedom from discrimination” in public schools as part of a rider bill to the state budget that was ultimately signed by Gov. Chris Sununu. The bill was proposed to prevent “divisive concepts” from being taught in schools and was modified before it passed. However, a group of lawmakers are back at work on a new bill called “An Act Relative to Teachers’ Loyalty,” that seeks to ban public school teachers from promoting any theory that depicts U.S. history or its founding in a negative light, including the idea that the country was founded on racism.
“Slavery was a terrible thing, but a lot of people don’t know slavery happened all over the world; that’s the setting you need to be teaching,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Alicia Lekas of Hudson, told education reporter Eileen O’Grady. “If you’re going to teach about the founding of the country, you need to teach it in its proper setting so you know what was happening in the rest of the world.”
The story, which was read 35,652 times online, got a boost from bestselling author Nikole Hannah-Jones, who tweeted a link.
“‘I have no idea what’s going to happen’: Caregivers struggle to make ends meet” (Monitor, 8/21)
Heather Grow is one of New Hampshire’s home care workers providing essential services to disabled individuals like bathing, feeding and cleaning for her clients in order to allow them to continue living independently. Despite years of experience, she makes less than $14 an hour and can make more money at almost any other job in the state’s economy. Health reporter Teddy Rosenbluth found out that the role she fills in society is significant. In recent years, many home care workers left their jobs in search of higher wages, creating a vacuum of workers to provide vital care to the state’s elderly and disabled. Without the routine care they need, many of these clients are forced to leave their homes to live in a long-term care facility well before that level of care is necessary. The shortage of workers is so acute that about 18,000 hours worth of requests for care goes unanswered each week. Grow said she will keep going, while working second and third jobs to make ends meet, because of the relationships she has built with the people she cares for. The story was read 41,514 times online.
“If you can’t get a second vaccine appointment within 28 days of your first, don’t panic” (Monitor, 2/6)
Just after the start of the year, after thousands of people received their first vaccine shot against COVID-19, they clamored to sign up for their second shot within the recommended 28 days only to find out that all of the available spots were booked. Some people would need to wait up to 90 days to get their second dose of the vaccine. The delay caused stress and made people wonder whether the second dose would be as effective after all that time. Health reporter Teddy Rosenbluth sought answers from medical professionals, who explained how vaccines worked and assured the public that a delay would not be harmful.
“When people say they’re worried about getting their second dose on time, I say they shouldn’t worry, as long as they get the second dose eventually,” said David Topham, a professor of immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. “It’s not going to be a detriment to their ultimate immune response. If anything, it might actually be better.”
At the height of vaccine demand, that story was read 68,193 times online.
“Rottweiler named Odin taken up Mount Washington had to be carried back down” (Monitor, 6/11)
We’ve all read about what happens when a hiker gets stranded or lost in the woods — New Hampshire Fish and Game is called in to coordinate a rescue. However, when it’s a canine in distress, the same resources are not deployed, columnist Ray Duckler learned.
“We do not have the resources to climb a mountain to rescue a dog,” explained Lt. Robert Mancini of Fish and Game back in June. “We have to direct search and rescue to people.”
That was the tale of Odin the Rottweiler, whose owner took him to the top of New Hampshire’s highest mountain, only to learn the sharp rock above treeline were too much for his dog’s paws. Odin needed to be carried down. A small army of hikers answered the call and mobilized a team, equipped with a dog harness to carry an unhappy Odin down the mountain. Odin, as far as we know, is doing well. That story was read 101,152 times online.
“His parents brought him for urgent psychiatric help. Then, he waited in the emergency room for nearly a month” (Monitor, 11/6)
New Hampshire has a problem with its mental health system for those in crisis, especially young people. In late September, Jeremy Sheppard and his wife, Kristen, brought their 17-year-old son to the emergency room to get him mental health treatment at an inpatient psychiatric facility.
Christopher Sheppard, who had intellectual disabilities, cognitive delays and PTSD, sat in two different hospitals for more than three weeks where he spent most of the day alone. Screaming coming from down the hall in the Emergency Department kept him up at night. The constant door-slamming from the nurse’s triage station across the hall made him agitated and aggressive.
“This is what solitary confinement is, minus the TV,” Kristen Sheppard told health reporter Teddy Rosenbluth. The demand for youth mental health beds has dramatically outpaced the state’s resources, creating a backlog of children in hospital emergency rooms, which often do not have the resources to care for children in psychological distress.
After 28 days, Christopher eventually was given a bed at Hampstead Hospital, a mental health facility for youth. Late in the year, Gov. Chris Sununu announced the state was in the final stages of purchasing the facility to open up additional beds for children. That story drew more than 197,845 online views from around the country.