News
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...
N.H. Moose Plates are so popular they need another letter
The state’s Moose Plate program has proved so popular that it’s starting to take over the alphabet. When the first Conservation Number Plates were issued in December 2000, the letter “C” for “conservation” was part of each five-digit number...
Franklin VFW officers removed, post shut down after complaints about canteen
By LEAH WILLINGHAM
The Franklin VFW post was closed suddenly Monday and its leaders were asked to step down after members of the state organization raised concerns about the bar inside the veterans’ social organization.VFW State Judge Advocate Dana Hussey would not go...
As Motorcycle Week in Laconia gets older, so does its bikers
By JACOB DAWSON
It’s pretty obvious who is participating in Laconia Motorcycle Week. It’s no longer the rough-and-tumble riders of yesteryear.“We tend to get older people,” said Charlie St. Clair, executive director for the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association.Bike...
Dumping stereotypes: Hopkinton-Webster transfer station run by all-female staff
By OLIVIA BURDETTE
Kathy Alcott explained the tidiness of the Hopkinton-Webster transfer station when she spotted a piece of newspaper blowing away in the wind.“I think we’re probably a cleaner, neater transfer station than some others I’ve seen,” she said. “I think...
If your free-range chicken does its ranging in the wrong place, you might get fined
By David Brooks
Fans of free-range chicken farming take note: If your chicken freely ranges onto somebody else’s property, you could be in trouble.On Tuesday, Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law a bill that adds “domestic fowl” to a long-standing state law that makes...
Removal of bridge in White Mountains generates ethical debate
By DAVID BROOKS
The dilapidated Thoreau Falls Bridge which provides a rare river crossing in the Pemigewasset Wilderness will be removed but not replaced in order to maintain the wilderness experience, federal authorities have decided – a decision that will anger...
Former Sununu Youth Center counselor to register as sex offender for assault of detained teen
By ALYSSA DANDREA
Twenty-two charges were dismissed against a former Sununu Youth Services Center counselor who will avoid significant jail time for sexually assaulting a teenager sentenced to the juvenile detention facility.Kirstie Bean, 26, of Concord recently...
Community gardens offer room to grow in Concord, Boscawen
By ELIZABETH FRANTZ
On a recent Thursday morning, before the weather got too hot, Peter Ellermann was preparing a bed of soil to plant some green and yellow beans.Like all the gardeners at the Birch Street community garden, he has to haul in his own tools and water, but...
