A Black Lives Matter protest more accessible to those in the disabled community is being organized for next Friday in Portsmouth.
With roughly two weeks before the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, many voters have already cast their ballots now that New Hampshire is allowing anyone with concerns or fears about Covid-19 to submit absentee ballots this year.
However, for those who wish to keep with tradition and cast their ballots in person, another concern for some deals with worries about poll-watchers.
With New Hampshire now allowing all voters to claim COVID-19 as a reason for voting absentee, more Granite Staters than ever will likely cast absentee ballots in this year’s election.
But with concerns around an overloaded mail system amid a global pandemic, how can you make sure your absentee ballot is counted?
President Donald Trump’s campaign team is continuing to send campaign surrogates to New Hampshire as the election draws closer. One of his sons, Eric Trump, is the latest surrogate from the campaign to arrive in hopes of flipping the state red after a narrow defeat in 2016.
Trump arrived at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel to stump for his father to a full venue — albeit smaller than usual due to socially distanced seating — and a highly enthusiastic crowd, donning MAGA hats and holding Trump/Pence signs. A portion of the event-goers could not be inside due to limited seating.
A few states, including California, allow anyone to collect ballots for drop off, the idea being that some voters may not have an immediate family member available to do so for them, as is the restriction in many states. But the practice has raised concerns about election security, especially as some campaigns and political parties use ballot collection as a strategy to get out the vote.
The Electoral College is a widely misunderstood and confusing institution for Americans. The big message is clear though: a candidate needs 270 electoral votes to become the President of the United States. New Hampshire possesses four of these electoral votes. While a small number, these four votes are essential for anyone seeking the presidency. But who casts these votes?
Even before coronavirus, Savannah Vallier, 26, was starting to become interested in hunting. She was looking for a more ethical and healthy meat option, and wanted to be a more mindful consumer of meat products, she said. When the pandemic interrupted food supply chains around the country, Vallier knew it was time to begin hunting.
“It really made me panic once the distribution chains began to grind to a halt,” said Vallier, who lives in Nashua. “Realizing that I did not know how to physically put food on my table other than swiping a credit card was pretty frightening.”
When Dumont goes hunting he thinks about the amount of food his family needs and what they already have in the freezer. In a given year he harvests between 1 to 3 deer, depending on what meat is left from the previous season.
The coronavirus has accelerated the already-thriving trend toward local and sustainable foods. For some New Hampshire residents, like Dumont, hunted meat is the ultimate local, sustainable and ethical food source.
New Hampshire has proven to be a key battleground state for both presidential candidates, with candidate surrogates from both sides arriving to the state to persuade key voters. Vice President Mike Pence hosted a rally at Laconia Municipal Airport on Sept. 22 and Joe Biden’s spouse, Dr. Jill Biden stopped by Manchester for a campaign event on Oct. 2nd.
Two weeks before their April 2020 cruise Stephanie Boucher and her daughter Trisha Boucher found out the inevitable -- the trip was being cancelled.
The cruise was Nursecon at Sea, a nurses conference slated to take place over five days aboard a Royal Caribbean trip to the Bahamas. The cancelation wasn’t totally out of the blue as a No Sail Order had been in effect since the middle of March as covid-19 was docking boats that were scheduled to leave U.S. ports from coast to coast.
Since September 9, Hartigan, 37, and his family have been living at The Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter. The family — along with the four others living in the shelter — have a private room to themselves. There are common areas for cooking and lounging, but during the pandemic they’ve been mostly empty, undermining the sense of community in the shelter, said Olga Cruz, the Director of Housing Services at the organization.
Back in April when most New Hampshire residents were told to stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19, U.S. Army reserve critical care nurse Cherry Lynn Maglangit was called on to join a unique medical mission that brought together all branches of the military as well as civilian agencies to create field hospitals in cities throughout the country where she would fight on the frontlines of the pandemic.
The state’s two largest cities, Manchester and Nashua, are both experiencing this community transmission. Spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS) Laura Montenegro (cq) stated via email Friday that the densest population of residents in the state reside in Nashua and Manchester, so increased cases in those two cities would be expected.
During the summer break, teachers have been focusing on how to best keep students engaged in a full day of school in a digital environment. Last spring, with little time to prepare digital learning plans, schools had a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning. This year, many educators say the switch to more live, fact-to-face learning time is a major factor to getting better attendance.
Roughly 36% of the American workforce does freelance work, according to NPR. Freelancers are self-employed people who do contract work, ranging from consulting to artistic work. Nationally the number of people freelancing has increased by 2 million in the past year, according to a study from Upwork, a platform that connects freelancers with work.
Before the pandemic, there were 71 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Concord each week, Howard said, in addition to Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Now, there are only 16 AA meetings happening face-to-face, and only three each week that are in the afternoon or evening. Although many 12-step meetings have switched to a virtual format, many people need the in-person connection to thrive in recovery.
In May, most businesses that received loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program were pleased with the cash infusion as they struggled with the loss of revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic but their gratitude was tempered by the lack of clarity on obtaining loan forgiveness, as was proposed under the CARES Act approved by Congress.
Due to the COVID-19 shutdown, some residents in New Hampshire have spent life at home since March learning new skills, exploring newfound passions and accomplishing once-daunting tasks with hard work and perseverance.
Now, as the timeline of coronavirus’ landing on American shores nears the six-month mark, such individual passions, once viewed as an outlet to pass the time, have become instrumental to the “Safer at Home” everyday lifestyle for some Granite Staters.
For the past six months, restaurants have had to adapt, improve and overcome in order to stay in business during the pandemic. As colder weather started, Mike Somers, CEO of the New Hampshire Restaurant and Lodging Association, was concerned that the end to outdoor dining, which he called a “saving grace,” could spell disaster.
