Commentary
Lobsters versus right whales: The latest chapter in a long quest to make fishing more sustainable
Maine lobster fishermen received a Christmas gift from Congress at the end of 2022: A six-year delay on new federal regulations designed to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. The rules would have required lobstermen to create new seasonal nonfishing zones and further reduce their use of vertical ropes to retrieve lobster traps from […]
‘I was a kid off the boat, adrift in the New World’: Remembering NH poet Charlie Simic
Charlie Simic was an adopted son of New Hampshire, having arrived here 50 years ago, but as a poet, literary critic, and commentator, he remained a citizen of the world. He lived in a blue saltbox near Bow Lake in Strafford with his wife, Helen Lubin, while sharing his world view and faith in the […]
Editor’s Notebook: The lottery of a lifetime
For a few minutes on Tuesday morning, I considered buying a lottery ticket for the $1.1 billion Mega Millions drawing. January can be a tough month mentally, and spending a couple bucks to add sprinkles of absurd hope to a cold winter day isn’t a bad deal. But then I remembered that the last time […]
Talking across the political aisle isn’t a cure-all – but it does help reduce hostility
Simmering tension in American politics came to a head two years ago, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. The failed insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, resulted in several deaths and injuries to almost 150 police officers. But on the cusp […]
A tribute to John Harrigan, a legend of the New Hampshire North Country
This story was updated on Jan. 10 at 2:45 p.m. Anyone who is familiar with the North Country of New Hampshire knows that John Harrigan, the former editor of the News & Sentinel in Colebrook and other well-known publications, has passed away. He died in December after a diagnosis of advanced cancer in November. I […]
What does the speaker of the House do? Here’s what the new speaker will have for a job
Second in the line of presidential succession after the vice president, the speaker of the House occupies a central role in our national government. But what is it that a speaker actually does? Most people think the speakership is a party office. It’s not. The speaker is selected by the full House membership, though the […]
Are snow days about to get buried by remote learning?
Snow days, a nostalgic rite of passage for generations of students across the northern United States, might seem destined to be a memory of school days past. For nearly a century, schools have canceled or delayed classes because of heavy or dangerous snowfall that creates hazardous travel conditions. School calendars would include a number of […]
Near record-high numbers of young people voted during the midterms
The November 2022 midterms have come and gone, but there are still some potential lasting implications that could influence the next election season. One is that young people, aged 18 to 29, had one of the highest voter turnouts in a midterm election in recent history, according to our early analysis. Specifically, an estimated 27 […]
About one-third of the food Americans buy is wasted, hurting the climate and consumers’ wallets
You saw it at Thanksgiving, and you’ll likely see it at your next holiday feast: piles of unwanted food – unfinished second helpings, underwhelming kitchen experiments and the like – all dressed up with no place to go, except the back of the refrigerator. With luck, hungry relatives will discover some of it before the […]
“Political practicality and a no baloney attitude”: A tribute to Judy Reardon
Kathy Sullivan is the former chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Judy Reardon was one of the best people I knew. When she passed away on December 16, New Hampshire lost one of its smartest and toughest political strategists, and many of us also lost a loyal, funny and caring friend. She was witty […]
New Hampshire is not entitled to hold the first primary
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously said that the only constant in life is change. The Democratic Party illustrated that point recently by electing a new generation of leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and by rearranging the order of states to hold presidential primaries for the 2024 election. The latter change was the work […]
Arctic Report Card 2022: The Arctic is getting rainier and seasons are shifting
In the Arctic, the freedom to travel, hunt, and make day-to-day decisions is profoundly tied to cold and frozen conditions for much of the year. These conditions are rapidly changing as the Arctic warms. The Arctic is now seeing more rainfall when historically it would be snowing. Sea ice that once protected coastlines from erosion […]