News
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...
Bow police arrest two for alleged criminal threatening
By NICK STOICO
Police in Bow arrested a man and a woman early Friday morning and said they seized several guns, a knife, and possibly drugs after searching their home.Bow police say they executed a search warrant at 3 Branch Londonderry Turnpike West after arresting...
Concord School District Salaries 2018
Women who overcame sex trafficking making a difference in N.H.
By RAY DUCKLER
He called himself Ace, and he came looking for young vulnerable girls that he could sell for sex.He rode into Haverhill, Mass., in a shiny black Lincoln Continental, with red interior. Into a poor neighborhood with three-story tenements and peeling...
Webster: Town clerk pay could be altered by taxpayers
By LEAH WILLINGHAM
Hot topic: Article 4 would discontinue the practice of the town clerk being paid via stipend from fees generation by the office, such as registering a car or license plate. Instead, the Webster town clerk would be paid $35,000 a year with the...
How much for that copy? Record requests can prove costly
By LEAH WILLINGHAMand NICK STOICO
The last thing Gilford officials say they want is to wind up in court. Especially for something as minor as paper copy fees.That’s why Town Administrator Scott Dunn decided to put forward an initiative in Gilford to lower the amount charged per page...
In Franklin, city and residents grapple with homelessness
By RAY DUCKLER
When it comes to homelessness, the city of Franklin is experiencing growing pains similar to what Concord once felt.And, more than anyone else, Desiree McLaughlin is absorbing the blows and shouting from the city’s rooftops, trying to draw attention...
Concord man sentenced to prison psych unit for lighting twin on fire
By NICK STOICO
Tamika Crawford was on her way to becoming a registered nurse. She was taking classes at NHTI while working to provide for her two children.But her life, and the lives of her children and other family and friends, changed forever on Dec. 15, 2016, the...
Pembroke police arrest five on drug charges
By NICK STOICO
Five people were arrested on drug charges in Pembroke, including one alleged dealer, after police seized heroin and other illegal drugs from a Buck Street home on Tuesday.Roland Thibeault, 23, of Pembroke faces five counts of sale of a controlled drug...
North Woodstock ice castle stands as a magical tribute to N.H. winters
By ROBERT F. BUKATY
On a clear, frigid night in a courtyard made of walls of ice, Bruce McCafferty and his young son stand mesmerized, bathed in the pulsating rainbow light emanating from a series of stout ice formations.McCafferty and his son Dougie have come out to Ice...
Amoskeag Fishways in Manchester to close as new owners take over hydropower dam
By DAVID BROOKS
After almost a quarter century as an environmental education center alongside one of the state’s largest hydropower plants, the Amoskeag Fishways in Manchester will close next month and be reduced to a springtime observation deck for the dam’s fish...
PODCAST: Bishop Brady graduate returns home, objecting to objectification
By RAY DUCKLER
For years, filmmaker Kristen Vermilyea was sexually objectified because of her appearance, long before the Me Too Movement nudged the issue to the forefront of society.On Monday, the Bishop Brady High School graduate, now 49, will share her thoughts...
Epsom agent prefers small rocks over sand, salt for winter road treatment
By DAVID BROOKS
Right now the roads are icy and soon the dirt roads will be muddy – it’s that time of year. The question is whether they should also be a bit more rocky.“Sand was the standard for years and years. When I was a kid, we used to shovel it out of the back...
Finally, after more than five decades, killer in 1966 cold case is named
By RAY DUCKLER
A murder 52 years ago in Andover that turned cold only months after it had been committed has been solved, the Attorney General’s Office announced Wednesday.Investigators in the state’s Cold Case Unit, who reopened the case in 2013, determined that...
New owner has fresh ideas for centuries-old Cracker Barrel store in Hopkinton
By NICK STOICO
One of Hopkinton’s oldest stores is generating a fresh buzz around town.The Cracker Barrel, a general store built in 1790 on Main Street near town hall, was recently purchased by new owners and will get a significant makeover in the coming weeks, as...
Climber killed while going up icy Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington
A climber who apparently slid down an icy gully on Mount Washington was killed Sunday, and officials are investigating.On Sunday afternoon, U.S. Forest Service Snow Rangers from the Mount Washington Avalanche Center responded to a report of an overdue...
Bill to require home sellers to destroy old wood stoves goes up in smoke
By DAVID BROOKS
New Hampshire has been trying for years to make people get rid of old wood stoves that contribute a disproportionate amount to air pollution, but a bill that would have forced the issue, requiring pre-1986 stoves to be destroyed when the house is...
When longtime officers retire, their gun might retire with them
By NICK STOICO
At the end of 2018, Bow said farewell to one of its longtime officers as Sgt. Art Merrigan retired from the department after 17 years.His fellow officers threw him a sendoff celebration at the police department with some town officials also present....
Limits on hunting of coyotes in N.H. gets the thumbs down from committee
By DAVID BROOKS
A plan to make it illegal to hunt coyotes while their pups are still young has been rejected by a House committee that balked at the idea of legislators setting hunting seasons.Cathryn Harvey, D-Spofford, chair of the House Fish and Game Committee,...
Three years after the loss of her sister, the show must go on for CHS senior Gracie Banzhoff
By RAY DUCKLER
The videos on mom’s laptop are a good way to introduce her two daughters.In one, the sisters are in black cowboy hats and boots, two-stepping to a country tune at the Capitol Center for the Arts. The other shows them dancing in Portsmouth wearing...
