Receding tide of labor pool leaves beaches understaffed or unguarded

By CATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

For a second consecutive summer, there will be no lifeguards on duty at Weirs Beach.Though there will be on-duty guards at Bond Beach, the city Parks and Recreation Department was unable to sufficiently staff Weirs Beach, which requires a larger team...

Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years for helping Epstein

By TOM HAYS and LARRY NEUMEISTER

Ghislaine Maxwell, the jet-setting socialite who once consorted with royals, presidents and billionaires, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for helping the financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.The stiff sentence was a...

Hole in the Capitol Shopping Center parking lot is the start of stand-alone expansion

By DAVID BROOKS

That big hole in the parking lot of the Capitol Shopping Center on Storrs Street is the start of the first major change to the site in decades.Brixmor Property Group, owner of the half-century-old plaza, has presented proposals to build a casual...

In NH, a lack of teacher diversity

By SARAH GIBSON

Mackenzie Verdiner goes to one of the most diverse schools in New Hampshire, Manchester’s West High School. Students there speak about 50 different languages.“If I grab a fistful of kids randomly, it would be a different color on each finger — it’s...

Umuganda brings together Concord families for day of service

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

For Adam Hassan, Umuganda is a chance to show his 2-year-old daughter a slice of life from home. Gathering to do community activities, like the gardening and painting that happened in Keach Park on Saturday, is a frequent feat in his home country of...

An unhappy N.H. first: Our first officially extinct plant

By DAVID BROOKS

Smooth slender crabgrass, a plant known to exist only at Rock Rimmon Park in Manchester, has been officially declared globally extinct, the N.H. Natural Heritage Bureau announced Wednesday.This is the first documented plant extinction ever in New...

Bow Memorial School honor roll, spring 2022

The following students were named to the honor roll for the final semester at Bow Memorial School. Eighth-grade high honors: Sydney Adams, William Albushies, Madison Barrett, Meldina Becirovic, Samuel Bennett, William Bennett, Belladonna Chang, Nora...

Concord celebrates clean energy from a hydropower neighbor

By DAVID BROOKS

Operators of hydropower dams face plenty of complications, including the wrong sort of bubbles, too many American eels and super-cooled “frazil ice,” but one thing that the owner of the Penacook Lower Falls dam doesn’t have to worry about now is...

Hiker who was rescued in winter-like weather on Presidential Range dies; multiple others had to be helped

By DAVID BROOKS

The winter-like weather that swept through the White Mountains this weekend led to at least a half-dozen rescues of unprepared hikers, one of whom died Monday – a sobering reminder about the need to be ready for anything at any time when heading above...

Walden Eco Village tenants settle with landlord out of court

By ASHLEY SAARI

Following a mediation session, the landlord for the Walden Eco Village has settled out-of-court with a group of tenants who filed suit after being evicted from their homes only days before Christmas in December 2020 for multiple code violations.Akhil...

Merrimack County closing visitation center to make way for new program

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

In a small room in the Merrimack County Visitation Center, Disney princess stickers line the beige walls. Toy trucks, board games and a Little Tikes plastic kitchen are at the ready for children to play. This room, along with three others down the...

Latest youth center lawsuit also targets other facilities

By HOLLY RAMER

A New Hampshire man who spent six years in state custody as a child is suing multiple facilities alleging physical and sexual abuse.The lawsuit filed Tuesday is the latest of more than 400 targeting the Sununu Youth Services Center, formerly called...

LHS principal addresses bathroom monitoring measures

By CATHERINE MCLAUGHLIN

Vandalism, vaping and evasion — those are the reasons Laconia High School Principal Jim McCollum listed in a letter to parents, explaining increased security at student bathrooms.“The problems started with vaping about four years ago and that issue...

Ebbing nationally, boat market remains at high water mark on Winnipesaukee

By CATHERINE MCLAUGHLIN

LACONIA — At the height of the pandemic, refunded vacations, stimulus checks and the yearning for safe activities outside drove boat sales to a decade high. Yet, as gas prices more than double their May 2020 average, supply chain interruptions drive...

A surprising number of New Hampshire families decided the pandemic was a great time to have kids

By DAVID BROOKS

After years and years of declining birth rates, New Hampshire has surprised just about everybody by seeing the country’s biggest baby boom last year with a birth rate that rebounded 7% since pre-pandemic times, far more than any other state.Whether it...

Former Element Hotel in Lebanon sold, with plan to shift to short-term apartments

By JOHN LIPPMAN

LEBANON — After sitting unoccupied for more than two years after an explosion damaged the building, the former Element Hotel on Route 120 will soon be perking back to life.A Massachusetts private equity company that specializes in residential housing...

Top issues for Granite Staters heading into 2022 elections

By ANNA BROWN

Every election year the nonpartisan, nonprofit Citizens Count surveys and profiles the roughly 900 candidates for state and federal office in New Hampshire, from state representative through U.S. senator. When Citizens Count staff choose which issues...

Hundreds of people showed up at Blossom Cemetery to say goodbye to Dustin Kay

By RAY DUCKLER

Sometime during the past 20 years or so, Dustin Kay latched onto his older brother’s hip for the very first time.Then he rarely let go.Maybe that’s why Mikey Kay wore so many hats on the day Dustin’s urn was buried. He hugged nearly every person in a...

School safety data shows weapons in schools rare in NH, but increasing

By EILEEN O’GRADY

When Concord school psychologist Melissa Pazdon heard the news Tuesday evening about the school shooting in Uvalde Texas, she immediately sent out an email to all her fellow employees at Christa McAuliffe School, to prepare them for work the next...

On the day Kalahan Emery of Boscawen would have turned 21, his father toasted him with beers and tears. 

By RAY DUCKLER

On Oct. 9, 2019, a stranger from North Carolina named Carson McLean noticed a photo of Kraig Emery on a website.Emery was raising a glass of beer, as though toasting someone. Shown alone, he wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t look mean, sad or angry,...