Category: News

Governor for a Day

On Friday, April 26, Gov. Chris Sununu announced that Andrew Flockton of Milford was selected as the 2024 Governor for a Day competition winner, meaning that Andrew acted as Governor for a Day on Wednesday, May 1, and joined the governor for the entire day at the Statehouse and on the road, according to a press release.

Andrew is a seventh-grader at Milford Middle School, where he is a member of the school’s student council and student newspaper, the Granite Town Tribune. Andrew wrote about his interest in local government, business and tourism. In his submission, he said, “If I were Governor for a day, I would want to learn about the state government and learn more about business and tourism in New Hampshire. I am fascinated with the inner workings of government and being Governor for a day would be a good way to expand my knowledge of government. I would like to represent the next generation of New Hampshire citizens by being Governor for a day.”

The “Governor for a Day” initiative was launched in 2018 to foster civic education and promote youth participation in government. It invited all middle and high school students across the Granite State to submit a 250- to 500-word essay completing the sentence, “If I were Governor for a day, I would…,” according to the release.

In a statement, Sununu said, “Andrew’s submission captured the importance of civic engagement and the Live Free or Die spirit that makes our state so special.”

Hatching news

As of just before noon on Tuesday, April 30, two of the four peregrine falcon eggs at the Brady Sullivan Tower falcon nest in Manchester had hatched. The nest is viewable via livestreaming Peregrine Cam, provided by the New Hampshire Audubon with support of Peregrine Networks and Brady Sullivan Properties, according to nhaudubon.org, where you can find links to the live feeds. According to the daily log, which you can find a link to in the chat of the YouTube feed, the names of the eyasses are Whit (for Walt Whitman) and Thor (for Henry David Thoreau), names voted on by viewers.

Trails grants

The New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation’s Bureau of Trails announced in an April 22 press release that it has opened its Fiscal Year 2025 Recreational Trails Program grant round and that three informational workshops will be taking place in May. Any qualified organization wishing to apply for Recreational Trails Program grant funding must attend at least one workshop session, the release said. Grant applicants are open to nonprofit organizations, private groups or government entities and funds are available for motorized, non-motorized and diversified trails, according to the release. The first two workshops occur on Wednesday, May 8, at 1 and 6 p.m. at the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources at 172 Pembroke Road in Concord, and the third will be on Friday, May 24, at 6 p.m. at the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources at 629 B Main S. in Lancaster. Attendees need to register in advance by contacting RTP Program Coordinator Jay Scarborough via email at [email protected] since space is limited, according to the press release.

Applications for Fiscal Year 2025 grants are due on Friday, June 14, by 4 p.m. with selected projects to have funding available in late spring 2025. The Recreational Trail Program is funded by federal gas tax dollars paid on fuel purchases for off-highway recreational vehicles and snowmobiles, according to the release. More information about the Recreational Trails Program is available at bit.ly/3JihN1p and nhstateparks.org or by calling 603-271-3556.

Funds in the sun

According to an April 26 press release, the New Hampshire Department of Education (NHED) has disbursed more than $1 million in scholarships for Granite State children to attend camp this summer through a program titled ReKINDling Curiosity.

Frank Edelbult, the state’s Education Commissioner, in a statement said, “our ReKINDling Curiosity program has grown each year, providing hundreds of families that may need financial assistance with the opportunity to enroll their children in an engaging camp program,” These awards totaling about $1.1 million will continue to be distributed until Covid relief funding is exhausted and will allow at least 1,777 students to participate in a summer camp experience at about 170 different camps, according to the press release.

In a statement, Susan Miller Hild, President of the New Hampshire Camp Directors Association, said, “ReKINDling Curiosity has afforded camps an opportunity to bring in a more diverse camp population. It allows camps that may not have an established scholarship program an opportunity to offer a camp experience for more families from New Hampshire.” For more details on the program, or to apply, visit rekindlingcuriosityeducation.nh.gov.

Deadly fires

Last week was an unusually active week for fires across the state, with nine major fires, and fatalities at four of them. “I’ve been in the state fire marshal’s office for the last six years, and I can’t think of a week [that] we’ve had that much tragedy relative to fires in our state,” said State Fire Marshal Sean Toomey, as reported by WMUR in an online story on April 28. According to the New Hampshire Division of Fire Safety (firemarshal.dos.nh.gov), there were fatal fires in Nashua, Concord, and Manchester over the past 10 days. Three individuals died in fires that occurred in residences, such as an apartment or a house, and one individual died in a crash that also involved a fire, according to the report on WMUR. According to statements on the Division of Fire Safety’s website, investigations of all four fatal fires are “active and ongoing.”

The Manchester Urban Ponds Restoration Program holds its final cleanup of the spring at Black Brook / Blodget Park (Front Street and Dunbarton Road) on Saturday May 4, from 9 to 11 a.m. Find the “Most Interesting or Unusual Piece of Trash” and win an award, according to the website. Visit manchesternh.gov/Departments/Environmental-Protection/Pond-Restoration.

The Manchester City Library (405 Pine St.) is screening the original theatrical version of The Empire Strikes Back on Saturday, May 4, at 11:30 a.m. Visit manchester.lib.nh.gov.

The New Hampshire Audubon is holding a beginner bird walk in Epping on Saturday, May 4, starting at 7 a.m. at the kiosk at Gate 3 (just east of 74 Mast Road). The Southeast Land Trust’s Mast Road Natural area in Epping totals 531 acres of wetlands, an active beaver pond, and early succession forest, and the trip is limited to 20 participants, according to Audubon’s website. Children are welcome with an adult, and participants are encouraged to bring binoculars, water, insect repellent and sunscreen. Visit nhaudubon.org/event/bbw-mast-road-natural-area-may-2024.

Drug take-back

The DEA is promoting a national drug take-back day on Saturday, April 27, with collection sites listed as open to take prescription drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. According to dea.gov/takebackday, local drop-off spots include area police departments and Elliot at River’s Edge in Manchester. “DEA and its partners will collect tablets, capsules, patches and other solid forms of prescription drugs. For more than a decade, this event has helped Americans easily rid their homes of unneeded medications—those that are old, unwanted, or expired—that too often become a gateway to addiction. … Collection sites will not accept syringes, sharps and illicit drugs. Liquid products, such as cough syrup, should remain sealed in their original container. The cap must be tightly sealed to prevent leakage.,” according to a press release from Granite United Way, which will participate at its three public health networks (see graniteuw.org).

Moose sounds

According to an April 16 press release, researchers at the University of New Hampshire have used publicly available online videos to develop a method to assess wild moose sounds in nature and to identify distinct differences by age and sex, as a first step in creating an acoustic network that could help track, monitor and protect moose populations.

In a statement, Laura Kloepper, an assistant professor of biological sciences at UNH, said that “by tracking moose, scientists can predict how forest habitat affects moose distribution. Specifically, how habitat disturbances, like those caused by some timber management, affect where moose prefer to live and how those preferences change with the seasons or the time of day. Since moose have a wide roaming range and low population densities, monitoring them is an ever-present challenge that could be aided by non-invasive technologies like a moose acoustic sensor.”

Their study published in the journal JASA [Journal of the Acoustical Society of America] Express Letters outlined their use of online videos crowdsourced from hunters and recreationalists to identify differences in moose calls and characterize them by age and sex, according to the same release. Researchers collected 673 calls — 199 from cows (females), 255 from bulls (males) and 219 from calves — and although individual variations existed, there were clear differences between groups, according to the same release.

The researchers plan to include networks of calibrated acoustic recorders across a landscape to develop an automated detector and determine moose population density to inform forest management, according to the same release.

Their efforts are supported by the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station through joint funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture as well as the State of New Hampshire and conducted in partnership with NH Fish and Game Department, according to the same release, which also named co-authors of the study including Alex Zager, Sonja Ahlberg, Olivia Boyan, Jocelyn Brierly, Valerie Eddington and Remington Moll.

Visit unh.edu/unhtoday/2024/04/developing-bioacoustic-methods-characterize-new-hampshire-moose-populations for details and links to the JASA Express Letters article.

Relief money

An April 22 press release stated that President Joe Biden granted Gov. Sununu’s request for a major disaster declaration in response to severe storms and flooding in January that resulted in significant costs to local communities. Rockingham and Grafton counties are included in the declaration. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), working with state and local emergency management officials, had completed a Preliminary Damage Assessment and found that the statewide cost for response to this event totaled more than $3 million. This declaration allows communities in the two counties to seek federal funding assistance, according to the release.

The declaration also makes federal support available through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the Public Assistance Program, with the purpose of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program being to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable the implementation of mitigation measures during the immediate recovery from a disaster, according to the same release.

The same press release mentioned that the Department of Transportation has been granted $20 million in federal funding for seawall reconstruction and the funds will be used to reduce flooding, structural damage and post-storm cleanup time along Route 1A. Visit governor.nh.gov.

Fire in Plymouth

On Saturday, April 20, a fire broke out on Main Street in Plymouth that forced the evacuation of Flying Monkey Movie House and Performance Center. The investigation into the fire is ongoing; Downtown Pizza received most of the damage and is currently closed, according to a report on WMUR.com.

Vincent Vella, CEO of The Common Man Family, said in post on the venue’s Facebook page: “The Monkey has sustained only minor smoke damage. We are unbelievably lucky and happy to report that our beloved venue has survived such a devastating event. Unfortunately, some of the Monkey’s neighbors have suffered tragic losses, and Main Street in Plymouth will look different for some time. We will support them in their efforts to recover.”

The venue’s marquee reads “Everything is fine. We are OK. See You Friday. 4-26 Sugar Mountain,” according to a photo posted April 22.

The Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Manchester Ladies Philoptochos Society will hold an Eastern Orthodox Easter Bake Sale on Saturday, April 27, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. in the church hall. Spinach peta, Greek cookies, assorted Greek pastries, pastry platters, and Easter bread will be available for sale.

See EVs and talk to their owners at the Merrimack Electric Vehicle Fair on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Tractor Supply Parking lot in Merrimack (515 D.W. Highway). Visit driveelectricearthmonth.org to RSVP and see a list of vehicles expected to be there.

Friends of Leach Library in Londonderry (276 Mammoth Road) are holding a book sale on Tuesday, April 30, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m, according to their website, although hours are subject to volunteer availability and they ask that you call the library to check if the book sale room will be open prior to your visit. Visit londonderrynh.org/leach-library or call 432-1132.