A Black Lives Matter protest more accessible to those in the disabled community is being organized for next Friday in Portsmouth.
Julian Jefferson, a staff attorney in the New Hampshire Public Defender’s office, has represented victims of racism and experienced it firsthand.
“I am a black man,” he said in his testimony before the Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community and Transparency. “I have lived in New Hampshire since 2008. I have been working in the criminal justice system since 2011. I can tell you that racism exists in this state and in our criminal justice system.”
The Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community and Transparency has been quietly at work since June. Although its meetings over the summer were public, they received little attention amid the noise of a national election, a public health crisis and a struggling economy.
That’s about to change with the new year, as legislation to implement the commission’s findings begins to work its way through the State House and the reality of what is being proposed becomes more apparent to the many stakeholders.
Officials with The Salvation Army are anticipating totals nowhere near last year’s mark. At the Salvation Army office in Concord, Major Richard Sharkey said they have four or five kettles this year instead of the usual nine. Sharkey said typically they have seven locations, (two at some locations) and with nine kettles received about $100,000 last year. But this year Sharkey said he trimmed the anticipated revenue to about $75,000, though it could be less, because he expected some difficulty finding volunteers. While the Concord location hires seasonal staff, they also rely on volunteer groups and charitable organizations during the Red Kettle Campaign.
As Jeremiah and Kathryn Eisley fight to keep their red kettles out this year, COVID-19 is fighting back.
The Eisleys, who run the local Salvation Army in Rochester, NH, are determined to keep this year’s red kettle campaign — long an icon of holiday giving — alive during the pandemic.
They came prepared: the Salvation Army established guidelines to keep volunteers and donors safe, as well as options for contactless giving.
November’s COVID-19 surge in New Hampshire saw the first outbreak of cases among inmates of the state prison system, including 10 cases in a Concord unit that treats mental illness and substance use disorders.
Although multiple prison employees had tested positive for COVID-19 before then, no evidence had surfaced indicating that the virus was present and circulating in the prison population.
Soon after, the state Corrections Department’s tweaked its testing policy. During much of the pandemic, the policy has been to test “residents who are symptomatic and any resident identified during contact-tracing to have had close, prolonged contact with an infected person.”
When the pandemic hit in March gigs for standup comedians came to a screeching halt. Comedian and talent booker Rob Steen of Manchester normally books shows throughout the Northeast and on cruise ships. He saw around 1,700 shows canceled this year.
But by mid-summer, when stay-at-home restrictions were lifted, comedy shows returned as one of the safer options for live entertainment -- with only one person performing for socially distanced and stationary audience members.
In May, Catholic Medical Center and Southern New Hampshire Health took over the Doorway programs, through which people suffering from substance use disorder in Manchester and Nashua can access treatment. Since then, there’s been an increase in the number of people connected with treatment through the Doorways program in both cities.
As of October, there are 6,780 applicants waiting for affordable housing through the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority. The majority of them will wait 7-9 years for subsidized housing.
Many other families are newly housing insecure, after pandemic job-loss undermined their fragile ability to pay rent. While there is currently a federal moratorium on evictions, housing experts are concerned that come January — when that expires — there will be a wave of new families facing eviction and homelessness in the height of the New Hampshire winter.
For the last 30 years, the Windmill Restaurant has served a free Thanksgiving dinner to the community in and around Concord and this year will be no different, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Owner Kosmas Smirnioudis never thought of canceling the tradition that last year served more than 1,000 meals. But he understands that this will be a new experience for him and his staff.
“I really don’t know what to expect this year,” Smirnioudis said about the plans to do strictly takeout. “I hope it all goes nice and smoothly.”
Preliminary figures suggest that Lafond is not the only New Hampshire student whose college decisions have been affected by the pandemic this year. According to data provided by the University System of New Hampshire and community college officials, Granite State community colleges and four-year institutions are seeing a drop in enrollment this fall, including the state’s public institutions.
The trajectory follows a national trend in higher education amid a public health crisis that has forced colleges and universities to quickly rethink the student experience. A review of 629 schools by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that as of Sept. 10, undergraduate enrollment had fallen 2.5 percent across all types of higher education institutions, while total enrollment had dropped 1.8 percent.
Even before the coronavirus, the Martiellos were considering only having one kid. But the pandemic solidified that choice. Luna, nearly 3, will be their only child; Christopher had a vasectomy this summer.
“In the midst of the chaos of the world, we realized that our small triangle family was perfect for us,” said Martiello, 31. “The three of us could weather the storm together, and we didn't need, or want, another child.”
In 2019, Hungarian-born Andrea Török and Lászlo Pap decided to pursue their passion and open a local franchise of Le Macaron: a French-themed bake shop and café that is popular in the American south. When Török and Pap chose to enter the franchise business, their Windham Le Macaron location, which opened in 2019, became the first in New England. While the owners were ready to introduce the chain to a new region, they had no idea they’d be going so during a global pandemic.
As if 2020 hasn’t been topsy turvy and upside down enough, now retailers are asking for prospective customers to stay away from their stores on Black Friday.
Instead, many businesses across the Granite State are finding new and inventive ways to sell their goods on what has easily become the busiest shopping day of the Christmas season, while keeping the visits to their stores at a minimum.
Realtors in some sections of the state are experiencing significant increases in buyer activity as out-of-staters look to New Hampshire to purchase properties amidst the ongoing pandemic.
The Granite State, like many others, experienced a shut down early on when Covid-19 infiltrated the country and forced people to coop up indoors. When the shutdown was lifted, realtors in New Hampshire began seeing an uptick in activity which has continued into the fall season.
Last year, the Waterville Valley Elementary School had just 17 students enrolled. This year, the number has nearly tripled, driven largely by students who have moved to the area since January 1, 2020. During that time, the town has seen its population increase roughly 25% to 559 full-residents, said Town Manager Mark Decoteau.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, lashed out Friday at President Donald Trump, saying his potential reelection would “be the equivalent of a death sentence for the planet.”
Speaking to University of New Hampshire students, Markey made the case for Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election, stating he would be "the boldest climate fighter in the history of the White House.”
