Editorial: Comfort Zone; The Wisdom of Pushing Weatherization

It has always been a bit of a mystery to us why, when so many contentious issues surround climate change and renewable energy, more emphasis is not placed on one that is eminently uncontroversial — making buildings more energy efficient. Perhaps the answer is as simple as this. …

Editorial: Drug-sniffing Dogs at Bay; High Court Affirms Search Protections

In his opinions on abortion and gay rights, Justice Antonin Scalia has taken an offensively narrow view of the Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection of the laws. But when it comes to the Fourth Amendment’s more specific protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, Scalia has …

Editorial: Broken, But Fixable; New Hampshire’s Mental Health System

The Concord Monitor series about the state’s broken mental health system — published last week in the Valley News and concluding on this page with reporter Annmarie Timmins’ personal account of living with depression — tells an all-too-familiar story, but that doesn’t make it any less disturbing. The …

Editorial: Hope Comes to Mudsville; A New Season Begins

These are heady days for the hope-springs-eternal crowd — that is, baseball fans. With spring training in the rearview mirror and the open road of the regular season stretching out ahead, the game is poised at its annual moment of true equilibrium: Every team’s record is unblemished, the …

Privacy Protection

Between 2008 and 2010, Google collected bits of personal data — emails, Web sites visited and other sensitive material — from unsecured WiFi networks around the world. All its employees needed to gather it were commercially available antennae and some open-source software. The company says that it didn’t …

Editorial: Lost in the Marketplace; Health Consumers Will Need Help

Although key dates are fast approaching under the Affordable Care Act, it’s far from clear to many consumers just how the new health insurance marketplaces mandated by the federal health care reform law will affect them. In New Hampshire, for instance, a recent online survey of 648 residents …

Editorial: N.H. Medicaid Expansion; State Shouldn’t Waste Opportunity

It’s hard to construct an argument in favor of New Hampshire accepting federal money to expand the state’s Medicaid program — because it’s difficult to grasp why anyone might oppose it. Are there people whose distrust of the federal government is so profound that they would have the …

Editorial: Solitary Detention; Barbaric Treatment of Immigrants

There are many thorny issues to be sorted out as Congress and the Obama administration try to agree on comprehensive immigration reform, including what to do about illegal immigrants who are already in the country and how to increase enforcement efforts. One that is not thorny is the …

Editorial: N.H. Civil Commitment; Process Used Rarely But Too Often

Given that New Hampshire’s civil commitment law aims to prevent the most violent sexual predators from obtaining the opportunity to commit new crimes, a recent article reporting that the procedure has been used only rarely will disappoint many. Not us; we think it speaks well of New Hampshire …

Editorial: Hardball in Vermont; Environmental Fight Turns Nasty

The reputation of Vermont as the home of genteel politics took a hit recently when prominent environmentalist and businessman Jeff Wolfe delivered an unmistakable message to state Sen. John Campbell of Hartford that the game being played is hardball — or maybe moneyball. In a letter posted on …

• Letter: Wind Power and Wildlife
• Letter: Editorial Missed the Point
• Column: Vermont Bill Would Effectively Ban Alternative Engergy Projects