Opinion

Editorial: Accounting can now begin in Claremont police case

A couple of weeks ago in this space, we lauded the New Hampshire Supreme Court for ruling that the disciplinary records of former Claremont police officer Jonathan Stone, dating from the early 2000s, were subject to disclosure under the state’s...

A Solitary Walker: We are owed nothing, but spring comes anyway

By MICKI COLBECK

The dogs and I walk out along the West Branch of the Ompompanoosuc every morning through hayfields and riparian forests. A few days ago, I felt like yelling, “Wake up, wake up,” at every living thing. It looked like the snow might really be gone....

Column: The relationship between taxes and civilization

By WAYNE GERSEN

As April 15 approaches, many of us are preparing to pay our taxes. On some level, all voters realize that taxes help underwrite government services they value, that they are “the price we pay for a civilized society.” However, unlike our monthly...

Forum for April 13, 2024: Biden and the environment

Promises kept on the environmentJoe Biden campaigned on the most ambitious climate action platform ever. He’s kept his promise, investing in clean energy infrastructure, fighting for environmental justice and tackling the urgent threat of climate...

Forum for April 12, 2024: Vermont taxes

Vermont is doomedAs we suffer here in Vermont trying to figure out if we need to stand or squat to pee, our Legislature is doing everything in their power to drive the working class out of Vermont. The increased fees on everything we use, vehicle...

Forum for April 11: Don’t forget Hamas

Don’t forget HamasIf you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If you’re a newspaper or radio reporter, or poster on social media, responsibility for the crisis in Gaza looks like it rests squarely on Israel’s shoulders. Hamas gets a free pass....

A Yankee Notebook: People look up and see what they want to see

By WILLEM LANGE

The sky has always been a source of wonder for us earthbound folks. For some of us who are, shall we say, more earthbound, it’s a source of portents, omens, and myths. What we call thunderstorms and explain as electrically charged clouds used to be...

Forum for April 6, 2024: Holocaust remembrance

Between faith and evilJoseph Polak was a Jewish toddler living in the Netherlands when, in 1943, he and his mother were transported to the Bergen-Belsen death camp. Incredibly, unlike 99% of the Jewish children whom the Nazis deported to the death...

Book excerpt: ‘Politics and Literature at the Dawn of World War II’

Editor’s note: In the interest of bringing more Upper Valley authors to the attention of readers, the Perspectives page is publishing excerpts from recent books. The first of these is from the first chapter of James Heffernan’s “Politics and...

By the Way: A white nationalist’s many mistruths

By RANDALL BALMER

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, a Religious Right organization, has a history of involvement with the Ku Klux Klan in his home state of Louisiana. In 1996, while running the unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign of his friend and...

College ball isn’t a jobI believe I am as qualified as anyone in the Upper Valley to speak on the subject of playing D-1 basketball. Growing up in Claremont, I went to Stevens and dreamed of playing basketball in college. As it turned out, I was...

Column: The age-old question of what to read

By JONATHAN STABLEFORD

How many times have I heard someone say, “Books are dead, no one reads anymore”? It may be true that reading habits have changed (I’d argue that young people who spend a lot of time online are actually reading a lot.) and that there has been a steady...

Column: Act 250 update would preserve Vermont landscape

By LARRY SATCOWITZ

Act 250, Vermont’s visionary development statute, is over 50 years old. It is often credited as one of the primary reasons that our landscape looks the way it does. The law has been changed here and there over the years but is long overdue for a more...

Forum for April 5, 2024: Interstate traffic

Slow down where interstates meetDuring a recent morning rush hour, I had a terrible scare. I was preparing to merge from 91 North onto 89 South, an onramp that has for many months been under construction. As I slowed down to view the traffic on my...

Column: NH plans to rewrite rules for public schools

By SUSAN HOLCOMBE

Do you think that policy governing how New Hampshire schools run is made by local, elected school boards and perhaps by the Legislature? Think again. We are about to see some radical changes in rules for public schools. These are changes that will...

Forum for April 4, 2024: Occom Pond ice

Occum Pond ice sets record A 100-year-old record was set March 7 when the ice went out on Occom Pond in Hanover. Records have been kept since 1914. March 25 was the previous early ice-out record, set in 1919 and 1921. April 10 is the average. When...

A Yankee Notebook: A trip out West expands the mind and heart

By WILLEM LANGE

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s...

Column: Misinformation mars discussion of transgender youth

By FRANCES B. LIM LIBERTY, KEITH J. LOUD and JESSICA A. SMITH

Across the country, politicized misinformation and disinformation is being used to misrepresent transgender and gender-nonconforming youth. For example, the term “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” (ROGD) is being used in social and traditional media to...

Forum for April 2, 2024: NH House misuses sports

NH House misuses sportsSo the New Hampshire House has voted to ban transgender girls from sports (Valley News, March 23). If we’re generous and assume lawmakers aren’t baldly bigoted, then they must think trans girls have an edge that is somehow...