Category: Quality Of Life

And the winner is

Ruby Shabazz, a Nashua native, has won best R&B song in the 2024 New England Songwriting Competition. According to its website (newenglandsongwritingcompetition.com) the contest describes its mission as “to nurture, recognize, and elevate the diverse voices and melodies that make up the vibrant music scene of New England.” This is the 15th contest. Ruby Shabazz won the award with “Thank You,” an autobiographical song about the meaning of gratitude. According to an April 6 press release from Shabazz, her style has been described as “an updated version of neo-soul mixed with the throwback sounds of Lauryn Hill.” This year’s New England Songwriting Competition had more than 500 submissions.

QOL score: +1

Comments: See Shabazz on Saturday, April 27, at 9 p.m. at the Smokehouse Tavern in Lowell, Mass., according to her website.

Stepping Stones closes

According to an April 12 broadcast story on WMUR, Stepping Stones, a Nashua shelter that helps homeless young adults who have aged out of foster care or fled situations of abuse, closed its residential facility last Tuesday. According to WMUR’s story, residents were given three weeks to find other living arrangements. On its website (steppingstonesnh.org) Stepping Stones has posted a simple message: “Due to circumstances beyond our control, Stepping Stones will be closing permanently on April 9, 2024.”

QOL score: -1

Comments: According to another WMUR story from Oct. 18 of last year, there are more than 3,000 homeless youth in New Hampshire.

Another kind of eclipse-related phenomenon

According to an April 10 news release from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (dot.nh.gov), more than 54,000 cars traveled north on New Hampshire highways to view the April 8 eclipse. According to an April 9 story on WMUR.com, southbound traffic was especially harrowing: “Backups on major roadways such as Interstate 93 north of the Notches lasted into the early hours of the morning, and the roads were still crowded by Tuesday morning rush hour.”

QOL score: -1 for the less-fun eclipse gathering

Comments: According to WMUR, some eclipse viewers reported it took them more than 12 hours to get back to the southern part of the state.

Boston Marathon runners

New Hampshire runners did well in Monday’s Boston Marathon. According to WMUR (wmur.com) and the Boston Athletic Association (baa.org) the state’s fastest participants were Sam Fazioli of Derry, who placed 38th among male runners with a time of 2:23:49; Emilee Risteen, also of Derry, who placed 29th among female runners with a time of 2:43:12, and Nashua’s Thomas Cantara, who won the T20 Para division in 2:35:23. As reported by WMUR, Risteen said of the race, “It was a tougher day out there, but still fun.”

QOL score: +1

Comments: Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia was the fastest male runner, with a time of 2:06:17. Hellen Obiri of Kenya won her second consecutive Boston Marathon, with a time of 2:22:37.

Last week’s QOL score: 63

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 63

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

Let us know at [email protected].

Save it for next year, snow

Just in case we forgot where we lived, April started with a snowstorm. Last week’s nor’easter brought snow, ice, winds, a snow day for many and more than 140,000 New Hampshire customers without electricity, according to an April 4 press release from the New Hampshire Department of Safety.

QOL score: -1

Comments: Knock wood, fingers crossed, no whammies — can it be spring now?

And then, an earthquake

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake on April 5 was centered in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, but felt in New Hampshire, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in a report at earthquake.usgs.gov. On a map of the event, the government agency reported shocks felt throughout Vermont and New Hampshire. According to an April 5 report by the Washington Post, the geology of the Eastern Seaboard is extremely solid and rocky, which helped shockwaves travel an unusually long distance.

QOL score: -1 because the April 8 solar eclipse already had all of our “weird natural phenomenon” focus

Comments: WMUR reported that people in Concord, Manchester, Nashua and other communities across the state felt the quake. New Hampshire was home to a Gilford-centered 2.2-magnitude quake on March 27, the WMUR story said.

Notable chef

Milford chef and restaurant owner Chris Viaud is one of the finalists for a James Beard Award. In an April 3 press release, the James Beard Foundation announced that Viaud, the chef and owner of Greenleaf and Ansanm in Milford and Pavilion in Wolfeboro, is a finalist in the Outstanding Restaurateur category. The award criteria describe an outstanding restaurateur as one “who uses their establishment(s) as a vehicle for building community, demonstrates creativity in entrepreneurship, integrity in restaurant operations, and is making efforts to create a sustainable work culture, while contributing positively to their broader community.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: The winner of this award will be announced at the James Beard Award ceremony in Chicago in June.

Screens go dark

Chunky’s Cinema Pub’s locations in Nashua and Pelham will close on May 9, according to Facebook posts on those locations’ pages and as reported by multiple media organizations. The Chunky’s at 707 Huse Road in Manchester will thankfully remain open and gift cards can be used at that location (staff from Pelham and Nashua will also be offered positions in Manchester, the posts said). The Nashua location has been open for more than 17 years and the Pelham location has been open for 27 years, the posts said.

QOL score: -2

Comments: Nashua and Pelham locations will plan to go out in style with some screenings of modern classics — Labyrinth on April 29 at 7 p.m.; Dirty Dancing on April 30, at 7 p.m.; The Goonies on May 1 at 7 p.m.; The Big Lebowski on May 2 at 7:45 p.m., and Jaws on May 3 at 7 p.m.

Last week’s QOL score: 66

Net change: -3

QOL score this week: 63

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

Let us know at [email protected].

Egg-cellent news

The peregrine falcon couple that lives in the nest box atop the Brady Sullivan Building in Manchester has welcomed this year’s eggs — four, brick-red-colored eggs, with the first egg laid March 20 and the fourth laid during the afternoon on March 28, according to the daily log of the peregrine activity (find a link in the chat on the YouTube live feed of the nest box). According to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, peregrine eggs take about a month to hatch, so by May Day, Manchester should have new peregrines to add to its bird count.

QOL score: +1

Comments: A live camera feed of the Brady Sullivan Nest Box can be viewed by searching YouTube for Peregrine Networks Live Peregrine Falcon Feed1.

A cleaner New Hampshire

A recently released report from the Environmental Protection Agency shows that toxic pollutants in New Hampshire have decreased over the past decade. The 2022 Toxics Release Inventory (commonly known as a TRI Report) announced that toxic releases and toxic pollutants to the air, land and water have decreased significantly over the past 10 years, and that toxic emissions have “decreased by 71% over the last 10 years, due to the significant reductions of certain TRI chemicals at several manufacturing facilities and significant reductions from power plants,” the EPA reported last week in a press release.

QOL score: +1

Comments: Nationwide, releases of TRI chemicals have decreased by 21 percent. See awsgispub.epa.gov/trina2022/summary.

Faster fire rescue responses

Last week Nashua Fire Rescue announced the launch of a new emergency vehicle traffic preemption system, replacing the outdated Opticom system that has served for nearly 35 years. As reported by Nashua Ink Link on Thursday, March 28, Nashua’s new Glance Traffic Preemption system uses GPS, cellular and 900 MHz signaling technology to alert traffic signals at more than 90 intersections across the city of the approach of a fire apparatus, and changes the lights to allow emergency vehicles through, for a faster response time. In a phone interview, Fire Dispatch confirmed that the new system went online this week.

QOL score: +1

Comments: The $600,000 project was made possible through funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and was approved by the Nashua Board of Aldermen in 2022.

A cold night out

More than 165 people signed up to raise funds for Waypoint’s 10th Annual SleepOut on Friday, March 29, according to a story in the Boston Globe. Participants spent a night sleeping outside to earn money for programs at Waypoint, a statewide nonprofit that provides services for homeless young adults across New Hampshire’s programs, the story said. According to Cindy Stewart, Development Director at Waypoint, money is still coming in from the event, but so far, this SleepOut has raised more than $420,000.

QOL score: +1 for the fundraising and fundraisers

Comments: According to Waypoint, up to 15,000 New Hampshire youth experience homelessness each year.

QOL score: 62

Net change: +4

QOL this week: 66

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

Let us know at [email protected].

Not so fast, spring

Winter wasn’t done with New Hampshire. According to WMUR, the Saturday, March 23, storm dropped snow across the state, ranging from a coating to a few inches (often mixed with rain) to more than a foot for some parts of the Granite State. The fallout from the storm: power outages. More than 75,000 customers lost power during the peak of storm outages. On the morning of March 25, more than 20,000 customers were still powerless; by the afternoon WMUR reported that most customers would have their power restored by the end of the day.

QOL score: -2, because we were all set with winter

Comments: OK, who put away all their winter boots and coats and jinxed us? Nobody pull up their driveway stakes until at least mid-April.

Meanwhile…

Ski NH reported Sunday, March 24, that the storm brought more than 2 feet to some ski areas in the state. Wildcat Mountain in Jackson received 30 inches while Cannon Mountain in Franconia and Waterville Valley Resort each reported 27 to 30 inches, according to Ski NH’s press release. Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway received 2 feet and may reopen this coming weekend, the release said.

QOL score: +1

Comments: “23 inches over the last 24 hours, bluebird skies and patrol dropping rope as we speak. Get ready for the best day of the season!” read a Sunday post on the Cranmore Facebook page.

On the other hand…

At 8:03 a.m. on Sunday, March 24, Gilmanton and Alton firefighters responded to a rescue call on Crystal Lake to save a deer that had fallen through the ice about 200 yards from shore, according to the Gilmanton Firefighter’s Association Facebook page. From the pictures the Association posted, it appears that there was only a thin crust of icy snow on the surface of the lake after last Saturday’s snow storm. Rescuers responded in rescue watercraft and pulled the deer from the water.

QOL score: +1 for the assist

Comments: “The deer was rescued, tired, exhausted and shivering but it was last seen up and walking around,” according to the Association’s Facebook page.

Preserving history

Canterbury Shaker Village and the American Independence Museum in Exeter each received grants from Americana Corner, an online resource for education about America in the 1700s and 1800s, according to press releases from the sites. The American Independence Museum was awarded a 2024 “Preserving America” grant for $10,000, which it will use to “fund essential preservation work at Folsom Tavern such as repairs to — and restaining of — various sections of clapboard siding,” the press release said. Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury will use its $7,500 award “to preserve ten windows in its historic Meeting House,” its release said.

QOL score: +1

Comments: See shakers.org and independencemuseum.org for more on the two sites.

QOL score: 61

Net change: +1

QOL this week: 62

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

Let us know at [email protected].

Warmest winter

This has been New Hampshire’s warmest winter on record. As reported by New Hampshire Public Radio on March 12, the winter season was 9 degrees warmer than usual on average. According to NHPR’s report, at the National Weather Service’s climate site in Concord the temperature never dropped below 0 degrees, something that has only happened twice since 1868, when weather records started being kept in the state.

QOL score: -1 for the general weirdness of it all

Comments: According to a March 17 story by WMUR, as of Sunday afternoon, March 18, Lake Winnipesaukee is completely ice-free, again setting a new record.

Household bills above average here

According to a recent report, Manchester residents pay $5,547 more per year on their household bills — about 22 percent more — than the national average. According to the 2024 U.S. Household Bill Pay report by Doxo, a bill-paying smartphone app, the average American household spends around $2,126 each month on its most essential household bills, and the average Manchester household pays $2,588, or approximately 42 percent of its household income. These bills run the range from rent or mortgage to cable bills to life insurance. According to the same report, things look better for New Hampshire as a whole.

QOL score: -1

Comments: The average monthly cost of bills statewide was $2,052, about 4 percent lower than the national average, the report said.

Missing something?

According to a March 15 Facebook post, a brewer at To Share Brewing Co. in Manchester found something unexpected as he was processing the grain for a batch of smoked IPA last Wednesday: a wedding ring. Brewery co-owner Aaron Share reports that he found the ring as he was straining out the grain from the beer he was brewing, and was briefly afraid that the ring was his, but his own ring was still on his finger.

QOL score: -1 for some anonymous grain malter

Comments: According to the Brewery’s Facebook post, To Share has reached out to its suppliers to try to track down the ring’s owner, but at this point it is still a mystery.

A dramatic rescue

A worker at a construction site on Canal Street in Manchester was rescued after he became trapped under an excavator last Tuesday, March 12. As reported on March 12 by Manchester Ink Link, Manchester fire companies responded to an accident on the worksite and found an excavator upside down in a trench, with its operator pinned on the underside. According to a March 12 from the Fire Department, Manchester crews performed a technical rescue that involved “stabilizing, lifting, cribbing and shoring up the machine.” The fire companies used hydraulic rams, high-pressure airbags and hand tools to free the worker, who was transported to Elliot Hospital with what the Union Leader’s story about the event described as serious injuries.

QOL score: +1 for the rescue, and hopefully a speedy recovery for the worker

Comments: The department’s press release described the rescue as a “high-risk, low-frequency event” and noted, “A successful extrication under the circumstances requires a well-trained, highly focused, and professional team working in a complex and dynamic environment.”

QOL score: 63

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 61

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

Let us know at [email protected].

Slow down!

Data from the New Hampshire Department of Safety and Division of Motor Vehicles showed more than 100 drivers were ticketed in the last year for driving 100 miles per hour or more in the state, according to a WMUR online news story on March 8. According to WMUR, State police ticketed 56 drivers in a three-hour span during the traffic operation on Friday, March 1; seven of those drivers were clocked going more than 100 miles per hour. One Massachusetts man was pulled over on Interstate 93 after allegedly being clocked at 128 miles per hour.

QOL score: -1

Comments: WMUR reports that according to state data 116 drivers were ticketed over the past year for driving between 100 and 109 miles per hour, and 10 for driving between 110 and 120 miles per hour.

It’s electric

The Concord Monitor reports that Manchester-Boston Regional Airport has installed a charging station for electric vehicles — both cars and airplanes. In a March 11 story, the Monitor reported that the new 320 kW DC Fast Charging station with two connections is located on the ramp at Signature Aviation, a fixed base operator that services private airplanes, so the general public will not have access to it. The airport already has electric chargers in its short-term parking lot, however, so electric car drivers will be able to top off their batteries.

QOL score: +1

Comments: Electric airplanes are expected by 2026, the story said.

Math is delicious

QOL was on the hunt to find local eateries celebrating Pi Day (March 14, celebrating the first three digits of the number pi, 3.14), which led QOL to Presto Craft Kitchen (168 Amory St. in Manchester, 606-1252, prestopastanh.com) which is offering a Pi Day Pie Flight of five mini cream pies from Mount Washington Pie Co. Presto challenges pie (and pi) enthusiasts to see how many digits of the number pi they can write out before finishing the Pi Flight. The Pi Flight is available to order online from Presto’s Facebook page at facebook.com/prestocraftkitchennh.

QOL score: +1

Comments: Now what date and tasty food items can we pair with the Pythagorean theorem?

Young poets

The top 10 participants in the 2024 New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud competition will be at Representatives Hall in the Statehouse in Concord on Friday, March 15, where competing high school students will square off to represent New Hampshire at the national Poetry Out Loud championship in Washington, D.C., later this spring. The competition will begin at 5 p.m. and is open to the public. For more information, see see nh.gov/nharts, or call 271-2789.

QOL score: +1

Comments: It will be livestreamed on the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts’ Facebook page.

QOL score: 61

Net change: +2

QOL this week: 63

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].