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By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Danielle Feole knew the drill taking her son Joey, 6, to see President Joe Biden.The wait to hear the president would be long, so she packed an iPad and Grey, the stuffed animal wolf that’s attached to her son’s hip.The afternoon in Concord would be...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

The legs of the black Baphomet outside the State House stood standing, but its head was on the ground, robes crumpled and panel of Seven Fundamental Tenets shattered.On Tuesday morning, Rep. Ellen Read, a Newmarket Democrat, was picking up the pieces...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Danielle Bee thought Warner, N.H., residents had made it clear — many in town did not support more sidewalks, public transportation and new housing developments. To her, the state’s Housing Champions program — a tool for communities to be eligible for...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Jose Cambrils has had his eyes on Whitney Hill Road in Canterbury, N.H., for years.He bought a 30-acre plot of land where the trees were spared from logging and wildlife roams about and another 95 acres just down the street in hopes of building a...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Ashley Miller loves to tell visitors about Marilla Ricker when they walk into the State Archives.Years before women had the right to vote, Ricker demanded her name be on New Hampshire ballots.She was the first female lawyer in the state and demanded...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

New Hampshire is known for many firsts: the first to declare independence from England and its first-in-the-nation primary.New Hampshire is also the first state where residents of a manufactured housing community purchased their park, forming a...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Cassandra Sanchez’s visit to a Tennessee facility last year raised an alarm for the New Hampshire child advocate.One of the children held at the facility told her he had one goal: to do “whatever it takes” to return to the Granite State.A new law,...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Based on their income levels, registered nurses can afford a two-bedroom apartment at $1,833 a month in the state’s rental market. Public school teachers and electricians make enough for a typical one-bedroom at $1,430.Since rental costs are on the...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

At the end of the month, Edmund McGahey plans to load up his U-Haul with the American flag neatly rolled behind his front door, take his wind chimes down from his front porch, pack his eight potted Christmas cacti, and leave for Texas.With an...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Words like institutional and hardened type of secure construction raise alarm bells for Cassandra Sanchez.When the Office of the Child Advocate supported legislation to build a new youth detention facility, a requirement was that the center take on a...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

With the Hunger Free New Hampshire Act, Becky Whitley wanted a buffet of solutions to eliminate food insecurity. In the end, Gov. Chris Sununu signed a small portion of her original bill into law. Students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

In a recent drive up Rattlesnake Hill, Kurt Swenson found the quarry he once owned eerily quiet.Gone were the employees who sliced blocks of stone from walls a hundred-plus feet down from the edge, a job he first had as a teenager. Silent was the...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

The overdue tax bill facing John Jones felt like a death sentence.The lifelong resident of the Live-Free-or-Die state had been late to pay his taxes before, but this time was different.Jones, 66, owed $5,097.44 to the city of Franklin, a working-class...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

At the start of the pandemic, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu wanted to make sure no one lost their home.Like governors around the country, he used his executive powers to suspend mortgage foreclosures and issued a moratorium on evictions. And in the...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

When the legislature reconvened in January, the new session was met with a record number of housing bills. But Elissa Margolin is holding off on crowning this session as the “year of housing” — until she sees what policy makes it to the governor’s...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

The Allenstown school district spends five times more than the amount the state of New Hampshire gives to pay for an adequate education.This lopsided equation relies heavily on local taxpayers to make up the difference to pay for everything from...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

If New Hampshire could solve the statewide child care pinch, improvements are expected to related problems with the state’s workforce shortage and economic growth. Simply put, it’s a domino effect of positive generational outcomes, according to Joe...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

It only took Tonya McMurray’s child a few seconds to realize something that was said in a moment of anger would become words to regret.In a heated conversation, a back-and-forth between teenagers taunting each other, McMurray’s child threatened...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

When Andrew Georgevits was a substitute teacher at Franklin Middle School a few years ago, he quickly realized that in the eighth grade class he was teaching, reading levels varied drastically between students.Many districts have found those learning...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

The mix of storefronts, apartment buildings and historic homes just off Main Street is the fabric of the city of Concord’s downtown. There’s a reason there aren’t large homes with front lawns next to the Statehouse or apartment complexes in the...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

SALEM, N.H. — As the crowd applauded former President Donald Trump, who gave the keynote speech Saturday at the annual GOP meeting in Salem, a former state party chairman was not in attendance.Steve Duprey is among a list of prominent New Hampshire...