How Citizens Count helps prepare Granite Staters before elections

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

New Hampshire’s election season is here. Offices from U.S. senate to state representative are up for grabs. Here to talk about the primary election and where to get information about the candidates is Anna Brown, the Executive Director of Citizens Count, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating voters about the political process. 

Rosemary Ford:

The state primary is on Tuesday. Lots of high-stakes races this year. Let’s start with one of the more exciting races: U.S. Senate. Jeanne Shaheen is not running for re-election, leaving a wide-open field. Let’s start with the Democrats. Who’s running? Who looks like they might win?

Anna Brown:

Chris Pappas, the current representative for District One for Congress in New Hampshire, is running for the U.S. Senate, and thus far he has been the favorite to win the Democratic primary. He has a long political history in New Hampshire. He served on the Executive Council before he went to Washington. His family has a well-known Manchester restaurant, the Puritan Backroom. But he does face a challenge from Karishma Manzur, who is running a campaign to the left of Chris Pappas, for example, challenging him on issues related to Israel and foreign policy.

She's definitely a more left-leaning progressive candidate, and she's gained some momentum in recent weeks. Polls are showing that she is gaining that name recognition. That was really a big uphill battle against someone like Chris Pappas. So I still think Chris Pappas is going to win the primary, but I think that we are going to see a surprising turnout for Karishma Manzur, and we'll have to see how Pappas navigates that moving towards the general election, attracting those farther-left voters as well as the moderates that are usually his strong voting base. 

Rosemary Ford:

What about the Republicans? Some recognizable names there too. Who’s looking good there? 

Anna Brown:

We have John E. Sununu, who used to serve New Hampshire in Washington a couple decades ago. He is the brother of former Gov. Chris Sununu and the son of another former governor, John H. Sununu. He is running a campaign endorsed by President Donald Trump, despite criticizing Trump in the past.

He was sort of the early favorite to win, and he's still the favorite to win. But he's being challenged by Scott Brown. Scott Brown, funny enough — even though he did not get the Trump endorsement — does have the support of some farther-right Republicans in New Hampshire who see him as less part of quote “the deep state” as sort of an alternative candidate, more independent thinker. 

So the Scott Brown/John Sununu primary, as I said, is probably going to go to Sununu. Things got a little interesting this week when Sununu turned down a WMUR debate with Scott Brown and said that he'd done enough public conversations with Scott Brown. So he got a little heat for that, but he's definitely started focusing on the general election and Chris Pappas as opposed to this primary. 

Rosemary Ford:

When folks head to the polls, they will also be choosing folks for state rep and state Senate. Can you explain the importance of these roles for our audience? What do they do?

Anna Brown:

In New Hampshire, the governor is actually a very weak office. The governor doesn’t have a line-item veto. She can only sign or veto the bills that come to her. It's really up to the Legislature when we're talking about setting the state budget, deciding on school funding, spending on the roads you're driving on. So it’s much of what happens to you on a day-to-day basis that's related to the government is really driven by the House and the Senate. In fact, Governor Ayotte did veto quite a few bills this year, and then the Legislature overrode several of those vetoes. 

These are the elections that I really encourage voters to pay attention to. There's so much noise about the national level — and I'm not saying that's not important, but these state races, as I said, are really going to impact you

Rosemary Ford:

Are there any state rep or state Senate races that you are following?

Anna Brown:

First of all, there are some state representative primaries in the Lakes Region that I think are very interesting.

The Lakes Region overall saw a lot of population growth during COVID-19 and has moved to the left during the same time. It’s more open to Democrats, perhaps. There's also a really interesting movement to support independent and moderate candidates around the Gunstock Mountain issue, which is sort of this local controversy about wanting to privatize that, and there was some criticism that this was a Free Stater sort of action, and that really rallied moderates.

Now there are some moderate Republicans in office who are having primary challenges from more conservative, more Trump-oriented Republicans. If those more conservative, Trump-oriented Republicans win, they may be facing a harder win in the general election. Democrats may have more of an opening there, whereas if the moderate Republicans win the primary, they may be more likely to hold on those seats. So that Lakes region in general is really open to some political change, and I'm going to be watching that. 

I'm also watching races around Manchester. We saw in recent election cycles a definite move towards the Republican Party in Manchester. That was true with the mayoral race and with the state Senate race. Now for some state senators in Manchester, we have primaries on both sides. So I'm definitely going to be curious to see who is victorious there, and we're looking at voter turnout. 

Rosemary Ford:

What about uncontested races for state rep and state senate? How many are there?

Anna Brown:

The interesting thing is in the House and Senate, contested races are more rare in the primary than uncontested. Usually, it's actually really hard for parties to recruit enough candidates to fill every seat on the ballot. There are plenty of districts in New Hampshire where one party or another wasn't able to fill the full slate of candidates. So that's another reason why these contested primaries can be so notable, because it means there's that much interest, and overall, there were a lot fewer candidates who stepped up to run at the state level than in the past few election cycles. 

I think we can speculate about a lot of different reasons for that. I know that a lot of us are really frustrated by the tone in politics. I can see why people wouldn't want to step up. I think there's also conversations between the two parties about how they support or don't support local candidates. But definitely, even if there is a blank space on your ballot, don't rule out the chance for there to be a write-in campaign, because I have also seen in New Hampshire candidates get just enough write-ins that they end up on the general election ballot after the primary. So your vote really does count in New Hampshire. It's often decided at that state level by a dozen or fewer votes — so definitely make sure to learn who's on your ballot and get to the polls. 

Rosemary Ford:

Tell us about the work Citizens Count has been doing to keep voters informed about the candidates. 

Anna Brown:

Citizens Count creates a profile for every candidate who appears on the ballot at that state level — for your state representative, your executive councilor, state Senate, governor, all these races we've talked about. Then we send a survey to every single candidate. We follow up by phone, by email, and I tell them, “We don't endorse. Whatever you want to put on that profile page, however you want to answer these questions. If you want to tell us you hate our questions and you’d rather we ask something else. We'll put it on the page.” We truly just want to make it that one-stop shop for voters to see where their candidates stand.

We've had over half of candidates respond to us. Those that haven't, that are in office, we still have their full voting records. We've tried to fill in as much as we can, so please do take advantage of our website. We want this to be a resource for both candidates and voters to connect. 

Rosemary Ford:

Thank you Anna, interesting as always. 

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

We tell people to get sober. But what happens after they do?

By Shamecca Brown-Granite State News Collaborative

For someone fighting addiction, 90 days can mean everything.

It can mean waking up sober. Making it through another day without using. Going to treatment when you don’t want to. Taking the drug test. Showing up for work. Making the phone calls. Sitting through the appointments. Trying to repair relationships that addiction damaged.

It should be a victory, and it is. But sobriety doesn’t automatically come with an apartment. It doesn’t come with a security deposit. It doesn’t fix your credit. It doesn’t put food in your refrigerator. It doesn’t give you a reliable car. It doesn’t guarantee a job that pays enough to survive. And it certainly doesn’t erase everything that happened before you got sober.

For someone coming out of treatment or sober living, the hardest part can be trying to build a completely different life while standing on a foundation that may already be cracked.

New Hampshire recognizes the importance of recovery housing, which provides substance-free environments for people building the stability and support necessary to maintain sobriety.

But what happens when the program says it’s time to move on? Or when someone has a job but can’t afford the security deposit? And what happens when they have nowhere to go or they’re a parent trying to prove they’re ready to have their children back?

People have to take responsibility for their choices. Addiction can hurt families, relationships, communities and, sometimes, innocent people. But if we tell someone that recovery is possible, we also have to be willing to talk about what makes long-term recovery possible. Because while telling someone to change their life is one thing, providing the tools to actually build that life is another.

New Hampshire has invested in recovery housing and supportive housing, including funding intended to expand housing options for people affected by opioid use disorder and co-occurring disorders. Those investments matter. But the need doesn’t disappear simply because programs exist.

The N.H. Coalition of Recovery Residences has made reducing barriers to recovery-supportive housing part of its mission, and its housing assistance efforts have provided significant financial support to people seeking safe recovery housing. But ask someone who is actually trying to find housing what happens when the application is approved and the money isn’t there. Ask what happens when the person has employment but doesn’t have the first month’s rent and security deposit. Or when sober living ends before permanent housing becomes available and  the only available apartment costs more than the person can afford. 

And for the newly sober parents involved with child welfare, reunification isn’t simply about saying, “I’m sober now.” They have to demonstrate stability, and stability requires resources – housing, transportation, mental health support, employment, childcare, a support system.

The bottom line is, we cannot punish people for succeeding at recovery. A person can be sober and still be homeless and unemployed. Or still have court involvement or carry trauma, Recovery requires more than telling somebody to stop using. It requires helping them build the conditions in which staying sober is possible.

Investing in the person

New Hampshire has made substantial investments in substance-use-disorder prevention, treatment and recovery. There is also opioid settlement funding being directed toward communities dealing with the consequences of the opioid crisis. The money matters, but so does where it goes, because if we’re serious about recovery, we need to think beyond detox, the treatment bed, the sober house.

We need to think about what happens later – six months, a year, two years later. That’s when somebody is trying to maintain a lease, keep a job, raise a child, pay bills and deal with all the ordinary stress that comes with being human. That’s when recovery becomes a lifestyle instead of a program.

If someone is doing the work, we need to make sure there is somewhere for that work to lead. Give them a chance to find a job, to find safe housing. Give them transportation. Give them treatment and recovery support that doesn’t disappear the moment a program ends. Give parents meaningful opportunities to rebuild relationships with their children. Give people the tools to become independent instead of keeping them permanently dependent on crisis services.

So, helping people stay sober for 90 days is one thing, but it shouldn’t be the moment when we stop asking what somebody needs. It should be the moment we ask: What’s next?

Shamecca Brown is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Hiking safety: How to be prepared when the days get shorter and colder

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity. 

The N.H. Fish and Game Department does an average of 180 search-and-rescue missions a year, rescuing ill-prepared or injured hikers. On Aug. 14, Fish and Game rescued four New Jersey teens — who were underprepared for their hiking adventure — from Franconia Ridge in the White Mountains. As we move into the fall, it’s important to be aware of how hiking safety can change as the days get shorter and colder. Here to discuss that is N.H. Fish and Game’s chief of law enforcement, Col. Kevin Jordan. 

Melanie Plenda:

To start, can you tell us more about what happened during that rescue in Franconia? 

Kevin Jordan:

We received a call late in the evening on Aug. 14. The weather at the time of the call had really deteriorated through the day. We had higher winds, and the temperature had dropped a bit. We received a call from four young individuals from New Jersey that were above treeline on a Franconia Ridge trail, and they were experiencing difficulties coming down.

The initial report said there was a hiker struggling to breathe. That changed to an injured lower leg, which later would change to they really were above their skill levels and unprepared, and so we made the decision based on the weather conditions and the fact that they were unprepared to initiate a search for them, to go and get them, and bring them down. 

Melanie Plenda:

What does the rescue process typically look like?

Kevin Jordan:

The N.H. Fish and Game Department has 48 officers statewide. On any given day, probably half of those are off, so we've reduced our field force to about 20 to 25. The trails in the White Mountains are known as some of the most challenging parts of the entire trail system, and they present all kinds of physical and weather challenges because of the height of our mountains and the exposure to the weather.

When you do a typical carryout under those conditions, you are going to need 16 to 20 people. So if Fish and Game were delegated to be the only agency doing this, we would not be able to succeed — it would be very difficult for us to do that. We rely a lot on what I call “professional volunteers.” These are groups of hikers who have decided that they want to contribute to the hiking community, so they have expended time training with us. They're part of five different teams located strategically throughout the state. Those teams are well-prepared. They have good hiking equipment. They train with us on a regular basis. We reach out to them for these search missions.

Now when we do that, what a lot of people don't realize is that there is a risk every time they leave the trailhead. Those risks include things like falling, injuring themselves — volunteers can take one wrong step and be out of work for eight weeks with no salaries. They're going above tree lines, above 4,000 feet in the dark, in usually adverse weather conditions, so anything can happen. That is something that we take very seriously, so we take careful consideration when we get these calls to make sure that risk is worthy of the call. And in this case, people were put at great risk for something that, really in my opinion, could easily have been avoided. 

Melanie Plenda:

What are the most common scenarios Fish and Game receives when getting calls for search and rescue?

Kevin Jordan:

The two things that lead the calls for us are unpreparedness — believe it or not, people without flashlights or headlamps are the majority of our calls. I don't know what I’ve got to do to get people to carry a flashlight. It's one of our 10 essentials in the Hike Safe Card program. We promote it publicly every chance we get. I think the thought process is “I'm not going to be out overnight, so I'm not going to bring a light.” In my job, I have never left the roadway without some sort of light source, because you just don't know if you're going to be caught out longer or it's going to take longer, or you're going to come across an injured hiker that you're going to want to help, and you're going to need that light later in the night.  Clothing is probably second to that — being cold because they don't have proper gear with them. 

We also get a lot of injuries. We get a lot of really prepared, good hikers, experienced hikers who fall and twist an ankle. You're on brutal terrain, and you're out there when it's wet and slippery, and people fall and twist their knees. So I would say injury and unpreparedness, unpreparedness leading the charge, injury running a close second. 

Melanie Plenda:

Can you tell us more about the Hike Safe program? What benefits does this voluntary card give Granite Staters?

Kevin Jordan:

Years ago, we created it in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, a Hike Safe program. We put together public information that we could promote to try and avoid some of these scenarios by listing the 10 essentials that should be included in a backpack, safe ways to hike, and things to avoid while hiking. That program was established back in early 2000, and we started campaigning on that, putting that out to the public in hopes that people would pick up some tips from that and hike in a more safe manner.

Fast-forward, as hiking calls increased, the fund to pay for these rescues wasn’t sufficient.  For years and years and years, our only search and rescue fund was $1 from every OHRV, ATV and snow machines. One dollar from each one of those would go into a search and rescue account. The fee was created in 1989 and has never gone up a dime — I’d like you to tell me anything else you know of that hasn't increased since 1989, but that never did. 

So, beginning 15 years ago, I was frustrated. I didn't feel that it was fair. Our sportsmen and women were paying almost 100 percent of the cost of search and rescue. Hikers and climbers were paying nothing. So I began going to the Legislature, repeatedly asking for a more equitable way to fund search and rescue. I felt, and still feel today, the best way to do that is from general funds, tax dollars. The state is benefiting from these folks. They're buying meals, they're buying gasoline, they're staying in hotels, and the state has a responsibility, I feel, to make sure these people make it home safely on Sunday night, and I think we should pay for that. The legislature agrees with me to this day, but there's always been a reluctance and an inability, I guess, in their minds to find that funding. 

In 2014 and ’15, a couple of things happened. One was that the Hike Safe card was created to help fund search and rescue. We kept the fees as reasonable as we could — $25 a year for an individual and $35 for a family. It gives a hiker an opportunity to contribute to the search-and-rescue fund. It also would be kind of an insurance card so that they wouldn’t be billed for a rescue — the law still says if they’re incredibly reckless, they do something extreme, they will still be billed — but to this day, we’ve never billed anyone with a Hike Safe card or a license.  It’s been highly successful. The first year, we sold $75,000 worth; the past year, we sold $445,000 worth of Hike Safe cards. It has really been very helpful. 

Melanie Plenda:

Any final advice on how hikers can be prepared for their hiking adventures this fall? 

Kevin Jordan:

I've done this for 36 years, and I don't know of a time in New Hampshire's history where we have had more information available on how to do this and do it safely, right down to the very trail that you would be considering. I can promise you, there's a guide to guide you on how difficult it is, how far it goes, things you should watch out for, and how to prepare. Our weather apps are superior to anything that we ever had 15 years ago. So you can get accurate, in-the-moment, weather. We use it all the time when we come and get you.

All this information is available. You don't need to go into a hiking store and spend thousands of dollars. We're talking about a $5 two- battery flashlight with an extra set of batteries. We're talking about stuff that you probably have in your closet — a nylon rain jacket to go over a fleece vest, No cotton — wearing clothes that are not going to soak up the water. Just spending a little bit of time and a little research to prepare. You can do this. People do it all the time, year-round. It can be done very safely. Just respect it. 

Melanie Plenda:

Thank you, Kevin, for joining us today. Visit hikesafe.com to learn more about hiking safety. 

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

New Hampshire rents are already going up, but is AI driving some even higher?

Companies managing N.H. apartment complexes have settled federal lawsuits over using ‘anti-competitive’ algorithmic software to set prices

By Kelly Burch-Granite State News Collaborative

When Jacqueline Plante got her lease renewal notice in June for the Portsmouth apartment where she’s lived for three years, it seemed strange.

Rather than offering her a rate for a typical 12-month lease, the renewal spelled out 11 different lease terms, with a huge variation in what the rent would be. Month-to-month would cost her more than $4,000, while a 12-month lease would be $2,146 per month. The most affordable option was an 11-month lease, at her previous rate of $2,075 per month.

She checked the availability of other apartments in the complex as if she were a new tenant. She found apartments identical to hers with prices below $2,000 per month for a 12-month lease — depending on the day she checked. This seemed “funky” to Plante, so she reached out to her property management company, Forest Properties Inc., which is based in Cambridge, Mass.

"That’s when I was informed that they switched over to an AI revenue management software,” said Plante, a 35-year old physical therapist. “That’s generating your prices per month.”

Plante is one of what experts say are many renters in New Hampshire finding that software using artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms are dictating their rent prices. Nationally, the Department of Justice has reached settlements in the past year with at least four corporate landlords — operating at least seven New Hampshire apartment complexes — and one software company for using algorithms and private data to set rent prices in ways that violate federal antitrust laws that forbid price fixing.

But policymakers say the issue is even more widespread. In 2023, the White House Council of Economic Advisers estimated that algorithm-set rents cost renters $3.8 billion that year alone, increasing monthly rents by an average of $70. 

These new technologies, if left unchecked, could add strain to New Hampshire’s already tight rental market, experts say. Legislation introduced last year at the state and federal levels could fight that, but for now there’s building frustration and a lack of transparency about how the rise in AI is affecting renters.

“It’s really a black box,” says Nick Taylor, director of Housing Action NH, “which is what’s concerning to a lot of folks.”

Investigations and legislation

It’s normal and acceptable for landlords to use publicly available information — such as rents listed on real estate websites — to set their prices, Taylor says. However, the practice becomes potentially illegal when companies use software that uses non-public information to set rent prices in a way that decreases competition in order to maximize profit for landlords, the federal Justice Department and experts say.

Last year, the Justice Department reached a settlement with RealPage, a revenue management software company based in Texas. Before that, the department settled with Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar Management Services, the largest landlord in the U.S., to refrain from using the “anti-competitive” software. (Greystar operates six New Hampshire properties, in Lebanon, Salem, Londonderry and Merrimack.) Most recently, in June, the DOJ reached a similar settlement with Willow Bridge Property Company of Dallas, Texas, which operates a property in Bedford.

New Hampshire U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-2nd District, worked on the RealPage investigation while she was deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division under President Biden.

The settlement required RealPage to “end alignment of pricing among competitors” and cooperate with investigations of property management companies. However, it did not include any fine or admission of guilt.

“It’s insufficient, Because the settlement is really about one company with no penalty and no admission of wrongdoing, this is no way a permanent fix,” Goodlander said.

She added that any technology that allows corporations to collude on pricing violates federal law — specifically the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act. While the law is old, it’s pertinent.

“Price-fixing for most of history happened in smoke-filled backrooms,” she said. “What we see now are new and sophisticated data-driven, algorithm-driven tools to fix prices.”

U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-2nd C.D., who as a deputy attorney general during the Biden administration worked on an antitrust investigation of RealPage, a developer of algorithmic rent-setting software, is the sponsor of the “End Rent Fixing Act of 2025,” which would forbid two or more property owners from coordinating on rent prices, including by using AI, algorithms  and non-public data. (Courtesy)

Still, because antitrust laws are so broad, federal judges are sometimes hesitant to enforce them, Goodlander said.

“That’s what’s motivating the effort to refine and update the federal antitrust laws,” she said.

Last year, she sponsored H.R. 6124, the “End Rent Fixing Act of 2025,” which would forbid two or more property owners from coordinating on rent prices, including by using AI, algorithms  and non-public data.

“When corporate landlords contract for a basic service — and that service is about coordinating rents and supply — that is the conduct we’re trying to get after,” Goodlander said. She added that the issue of algorithm-driven rent recently came up during a community event in Keene.

Legislation has also been introduced in New Hampshire. House Bill 1612-FN would have made the use of price-fixing software by landlords a violation of the Consumer Protection Act, and require the state Justice Department to investigate complaints of the use of price-fixing software by landlords.

The bill died, but Rep. Jonah Wheeler, D-Peterborough, one of the bill’s sponsors, hopes similar legislation will be introduced again.

“We understand very clearly these are very necessary [pieces of legislation] to protect tenants,” he said.

Other states are also taking action. New York updated its antitrust laws last December to explicitly ban the use of algorithm-driven rent-setting, and California adopted a similar measure in January. Most recently, New Jersey passed a law banning algorithm rent-setting in July.

No other option

The use of technology to set rents has already caught the attention of the N.H. Justice Department, according to spokesperson Michael Garrity.

“This is an issue the N.H. Department of Justice's Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau is aware of and is actively monitoring at this time,” he said, encouraging anyone who thinks they have experienced anticompetitive behavior or price fixing to file a complaint with the department.

Part of the challenge in bringing this issue to light is that renters often accept their AI-set rent, because they believe they have few options in New Hampshire’s tight rental market.

"We know it’s happening, but it’s a little challenging for folks to pinpoint who is being harmed by this and how often it’s happening,” Taylor said.

With two large dogs, Plante has very limited options for rental apartments. Despite her frustrations, she re-signed her lease for 11 months.

“I didn’t have a choice,” she said. “These property managers and rental companies can really do whatever they want, and we have to either follow or move. It’s a really frustrating, helpless feeling.”

In part because of that, she’s now looking for jobs outside New Hampshire — and she thinks other young professionals may do the same.

Neither the property manager for Plante’s complex (which she asked not be named, because of privacy concerns) nor the regional manager for Forest Properties could explain why her rents were set as they were. They essentially said, “It’s the AI, this is how it is — kick rocks,” she recalls.

Forest Properties — which operates nine New Hampshire apartment complexes in Portsmouth, Manchester, Nashua, Seabrook, Goffstown, Salem, and Rochester — did not respond to requests for comment. The company does not appear to be under investigation in regard to how rents are set, and Plante did not assert that what the company is doing is illegal.

Plante has since reached out to various lawmakers and policy groups and found they're “aware of the problem, but no one knows how to fix it,” she said.

While updating laws to address price-fixing is important, Taylor said there are also policy decisions that could mitigate the impact of these unfair practices. Building more rental units, for example, will help give renters more options.

In addition, Taylor would like to see a “significant push to try to get more local community developers building housing.” Those landlords often have more rapport with their renters and are more willing to work to keep good tenants in their homes.

In the meantime, tenants like Plante are left feeling disrespected and disempowered.

“It just, logically, makes no sense,” Plante said. “[I] just feel devalued and stuck.”

If you’ve been impacted by algorithm-driven pricing — in housing or elsewhere — we want to hear from you. Reach out to reporter Kelly Burch at burchcreative@gmail.com. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Why do local property taxes make up the lion’s share of N.H. education funding?

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew
This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Property taxes pay for a lot of important things in New Hampshire, in particular public education. New research from the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that Granite State property taxpayers pay 72% of the dollars spent on public schools. Why do they carry the majority of this cost, and what can be done to change that? Madeline Randall discusses how public education is funded in New Hampshire, as well as some of the new laws impacting education, with Ben Reynolds, senior policy analyst at the Fiscal Policy Institute, and Anna Brown, the executive director at Citizens Count.

Madeline Randall:

To start us off, can you tell us how education funding is calculated in New Hampshire.

Ben Reynolds:

About $4.15 billion in total revenue goes toward public schools for education. The revenue comes from various sources, but the three main areas come from local sources, state sources and federal sources.

With that, one of the main state sources is its “adequate education aid,” which is about $1.06 billion. The term “adequate education aid” is how the state defines its term for education aid that was set by the state Supreme Court's Claremont decisions in the 1990s. For that state adequate education aid, the state starts off by looking at the number of pupils that live within a community, it sets a base rate amount per pupil for that. The state also looks at those student characteristics as well as other community characteristics to help with determining the aid, and then sends that money directly to local governments.

Madeline Randall:

What role do property taxes play? And how can that vary from town to town?

Anna Brown:

In addition to that per-pupil adequate funding that Ben talked about, local property taxes are a significant part of school budgets, so it is up to each municipality to decide how much they want to add to that state per-pupil amount for their schools. That's most of what you're talking about when you're seeing your local property tax bills. So there's a local decision-making process that goes into it, which is unrelated to the state property tax rate, which is set across the state.

Madeline Randall:

Ben, tell us about your recent research concerning education funding. What were some of the main findings?

Ben Reynolds:

One of the main things that we saw was that property taxes made up about 72% of revenue for local public schools during the 2024-25 school year. Really only about $700 million of that $4.5 billion comes from state revenue sources that aren't property taxes that are raised and retained locally. We also saw that the state’s share of total education funding has been declining over the last decade and that school costs have been increasing over the automatic 2% annual increase in the state's education funding formula.

Madeline Randall:

Let's talk a little bit about legislation. What happened in the last legislative session?

Anna Brown:

There are two big bills that are directly related to this. The first, House Bill 1563, created a three-tier structure for reimbursement for special education. We haven't talked about that yet in the school-funding formula, but the state does provide some more money per-pupil based on special education needs, if they're English language learners, if they're eligible for free or reduced lunch, and so on.  The state tweaked that special education reimbursement formula — that is important insofar as some of those increasing school costs are coming from more students needing special education. 

But particularly relevant to our conversation today is HB 1300. That bill in this upcoming general election and also in 2028 is going to have every municipality vote on a tax cap that would limit local school budgets. So this — as I said, it's already up to localities to decide how much more they're going to be raising beyond that per-pupil amount from the state — but this would usually get voted on as an option during the town meeting season in the spring. By putting it on the general election ballot, Republicans in the House and Senate are hoping, “OK, this will be a chance for more of the public to weigh in to say that we really want to limit local school budgets.” It remains to be seen if that is going to unfold – or if, as happened at many local meetings in the spring, voters continue to say, "No, this is what our schools need. We're not going to put a tax cap in place.”

Madeline Randall:

Why is New Hampshire ranked last in the nation for how much the state contributes to public education funding? 

Ben Reynolds:

Looking at the amount of state revenue that goes towards the total revenue for public education — of the total $4.15 billion spent, the state's contribution is $1.06 billion. In other states, that ratio is kind of flipped, where it's a little more of a state contribution than local. But when you also look at it at a dollar basis per-pupil, the rankings do change a bit. 

Overall, for looking at both local and state revenue of dollars per-pupil that go toward education, New Hampshire is ranked ninth. When you only look at local revenue dollars per-pupil for public education, New Hampshire actually goes up to fourth. When you pull it only for state revenue per pupil,, then we go down to 34th. So that percentage of the state revenue contribution, as well as the state dollars per pupil, New Hampshire on a state level is a bit lower than other states in terms of funding public education. 

,Anna Brown:

I would just add that in addition to inflation, some particular areas that are really driving increased costs are health insurance costs for school employees, special education, and in fact the state prorates some of that reimbursement for special education. Prorate means that it's not going to give 100% of what theoretically it might. But this also is worth mentioning as part of a historical tradition in New Hampshire of local control, for better or worse. 

Many legislators will argue that it is up to localities to decide how much they really want to fund their schools or not, and so some people see it as a virtue that there's very little state input, and that it's mostly on local taxpayers to raise the funds and make the decisions. That being said, there's also a lot of debate around the fact that some towns have much wealthier residents who have higher property values so it's easier for them to contribute more to schools, whereas property-poor towns end up with a much higher property tax rate to extract the same amount of tax revenue from their property owners. So there are questions of equity in the system.

Madeline Randall:

Do you think this could change in the future?

Anna Brown:

The first thing that I will say is New Hampshire, compared to many other states, has a shoestring budget, and as I mentioned, this is a bit of a choice. There's a lot of use of and reliance on nonprofits for other services that in other states would just be paid for by the government. This also means that a lot of these costs are falling on municipalities instead of at the state level. 

For this to change, I think that we would have to see one of two things happen. First, I think there would have to be a new revenue source to come in. And since Republicans in New Hampshire have made very clear that they are anti just about any form of new tax, any form of new revenue — with very limited exceptions — that would mean Democrats taking the House, the Senate and the governor's office. That would be an uphill battle. We could have a whole other conversation about that, but certainly a sweep of all three would be hard to do.
We do then have to look and ask what's going to happen next in the state Supreme Court. It's been ruling on the issue of school funding for decades now, and we haven't seen major moves in the distribution between states and localities. If anything, it continues to really fall in the localities.

At this point, we know that the state is actually seeking to overturn the Claremont decisions that are the foundation of a lot of the rulings that do put more onus on the state to fund education. So, I think that if you have a complete sweep and a change of party control, maybe you get a new revenue source. It is also possible that future rulings from the Supreme Court could really push the Legislature to provide more state funding. But if anything, it seems like the winds at the court are swinging in the opposite direction.

Ben Reynolds:

I think it's important, if you want to kind of equalize this ratio between the state and local contributions, for the state to provide more money. The state really limits how local governments are able to raise revenues — they are pretty much only able to raise revenues through local property taxes. This really limits local officials from finding ways to come up with additional revenues when costs are increasing.

We did see in the last budget cycle that the state faced some resource limitations, partially because of past decisions to reduce state tax revenue. The final repeal of the interest and dividends tax took effect in the last budget cycle. We also saw that there were higher costs to maintain existing services. So if the state, in this upcoming budget cycle, wanted to provide more money to local governments, then they're going to have to take a look at tax revenues, and the existing services that they want to fund as well.

Madeline Randall:

What would be your advice to Granite Staters who would like to see the state make education funding a higher priority?

Anna Brown:

There are many examples that I can point to in New Hampshire where legislators have been swayed by interactions with individual voters at public hearings, at community meetings, from one-on-one emails, and so at Citizens Count, we really do always encourage folks to be connected with their legislators. 

Our advocacy toolkit on our website has some tips — for example, how to attend a public hearing, how to write a letter to a legislator — and I would say it's really important to highlight the personal stories and personal impacts that you are seeing in your life, because — even though we love the work of the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute and it's so important to have that real data — it's also true that legislators are human, and they're going to connect with those stories a lot. 

I think that we also need to be ready to have a complex conversation. There's no easy silver-bullet solution to how education, let alone education funding, has been changing and is going to continue to change. So I think that we need to be working on bipartisan relationships and willingness to dig into this very sticky problem.

Ben Reynolds:

I think it's also important for Granite Staters to understand how much New Hampshire relies disproportionately on local property tax bases to fund all kinds of public services. Depending on how they can get state aid for public education, that could significantly reduce the upward pressure of local property taxes for other aid. The state could also provide more aid for roads and bridges, for public safety or for water and wastewater infrastructure, and those would also decrease the upward pressure as well.

Madeline Randall:

Thank you Anna and Ben for joining us today. 

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

We can’t have educational excellence without educational equity

By Shamecca Brown-Granite State News Collaborative 

There is something different about back-to-school season when you have a high school senior. You know this isn’t just another first day. There are college applications. Scholarships. Financial aid. Graduation requirements. Senior pictures. Prom. Graduation. And approximately 47 moments when somebody reminds you, “This is your last year.”

Then there is the freshman. The kid who is walking into high school for the first time, carrying a backpack that probably weighs more than they do and trying to figure out where they belong in this new world of bells, schedules, teachers, changing classrooms and expectations that suddenly feel a whole lot bigger.

In my house, I get to experience both at the same time.  And somewhere between buying school supplies and trying to mentally prepare myself for the emotional roller coaster that is senior year, I started thinking about something bigger: What exactly are we sending our children back into? Because back-to-school season is usually packaged as something cute – new backpacks, sneakers, school supplies.  But underneath is a much bigger conversation.

New Hampshire’s public schools served 160,323 students during the 2025-26 school year – all with different needs, different families, different challenges and different dreams. And they are not walking into the 2026-27 school year from the same starting line.

Some families spent the summer preparing for college. Some spent it preparing for kindergarten. Some are trying to figure out how they’re going to pay for school supplies. Some are worried about whether their child will receive the special education services outlined in an IEP. Some are wondering whether their child will have access to the counselor, paraprofessional, teacher or program they depended on last year.

And some parents are quietly wondering whether they can afford another school year at all.

Here in Concord, the Concord School District entered the 2026 budget season facing a roughly $17 million shortfall. That shortfall eventually resulted in difficult decisions about staffing and programs, along with a 12.2% tax increase. The district’s website has an entire section devoted to the FY27 budget. But here’s the thing:  Children don’t experience budgets as spreadsheets. They experience them as people.

A position eliminated on a spreadsheet may become a familiar adult who isn’t in the building anymore. A reduction in a program may become an opportunity that disappears. A staffing shortage can mean a child waits longer for help. And when you’re the parent of a child who needs additional support, “we’re doing the best we can” doesn’t always feel good enough. Because your child’s education isn’t a luxury. It’s their future.

New Hampshire has spent years arguing about how we fund education. The arguments can get complicated very quickly. But parents don’t necessarily experience those debates as complicated policy questions. We experience them at the kitchen table. Can I afford the school supplies? Can I afford the field trip? The sports fee? The laptop? Can I take time off work for the meeting? Can I get my child the services they need? Can I afford to live in the community where my child goes to school?

And that’s where I think we sometimes lose the plot, because we talk about education as though every child walks into the classroom carrying the same backpack. They don’t.

LIke the kids whose parents have learned an entirely different educational vocabulary: IEP, 504, evaluation, accommodation, modification, paraprofessional, related services, least restrictive environment. For these families, back-to-school isn’t just about whether their child has pencils. It’s about whether the support system is actually there when the child walks through the door. When your child needs additional support, you don’t simply drop them off and hope for the best. You advocate, ask questions, attend meetings, read paperwork, make phone calls. You follow up and advocate some more. 

Maybe we need to stop measuring school readiness by whether classrooms are decorated and buses are running. Maybe we start asking whether our teachers have what they need. Whether counselors have manageable caseloads. Whether children experiencing poverty have access to food. Whether families can afford to participate in school life. Whether students with disabilities are receiving meaningful support. Whether teenagers have someone to talk to when life gets ugly. Whether our seniors can see a pathway to their future. Whether our freshmen are walking into a system that will help them become the people they are capable of becoming.

We cannot talk about educational excellence while ignoring educational equity. Every child walking into a classroom deserves more than a good first day – they deserve a fair chance at a good future. So are we giving every child what they need to succeed, or are we simply hoping they figure it out on their own? Hope is not an education policy. Our kids deserve better than that.

Shamecca Brown is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Tradition disrupted: How does the Democratic Party’s presidential primary decision affect N.H.?

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Since 1920, New Hampshire has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, a tradition even written into state law. But that law and tradition were disrupted in 2024, when the Democratic National Committee decided to hold its first primary elsewhere, and it will likely be disrupted again in 2028. What does that mean for New Hampshire voters and upcoming elections? Discussing that are New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan and John Lappie, associate professor of political science at Plymouth State University. 

Rosemary Ford:

John, to start us off, what’s the history behind New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary?

John Lappie:

The first-in-the-nation primary happened more or less by accident.

In the 19th century and into the 20th century the presidential candidates were usually picked by state party leaders at a convention, and there wasn't really any participation by ordinary voters in the process. Primaries for president were democratizing reforms that began in the early 20th century, and even by the 1960s, only a couple of dozen states had primaries. But New Hampshire was an early adopter.

Our first primary was held in 1916. We became first in the nation in 1920 by accident, the Legislature decided they wanted to save money and increase participation in the primary, so they moved it to coincide with the town meeting. It was a way to save money, but of course, over time, as primaries became more common, and especially to 1952, when candidate names were actually added to the ballot in our primary instead of voters just voting for delegates representing a candidate, it became very influential.

Rosemary Ford:

David, what kind of impact do you think having the first primary has on the state and its voters? 

David Scanlan:

It's not so much on the state as the rest of the country. The thing about the New Hampshire primary is that it has always been for the average voter. Back when the New Hampshire primary law was first written by a state representative from Richmond, N.H., named Stephen Bullock who was a farmer who felt that the nominations for president should be decided by the citizens and not party bosses in the back room. That principle holds true today.

So, New Hampshire has had this process where, because we were first, the candidates come here. The voters have a longstanding tradition and culture of kicking the tires of the individuals that want to be president. They have a long history of not being afraid to ask difficult questions and putting the candidates through the moves that they need to become president. 

We've often heard from candidates themselves that have participated in the presidential primary that the primary made them better candidates. It has taught them how to talk to the average voter, what issues are important. In the end, New Hampshire voters may not select who ends up being the nominee, but they certainly do a great job of picking candidates who would make great presidents.

Rosemary Ford:

On July 24th, the Democratic National Committee voted for South Carolina to be the first state to hold its primary election in 2028. How does that affect New Hampshire?

David Scanlan:

New Hampshire and its primary results are unpredictable. The national party does not like that, especially when they may have a favored candidate that they think has the best chance of winning in the general election. But New Hampshire takes its role very importantly. It's a longstanding tradition that we did not take from anyone; it just began here, and we ended up being first by default. We have grown very strong roots from that point to the present time, and the service that we provide to the rest of the country in that regard is very important. 

It's an easy state to campaign in. There are very few barriers to getting on the ballot. It's a small state geographically and population-wise. An unknown candidate without name recognition or a lot of money can come to New Hampshire and campaign and do really well here, and they can finish in the top three. It certainly creates a foundation for becoming the nominee.

It really comes down to a different philosophy. New Hampshire's is, “Look, we're willing to vet the candidates. We've done a good job.” The candidate that comes out of New Hampshire is the choice of the people that live and vote in this state, and it is not going to be the selection of the party elites moving forward.

If you remember when the DNC began this nominating process they had a set of criteria to determine those states that would make early primary states — efficiency, rigorousness of scheduling, and things like that. New Hampshire literally checked all the boxes in that regard. What happened on the 24th was it came down to a debate, really on ethnicity. Should a state like South Carolina, which has a predominantly black population, go before a state that has a predominantly Hispanic population, like Nevada? 

Those two states were actually fighting with each other over that. It seems like the original criteria that New Hampshire did well in was just simply tossed out the window. Because of that, New Hampshire is going to fight for its traditional place on the calendar.

Rosemary Ford:

On July 22nd, the UNH Survey Center released findings that tracked Granite Staters’ opinions on prospective candidates for the 2028 primary election. Of course, we don’t know who’s running yet, but, according to their study, U.S. Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the favored Democrat candidate and Vice President J.D. Vance was the preferred Republican candidate. How accurate are polls like these in predicting outcomes for elections, especially this early?

John Lappie:

Polls are a snapshot in time, and those results match what people are thinking about right now. It's a long time until primary season, so the results will almost certainly look very different from what we're seeing in the polls right now. 

That being said, I think we can glean something out of it based on how high-profile or low-profile the candidates are already. If you're U.S. Sen. John Ossoff, Democrat from Georgia, I'm not too disheartened by polling 2% in New Hampshire because most people don’t know who he is yet. He has a chance for growth. If I'm somebody like former Vice President Kamala Harris, and I see that I'm not polling well in New Hampshire, that's a lot more concerning, because everybody already knows who you are, and that would suggest there's not that much appetite for her candidacy.

Rosemary Ford:

How are things going for this year’s mid-terms elections? Will voters notice anything different?

David Scanlan:

There are going to be some subtle but new changes in the polling places. There has been almost a complete transition from the old electronic ballot counting devices that used optical scan technology to two new devices now that use digital scan technology. We expect that they will operate better with fewer breakdowns because they will store an image of every single ballot and that will make post-election auditing a lot easier and a lot more accurate. 

There are some real benefits to this changeover. More and more polling places now are using electronic poll books for voters to check in. So a voter can show at the polls, have their photo ID scanned, voter information will pop up on the screen because the checklist is loaded into the devices before the election. Voters will be able to get in the shortest line – they won't have to get in the line where the letter of the alphabet that begins with their name always seems to be the longest. 

The real benefit is at the end of the night when it's time to close the polls — simply a stroke of the keyboard will give instant results on the number of voters that checked in, which party's ballot they took, and that information can then be uploaded into the statewide voter database, so it will be more accurate. 

Then we have a new accessible voting system in place for individuals with disabilities that is more user-friendly. There are also tighter requirements for voters now. Voters that are registering for the first time will have to show documentation of identity, age, domicile and citizenship. With citizenship, if a voter attests that they do not have their citizenship documentation, then they can sign an affidavit to prove that qualification.

ID requirements also have changed, especially for college students. College IDs now are no longer an acceptable form of ID, so students will have to show a driver's license either in the state of New Hampshire or the state that they lived in before or while they're attending school. So those are changes that voters should be aware of, and if they have any questions on the requirements, then they should reach out to my office or the local clerk's office in the town that they are living in while they're going to college.

Rosemary Ford:

John, what are your thoughts on the midterms, both here in New Hampshire and across the country?

John Lappie:

It could still change, but this is around the time of the year, especially Labor Day, when people start paying more attention to the general election. The overall environment is favorable to the Democrats. That matters more at the level of the U.S. House, where people usually don't know quite as much about the candidates.

I think they usually know more in a state like New Hampshire, where we only have two House members. But if you're talking about a state with dozens of House members, like Florida, New York, California, they tend to get lost in the shuffle. In those places people saying, "Well, I'm upset with this party, so I'm going to vote for the other party” —  that matters a lot more.

I like to say that New Hampshire is a true purple state. We've seen this over the governorships of Sinunu and Governor Ayotte — they're winning elections as Republicans. Republicans winning the state Legislature, even as Democrats have won the federal offices. Lots of people voted for Kamala Harris and Kelly Ayotte, or Joe Biden and Chris Sununu. That used to be very common across the U.S. but is still very common in New Hampshire.

Rosemary Ford:

Thank you both for joining us today. 

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

When does age become a diagnosis?

By Shamecca Brown-Granite State News Collaborative 

“You’re too old.” It’s a phrase many older adults fear hearing – not because they’re afraid of aging, but because they  fear aging has made them invisible.

I recently spoke with a 75-year-old man who is fighting cancer. Despite his age, he still travels, enjoys life, and wakes up every day with the same goal many of us have: to keep living. He wants to spend more time with the people he loves, make more memories, and continue fighting for his health.

But when he asked about additional testing for possible prostate cancer, he felt his concerns were dismissed because of his age. He told me he was even willing to pay out of pocket if insurance wouldn’t cover it. To him, the decision wasn’t about money, it was about having the opportunity to fight for his life. His experience isn’t the only one that left him questioning how older adults are treated.

He told me that after his last colonoscopy, he was informed he was now too old for routine screenings and that Medicare would no longer cover them. During another visit, he said his primary care physician stopped performing the thorough annual physical he had grown accustomed to and declined to include a PSA test with his routine blood work, explaining that Medicare would not pay for it.

Whether those decisions were based on current medical guidelines, insurance policies, or clinical judgment, the message he walked away with was heartbreaking: You’re too old. That feeling matters.

Healthcare is built on evidence, and physicians have an obligation to recommend tests that are medically appropriate while avoiding procedures that may do more harm than good. Medicare also has coverage rules that influence what services are routinely paid for. But none of that changes the importance of listening to patients and explaining those decisions with compassion and respect.

Growing older should never mean becoming voiceless.

The stories don’t stop at healthcare.

The man also shared the experience of a friend in her 80s who was pulled over after rolling through a stop sign. What might have been a warning or a routine traffic ticket, he said, instead resulted in her driver’s license being taken away. She ultimately hired an attorney and was able to get her license reinstated.

Every situation has facts we may not know. There may have been legal or medical reasons behind that decision. But together, these experiences raise a larger question that deserves discussion.

At what point does age begin to shape the way people are treated, not because of what they can or cannot do, but because of assumptions made about what they should no longer be allowed to do?

Older adults are not statistics. They are parents, grandparents, veterans, neighbors, mentors, taxpayers and survivors. Many continue to contribute to their communities every single day. They deserve healthcare that respects their goals, honest conversations about risks and benefits, and the dignity of being active participants in decisions about their own lives.

This isn’t an argument that every test should be performed or every citation should be dismissed. It’s an argument for respect.

The question isn’t whether someone is 75, 85, or 95. The question is whether we’re still listening when they tell us they want to keep living, and living well.

Shamecca Brown is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Cyclospora: What can N.H. residents do to protect themselves during the current outbreak?

On this episode of “The State We’re In,” State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan of the N.H. Division of Public Health talks about cyclospora, the infectious parasite that’s been involved in a massive national outbreak that so far includes dozens of cases in New Hampshire.

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Melanie Plenda: 

For those who have missed the recent news reports, can you tell us what cyclospora is and why people are concerned?

Benjamin Chan: 

Cyclospora is an intestinal protozoan parasite. It’s not something that’s usually life-threatening, but it causes profuse, watery diarrhea. It can also cause things like abdominal cramping, loss of appetite. People can have nausea and vomiting, although perhaps the vomiting part is less prominent than with other types of intestinal infections. Most people with a normal healthy immune system will get better on their own over time, but they can have prolonged symptoms. 

If somebody thinks they might’ve been exposed to cyclospora and has on-going symptoms of watery diarrhea, for example, there is testing that can be done, and that testing can be important to identify an infection. There are treatments, antibiotics that can be given, that can help lessen the severity, shorten the duration of illness. 

This is, unfortunately, a relatively common infection that occurs this time of year. It’s spread through contaminated water and fresh produce. Usually what we say is that it’s spread through the “fecal-oral” route. That means it’s spread when somebody has cyclospora in their stool, and that stool contaminates water, and that water is used to irrigate crops in another state or another country and then the contamination then gets on the fresh produce. Then, when it gets shipped to somebody and they eat it, they can become infected with cyclospora. This is how outbreaks happen, and historically, this is a parasite that is known to cause outbreaks. 

We've had cyclospora outbreaks in berries and lettuce, cilantro and other fresh produce in the past. We’re seeing a very large increase in cyclospora infections nationally, this year — that’s what people are hearing about in the news. Thousands of cases identified in other states like Michigan and Ohio have led to a recall of lettuce. That lettuce [identified at the start of these cyclospora outbreaks] has come from a certain area of central Mexico and been distributed nationwide to many other states across the country, including New Hampshire. 

Melanie Plenda: 

Can we talk a little bit about how New Hampshire has been impacted by this? 

Benjamin Chan: 

Cyclospora is a reportable disease, meaning that if a provider or a laboratory diagnoses somebody with cyclospora, it gets automatically reported to the Division of Public Health so we can investigate, try and get some idea about whether there could be an outbreak — for example, related to contaminated food that might need to be recalled. 

We’ve been watching what’s been happening at a national level, and every year, typically, in New Hampshire, we have fewer than 10 people diagnosed with cyclospora. Currently in New Hampshire, and these numbers are on our website, we have a total of nearly 80 people so far, in 2026, that have been diagnosed with cyclosporiasis.  

Melanie Plenda: 

Do you have a sense of why it’s different this year rather than previous years? 

Benjamin Chan: 

It’s not entirely clear what’s different this year. We do know that this is an organism that can lead to large outbreaks, and we don’t always have a good picture of what’s happening at a national level.

The national outbreak was first recognized when another state identified a large increase in cyclospora infections that were being reported to the state health department. They investigated, as most states do across the country, and they identified that a majority of people being reported to them ate at Taco Bell. That led to a nationwide recall. That’s sort of how this initially has played out. 

As more and more attention and awareness has come to this outbreak, that has led to more testing. Factored into this is the idea that probably every year people get cyclospora infections — they develop symptoms, they don’t seek testing because it’s not regularly ordered, or routinely available, and they get better on their own, so they’re never tested, never identified. But in the setting of a large national outbreak, where we’ve done messaging to the public and to healthcare providers, it raises awareness of the fact that there was this outbreak. 

The more testing you do, the more people are identifying the infection, and more testing leads to more infections that are identified and then reported to public health so that they can be investigated. I think there’s going to be more information coming in the next days and weeks  around potentially other sources of contamination. But again, this is an organism that we know causes outbreaks, and this is the time of year when we would expect to see outbreaks. The numbers we are seeing are much, much larger than historically what we’ve seen in the past.  

Melanie Plenda: 

What should people do? Should they be avoiding all lettuce or fresh produce? How can they handle this?

Benjamin Chan:

I think there are a number of steps that people can take to protect themselves if they’re concerned about cyclospora.

It’s generally recommended that people wash their fresh berries and fresh produce to the extent possible. If people are concerned that a vegetable might be contaminated they can cook it — cooking will kill the cyclospora parasite. Also they should make sure that they have good handwashing, make sure there’s not cross-contamination happening in the kitchen — between cutting boards, washing the counters, washing the utensils. 

The other steps that people can take is just to be aware of where their fresh produce is coming from. There are, this time of year, lots of different farmers markets, particularly in New Hampshire, that are selling locally grown, fresh produce. There are companies and businesses out there that, regarding lettuce, grow lettuce in greenhouses, with much lower risk of contamination. There are products that are out there that people can take advantage of that are either locally grown or grown in ways that reduce or minimize the contamination, particularly for lettuce.

We still recommend and generally promote people to eat fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, but there are steps people can take to make sure they’re minimizing the risk for food-borne infections.

Melanie Plenda:

I want to thank you so much for joining us today, Dr. Chan. All great information. 

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Attention and prevention: Staying on top of the risks from tick and mosquito bites

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

No one likes getting bitten by ticks and mosquitoes. Hopefully, it’s just painful and annoying, but sometimes these pests can cause health impacts that can be concerning. State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan, who helps prevent and control the spread of disease and promote the health of Granite State residents, discusses what the concerns are and what we should do about them.

Melanie Plenda:

Anecdotally, how is this season for ticks and mosquitoes? What do you know about their prevalence?

Benjamin Chan:

I think maybe it would be helpful to start by saying that the health department generally tracks infections and disease. We don't routinely track some of the vectors, or the insects like ticks and mosquitoes, that can spread that disease.

There are a few ways that we can assess how active a season we're having with ticks and mosquitoes. One certainly is by how common some of these diseases are that we're tracking, like Lyme disease for ticks and West Nile virus for mosquitoes. But there are other sources of information. Mosquito trapping occurs in certain areas of the state. We also can assess and have data coming in about emergency room visits for tick bites. 

I think generally what we're seeing, at least early in the season, is a very active tick bite season. There were a higher number of emergency department visits for tick bites in March and April than maybe we've seen in the last couple of years, but that largely has evened out, and the trend we're seeing now is more in line with what we've seen in past years. 

Regarding mosquito season, it varies year to year, depending on weather conditions — how much rain we're getting. I don't believe that we're having a more active mosquito season than we typically see, but some of our community partners, like our towns and cities, and some of the companies that do mosquito trapping in these local towns would have a better idea. 

Melanie Plenda:

To put a little bit of context around the prevalence of Lyme disease, last year there were about 1,800 cases. This year it's around 1,500 or 1,600. Not that people shouldn't be careful or aware of the disease, but how prevalent is a tick? How common is it for someone to get Lyme disease if they get bitten by a tick? Do you have a sense of that, or is there a way to quantify that?

Benjamin Chan:

It's a great question, and actually, there's not a great way to quantify the risk from any single tick bite. What I can say is that New Hampshire, including the rest of New England in general, is a high-incidence state for Lyme disease, meaning Lyme disease is found commonly in people and in ticks in our region. 

I think we go back to the idea of prevention — how do people stay healthy this time of year? How do people prevent getting infected with some of these pathogens? It comes back to preventing tick bites and preventing mosquito bites. There’s a variety of ways that people can do that. With some of these infections, there are treatments – antibiotics that can be given to treat an infection. So, if for whatever reason prevention fails, somebody gets bitten by a tick and they develop Lyme disease, there are antibiotics and treatments that can be given to cure the infection.

That's not the case with all of these pathogens, particularly the viruses. Powassan virus that's transmitted through tick bites and Eastern equine encephalitis, West Nile virus and Jamestown Canyon virus that are transmitted through mosquito bites are viruses for which there are no specific treatments. There are no antibiotics or antiviral medications that work, so somebody is medically supported until their body can clear the infection on their own.

Melanie Plenda:

Generally, what symptoms should people look for with tick and mosquito bites? When should they head to a health provider versus head to the pharmacy? 

Benjamin Chan:

I will point to a couple of different times when somebody should talk to their healthcare provider. The first is if somebody has severe or prolonged symptoms, the symptoms of a lot of these types of infections are not specific; fever, fatigue, maybe a mild headache, some muscle aches. They are all very common symptoms. If somebody is developing severe symptoms — severe headache and neck pain to the point where it hurts to move their neck, or family or friends are noticing the person is confused, or they're having other concerning neurologic symptoms like seizures or changes in their mentation and cognition — those are all warning signs for more severe invasive types of infections.

People should phone their healthcare provider or even go into the emergency department if they display any of those types of more concerning symptoms. The other time is if symptoms just aren't going away — prolonged fever, prolonged headache, other concerning symptoms people may be having that aren't going away — then they should be talking with their healthcare provider.

The other time when someone might want to be on the phone with a provider is if they have a tick bite and the tick has been attached for a prolonged period of time. There is a prophylactic or preventive antibiotic called doxycycline that can be given as a single dose that can prevent Lyme disease.

Now, the tick has to be attached for a certain amount of time in order for the Lyme disease bacteria to spread from the tick into the person, so that doesn't happen right away with Lyme disease. But if somebody, for example, finds an engorged or enlarged tick on themselves, it's probably been there for more than 24 hours. They can talk to their healthcare provider and get a single-dose prescription for an antibiotic that can help reduce the chances of coming down with Lyme disease. 

Melanie Plenda:

What should you do if you find a tick on you? Should you bring it somewhere to be tested?

Benjamin Chan:

Generally, we don't recommend tick testing. There are places that do that that are out there, but as a general medical recommendation, testing a tick doesn't necessarily change how somebody is treated — that's sort of a core tenet, if you will. Whenever we're talking about medical recommendations, does an intervention change how you treat the patient? And in this case, taking a tick and testing it doesn't necessarily change what happens with a person who's bitten by a tick.

Melanie Plenda:

Are there other insects of concern when it comes to health impacts?

Benjamin Chan:

It's a good question. Primarily, what we're concerned about in New Hampshire is really around ticks and mosquitoes. But I think maybe it's also a good opportunity to highlight the fact that this is a time of year when people might be traveling.

So when people travel, they should be aware of the risks in the areas that they're traveling to. While ticks and mosquitoes are the primary concern here in New Hampshire — particularly around these diseases that we've been talking about — there may be insects in other locations of the U.S. or of the world, where different types of infections can be transmitted through fleas. There also might be other types of infections that are transmitted through tick bites or mosquito bites that aren't present in New Hampshire. 

If people are thinking about traveling, particularly if they're traveling internationally. Generally, it's a good idea to be talking with a travel medicine clinic to see if there's certain precautions people should be taking to see if there are vaccines to prevent diseases while people are traveling.

Melanie Plenda:

What should we do going forward, in terms of prevention?

Benjamin Chan:

Some of these infections have antibiotic treatments, some of these infections have no specific treatments, particularly against some of the viruses that are transmitted through ticks and mosquitoes. 

A lot of this comes back to preventing the tick bite or preventing the mosquito bite in the first place as the best way to prevent infection and stay healthy. I also mentioned there are no specific vaccines for people to prevent these types of infections either. It really comes down to preventing tick bites and preventing mosquito bites, and there are a number of ways to do that. 

First, there’s avoiding habitats where ticks might be present. Ticks like to hang out in sort of borderline or transitional-type habitats where maybe you have shrubs and tall grasses, so avoiding going into those types of habitats can prevent tick bites. 

Mosquitoes are most active at dawn and dusk, so to minimize the risk of mosquito bites, people can avoid going outdoors at times of the day when mosquitoes are most active around dawn and dusk.

Then, if people are outdoors or in areas where there might be ticks or mosquitoes, applying an insect repellent to exposed skin that's effective against ticks and mosquitoes is important. A lot of people know of DEET-based repellents. Some people don't like using DEET, and that's fine. There are other options out there — more natural options, like lemon or eucalyptus-based insect repellents.

There are a number of other steps people can take. There are certain types of insecticide sprays that can be put on clothing, like permethrin-based sprays, that can help repel ticks and mosquitoes. It's important to do tick checks when coming inside after being outdoors, both on yourself and also your pets and your gear.

As for mosquitoes, one way of minimizing them around one's home is to make sure that there's no standing water — buckets or pails or wheelbarrows or old tires that have standing water in them — because mosquitoes like to breed in even small amounts of standing water. We generally recommend people walk around and make sure that there aren't pails holding water in one's yard as a way to try and reduce mosquito populations around someone's home.

Melanie Plenda:

Thank you for joining us today, Dr. Chan.

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

They weren’t looking for him, so why is he dead?

The killing by ICE of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine should scare everyone who believes government must be accountable

By Shamecca Brown-Granite State News Collaborative

I am scared. And I don’t say that lightly.

I sit back sometimes and look at what is happening in this country, and I genuinely ask myself: What the hell are we becoming? Because a 26-year-old man is dead. His name was Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. 

On July 13, 2026, Johan was shot and killed by an ICE agent during an immigration enforcement operation in Biddeford, Maine. And, according to reporting about the case, Johan wasn’t even the person ICE originally came there looking for. But now he is dead.

ICE says Johan attempted to flee and that an officer fired because his vehicle posed a threat to public safety. But questions have been raised about exactly what happened. Because when an agent of our government takes a human life, we cannot simply accept a statement, close the file, and move on to tomorrow’s news.

And Johan’s death did not happen in isolation. Just six days earlier, on July 7, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed in Houston in another fatal encounter involving ICE. Two men. Six days.

Asking questions about the actions of law enforcement does not mean you don’t believe in laws. Demanding accountability does not mean you support crime. Caring about the life of an immigrant does not mean you want open borders. It means you still believe a human life has value.

Apparently, even saying that has become controversial in America. And that scares the hell out of me. Because I need somebody to tell me when immigration status became a death sentence. When did we decide that being undocumented — or simply being caught up in an immigration enforcement operation — means your life suddenly has less value?

We are talking about human beings. People with mothers. People with fathers. People with children. People who laugh, work, love, struggle, dream and wake up every morning trying to survive this crazy world just like the rest of us.

Johan was somebody’s son. He wa.s a little girl’s father. And now his family has to live with the reality that he is never coming home, and the day we stop caring about people simply because they don’t look like us, come from where we come from, speak our language, or have the right paperwork is the day we need to seriously ask ourselves what kind of country we have become.

Because this is bigger than Johan, and his death cannot simply become another headline we forget next week.

We have watched immigration enforcement become more aggressive. We have watched communities become afraid. We have watched people detained and families torn apart. And, within six days, two men have been killed in encounters involving ICE agents.

Demand accountability

I don’t give a damn what political party you belong to when we are talking about whether government agents should be able to take a human life without the public demanding a full, independent and transparent accounting of exactly what happened. That should not be a Republican position. That should not be a Democratic position. That is a HUMAN position.

Yes, I am angry. I am angry because I have children. I am angry because I am a Black woman in America who knows what it feels like to watch another human being’s death become a debate before their family has even had time to grieve. I am angry because we keep being told to trust systems while simultaneously being told not to question those systems, not to question authority or get too angry or make people uncomfortable.

But  guess what? I am uncomfortable. And maybe more of us need to be. Because becoming comfortable with people dying should scare us far more than becoming angry about it.

When we give any government extraordinary power without demanding extraordinary accountability, we should all be paying attention. History has already shown us what can happen when people decide something isn’t their problem because it is happening to somebody else.

I wasn’t standing on that street in Biddeford. I did not witness every second of what happened. And because questions remain about the circumstances surrounding Johan’s death, I am not going to pretend I know something I don’t. But that is exactly why I want answers. All of them. Not the politically convenient truth.

Shamecca Brown is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

What tools do New Hampshire farmers use to keep pests away from crops?

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article is edited for length and clarity.

Our fruits and vegetables are constantly under watch for signs of an army of tiny invaders. How do we protect our produce from tiny insect interlopers? Dr. Amber Vinchesi-Vahl, who works at the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, discusses how agricultural pests are monitored and how growers are being helped to find solutions for dealing with them. 

Melanie Plenda:

What work do you do at UNH?

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

In addition to being the state extension specialist in entomology and integrated pest management, or IPM, I am also the state IPM coordinator, and we use all kinds of techniques to control insects beyond just chemical management.

Melanie Plenda:

What agricultural pests are you currently monitoring for?

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

I run the state trapping program, which is funded by the N.H. Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Foods. We're trapping for many vegetable pests, mainly sweet corn pests. We trap four different moths that affect sweet corn — it's actually the caterpillar that's causing the damage to the crop, not the moth. But we use pheromone traps to track those moths to figure out when they're arriving and what kind of pressure we have, because many of our sweet corn pests do not spend the winter in New Hampshire. They migrate north on storm fronts and wind events and jet streams. So knowing when they arrive is really important for management. 

We do have some pests that overwinter here or are native. So the European corn borer is one of our sweet corn pests that does spend the winter here. The other two that migrate up are the corn earworm and the fall armyworm. We also trap for squash vine borer, which is a native squash pest to New Hampshire. Then we also trap for a couple of invasive species: the spotted wing drosophila and the brown marmorated stink bug. We also have a tree fruit trapping program that's run by my colleague Jeremy Delisle out of Merrimack County, but I kind of run this vegetable program. 

Melanie Plenda:

What is the next step once you trap them? 

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

One of the key tenets of integrated pest management is monitoring first, because then you're only implementing your controls when you know you have the pests present, and it's at actually damaging levels. We use trap thresholds to inform our growers and recommend when they should implement controls.

The thresholds are basically the amount of pests in the trap that indicate you will need to implement management to avoid economic damage. The pests may be present, but they might not be at levels where you actually need to do any management. This helps reduce pesticide inputs and pesticide costs, and saves labor, time and money for the growers as well.

Melanie Plenda:

As you mentioned, some of these are native problems, and some are invasive ones. Can you explain what that means, and why the invasive ones can cause extra headaches?

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

A native pest is an insect that's always been here. It's native to the United States, native to New Hampshire, New England area, and that's our squash vine borer, which is a pest of squash. It's a day flying moth, and they lay their eggs at the base of the stem, and when the larvae hatch, they bore into the stem, and as they grow, they can cause the plant to collapse. 

Invasive insects are insects that are introduced from other areas of the world into the United States. They're usually not introduced with any of their predators from their native range, and they have plenty of habitat and resources once they arrive in a new place and can really take off. Invasive insects also tend to make integrated pest management a lot more difficult because they arrive, they grow exponentially, and growers have to do something to control them, and that’s usually relying on pesticide sprays until we can kind of come up with other management strategies to work with the sprays. 

We also have a lot of insects in New Hampshire that we wouldn't really consider invasive anymore, but they're also not native to New Hampshire, like the European corn borer. It is not native to New Hampshire, but it's been here for a very long time. So has the Japanese beetle, but technically they're not native to New Hampshire. 

Melanie Plenda:

Is climate change a factor here with these pests?

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

Yes, we're really noticing these shifts within our 20 years of our trapping program. We've really been able to track when the migrating pests arrive and how that changes depending on storm events and hurricanes. In the past, we used to really only see corn earworm and fall armyworm late in the season, but now sometimes we see big spikes in late July. Other things we're noticing is the unpredictable weather in the spring, with more storms maybe bringing some of our pests up sooner than we normally see them. 

Insect development is really temperature-dependent. So when we have warmer weather, they're able to cycle through their generations faster. So we may have faster population buildup. They're showing up earlier and lasting longer into the fall because it's staying warmer longer as well. Also, some of the invasive insects that generally come up from the south may now be able to spend the winter here if we don't get a lot of snow cover or it stays warmer over the winter, which means they're showing up earlier in the spring.

Melanie Plenda:

What kind of economic impact do these insects have when they attack crops?

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

We really have great data that shows that growers are able to save a lot of money by reducing their pesticide costs. In 2025, our trapping network showed that our growers saved, on average, about three sprays in the season for sweet corn, which equates to almost $70,000 for labor, fuel and pesticide costs. They also reported increased yield, almost a 10% increase in yield than what they thought they would have had if they were not controlling. 

The three sprays saved are based on using integrated pest management compared to the historic way that the pests were controlled, which was calendar-based sprays. Basically that would mean that when they thought the pest showed up, they just started spraying on a calendar basis, whether the pest was there or not. Using this trapping first is really important. They're able to target the insects more efficiently and then increase their yield.

Our growers also reported that if they were not managing for these pests, they would have had over a 50% loss. 

Melanie Plenda:

You mentioned spraying and pesticides. Is that something consumers should be concerned about? And if so, what questions should they ask? 

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

This is a great question. It's a little tricky to answer, but pesticides have a lot of rules to them. Growers aren't just out there spraying whatever they want, whenever they want. Also, all pesticides have a pre-harvest interval, or PHI, and that means that if the PHI is seven days, the grower cannot spray it within seven days of harvest — that's for safety to harvest crews, to you-pick consumers, to the grower, and that's going to make it safer. There's no residue there, but you should always wash your produce as well, but there are residue laws in the United States for pesticides. Growers are being very conscious about the way they apply pesticides.

Melanie Plenda:

Are organic pesticides less worrisome than inorganic or chemical ones? Why or why not? 

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

Organic pesticides are generally softer chemistries, and some conventional growers will use softer chemistries or more selective chemistries. That's what we call pesticides that are really only targeting specific insect pests rather than a broad spectrum, which may be killing your beneficials as well. 

Organic pesticides are still pesticides. Many of them still have labels that have to be followed, but they are derived from natural products rather than synthetic, which makes them different from your conventional pesticides. But some of them still have pre-harvest intervals. There's also a big push and increase in biological chemicals. This would be fungus or bacteria that can be applied to attack the insect pest, or even minerals like oils that you can apply that are a little bit safer as well.

Melanie Plenda:

You also mentioned pest management that doesn’t involve any kind of pesticide. Can you tell us more about those strategies? How effective are they?

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

Those are cultural practices. We kind of loop everything in IPM into a couple of categories. So the cultural practices are really just your production agronomic practices that many growers are already doing, like crop rotation. This is really important for disease and insect pest management.

For example, say I had cucumbers in a field in 2025. I'm going to plant something completely unrelated to cucumbers in 2026 to avoid those pests that probably spent the winter or are still in that area where I had the cucumbers, because then it's going to be harder when those insects emerge in the spring to find where I did plant the cucumbers, because now it's tomatoes there and they don't like tomatoes. You’re really trying to rotate through those crop groups to reduce your pest pressure. 

Other things include manipulating your planting dates. So if any home gardeners or farmers have issues with the Colorado potato beetle, which is a big fat red beetle that eats potatoes and tomatoes. By planting in July, you're going to miss that first peak when the adults come out of overwintering and come into your tomatoes and potatoes and eggplant crops. So manipulating planting dates is something growers can do.

Other cultural control practices include planting resistant varieties for disease pest management, if they're available. And there’s site selection — trying to find areas that don't have a lot of weeds, because weeds will harbor diseases and insects. 

For mechanical and physical controls, those are kind of barriers to pest entry. Many of our farms will put row cover or insect-exclusion netting over newly planted crops, and that's going to mean that any of the beetles trying to come in or other pests can't get there. 

Melanie Plenda:

Just to sum up, how are New Hampshire crops looking this year? And what can we expect to see at our farm stands?

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl:

I've been to a lot of farms this summer. Crops look really great. We're seeing some of our common pest issues a little worse this year than others, but that's pretty common every year. There's always something that kind of wins out. Onion thrips are a big issue this year on a lot of our onions, but those are close to harvest, so the bulbs are looking good. Sweet corn looks really good. We've had kind of a slow start to the sweet corn pests. We haven't really been trapping too many yet, so it might be like normal years where we see the big flush in August and September instead of mid-season like we are now.

Melanie Plenda:

Thank you for joining us today, Amber.

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Freedom is more than fireworks and barbecues

By Shamecca Brown-Granite State News Collaborative 

Every July, the sky lights up. The flags are flying. The fireworks paint the night in red, white  and blue. Neighbors gather around grills. Kids splash in pools. Families laugh together. For one day, America feels … different.

I remember when I used to be one of those people lighting fireworks myself. It was part of the tradition. But somewhere along the way, we stopped. These days, my children couldn’t care less about the fireworks. Give them a barbecue, a pool to jump in, good food and time with family, and they’re happy. Maybe they’ve figured out something the rest of us haven’t. Because after the fireworks are over, what happens?

The next day, it’s back to arguing online. Back to judging strangers. Back to political fights. Back to people refusing to listen. Back to treating one another with less kindness than we managed to show for just one holiday.

It makes me wonder. Is our patriotism only meant for July Fourth? Is kindness something we celebrate for a day and forget the other 364?

For instance, the other day, one of my children said something that stopped me in my tracks: “It just seems like everyone dislikes everyone.” Imagine hearing that from a child.

That’s the America they’re growing up in – a country where they notice the tension, the division and the constant negativity before they’re even old enough to understand all the reasons behind it.

After the last spark disappears

Sure, we tell our children to be kind, to include others, to respect people even when they disagree. Maybe it’s time we started taking our own advice.

Real freedom isn’t just about fireworks or waving a flag. It’s about protecting each other’s right to think differently while still treating one another with dignity. It’s OK to disagree. That’s part of democracy. It always has been. What’s not OK is believing that someone with a different opinion is automatically your enemy.

America has never been perfect. But throughout our history, we’ve moved forward because people were willing to have difficult conversations, stand up for what they believed in and recognize each other’s humanity. Today, it feels like we’ve become so focused on winning arguments that we’ve forgotten how to build relationships.

So this Fourth of July, so many of us enjoyed the fireworks once more. We enjoyed the barbecue, the jump in the pool, the laughs with our family.  But when the last spark disappears from the sky, did the kindness disappear with it? Because loving this country shouldn’t stop when the fireworks fade.

Actually, maybe the most patriotic thing we can do isn’t wave a flag once a year. Maybe it’s choosing empathy on an ordinary Tuesday. Or listening before judging. Or remembering that behind every opinion is a human being.

If my children can see that “everyone dislikes everyone,” then maybe it’s time we ask ourselves a harder question: What kind of America are we leaving them?

Shamecca Brown is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Acute challenges swamp state’s program for supporting children in court cases

Guardians ad litem offer ‘impactful’ assistance, but program is largely available only to families who can pay

By Kelly Burch-Granite State News Collaborative

During her 25 years working full-time as a guardian ad litem — a person who represents the interests of children in family court cases — Judith Hamilton has worked with hundreds of families. Yet she knows that many more children have no one to speak for them in court.. 

“All kids should get the same level of care and concern from the court system,” said Hamilton, who lives in Keene. “And that doesn’t happen.”

Guardians ad litem are appointed by the court to represent the interests of children, often in contentious court cases involving custody, parental rights, and abuse and neglect. 

“A GAL brings in a nuanced, middle-of-the-road perspective” that can help judges make good decisions in complex cases, said Judge Kathleen Quigley, president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. 

But in New Hampshire, GAL services are too often available only to families that are able to pay — typically at a rate of $125 per hour, with costs often tallying thousands of dollars. 

State funding for GALs was cut in 2011, part of budget cuts enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Last year, the state operated a limited pilot program to reinstate GAL funding for a small number of low-income families. Analysis from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth, issued in May, found that the state funding addressed inequalities and also helped complicated cases move through the court system more effectively. 

People working in the court system “really expressed … how impactful GALs were to the process of reaching judgments and the process of providing more equitable justice, particularly in complex cases and those that have been open for a long time,” says Elizabeth Pfeffer, postdoctoral fellow with the Rockefeller Center, who helped oversee the research and report. 

Despite that, there’s currently no plan to extend state funding for GALs for low-income families. The funding for the pilot was a “small, one-time allocation” from the Department of Health and Human Services, according to Heather Kulp, director of court operations for the N.H. Judicial Branch.

“How to fund GALs for indigent parents and the scale of such funding in the future is a legislative decision,” she said. 

‘Logjam in the system’

The lack of funding for poor families is just one of many issues facing the GAL system in New Hampshire, according to a 2025 policy brief from the Rockefeller Center. The brief outlined four in particular that the guardian ad litem program faces: “inadequate” training; “compensation challenges”; a shrinking number of licensed GALS; and an unequal distribution of services. 

The reduction in the number of licensed GALs is striking. Before state funding was cut, there were about 260 GALs, according to Dartmouth analysis. As of June 30, 2026, there were 58, state data show. 

The sharp decline has compounded pressure. 

“The remaining GALs can be very overworked or have a pretty high burden psychologically,” Pfeffer said. 

Since the state no longer pays for GAL services, parents in court cases are billed for the work. Hamilton said she’s sometimes assigned to cases where it’s clear that parents will be unwilling or unable to pay for her services. 

“The court will assign me a case we all know I’ll never get paid for,” she said. “That just feels unfair to me, but they know that I’ll do it.”

Other GALs have picked up pro-bono cases, the Dartmouth report found. Even so, “there’s a lot of people who don’t ever get served,” Hamilton said. 

Last year, 21 families received a GAL through the pilot program. Their cases were being heard in four New Hampshire circuit courts — Laconia, Franklin, Rochester and Keene. In each court, judges decided which eligible cases received a GAL. 

Those GALs gave judges “new information that could cut a logjam in the system,” Pfeffer said. 

“It had implications for cases, caseloads and families who are going through the court system for quite a long period of time,” she said. 

Looking to other states

Any effort to reinstate a GAL fund would also need to address challenges facing the GAL system, Pfeffer said. 

To explore options for that, Dartmouth researchers looked at the GAL systems in four other states: Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine and Minnesota. 

New Hampshire’s system is complex, in part because it involves all branches of government, Pfeffer said. The court system uses the services, but the program is funded by the Legislature, and licensing and training are handled by the executive branch. 

Other states have handled this by placing their GAL programs within the court system. In Minnesota, for example, GALs are direct employees of the judicial branch. 

Vermont has taken an almost opposite approach, relying heavily on volunteer GALs organized through paid regional coordinators.

“This seemed to help recruitment and retention through the slightly more structured mentorship and training programs,” Pfeffer said. While the number of GALs has dropped substantially in New Hampshire, it has remained steady in Vermont, according to the Dartmouth report. 

This volunteer-driven approach is somewhat similar to that taken by Court Appointed Special Advocates of New Hampshire (CASA of NH), an organization that provides volunteer GALs to represent children in cases of child abuse and neglect (see sidebar). Currently, CASA of NH has about 600 volunteer GALs, according to Marty Sink, longtime CEO of CASA of NH who retired on July 1, 37 years after she founded the organization .

“For us, in New Hampshire, it’s worked really well,” Sink said. “... It’s volunteerism, but it’s also a way for the community, just normal citizens, to dig in and get involved. That piece is really important.”

• CASA: a complementary, but distinct, program for vulnerable kids

  Guardians ad litem can serve in any type of court cases, including divorce, custody and termination of parental rights. Children in cases of child abuse and neglect can be served by another resource: a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), a volunteer GAL who is typically unpaid.

  While a CASA is a type of GAL, the work of CASAs and paid GALs is distinct, experts say. 

  CASAs serve on about 90% of new child abuse and neglect cases that enter the court system, according to Marty Sink, founder of CASA NH, who retired as CEO on July 1.  Federal law requires that children in these cases have a GAL, so if a CASA is not available, a paid GAL must be appointed at the $125-an-hour rate. 

  CASA is “a very highly effective, cost-effective form of advocacy,” Sink said. “We save the state a lot of money.”

  About 35% of CASA NH funding — about $1.1 million — comes from the state. Last year, CASA volunteers logged 8,300 hours, she said. According to the organization’s website, it provides the state with $3 million in advocacy work each year.

  CASA NH has about 600 volunteers, who served about 1,500 children last year, Sink said. In an ideal world, she would have 800 volunteers — roughly the number needed to provide a CASA for every case of child abuse and neglect.

  Knowing she was unlikely to have enough volunteers to fully meet the need, Sink decided to focus solely on child abuse and neglect cases when she started CASA NH in 1989. 

  “Those are the kiddos who are so vulnerable,” she says.

In Massachusetts, the GAL program benefits from the state chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. That organization can set guidelines for effectively operating a GAL program within a given jurisdiction, according to Bryan Altman, executive director of the association. 

“A chapter might be able to bring together experts across all these different silos,” he said. “They might put together a training on skills that are needed to fulfill that role.”

In addition to additional training, communication mechanisms and administrative processes for New Hampshire GALs, the Dartmouth report called on the state to investigate establishing a chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

A system in need of support

While the GAL system faces acute challenges, experts say they’re part of a larger lack of support for New Hampshire’s most vulnerable families. 

“We just, across the board, don’t spend much money on families in this state,” said Susan Carbon, a retired New Hampshire family court judge and past president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. “There’s a lot more we can do to support families, and we’re not.”

The families Hamilton works with often could have benefited from help to address and resolve issues before they ended up in court, she said. Instead, they’re often left in crisis, with nowhere to turn. 

This has become even more acute since the pandemic, she said. One example is the lack of access to mental health counselors for kids. In addition to her work as a GAL, Hamilton has worked in community mental health. She used to be able to connect children with therapists and other mental health professionals quickly, she said, but now she’s often unable to. 

“Even when I have kids I’m really worried about,” she said, “I can’t get them in.”

Sink sees a “system that needs to collaborate and come together supporting children and families” through challenges such as homelessness, mental health and substance abuse. 

“The odds that families are challenged with are at times insurmountable,” she said. “If we can do one little piece of systemic change, [we can] help people have better outcomes, and hopefully develop a stronger, healthier community of New Hampshire citizens.” 

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Qualified, experienced, and still not good enough: America’s real hiring problem

By Shamecca Brown-Granite State News Collaborative 

America says it has a worker shortage. I don’t buy it. What America has is a hiring problem.

Every day, employers post ads for jobs claiming they desperately need workers. They complain about staffing shortages, burnout and positions that remain vacant for months. Politicians talk about workforce shortages. Businesses hang “Now Hiring” signs in their windows.

Yet thousands of qualified people are submitting resumes and hearing absolutely nothing back. Not even a rejection. So let’s stop pretending this is simply about finding talent.

The real question is: Who are employers willing to see as talent? Because from where I stand, too many hiring decisions have less to do with qualifications and more to do with comfort.

Comfort with a person’s name. Comfort with their age. Comfort with their race. Comfort with their gender. Comfort with whether they have a disability. Comfort with their hairstyle. Comfort with their accent. Comfort with their criminal background. Comfort with who they love. Comfort with people who look, sound and think like everyone already sitting around the table.

The problem is that comfort is not a qualification. Experience is. Skills are. Education is. Work ethic is. Character is. And when employers prioritize comfort over competence, everyone loses.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

A 55-year-old applicant with decades of experience can be overlooked for someone younger with fewer qualifications. A person with a criminal record who has paid their debt to society can be denied opportunity before they ever get an interview. A person with a disability can be judged before their abilities are ever considered. A Black woman with years of experience, certifications, leadership skills and a proven track record can submit application after application and still be forced to wonder whether her qualifications were ever seriously considered.

At the same time, many of the jobs that are available come with another problem: the pay. Employers want bachelor’s degrees, certifications, years of experience, flexibility, evening availability, weekend availability, emotional intelligence, crisis management skills, and the ability to do the work of three people. Then they offer wages that barely cover rent.

Some positions require workers to carry the emotional weight of other people’s trauma every single day. Human service workers, recovery coaches, direct support professionals, advocates, behavioral health staff, case managers and frontline workers are holding communities together with determination, compassion, and grit. Yet many of these same workers struggle to pay their own bills.

Think about that. We trust people to protect children, support individuals in recovery, assist survivors of domestic violence, help people with disabilities, respond to mental health crises and guide families through some of the darkest moments of their lives. But we often don’t pay them enough to thrive. Then we wonder why positions stay vacant.

This isn’t a workforce shortage. It’s a respect shortage, a wage shortage, an opportunity shortage.

People are tired of being told they’re essential while being treated as expendable. They are tired of being told they’re qualified enough to do the work but not qualified enough to be hired. They are tired of hearing that nobody wants to work when the truth is many people are willing to work — they just want a fair chance and fair pay.

If employers truly want to solve staffing shortages, they need to start recognizing the value of the candidates already standing in front of them.

That means looking beyond assumptions, beyond stereotypes, beyond age, race, gender, disability, background and bias. It means giving people a genuine opportunity to prove what they can do.

The American workforce does not have a talent problem. 

The talent is here. The question is whether we are willing to see it

Shamecca Brown is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

‘The reality of living in N.H. right now’: Older adults increasingly face homelessness

In 2024, nearly a quarter of people experiencing homelessness for the first time were over 55

By Megan Rogers – Granite State News Collaborative

Editor’s note: The 65-year-old woman whose homelessness is a key part of this story asked for anonymity in order to participate in the piece. Her identity is known by the Granite State News Collaborative.

Stacy Z, a 65-year-old New Hampshire resident, faced an unstable housing situation at the end of 2025. 

She had a month to find rent-subsidized housing. Stacy reached out to social service agencies and filled out more than 50 housing applications. On top of her housing search, Stacy was also using a cane while she waited for a hip replacement. 

“I used every social service-related resource that I could find to try to find an alternative to becoming homeless, and I felt like a hamster on a wheel,” said Stacy — who asked that her full name not be used over concerns that it could hurt her job prospects. “I was running as fast as I could, and getting nowhere. People were really nice, but what I kept hearing over and over again was, ‘We can't help you.’”

When an accessible room at Hundred Nights — a shelter for unhoused people in  Keene — became available, Stacy moved in for three months before she was able to secure a spot at a rent-subsidized property. 

While at Hundred Nights, Stacy decided that, once she resolved her own situation, she wanted to advocate for others experiencing homelessness. 

“My life has been very geared towards serving others, and I certainly never expected to find myself in this situation,” Stacy said. She works as a drug and alcohol counselor and an interfaith minister. 

In recent years, shelters across the state say they’re getting more frequent calls from older adults with medical and mobility issues, who find themselves facing homelessness for the first time. 

“We've certainly seen the face of homelessness is changing, and increasingly this is seniors who worked their entire lives, paid taxes, raised their families in communities across the region, and really never imagined that they would struggle to afford housing and retirement,” says Kara Anne Rodenhizer, executive director of the Home for All Coalition, a partnership of individuals and organizations working on housing solutions along the Seacoast. 

“What we're seeing, and what many of our partners are seeing, is that for most of these folks, homelessness is not the result of what folks might think as a personal failure or poor decision,” Rodenhizer said. “It's really that housing costs are rising so much faster, and on fixed incomes that poses a lot of challenges.”

Ineffective safety net

It’s not a new phenomenon. A few years ago, when the NH Coalition to End Homelessness hosted roundtables across the state with homeless service providers and local residents, a concern at every conversation involved older adults facing homelessness, says Jennifer Chisholm, executive director of the coalition. 

In fact, of the 2,245 people identified as experiencing homelessness during New Hampshire’s 2024 Point in Time count, 442 were adults age 55 and older, according to the coalition’s annual report. Nearly a quarter of all individuals experiencing homelessness for the first time in 2024 were older adults. 

“I almost fell out of my chair when I saw that statistic, because I think we think as Americans that we have this really great safety net that takes care of our seniors,” Chisholm said. “But it's not working as effectively as it really should be, clearly, given just the economy, rental economy, housing economy, and how wages and also fixed incomes for our seniors just aren't keeping up with the true prices of everything.” 

Nationally, people age 50 or older are the fastest-growing group experiencing homelessness in America, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. 

The number of older adults facing homelessness has increased since the COVID pandemic, said Sue Ford, executive director of My Friend’s Place, an independent living shelter in Dover. Others working in the field echo her. 

“I started in this work about eight years ago, and over that time I've definitely seen an increase in not only our older population — say 50 and up —  that tends to be the majority of folks that I have in our population right now. I also see a lot more folks 18 to 25, which I also think is really interesting. It's these two populations, both with some really individual considerations,” said Erik Becker, housing stability director at the Berlin-based Tri-County Community Action Program. 

Factors pushing older adults into homelessness include financial crises, losing their independence, death of a spouse or caretaker, or a medical crisis, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

“It's not necessarily things that wouldn't impact younger people, but just the impact tends to be heightened due to people's age and, again, the fixed-income piece of things,” Chisholm says. 

Over half of all older adult households in the Granite State have to pay more than 30% of their income for their housing costs, according to the coalition’s 2025 report.

The third-oldest state

At Cross Roads House in Portsmouth, Tammy Whalen, director of housing success, and her team work with aging adults who aren’t able to use a top bunk at the shelter. Her team now spends more time on care coordination with medical providers to help aging adults than just a few years ago. 

“We desperately need medical respite, so definitely advocating for medical respite in New Hampshire is a big, important piece and then that way we have folks not going back and forth to the hospital, but can have their medical needs met in a facility,” Whalen said. 

New Hampshire has no medical respite program, leaving a gap in services for people who aren’t sick enough to be in the hospital but need more care than they can get in the shelter. Without medical respite, shelters and hospitals are in tough positions to decide how best to care for aging adults, Chisholm said. 

Across the state, advocates and direct service providers are adjusting to meeting the needs of an aging population. For instance, Manchester has shifted one of its shelters to focus specifically on the aging and infirm because of the need, Chisholm says. 

Eve Toth, manager of street outreach and housing stabilization at Communication Action Partnership Belknap-Merrimack Counties, and her team are doing more to serve older adults. For instance, they’re conducting outreach more at park-and-rides and libraries, and supplying more adult diapers. 

Since New Hampshire is the third-oldest state in the country, behind Maine and Vermont, advocates expect that older adults will continue to face homelessness. 

“This is not a right-now problem,” Rodenhizer says. “This is going to be a problem that I think we're going to see continuing to grow and increase. and it really requires not just investment but collaboration. You don't have to be an aging adult to really see the impact it can have and the  strain on emergency services and providers. We’ve got to, as a state, work together to come up with a solution.”

Explaining the need

Less than a year after living at Hundred Nights for a few months, Stacy Z., a graduate of the NH Coalition to End Homelessness advocacy and leadership program, is again gearing her life toward service, using her experiences to explain the need for more affordable housing across the state. 

“At a time in my life when a lot of seniors like me would like to be really comfortable and relatively stress-free and not facing these sorts of situations, that's the reality of living in New Hampshire right now,” she says. 

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Will state’s latest attempt to promote housing construction make a difference?

New measure allows residential projects on commercially zoned land

By Peter Miller-Granite State News Collaborative

Yet another set of tools to help the state address its chronic housing shortage is almost fully in place , but it remains to be seen whether the legislation actually helps make a dent.

The most-watched of the measures — House Bill 631 — was approved in 2025, but didn’t take effect until this month. The measure requires municipalities classified as urban areas by the U.S. Census Bureau to permit construction of multifamily or mixed-used developments on commercially zoned land as a matter of right, if adequate infrastructure is available. 

That essentially means that a project would need only site plan approval and forgo the usual zoning process, in many cases. Municipalities would still be able to restrict development where industry and manufacturing can cause incompatible impacts. They also will be allowed to require retail or similar uses on the ground floor of new developments and require exemptions for setbacks, height or building frontage.

How effective the measure will be may depend on the success of related bills and the unique circumstances of individual cities and towns.

One bill, HB 1010, also took effect on July 1. It clarifies the role of local planning boards in multifamily building projects, and permits municipalities to allow waivers of requirements and to restrict some residential development under certain circumstances. 

Two other related bills have made it through the House and Senate and await Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s signature.

HB 1588 would grant municipalities more power over parking space requirements, clarify site plan review requirements and establish special assessment districts to finance infrastructure improvements. Another, Senate Bill 564, has to do with road length, building on dead-end roads and placement of utilities in buffer areas.

A March 2026 report by the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute illustrates the magnitude of the problem. The statewide median price of a single-family home has been at or above $500,000 since 2024, and it was $576,000 in May, according to the N.H. Association of Realtors. Housing costs are outpacing income growth, and housing inventory hasn’t kept up with demand. Renters have few options, due to low vacancy rates, and are more likely to be cost-burdened, the Fiscal Policy Institute said.

HB 631’s proponents include Nick Taylor, director of Housing Action NH, a Concord-based coalition of business and nonprofit organizations that advocates for changes in state and federal policy affecting housing construction. 

“HB 631 is one of the most significant housing reforms New Hampshire has enacted in recent years because it hits on so many key components of New Hampshire's economic future,” said Taylor. “It helps turn underutilized office space and aging strip malls into housing. It drives development towards areas of land already served by roads, water, sewer and other infrastructure. It also helps conserve open space by encouraging development within existing built areas rather than sprawling into it.”

Likewise, George Reagan, director of community engagement at New Hampshire Housing —  the quasi-governmental agency that promotes and finances affordable housing in the state — views HB 631 as a flexible step forward.

The bill, he said, “recognizes that many commercial areas — especially office space — aren’t being used the same way they were 10 or 20 years ago. Allowing residential use can breathe new life into those areas. At the same time, communities need a healthy mix of commercial and residential uses.”

But others believe the measure misses the mark and may become yet one more impediment to addressing the crisis.

HB 631 is not only unnecessary but may also result in additional financial challenges, according to Margaret Byrnes, executive director of the N.H. Municipal Association.

“Municipalities already had the power to do this. They didn’t need a state law to allow multifamily in commercial zones,” Byrnes said. “I think that the vagueness of the law is going to lead to litigation, and litigation costs money — and that’s a major concern I think we should all have.”

A crucial shortcoming, Byrnes said, is that while HB 631 may expand development, it does not have requirements or ties to housing affordability. “I don't think people are crying out for more high-end or expensive housing,” she said.

Byrnes said her organization would prefer that the state employ different strategies to address the housing crisis. 

“The state can invest in infrastructure to ensure that our communities can actually support increases in development and population, and the state can also empower municipalities with more flexibility when it comes to housing, especially when it comes to incentivizing affordable housing,” she said. “It’s kind of the flip side of a statewide zoning mandate: more authority for municipalities to consider different types of incentives locally or different planning tools locally to find ways to increase affordable housing in their communities.”

Limited effect seen

Meanwhile, the city of Somersworth’s director of planning and community development, Michelle Mears, said HB 631 isn’t even applicable to her city. 

“Our zoning is commercial/industrial, and that makes it so that we don’t have to allow housing in the commercial zone,” she said. “We’re trying to incentivize housing within certain areas where the infrastructure is already available, and there are places along our commercial/industrial zones that don’t have sewer and water.”

Both Byrnes and Mears support refunding the Housing Champions Program, administered by the Department of Business and Economic Affairs. In 2023, the state created and provided $5 million in funding for the voluntary designation and grant initiative. Cities and towns receiving the “Housing Champion” designation in 2024 and 2025 were eligible to apply for grants to help them develop solutions and advance infrastructure to help alleviate the state’s housing shortage.

The program, while still active, has not been given additional funding since it was passed.

In January, the BEA reported that the 28 cities and towns receiving the designation over the two-year period were responsible for approving 45% of housing units that were built in 2025.

Planning Manager Sam Durfee of Nashua anticipates that HB 631 will likely open the door for development in relatively small areas of smaller communities, but fears that this type of legislation can disrupt long-range planning efforts for targeted housing growth.

Local control is at the heart of Durfee’s issues with both HB 631 and HB 1588. “They broadly take planning out of the hands of local municipalities,” he said. “We are very close to the end of a comprehensive land code update. Manchester just completed a similar effort, and we’re being very deliberate about a new approach that will incentivize residential development in commercial areas.”

Construction of more affordable housing is among several of Nashua’s housing goals, which also include environmental sustainability and how it handles stormwater, he said. “We are very sensitive about how achieving these goals affect the math equation that developers are always faced with when they try to make a project pencil (be financially viable).”

Durfee added: “We've been very deliberate in our testing of these regulations and making sure they're well-calibrated to current market conditions.”

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

El Niño 2026: What are New Hampshire’s weather conditions to come?

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

The El Niño climate pattern is here. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, predicts that it has a 63% chance of increasing to a very strong intensity, meaning our own weather patterns could be due for a change. Mary Stampone, New Hampshire’s state climatologist and associate professor of geography at the University of New Hampshire, discusses what that means for New Hampshire.

Melanie Plenda:

First, what is El Niño is, and how does it work?

Mary Stampone:

El Niño is the warm phase of the Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. It's characterized by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It was first observed by fishermen off the coast of South America, who recognized its periodic occurrence right around the Christmas holiday and named it El Niño, or “little child,” in Spanish. Meteorologically, these warmer ocean temperatures are connected to air pressure and wind patterns across the equatorial ocean that have kind of a global ripple effect.

Melanie Plenda:

What is the global ripple effect?

Mary Stampone:

It can affect rainfall and temperature patterns all the way into North America, not just South America. It can impact monsoon patterns in Southeast Asia and also have an impact on the rainy seasons in equatorial Africa

Melanie Plenda:

How does NOAA predict the strength of El Niño?

Mary Stampone:

NOAA has a really extensive buoy network that monitors ocean and atmospheric conditions within those El Niño sectors of the Pacific Ocean. Then they aggregate this data into what's called an Oceanic Niño Index, or ONI. This accounts for the difference between the measured sea surface temperatures and the average for those areas within the Central Pacific. It's a three-month running average, and then when these values hit .5 degrees Celsius for five consecutive overlapping periods, then they classify it as being an El Niño. Then the strength is determined by how far above the average sea surface temperatures we are.

So we start with that week's El Niño at .5 degrees Celsius, but we can strengthen through moderate, strong and up to very strong phases for Oceanic Niño Indices over 2 degrees Celsius. Of course, the impacts from the El Niño tend to increase as the strength of the event increases. 

Melanie Plenda:

NOAA released an El Niño advisory on June 11, stating that there is a 63% chance that El Niño this year would be one of the largest El Niño events since 1950. What does this mean especially for the weather this summer? 

Mary Stampone:

El Niños do tend to be strongest during northern hemisphere winter months or cool seasons — and, true to form, this El Niño pattern isn't expected to peak until later this year, so it's still kind of ramping up, but  the impacts are usually strongest through October-November.

But in the summer, the stronger upper-level winds that are common during El Niños can suppress Atlantic hurricane development. So this is why we have a forecast for a less active hurricane season this year. Then. of course, in New England we actually tend to be more humid, and this is due to more tropical air coming into the region. With greater humidity comes greater precipitation, which could provide some beneficial rains as we recover from last summer's drought, but also increase the risk for flooding.

Melanie Plenda:

You mentioned October and later this year, so what about the weather this fall and winter?

Mary Stampone:

During the winter season is when the storm track dips further south during El Niño winters. This leads to pretty predictably wetter conditions across the South. We here in the North tend to be warmer than usual during the winter. It's important to know that every El Niño winter is a little bit different, especially in the Northeast, because we do have other patterns. We can still get some really cold air, especially January-February.

Melanie Plenda:

If El Niño does reach the predicted very strong intensity level, how would that impact New Hampshire specifically?

Mary Stampone:

Winters, again, across El Niños tend to be warmer than average across the northern U.S. Fun fact: the last time we were in a very strong El Niño was the 2015-2016 winter period, and that actually ranks as the second warmest winter here in New Hampshire. Second only to the winter of ’23-’24, which was a strong El Niño winter. 

So I think one of the things we can be fairly certain of is that it will probably be one of the warmer winters this year. Precipitation is really variable, sometimes that storm track stays to our south, so areas of the Mid-Atlantic - New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania — get all of our snow instead of us. But depending on some other factors, that storm track could actually bring more new nor'easters to our region. Whether that translates into more snow will depend on temperatures. The amount of snow will depend on how warm we are. 

Melanie Plenda:

Does global warming have an impact on the intensity of El Niño? Should we expect El Niño to be more intense in coming years as the ocean temperatures rise?

Mary Stampone:

That's a fantastic question, and that is an area of active research, but what we do know is that global warming and the impact on warming sea surface temperatures can amplify the impacts of El Niño. So with the increased energy that's in the ocean water as well as in the atmosphere can amplify extreme weather events, especially heat waves and heavy rainfall. 

Melanie Plenda:

What are some of your other predictions for the summer's weather? 

Mary Stampone:

Overall, climate prediction center outlooks call for a warmer-than-average summer, which tends to be the case. We've had several warmer-than-average summers recently, but hopefully the outlooks for a potentially wetter summer, especially toward the end, for coastal New England will hold. That will lead to improved drought conditions for southern parts of the state.

We have already seen some improvements in the North Country, which has been fantastic. We still have some lingering severe drought in southern areas, but with greater humidity and hopefully some more precipitation. We look to have an improved, if not removed drought by the end of the summer. 

Melanie Plenda:

Do you have any advice for gardeners and farmers this year? 

Mary Stampone:

My advice is always to be prepared for drought — even if we're wet, still be prepared for drought. I think last summer was just a really good example of how quickly our conditions can change during the summer. We started out very wet last year, and then quickly, with a heat wave and an extended dry period, ended up with a flash drought that lasted through the winter. Do anything you can do to be more efficient with water — use less water-intensive plants and vegetation. Do those things that can make your property more resilient to drought, even if it's wet.

Melanie Plenda:

Thank you, Mary. 

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

Deadline for state property tax relief program looms

The program, which provided an average of $163 in aid for 2024, remains underutilized

By Kelly Burch, Granite State News Collaborative

The deadline for homeowners looking for 2025 tax relief through an underutilized state program is fast approaching – applications must be filed by Tuesday, June 30.

“This relief can make a difference by helping homeowners free up resources for other essential expenses,” said Lindsey Stepp, commissioner of the N.H. Department of Revenue Administration. 

Under the state’s Low & Moderate Property Tax Relief Program, eligible homeowners received an average amount of $163 in relief last year, according to a report from the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute. The report noted the amount is “relatively limited compared to the amount of total property tax paid by homeowners.” 

Yet the relief “is meaningful for Granite Staters who need to pay for housing, childcare and other costs with limited resources,” said Phil Sletten, research director at the institute. 

• How to apply for property tax relief

  Homeowners can apply for relief online or by sending in a paper application that must be postmarked by the June 30 deadline.

  • Open the Granite Tax Connect website

  • Scroll to the box titled “Registration and Applications”

  • Click the link titled “Apply for Property Tax Relief”

  For more information, homeowners can call the Department of Revenue Administration at 603-230-5000

The program is available to individuals who earn less than $37,000 annually and couples or heads of households with an income of less than $47,000. It can only be used on properties that have an assessed value of $220,000 or less.

Homeowners with lower incomes pay a higher percentage of their income to property taxes, research shows. The relief program is particularly valuable for seniors and others living on fixed incomes, Stepp said, as it can “[help] them remain in their homes despite rising property tax costs.”

Nevertheless, the program remains underutilized, according to Sletten, largely due to lack of awareness. State law requires that some taxpayers — including seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities — receive a notice that they may be eligible for relief, but many others are likely unaware. 

“Many homeowners likely eligible for aid have not accessed it,” according to the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute, which found in a study released in May that more than 42,000 New Hampshire homeowners had household incomes below $35,000. Many of those, and more, may be eligible for tax relief.

Participation in the program has dropped steeply since it was implemented in 2003, the study found. In 2003, 27,208 taxpayers utilized the program and received a total of $7.5 million in claims. By 2024, preliminary data showed 4,901 claims totaling $800,000 were granted – the lowest amount on record.

While income limits for the program were raised in 2021, they have not been adjusted for inflation or increased since then. 

In every legislative session since — except this year — the House has introduced measures to update the program, including “modifying eligibility requirements, making inflation adjustments, [and] mailing application forms to prior recipients,” Stepp said. However, none of those efforts have made it out of the House. 

The current round of eligibility is for 2025 tax bills — those typically mailed between October and December of 2025, according to the Department of Revenue Administration. People who apply are still required to pay their tax bills on time, though homeowners who have not paid can still apply for relief, according to the state. To apply, homeowners need their property tax bill and a copy of their federal tax returns. Approved relief funds are sent via a check that is typically issued within 120 days. 

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. Don’t just read this. Share it with one person who doesn’t usually follow local news — that’s how we make an impact. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

New Hampshire 250: The Granite State’s role in America’s origin stories

By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Communities across the Granite State are planning to observe the nation’s 250th birthday with all kinds of events and activities, many of them focused on New Hampshire’s role in the American Revolution. Mary Adams, the N.H. Historical Society’s homeschool program developer and museum educator, who has been travelling around the state with a presentation called “Redcoats and Rebels,” provides a historical perspective.

Melanie Plenda:

Not everyone knows that New Hampshire was the first colony to declare independence from Britain. How did that come about?

Mary Adams:

In January of 1776, we had a problem on our hands from the previous August. John Wentworth, the royal governor, had abandoned the colony. He was under increasing threat from the patriots of Portsmouth, who had wheeled a cannon up to his front door and threatened to blow the door off his house if he did not comply with them.

By August of 1775 he had moved to Fort William and Mary on Newcastle Island, and eventually sailed to Britain and abandoned the colony. So the provincial congress steps into this void, and they take matters into their own hands and create a new form of government.  They called it a constitution, but it looks very, very different from the constitution that we have today. There's no separation of powers, there's no checks and balances at all, and there's actually even no governor — there's just a legislative system and a judicial system.

Melanie Plenda:

The Pine Tree Riot happened years before the first official battle of the revolution — what was it and why was it so important.

Mary Adams:

It’s one of my favorite things to talk about, because it sounds a little quirky. It's a “fight over trees,” is how I've kind of heard other people describe it. But I think it gets down to the heart of what the revolution is really about. Who has the authority over these gigantic pine trees? Is it the king, thousands of miles away across the ocean? Or is it the people who live on the land, work the land, and need the trees for their own homes, bridges and their livelihoods?

Essentially what happened is the people in Goffstown and in Weare were fined because they had been cutting up the king's pine trees in their mills. In Goffstown, the people were compliant — they paid their fines, they got on with life. But in Weare, the people really refused to pay those fines. So in comes the sheriff to enforce the law, and the people take it into their own hands. They riot into the sheriff's room where he was staying, early in the morning, and they beat him. The intention was to beat him one lash for every tree for which they were being fined, and that was about 270 pine trees. So they beat him, they took him outside, and they put him on his horse — had also done some things to the horse, like they had cut its tail and cropped its ears to make it not sellable or desirable, and they send him riding out of town.

Of course, the end of this is that when they do finally go before a judge, one of those judges is Meshech Weare, who ends up becoming the president of New Hampshire eventually. But the fine is just so extraordinarily light that it really sends this message through the communities that it's not just the people of our local communities that are feeling this strength of rebellion, that it really is also being supported even in a small way from our leaders in New Hampshire as well.

Melanie Plenda:

Let’s talk about the Battle of Bunker Hill and the role of New Hampshire residents in that.

Mary Adams:

I love it because we think of it as a Massachusetts battle, but truly two-thirds of the soldiers that are fighting there are New Hampshire soldiers who have walked from New Hampshire.

I think of Isaac Wyman in Keene — we have his musket on display at the Historical Society. It’s the musket he carries from Keene down to Bunker Hill, and he's there along with about 1,000 other New Hampshire soldiers, many of them under the command of John Stark. The Massachusetts soldiers total about 500. They're also bringing down with them some gunpowder that they had raided from Fort William and Mary in December 1774, so they're adding to this fight in a huge way.

The Battle of Bunker Hill is so fascinating, it's this kind of first big mashup. It is such a surprise to the British. They know they have the upper hand with superior weaponry. So when they attack this left flank that John Stark and his men are behind, they are shocked because on the very first volley about 70 British soldiers were killed. The Americans repel them two more times, and finally John Stark decides it's time to exit the battlefield, but instead of his men just sort of abandoning the battlefield and running off, he has them very carefully, very methodically, leave, and they're providing covering fire for the rest of the battlefield as well.  This is where he loses 15 to 17 men in the fight.

This catches the eye of George Washington when he comes to visit the battlefield, and he hears about the battle and John Stark's decision not to just have his men willy-nilly abandon everything, but instead provide covering fire, and this is when he realizes that John Stark really needs to be in the Continental Army. 

Melanie Plenda:

Let’s talk more about Gen. John Stark — one of the most well known figures of the American Revolution. He coined the phrase “Live Free or Die.”: His story is kind of complicated.

Mary Adams:

He's born in New Hampshire, he's Scots-Irish — a group of people ll known for their resilience and hardworking spirit. John Stark ends up fighting with Rogers’ Rangers during the French and Indian War. It’s guerrilla-type warfare. They are not walking through an open field in straight, clean lines and bright clothing. They are hiding behind trees and stone walls, and they're circling around, attacking from behind.  So he ends up bringing all of this knowledge, this battlefield knowledge, when he arrives at Bunker Hill.

I think that what really resonates with so many people when they learn about John Stark is that he's actually not in the army for any kind of fame or fortune. He did not want to play the political game that was required of him to sort of maintain his rank and to achieve higher rank. He's really there because he just continues doing what he believes is the best thing to do. If something is not right, he is fair, he's honest, he's just, and he's going to try to right the wrongs, and so this is really so much of his heart behind fighting. 

There's an event that happens between his time in the Continental Army and the Battle of Bennington, which is when he comes back to New Hampshire. He's on a little bit of a respite trip, and he finds out that Enoch Poor, another man from New Hampshire, has been promoted above him to the rank of brigadier general, and this is pretty insulting to him, and he actually resigns from the Continental Army, and says that he will not answer to orders on the battlefield again from someone in the Continental Army.

But when the plea from Vermont comes, and they are asking for help — the British have sent British and Hessian soldiers to come to Bennington to raid storehouses, and there's this plea from Vermont to please help. So New Hampshire answers this call, and they call on John Stark. They give him the rank of brigadier general to command New Hampshire's militia.

Melanie Plenda:

On July 4th, the Historical Society will host an Independence Day open house. Can you tell us what visitors can expect?

Mary Adams:

You can expect short talks, crafts for kids, and there are guided tours. I'll point you to one of my favorite things in the building, which is that we actually have two of just 32 Revolutionary War flags left in the entire world. They're displayed on our grand staircase. They're remarkable for a few things. They are the only pair of flags left in the entire world from the Revolutionary War. As far as we knew in New Hampshire, the flags  had actually been burned with some boats in 1777. But in 1908, we got a letter saying they were hanging at Sandhurst, the military academy in Britain. It kind of sparks a series of events and we end up getting those flags purchased for us by our benefactor,  Edward Tuck, and they have been on display in our building ever since. 

Melanie Plenda:

For families and anyone looking to have an adventure this summer, the Historical Society is hosting the “603 History Hunt.” What is it and how can people participate?

Mary Adams:

I feel very attached to this event, because I have written all 200 clues. This event will be on an app. People can register, and then we give them all kinds of different things for them to do. So you can be celebrating a woman in Weare who heard that the British were coming,  so she made her kids eat all of their maple syrup products in one day because she didn't want the British to take them. You'll make a bowl of Count Rumford's soup, which saved Bavaria from a famine. There's an opportunity to take a hike to a remote New England glasswork site, which started in the 1780s but it's staffed by German POWs that were captured during the war. There's countless graveyards to explore, and tons of opportunities for selfies with different Revolutionary War heroes — so it's all going to be amazing fun.

Melanie Plenda:

Many  thanks to Mary Adams for this engaging conversation.  To learn more about New Hampshire in the American Revolution visit the NH Historical Society at nhhistory.org

To find Mary’s recorded New Hampshire History Minutes for NHPBS visit. To find a location for one of Mary’s upcoming “Redcoats and Rebels” presentations, visit nhhumanities.org

And New Hampshire Humanities, in partnership with NHPBS, is hosting “The Big Watch” in communities across the state where you can watch a short excerpt from “The American Revolution,” a new film directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, followed by a community discussion. Learn more at nhhumanities.org

Finally, there are a couple of online calendars available to help you find New Hampshire 250 events near you. One website is visit.gov/250th and newhampshire250.org/.

“The State We’re In” is a weekly digital public affairs show produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.