Concord Monitor

In honor of this summer’s America 250/Concord 300 anniversary, we are soliciting community voices to write for our opinion section using a simple but powerful prompt: What does New Hampshire mean to you? Your story can be personal or civic, historical or forward-looking. It might reflect family traditions, public service, local pride or even the everyday moments that define life here. However you choose to answer, you can submit a 400-800 word My Turn by emailing [email protected] or submitting a 250-word maximum letter using the form on concordmonitor.com.

The Concord Monitor is partnering with the Concord Historical Society to share how the Monitor has adapted its coverage and strategies over the past two centuries and how it is preparing for the years and decades ahead. In case you missed our Meet the Monitor event in March, this is a perfect opportunity to learn more about the local newspaper and ask your burning questions. Join us on May 14 at 7 p.m. in Kimball-Jenkins Carriage House, located at 266 North Main St. in Concord.

As 2025 draws to a close, we took a moment to look back at the past year’s coverage. To all our readers, thank you for supporting local news. If you’d like to make a donation to the Granite State News Collaborative to help our newsroom and others in NH continue to thrive, visit /2025/11/07/support-nh-journalism/.

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us last night for a community conversation about local news. Shoutout to the Concord Historical Society for putting on the event and to Kimball Jenkins for letting us use their beautiful carriage house.

With the number of applications down and a demographic cliff looming over higher education, administrators at the University of New Hampshire projected earlier this year that they would enroll about 100 fewer students this coming fall than last year. Instead, they got a pleasant surprise: First-year deposits are up 4% from this time last year. If all those students enroll, the state's largest public university will exceed its internal projections for the incoming class by roughly 275 students. New England College in Henniker and Colby-Sawyer College in New London have had similarly good springs. The two schools' deposits are up 26% and 17%, respectively, compared to the same time last year, administrators at the two institutions said. The three schools are bucking national projections for 2026. Read more at the link in bio or at /2026/05/13/new-hampshire-college-enrollment-trends/

In 2002, Ann Davis bought 380 acres between Wilmot and Springfield, a woodlot where, four years earlier, an ice storm had passed through and mangled many of the beech trees, red maples, birch and other hardwoods. Davis enlisted the expertise of local foresters, whose management methods were born out of the White Mountains-based Bartlett Experimental Forest. They collected the damaged wood in four timber harvests that encouraged the growth of new trees. "The spruce and the pine that were left after that, they they were maybe 10 or 15 feet tall, and now 20 years later, they are 40 feet tall," she said. "[They're] really starting to have timber value, but they're also just beautiful to look at." When the U.S. Forest Service announced last month that it planned to close Bartlett as part of an agency restructuring, a decision it has now committed to reexamining, Davis was devastated. Read more at the link in bio or at /2026/05/13/bartlett-experimental-forest-closure/

The students had some tough decisions to make as they eyed phalanxes of Dixie Cups filled with water. It’s a ritual of the New Hampshire Water Drinking Festival, where fourth and fifth-graders learn about how water systems work from state professionals in the Department of Environmental Services. At the Manchester Water Treatment Facility on Wednesday, they participated in workshops touching on everything from how sewage treatment works to PFAS contamination. Then, students, teachers, parent chaperones and professionals sampled tap water from a handful of municipalities across the state. Blind to the origins of each water cup, they placed a vote for which one they thought tasted the best. Concord City Reporter Catherine McLaughlin talks about the heated competition — and how long-standing champion Concord was unseated this year. Read more at the link in bio or at /2026/05/10/new-hampshire-drinking-water-best-plymouth-concord/

Many interactions between humane societies and local police departments are routine; the scene at Hickory Nut Farm in May, 2024, was far different: A visitor to the farm had observed unsanitary living conditions and reported concerns about the health of a herd of 54 goats. When the Lee Police Department arrived, assisted by the NHSPCA, all the animals were seized and placed in protective custody. A cruelty investigator found deceased animals on the property. Another adult female goat died within one day of her arrival at the organization's shelter, as she was "completely depleted from lack of food and water," the NHSPCA's Lisa Dennison said at the time. Where advocates like the New Hampshire Farm Bureau see House Bill 1766 as a move toward preserving due process for farmers, Lee Police Cheif Tom Dronsfield said he fears it will "handcuff" law enforcement by compromising their ability to rely on longtime partners in the animal welfare world. Read more at the link in bio or at /2026/05/12/polarizing-cruelty-to-livestock-bill-heads-to-governors-desk/

Self-driving cars and taxis may be the future but they're following in the footsteps of an autonomous vehicle that's been trundling around here for years. "The technology for (autonomous) lawnmowing is a lot further along than for autonomous vehicles," said Brian LaTurno, New England regional sales manager for Husqvarna, a Swedish company that has sold self-driving lawnmowers since 1995, which is eight years before Tesla was founded. LaTurno, who happened to be at Superior Power Equipment in Manchester when I called to pick their brains about the technology, said he wasn't surprised I didn't know this. "The U.S. market has been very slow to adopt robotics. But in the last three years, competition has started to build up, and I think that has helped accelerate the sales we're seeing," he said. Read more at the link in bio or at /2026/05/12/robot-lawnmowers-the-unsung-heroes-of-autonomous-tech/

Abigail Kilrain and her husband run a farm together, and when their second daughter arrived in early September, 2016, right in the thick of harvest season, they had little time to rest.  Within weeks, Kilrain was back in the fields just down the street from her house in Hopkinton, baby strapped to her back, bagging green beans. “There is no maternity leave for a farmer, even if you are a new mom”, Kilrain, 45, said. “That probably wasn't the best choice for the baby and me. But I've relied on my family, especially when the kids were younger; they would help us out with childcare, so I could go back and forth between farming and then being with the kids.” Kilrain, now the mother of two daughters aged 12 and 9, was fortunate to have family nearby to lean on. But that kind of support system is far from universal in New Hampshire, and for families without it, the cost of childcare can be staggering. Read more at the link in bio or at /2026/05/10/childcare-costs-new-hampshire-hopkinton-motherhood/

Megan Flaherty is consistently "the life of every party." "When we have our dances, Megan is the first one on the dance floor," said Heidi Hines, a paraprofessional at John Stark Regional High School, where Flaherty is a senior. As music began playing on the State House lawn on Saturday morning ahead of the Best Buddies Friendship Walk, Flaherty, dressed in a pink shirt to match her glasses, broke into her favorite dance moves. The grin radiating on her face spread throughout the crowd. Her mom, Carrie Flaherty, said participating in the Best Buddies program has been transformative. "She's had a lot of opportunities to meet different people, and she loves being with all of her peers. It's really heartwarming to see how many buddies have joined the program," she said. The walk celebrated those lasting friendships between individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their peers. Read more at the link in bio or at /2026/05/11/celebrating-friendship-and-inclusion-at-the-best-buddies-walk/

Concord's javelin-throwing hidden gem, Nick Reynolds, is on pace to become one of the best in the country. The former state champion, record-holder and Tennessee walk-on is now at the University of Georgia training with the best American throwers. Reynolds, a sophomore, is coming off a personal best last weekend at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial. He threw 77.55 meters (254-5 feet), which ranks No. 5 in UGA history and No. 6 nationally. He also threw one over 80 meters, but it was a foul throw. "I want to be in the 80 meters. I think that's very doable," he said. "I've already thrown that in practice, in the warm-ups. I just need to have one hit during a meet." Read more at the link in bio or at /2026/05/08/concord-nick-reynolds-javelin-rising/