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Portsmouth Activists Plan Accessible Black ...

A Black Lives Matter protest more accessible to those in the disabled community is being organized for next Friday in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth Activists Plan Accessible Black Lives Matter Protest

Concord Monitor

The State We’re In: Experts discuss tick season and tick-borne illnesses in New Hampshire.

The State We’re In: Experts discuss tick season and tick-borne illnesses in New Hampshire.

Tick season has officially begun. If you like going out into nature, then you’ve likely encountered them, and these tiny bugs can cause huge problems for both people and their pets. Where are the little critters in New Hampshire and what kind of trouble do they cause? 

On this week’s episode of The State We’re In, we speak with Concord Monitor science and tech reporter David Brooks, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center infectious disease and tick-borne illness expert Dr. Jeffrey Parsonnet, and Dr. Kaitlyn Morse, founder and executive director of BeBop Labs, a nonprofit that, among other things, is collecting and testing ticks. Dr. Morse was a principal author of a recent study about ticks, called “Passive collection of ticks in New Hampshire reveals species-specific patterns of distribution and activity,” in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

What happens when local news goes dark

What happens when local news goes dark

According to studies cited by Lauren McKown at Report for America, which provides funding for reporters to tackle pressing issues and missing areas of local coverage: Just 17 percent of what’s in a local newspaper is local news – the rest is wire and national reports. Roughly 36,000 reporters were let go during COVID-19, and hardest hit were outlets in rural communities and communities of color.

Amid crisis and collaboration, a plan to sustain local news emerges

Amid crisis and collaboration, a plan to sustain local news emerges

At a time when information flows more freely than ever, the local news industry finds itself at a crossroads. The advertising and subscription model that held up the industry for so long has consistently been chipped away over the past two decades. The financial challenges have only accelerated over the past few years with the pandemic, and more recently with new pressures from inflation. Across the nation and here in New Hampshire, that’s meant far fewer reporters to dig into local and statewide issues. And in some communities, it’s meant no reporter or news publication at all.

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States, cities rethink use of police traffic stops as investigatory tool

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States, cities rethink use of police traffic stops as investigatory tool

It’s a common tactic: a police officer gets a hunch about a vehicle, uses a minor traffic violation to pull it over and questions the driver about their travels, checking out suspicions that have nothing to do with traffic safety. In states around the country, officials are reconsidering whether it’s a good idea. It’s unclear if New Hampshire safety officials are following suit.

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Examining racial bias when police make stops based on suspicions

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Examining racial bias when police make stops based on suspicions

N.H. State Trooper Haden Wilber was stationed on Interstate 95 in Hampton one afternoon in February 2019 when he began following a car he found suspicious, a Toyota Camry with tinted windows and Connecticut plates.

“The vehicle had drawn my attention to it due to how clean it was, given the age of the vehicle and current weather conditions in New England,” Wilber wrote in a police report.

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‘Why did I get stopped?’ -- State police use minor traffic violations to search for drugs

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‘Why did I get stopped?’ -- State police use minor traffic violations to search for drugs

Michael Vazquez didn’t know why a New Hampshire state trooper was pulling him over one afternoon in August 2018. He’d been driving his BMW on Interstate 93 in Salem, doing the speed limit.

Trooper Michael Arteaga told Vazquez he was tailgating another vehicle. But he had other reasons for the stop.

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Judge says State Police records on fired trooper should be made public 

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Judge says State Police records on fired trooper should be made public 

A judge has ordered N.H. State Police to release personnel records about a former state trooper fired for misconduct, holding that the public has a “substantial” interest in knowing more about his actions and how the agency investigated him.

La guía de reapertura de escuelas en New Hampshire: una explicación completa.

La guía de reapertura de escuelas en New Hampshire: una explicación completa.

A mediados de julio, New Hampshire publicó un conjunto de lineamientos a seguir para reabrir los distritos escolares, el cual, responde algunas preguntas que tenían los padres de familia y el personal escolar.

Sin embargo, hay un tema que llama la atención en este documento de 54 páginas: es voluntario. Esto quiere decir que la mayoría de lineamientos pueden ser adaptados o alterados por el distrito y pocos son obligatorios.

Bow siblings and cousin manufacturing professional-grade face shields

This story starts in an eighth-grade woodworking class at Shaker Road School. That’s where Paul Wiley made his first pen. Now, eight years later, Wiley is making professional grade protective face shields in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Granite Geek: If there weren’t enough obstacles, COVID-19 testing faces math paradox

Let’s say we test 1 million New Hampshire residents for COVID-19 – roughly everybody over age 18. And let’s say 4% of people have the disease, which is the percentage of tests which have been turning up positive so far in New Hampshire. We use a test that is 95% accurate, which is a very good test.

No, it’s not business as usual for Makris Lobster and Steakhouse

By RAY DUCKLER

Concord Monitor

Jimmy Makris, owner of Makris Lobster & Steak House in Concord on May 7, 2020, talks about the police visit after a person complained about too many cars in the parking lot. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Jimmy Makris, owner of Makris Lobster & Steak House in Concord on May 7, 2020, talks about the police visit after a person complained about too many cars in the parking lot. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Jimmy Makris is getting fed up.

His popular restaurant, Makris Lobster and Steakhouse, has been shackled. The bills are piling up and not enough money is coming in, just like every other non-essential business since the coronavirus surfaced.

He’s closed, except for takeout, just as the governor ordered. In a little over a week, he could open at 50 percent capacity as the state begins to lift restrictions on businesses, but that’s still a losing proposition. Revenue won't be enough to cover expenses, he said.

Adding insult to injury, Makris had a pair of surprise visits – from the State Liquor Commission and Concord police – in the past week as yet another consequence from the pandemic appeared: The case of the nosy neighbor.

Read the full article.

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

N.H.’s local meat processing has avoided national turmoil

By DAVID BROOKS

Concord Monitor

Workers cut beef into sections at PT Farm meat processing plant in North Haverhill, N.H., in September 2012. (Valley News — Sarah Priestap)

Workers cut beef into sections at PT Farm meat processing plant in North Haverhill, N.H., in September 2012. (Valley News — Sarah Priestap)

New Hampshire’s small but thriving meat-processing industry, the creation of years of effort accompanying the state’s resurgence in small farms, seems unaffected by the turmoil in the vastly larger industry in other parts of the country.

The state has four USDA-approved sites that can slaughter, cut and package beef for sale through stores, all of them tiny by the standards of national corporations. None has been reported to have shut due to COVID-19 or had reported outbreaks of the disease, perhaps in part because they have small, local work forces.

“People are taking it seriously,” said Peter Roy, owner of PT Farm in north Haverhill, who has about 15 employees at peak times. “There’s a guy who never missed a day of work in five years, he wasn’t feeling well so he stayed home to be sure. Nobody wants it here.”

The contrast with industrial meat-processing facilities, which hire seasonal labor, often new immigrants, and have high turnover, is striking, he said.

Read the full article.

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

Home-buying is still going strong in N.H. even though it’s gotten more complicated

By DAVID BROOKS

Concord Monitor staff

Tom and Judy Clark get the sold sign after the closing at BHHS Verani Realty in Concord on April 30. The Clarks are moving up from East Boston to be closer to their children and grandchildren. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Tom and Judy Clark get the sold sign after the closing at BHHS Verani Realty in Concord on April 30. The Clarks are moving up from East Boston to be closer to their children and grandchildren. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

As you would expect, COVID-19 has created a lot of change in New Hampshire’s economy. But you might not have expected what those changes are for the real estate industry.

“We’ve been open for 15 years; March was our single best month for new orders,” Matthew Neuman, owner of Absolute Title, a property title company with offices in Concord, said last week. “And April – we’re not even done with the month and it’s our second biggest month ever.”

Despite economic uncertainty caused by business closings and the complications that social distancing has placed on document signing and house tours, the business of buying, selling and refinancing residences hasn’t slowed at all.

“I’ve had four drive-through (closings) today. … Real estate is booming in New Hampshire,” said Robin Mooney of Broker’s Title of Londonderry, speaking at a closing in Concord’s Fisherville neighborhood on Thursday.

Read the full article.

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