Category: News

This Week 26/04/09

Thursday, April 9

Comedian Mae Martin, champion of Season 15 of Taskmaster UK, performs at the Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St., Concord, 225-1111, ccanh.com) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $44 through the Capitol Center website. A limited number of VIP packages are available.

Friday, April 10

Tonight at 7:30 p.m. at The Dana Center for the Humanities (Saint Anselm College, 100 Saint Anselm Drive, Manchester) the Abbey Players present Something Rotten!, a musical comedy about brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom, desperate playwrights living in the shadow of rockstar William Shakespeare. The show runs Saturday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, April 12, at 2 p.m., and April 16 through April 18, at 7:30 p.m. See tickets.anselm.edu for tickets.

Friday, April 10

Tonight and tomorrow, Saturday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. the Rex Theatre (823 Amherst St. Manchester, 668-5588) is hosting the second annual Palace Theatre Short Play Fest, featuring six plays by emerging playwrights. See palacetheatre.org for tickets.

Saturday, April 11

The Nashua Public Library will hold a reception today from noon to 2 p.m. for photographer Katie Walsh, whose show “Along the Way” is on display in the library’s art gallery through mid-May, according to nashualibrary.org.

Saturday, April 11

Northeast Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services (56 Old Suncook Road, Concord, 224-1850, ndhhs.org) holds its first ever Deaf and Hard of Hearing Resource Round-up today from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central and Northern New Hampshire (55 Bradley St., Concord, 224-1061, nhyouth.org). There will be presentations all day, as well as an ASL (American Sign Language) Zone, game tournaments, national and local vendors, and state-of-the-art technology. Admission is free. Visit ndhhs.org/events-calendar.

Saturday, April 11

Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Concord, 224-0562, gibsonsbookstore.com) hosts Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, author of The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry and the Cosmic Dream Boogie, today at 1 p.m. She will be in conversation with poet Matthew Miller.

Saturday, April 11

The Concord Community Concert Association presents “Here Come The Judds – A Tribute” at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St., Concord, 228-2793, theaudi.org) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Singers Victoria Venier and Liz Byler Shea will perform a musical tribute to Naomi and Wynonna Judd. Tickets are $20 (cash or check only) at the door or $24 online at ccca-audi.org.

Saturday, April 11

Zach Nugent’s Dead Set pays tribute to the music of the Grateful Dead tonight at 8 p.m. at the Nashua Center for the Arts. See nashuacenterforthearts.com for tickets.

Tuesday, April 14

The Wrong Hill to Die On is back for a second round of questionable opinions, tonight at 7 p.m. at the Shaskeen Pub and Restaurant (909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246, shaskeenirishpub.com). This is a fast-paced live comedy show where stand-ups defend absurd or controversial “hot takes.” Tickets start at $20 through eventbrite.com.

Save the Date! Saturday, April 18
City Year New Hampshire will hold its annual Starry, Starry Night galaSaturday, April 18, beginning at 5 p.m. at Doubletree by Hilton (700 Elm St., Manchester, 625-1000). This is City Year NH’s biggest fundraising gala, uniting community and business leaders, citizen supporters and service champions for an evening to support the work its Student Success Coaches do for New Hampshire students and schools. Black tie is optional; festive and red attire encouraged. Visit cityyear.org/new-hampshire/events.

Featured photo: Mae Martin. Courtesy photo.

Spring arrives on TV

The Big Story – The Masters: Get ready for feeling like spring is here, as the cathedral of golf is back at center stage, with the usually dominant at Augusta National Scottie Scheffler going off as the Masters favorite and 2025 winner Rory McIlroy a bigger threat than usual after shaking off his history of close losses and collapses with last year’s win. And thanks to his latest move, Tiger Woods will not foolishly be included in talk about who could win.

Sports 101: Name the four pitchers to have struck out 4,000 or more batters in their careers.

News Item – NCAA Championships: On the women’s side it was about shocking blowouts as UCLA buried South Carolina 79-51 for its first ever title, after SC stunned undefeated UConn in the semi. For the men it was the UConn-Illinois (71-62) barn-burner that sent the Huskies on to face Michigan, who’d blown out Arizona. Then UM hung on to beat the Huskies 69-63, driven by impressive size and D. UConn’s loss denied it legitimate dynasty status, as it would have been their third title in four years and seventh since 1999.

News Item – Jayson Tatum Update: Those silly folks who thought adding him would upset the karma in the surprising season, guess again. The team is now 11-3 in the games he’s played. The best one came when they scored 53 points in the first quarter in a 147-129 win over Miami where Jaylon Brown and Tatum meshed perfectly, with JB going for 43 and JT a 25-18-11 triple double.

News Item – Red Sox Update: Not exactly a great start in losing five straight after their opening day win. They start the week at 2-6 with the pitching, D and hitting all underperforming.

The Numbers:

1 – hit allowed in his pitching debut when Shohei Ohtani went six innings and struck out six in a 4-1 win over Cleveland.

19 – years old when Dallas rookie Cooper Flagg scored 96 points in two weekend games and became the youngest in NBA history to reach the 50-point plateau on Friday vs. Orlando.

50 – million dollars wasn’t refunded to customers who bought during the promotion by Jordan Furniture that would give them their money back if the UConn Men and Women both became national champs this year. It ended when the women lost.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Chandler Morris: The latest moment that tells us college sports has lost its way ended on a sane note for a change last week when a federal court judge offered a shard of common sense when he denied an injunction to allow the 25-year-old to play a seventh season of college football. Yup, the guy who has played at, and transferred from, Oklahoma, TCU, North Texas and now Virginia somehow thinks he should be able to play college football in perpetuity and finally someone said no to him.

Defensive Player of the Week – Jo Adell: I know — who? He’s the Angels RF who no one ever heard of until he made three hanging over the wall home run-saving catches Saturday, including tumbling into the stands in the ninth to preserve a 1-0 win over Seattle. Anyone ever seen anyone do that three times in one game? Didn’t think so.

Temper Tantrum of the Week – Geno Auriemma: Got a kick out of seeing the guy who’s been running up huge victory margins for years on his opponents not exactly showing grace under fire after UConn’s hopes of another undefeated went down in flames Friday.

Sports 101 Answer: The 4,000-strikeout club includes Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton.

Final Thought – 1989 Bird vs. 2026 Tatum: As mentioned earlier, they’re 11-3 since he’s come back, a winning percentage of 78.5%, which projects to a 64-win season. The fun, though, is comparing the winning percentage without him as compared to how the 1988-89 Celtics fared in the year Larry Bird missed all but six games because of heel surgery.

Before Tatum returned the C’s were an admirable 41-21 for a 67.1%. The C’s were40-36 without Bird, 52.6% and 2-4 with him.

Does that mean Bird meant more to them? Or could it be Jaylen Brown has been a much better new leader/No. 2 than Kevin McHale was? KM had a good season averaging 22.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game while getting no MVP votes. Brown has hit career highs in points (28.6), rebounds (7.0) and assists (5.3) while being in the MVP conversation for driving them to a surprising season without JT.

I think it’s the latter. Brown has been great.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

Quality of Life 26/04/09

Drop that … drop it!

Trupanion.com, an online pet insurance company, released a report March 24 indicating that the number of pet poisonings in New Hampshire has gone up. The study reported that there have been 701 insurance claims from New Hampshire policy holders for veterinary care to treat poisonings since 2020 (651 dogs and 50 cats). According to the study, some of the most common sources of poisoning for pets have included grapes and raisins, chocolate, and drugs (both legal and the other type). “The cost of poison-related claims ranged from $558 for onions to $1,705 for anti-freeze and detergents,” the report read.

QOL score: -1

Comment: The study found that “Louisiana had the highest rate of poison-related claims with 1.75 claims per 1,000 pets, [and] Arkansas had the lowest … with .65 claims per 1,000 pets.”

No! Not the nuggies!

According to a New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services press release from April 3: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a public health alert for frozen, dinosaur-shaped, ready-to-eat chicken nuggets that may be contaminated with unsafe levels of lead. This product was sold at New Hampshire Walmart locations.” “The public health alert is for 29-oz. plastic bags containing approximately 36 “Great Value Fully Cooked Dino Shaped Chicken Breast Nuggets” with the Best If Used By date “FEB 10, 2027,” lot code “0416DPO1215,” and establishment number “P44164” printed on the back of the bag. Consumers who purchased or received these chicken nuggets should check their freezers and avoid eating this product. The product should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” the release said.

QOL score: -2, because sometimes dino nuggies are the only form of protein in the picky-eater diet

Comment: The release warned the nuggie-consuming public that “There is no safe amount of lead exposure. Exposure to even small amounts of lead may cause behavioral, developmental and health problems. Because children under age 6 are undergoing critical neurological and physical development, they are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of lead on the body.”

How does poutine factor into that?

Researchers at Eating Disorder Solutions (eatingdisordersolutions.com) recently analyzed data from sources including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Diabetes Association to rank each state in terms of healthy diets. New Hampshire made the Top 10. “New Hampshire (9th overall) leads the country in food security (#1),” a summary of the study read, “and ranks #5 for farmers markets per capita, highlighting strong access to fresh produce.” According to the summary, there is still a lot of opportunity for improvement in our diets. “Government-backed research shows just how widespread unhealthy eating habits are in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 1 in 10 adults meet the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: According to the study’s rankings, New Hampshire has a Healthy Diet Index score of 61.02. The study’s highest-ranking state, Vermont, has a score of 75.92, with more than twice as many farmers markets per capita and a high consumption rate of vegetables. “At the other end of the ranking,” the study summary reported, “West Virginia ranks last with the highest rates of obesity (#48), diabetes (#48), and high cholesterol (#48), alongside one of the lowest fruit and vegetable intake rates.”

QOL score: 47

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 45

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

News & Notes 26/04/09

Grants for kids

The Queen City Rotary Club Foundation in Manchester is accepting application for its grants — an “Impact Grant” for organizations whose primary focus is serving underprivileged youth in the greater Manchester area with an award of $1,000 to $10,000 depending on the project, and a “Youth Services Grant” for organizations with a youth-focused mission, with a $1,000 maximum, according to a a press release. The deadline to apply is Friday, April 17, the release said. See queencityrotary.org.

MD fast track

The University of New Hampshire in partnership with Western Atlantic University of Medicine announced “a new Accelerated Pathway to MD (APMD) beginning in September 2026” according to a March 26 press release. “This initiative offers eligible high school graduates a direct and structured six-year route from undergraduate studies at UNH to medical training at WAUSM — providing a faster and more affordable pathway for students committed to becoming physicians,” the release said. “The health care industry is New Hampshire’s fastest-growing employment sector, according to the non-partisan non-profit group New Futures. While the sector is projected to add almost 10,000 jobs to the economy by 2030, the state is not projected to have enough workers to meet demand,” the release said. “The combined curriculum will significantly reduce the time to residency, allowing students to earn both a bachelor’s degree and a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in as little as six years….,” the release said. See unh.edu/accelerated-md-pathway.

Auction for a cause

Second Chance Ranch Rescue will host a live and silent auction at LaBelle Winery in Amherst on Sunday, April 12, from 1 to 4 p.m. featuring lunch and brunch bites, wine and mimosas, auctions and an opportunity to meet one of the rescue’s dogs, according to a press release. “All funds raised from our auction at LaBelle will directly support the development of our new facility,” said Kristin Jordan, founder of Second Chance Ranch Rescue, in the statement. The new facility will be “a homelike setting, which will allow dogs to learn about living in a home before successful placement into new adoptive families,” the release said. General admission tickets cost $40. See secondchanceranchrescue.com/events.

Comedy for a cause

The Londonderry Women’s Club will host a Comedy Night Fundraiser on Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at Chunky’s Cinema in Manchester featuring comedians Amy Tee, Matt Berry and Mark Scalia, according to londonerrywomensclub.org, where you can find information to purchase tickets for $35 per person (or email comedynight@londonderrywomensclub.org). The event will also feature raffles, according to a press release. “Proceeds will support LWC’s community initiatives, including high school and adult women’s scholarships, providing snacks for local elementary students, partnering with End 68 Hours of Hunger to combat food insecurity, making & donating fleece caps for chemotherapy patients, supporting families through St. Jude’s Blue Angels, and other charitable programs,” the release said.

Andrew Pinard presents “Magic Play” on Wednesday, April 22, at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.) at the Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince St. in Concord. All ages welcome, according to the press release. See walkerlecture.org.

“Clear to Me,” described as “a group exhibition exploring light, shadow, and the quiet power of negative space,” is open at Mosaic Art Collective, 66 Hanover St., Suite 201, in Manchester with an opening reception on Saturday, April 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. See mosaicartcollective.com.

HeARTwork, the Concord Arts Market event at Kimball Jenkins, 266 N. Main St. in Concord, will take place Saturday, April 11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the theme “Life,” according to kimballjenkins.com.

Cue Zero Theatre Company will present Dead in The Water, an interactive murder mystery, on Friday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Arts Academy of New Hampshire in Salem. See artsacademynh.org.

This Week 26/04/02

Thursday, April 2

It’s time for your encyclopedic knowledge of the movie Dirty Dancing to pay off at Dirty Dancing Trivia tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester, 206-3888, chunkys.com). Tickets are $7 through the Chunky’s website.

Thursday, April 2

The new season of music at the Casino Ballroom on Hampton Beach kicks off tonight with Melissa Etheridge. Doors open at 7 p.m.; show starts at 8 p.m. See casinoballroom.com for tickets.

Friday, April 3

Jewel Music Venue (61 Canal St., Manchester, 819-9336, facebook.com/jewlnh) will host the Hachi presented Wizard’s Wasteland Tour featuring headliners Space Wizard along with Swamp Wizard, She-Wolf, Ainonow and Slang Dogs, according to Jewel’s Facebook page, where you can find a link to purchase tickets.

Friday, April 3

The BNH Stage (16 S. Main St., Concord, 225-1111, ccanh.com) will host Lisa Joins a Cult tonight at 7:30 p.m. foran immersive evening of exploring religious cults, why they happen and what keeps them going. Tickets are $27 through the Capitol Center website.

Saturday, April 4

There’s a Baa Baa Bash at Brookford Farm (250 West Road, Canterbury, 742-4084, brookfordfarm.com) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday in April beginning today. Welcome spring with baby animals, muddy boots and maybe even a live animal birth. Buy feed bags and feed the animals. Admission is free. Visit brookfordfarm.com/events.

Saturday, April 4

The Exeter LitFest will run today from noon to 5 p.m. at Exeter Town Hall and feature authors including Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (whose works include the April 7 release The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie) and Catherine Newman (author of 2025’s Wreck) among other author conversations, according to exeterlitfest.com. The day will also feature children’s events at the Exeter Public Library starting at 10 a.m., the website said.

Saturday, April 4

Concord’s Giant Indoor Yard Sale takes place today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Everett Arena (15 Loudon Road, Concord), according to the event’s Facebook page. Adult admission costs $5, the page said.

Sunday, April 5

Catch Cecil B. Demille’s first attempt at the Moses story when the 1923 silent film The Ten Commandments plays at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre on Main Street in Wilton, screened with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, today at 2 p.m.

Friday, April 3

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats open their 2026 season tonight at 6:03 p.m. at Delta Dental Stadium (1 Line Drive, Manchester, 641-2005, milb.com/new-hampshire). They will take on the Binghamton Rumble Ponies tonight and again tomorrow, Saturday, April 4, and Sunday, April 5, at 1:05 p.m. See milb.com/new-hampshire for tickets. The game will be preceded by a Hot Dog Happy Hour with food and live entertainment beginning 90 minutes before game time.

Save the Date! April 17, 2026
The three-time Grammy Award-winning Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will perform at the Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, 800-657-8774, nashuacenterforthearts.com) Friday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. as part of their “Farewell Tour, All the Good Times: 60 Years of Dirt.” Tickets start at $66, with a limited number of VIP passes available through the Nashua Center’s website.

Featured photo: Retired Navy pilot Lynn “Skip” Carter. Courtesy photo.

Hoops heaven on Saturday

The Big Story – Final Fours: Down to the Final Four in both NCAA basketball championships this weekend. Can the only school to already do it, UConn, see their men’s and women’s programs both win the same title in the same year for the third time after doing it in 2004 and 2014? On the women’s side it’ll be UConn vs. the South Carolina-TCU winner and UCLA vs. the Texas-Michigan winner. For the men it’s UConn vs. Illinois and Michigan vs. Arizona. If the Michigan women won after deadline on Monday we could have Michigan-UConn both going for the double in the Finals. How cool would that be?

Sports 101: Name the five highest individual player scoring games in NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament history.

News Item – NCAA Tournament Notables:

• Biggest Shot – There were a lot, but since Braylon Mullins’s three with seconds left sent UConn to the FF over 1-seed Duke, he gets it.

• MVP So Far – Tarris Reed Jr. has averaged 21.8 points and 13.5 rebounds in four games for 2-seed UConn.

• Record Set – Hannah Hidalgo: After going for 31 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals, 7 assists and a near quadruple double, as Notre Dame upset 2-seed Vanderbilt 67-64 the ND guard set the all-NCAA record with 199 career steals.

News Item – Early Baseball Stories to Follow:

• The spring batting average for Merrimack’s Mickey Gasper was .358 with a triple, two homers and seven RBI in 28 at-bats and it still wasn’t enough to make the Red Sox varsity, even though the guy in front of him at second base, Marcelo Mayer, hit .196, and .220 his rookie season. So Gasper starts in Worcester.

• Roki Sasaki – It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the 21-year-old Japanese phenom this spring after an up and down Year 1. This spring the ERA was an astronomical 15.58 in four starts with 15 walks in 8.2 innings.

• Prediction – Forgot to say this last week, but I’ve got Ceddanne Rafaela having the breakout year to hit 25 homers.

The Numbers:

2.25 – ERA of the Boston bullpen over three games and 12 innings with a loss and a blown save by Greg Weissert.

21 – combined winning streak ended last week by the streaking Celtics since Jayson Tatum’s return when they beat Oak City (12) 116-106 and Atlanta (9) 109-102 two nights later.

188 – opening day Red Sox payroll in millions down from 240 in 2025.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Down – Roman Anthony Leading Off: Yes, he’s likely to have their best OBP. But, even with that, how can leading off make sense? It guarantees their best RBI guy comes to bat 162 times with no one on base. And if they have their lowest-OBP guys bat 8 and 9 like usually happens, it’ll be closer to 300. That’s nuts.

Quote of the Week: “All I’m saying is, ‘Young fella, we’ve already got one ‘Iceman,’” one-of-a-kind ABA/NBA scoring genius George Gervin told the Chicago Sun-Times after Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams tried to trademark/steal his nickname.

The Phew Moment – Brad Stevens: It was when Top 5 in the league Celtics GM said he’s staying after his name surfaced as a possible at UNC after Hubert Davis was fired on Tuesday.

Comedic Hiring of the Week – Luke Murray: When Boston College hired son of SNL legend Bill Murray to leave as UConn assistant to be new head basketball coach at BC.

Random Thought: Before you complain about the Sox payroll, remember Milwaukee had 2025’s best record with just MLB’s 23rd highest payroll at $115 million.

Sports 101 Answer: The Top 5 NCAA Basketball Tournament scoring games are 61, Austin Carr, Notre Dame; 58, Bill Bradley, Princeton; 56, Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati; and Carr again, who scored 52 twice.

Final Thought – Who Acquired 2026 Red Sox: Most teams are a composite of acquisitions by the current GM and their predecessors, like the curse-busting 2004 Red Sox, where key guys like Manny, Pedro and Damon were Dan Duquette’s doing, while Theo Epstein found Big Papi, Schilling and Varitek among others. Here are the key guys in the 2026 edition acquired by Craig Breslow and company:

Chaim Bloom draftedRoman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kevin Teel (traded for Garrett Crochet) and Kristian Campbell, traded for Abreu, and acquired FA Trevor Story.

Dave Dombrowski drafted Rafaela, Brayan Bello and Jarren Duran.

Breslow tradedfor Crochet and Sonny Gray, and signed Willson Contreras.

Future: With five OF/DH guys, a boatload of starting pitchers here and in AAA, and talented but under-achieving young’n Triston Casas headed to the minors, they have the pieces to make a major trade this summer to fine-tune the Fenway team.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

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