Neil Armstrong was also a boyhood buddy to a local man

By DAVID BROOKS

When one of your childhood buddies grows up to become one of the most famous people of the century, you hear a certain type of question a lot.“Did we think he was special?” said John Blackford, responding to a Monitor query by looking back on his Boy...

A fishing trip turns tragic on the Merrimack River, leaving a family to mourn

By NICK STOICO

Scraping through the brush along the Merrimack River as cold raindrops poured overhead, Jake Bronchuk hoped each branch he pushed aside would be the one to reveal his son. It was June 13, and Alec Bronchuk had been missing since early that morning in...

10 facts about expansion

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

Ten straight years of growth. Unemployment at a five-decade low. Higher wages for the poorest workers.The economic expansion that just became America’s longest on record didn’t produce an especially fast pace of growth. It didn’t narrow the vast gap...

Former Concord High student sues district for Title IX violations

By ALYSSA DANDREA

A former Concord High School student who says she was sexually assaulted by a classmate on a school bus in late 2017 is suing the district, alleging that its administrators improperly investigated the incident and failed to make accommodations to...

Family of overdose victim confronts drug dealer at sentencing

By ALYSSA DANDREA

Every night before falling asleep, Kayla Smith checked Facebook messenger to ensure there hadn’t been a significant lapse in time since her brother’s account was last active.She knew if he hadn’t logged in for 24 hours or more that something was...

Officials identify 3 of 4 victims discovered in barrels near Bear Brook State Park

By RAY DUCKLER

The identification of a woman and her two daughters – found dead in a pair of barrels 15 years apart in Allenstown – partially ended a mystery that had stumped police since the first two victims were discovered in 1985.Associate Attorney General Jeff...

Greg Makris, longtime restaurant giant, dies suddenly

By RAY DUCKLER

More than once over the past five years, Greg Makris had mentioned his desire to leave the restaurant business and the grueling schedule that accompanied it, saying he was ready for retirement so he could spend more time at his second home in...

Judge: Rekha Luther violated probation terms by using drugs

By ALYSSA DANDREA

A former Pembroke Academy dean convicted of felony drug charges in early 2018 violated her probation several months later by continuing to abuse narcotics, a judge ruled.Rekha Luther, 39, of Manchester recently pleaded true to a violation of probation...

For Rachel Hunger, life was family, kindness and dance

By CAITLIN ANDREWS

It seemed like the spring would be a time of renewal for Rachel Hunger.As a molecular genetics student at the University of New Hampshire, the Concord resident occasionally took time during the winter months to share important parts of her life...

A former star pitcher, his daughter and the reality that homelessness can happen to anyone

By RAY DUCKLER

The young woman with the familiar last name was seated in the Friendly Kitchen, her eyes focused on her cellphone, hidden under shoulder-length blonde hair.She’s homeless, short on money, her life stuffed into a knapsack, just like so many others who...

Veteran Ruby Tuesday waitress mourns closing of Concord location

By CAITLIN ANDREWS

In 2013, Sarah Hoidahl’s life was complicated.She was a single mom, living with her mother and son Ashton in Henniker, making ends meet by waiting tables at Concord’s Ruby Tuesday out on Loudon Road.Her life was briefly turned upside down after she...

Killer in Dartmouth professors stabbing case seeks early release from prison

By JORDAN CUDDEMI

James Parker, who has served 18 years in prison after the 2001 stabbing deaths of two Dartmouth College professors, will go before a Grafton County judge on Tuesday and ask to have the remainder of his 25-year sentence suspended.Parker was 16 at the...

OSHA fines Craigue & Sons of Concord $40,279 for safety violations

By ALYSSA DANDREA

A local contractor is contesting more than $40,000 in fines proposed by federal regulators who found numerous safety violations following the death of a Concord man at a Pleasant Street worksite last year.The federal Occupational Safety and Health...

Have you heard the story about the Pembroke family killed in 1906? Few have

By RAY DUCKLER

Maybe Lisa Wheeler’s three kids were right after all.Maybe their home in Pembroke, site of a mass murder more than 100 years ago that, somehow, slipped through the town’s historical cracks, is, indeed, haunted. Maybe the murderer, Charles Ayer,...

Judge rules for defendants in Bradford Village Inn case

By RAY DUCKLER

The Bradford Village Inn, a 120-year-old former bed-and-breakfast, will not return to past glory anytime soon after a judge ruled against its new owner, who claimed in a lawsuit that the former owner and the current fire chief were dating and...

Multiple people arrested in Rollins Street drug raid

Multiple people are facing felony drug possession charges after Concord police executed search warrants at 5 and 6 Rollins Streets early Friday morning.The arrests were part of a “lengthy” drug investigation, according to Concord police, who said they...

Scott LaCrosse, avoiding the spotlight, became big news

By RAY DUCKLER

Col. Kevin Jordan of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department couldn’t help himself.He had to start his eulogy for Scott LaCrosse with a joke. The one about modesty.At the church in Loudon, Jordan did his best impression of his former colleague,...

Anger mounts in Barnstead as second select board member resigns

By RAY DUCKLER

For the second time in recent weeks, a select board member in Barnstead has resigned, and, yet again, those in attendance at the meeting grew angry, saying their voices were ignored while town officials handpicked a successor.The shocking exit by Sean...

History channel show features Robertson family of Bohanan Farm, Contoocook Creamery

By NICK STOICO

Bohanan Farm in Contoocook has long been one of the region’s most cherished agricultural sites, and soon the nation will have the chance to see the century-old dairy farm and meet the family that runs it.The American Farm, a new docu-series premiering...

AP Investigation: Spa busts often result in light sentences

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and TERRY SPENCER

When Florida authorities shut down 10 massage spas last month and charged hundreds of men with buying sex, they broke a longstanding pattern of meting out minor charges and punishment for owners, letting patrons off scot-free and turning a mostly...