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By DAVID BROOKS

The pandemic is dead. Long live the endemic.Wishful thinking? No, more like a not-as-good-as-it-sounds prediction.The good part is that the Monitor’s COVID Tracker is prepared, at long last, to call the pandemic over in New Hampshire. Several factors...

By DAVID BROOKS

There might be plenty of snow on the ground in parts of New Hampshire but as we near the end of a whiplash winter – blizzard one week, shorts weather the next – ski areas are starting to close up for the season.Sunday will be the last day of skiing at...

By DAVID BROOKS

There’s something different growing at Fresh Start Farm in Dunbarton these days: A whole lot of solar panels.The ground-mounted array of 378 panels, visible to drivers on Route 13, have been placed on a section of the 53-acre farm unsuitable for...

By DAVID BROOKS

Henniker voters breezed through town meeting Saturday, passing an operating budget up 3.5% from last year during a 90-minute session that saw real discussion about only two of 29 warrants.One topic of discussion was the Tucker Free Library, which had...

By DAVID BROOKS

Snowmobilers will be heading out in droves to take advantage of the big mid-March snowfall while it lasts but they need to be careful – this is a dangerous time of year for the sport.So far, despite a fatal accident in Groton last Thursday, this...

By DAVID BROOKS

For the first time, the coal-fired power plant in Bow has failed to win funding from an annual program designed to guarantee future electricity supplies.  Bids from Merrimack Station to burn coal to produce electricity were passed over in the forward...

By DAVID BROOKS

People are seeing a lot more bears in New Hampshire these days and bear hunters are having a lot more success, to the point that Fish and Game wants to change the way they oversee the season.Among a set of proposed changes to hunting regulations that...

By DAVID BROOKS

Last week’s dramatic rescue of a skier who was buried in snow for 6 minutes in Carter Notch was a reminder, if one is needed, that paying attention to avalanche forecasts is vital in the White Mountains backcountry during winter.But that raises a...

By DAVID BROOKS

An examination of state-level public salaries around the country makes one thing clear: If you’re going to be a college coach, New Hampshire might not be your first choice.We are one of 11 states, mostly northern ones, where the highest-paid person on...

By DAVID BROOKS

Discount air carrier Avelo Airlines will begin direct flights this summer from Manchester airport to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, making it the second cut-rate airline to come to Manchester in recent years.Avelo said the twice-weekly flights to the...

By DAVID BROOKS

The looming Nor’Easter on town meeting day means that for the third time in recent years, moderators have to decide whether to delay Tuesday’s voting or annual meeting.As of Monday afternoon, more than two dozen towns in New Hampshire have postponed...

By DAVID BROOKS

You’ve probably heard the saying popular in home-insulation circles that the cheapest energy is the energy you don’t use. The same goes for water.Leaky toilets and dripping faucets can waste an awful lot of water over the course of days and weeks....

By DAVID BROOKS

Boscawen could become the first town in New Hampshire to remove a long-standing ordinance that makes rooftop solar exempt from property taxes if voters agree at town meeting.Town meeting will be at Boscawen Elementary School. It has been postponed to...

By DAVID BROOKS

The potential change in how New Hampshire residents buy electricity could come to seven communities including Allenstown at town meeting this month, along with 10 others who will be making a similar decision.Allenstown is among the towns ranging from...

By DAVID BROOKS

If you want to preserve historical items, sometimes you need to look straight down.“We had a carpeted area in the Concord Room,” said Ashley Miller, the brand-new state archivist who formerly had the role for Concord Public Library, looking back at...

By DAVID BROOKS

When it comes to making money from a downed tree there aren’t many options: you can slice it into boards, burn it for heat, or mash it into paper. That’s about it.Or so I thought, and you probably did too.“That’s really the tip of the proverbial...

By DAVID BROOKS

At least 10 New Hampshire towns including Canterbury, Pembroke, Webster and Warner will be deciding whether to join community power programs at town meeting next month, continuing a shift in the way local governments let their residents buy...

By DAVID BROOKS

As more snow and ice comes our way in what is proving to be a belated winter, it is time to consider a thorny seasonal question: When a winter storm is coming, do you park your car outdoors with windshield wipers up or do you leave them down?I have...

By DAVID BROOKS

From a shortage of wheelchair vans to a looming shortage of nursing-school faculty, from weak Medicare reimbursements to soaring cost of part-time medical staff, from burned-out nurses who quit to patients who get sicker while waiting to be seen, it...

By DAVID BROOKS

It’s hard to think of an environmental action that makes more sense than a business using its own waste product to replace something it otherwise has to buy. It makes sense even when it has a goofy name like “spunding.”That’s the term brewers use when...