Opinion

Column: New Hampshire needs a Commission on Aging now more than ever

By POLLY CAMPION and LAURIE HARDING

Recently, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted to zero out the budget of the New Hampshire Commission on Aging.

Forum for April 17, 2025: Community nurses

Amidst dismal news of the finances of Vermont health care, I was pleased to read the front page article highlighting the work of community nurses (“Upper Valley community nurse programs help those in need”; April 5). Their services have a positive effect on health care costs by avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations.

Forum for April 15, 2025: Rule of law

There are laws that clearly define the status of visa holders here in the United States, the requirements for maintaining legal status and the process for the government to contest it.

A Yankee Notebook: A day for patriots of all seasons

By WILLEM LANGE

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. — Thomas Paine

Forum for April 14, 2025: Let her rest

My daughter Brooke was taken away from me almost 17 years ago by someone who was labeled as a success story by the Vermont probation system. This horrific event affected everyone who knew her and many people from near and far who did not. This situation is something no parent should ever have to endure. The aforementioned situation brought to light issues and eventually changes in the Vermont judicial system.

Column: Gov. Scott should be patient with school reform

By WAYNE GERSEN

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott recently expressed frustration with the House for its reluctance to move forward with his plan to consolidate Vermont’s school districts. The governor and some legislators see consolidation as the best way to control and contain spending on public education and sees no reason to delay his recommendation to transition to a new funding formula and “a new governance structure that unlocks transformation.”

Forum for April 12, 2025: Avenue for appeal

I am writing as a lifelong resident of New Hampshire, retired after nearly 50 years in state and local government, including 22 years on the Board of Tax and Land Appeals (Board) and many years in local government as selectman, town administrator, local assessor and moderator. Consequently, I find it inconceivable that HB2, as passed by the NH House, abolishes the Board and transfers all duties to one additional Superior Court judge (while ironically the judicial system is up for a budget cut). This is ludicrous and false economy!

Column: Four new questions for Passover

By DOV TAYLOR

“We were slaves … now we are free.” This Saturday evening, Jews around the world will recline at their Passover Seder tables and read a story of liberation from a book called a Haggadah. That story is told in response to four questions, traditionally asked by the youngest child present:

Forum for April 10, 2025: Rule of law

I recently received a Republican fundraising questionnaire touting the Trump Administration’s restoration of the “rule of law.”

A Yankee Notebook: Keeping up with the new regime

By WILLEM LANGE

Keeping up with the shenanigans of the Trump administration is like the old kids’ game of setting three frogs on a table and trying to stop them from jumping. As soon as you think you’ve got one outrage pegged, another pops up in a spot you didn’t expect.

Forum for April 9, 2025: NH arts

On April 10, the New Hampshire House will vote on a proposal unanimously supported by Republicans who voted it favorably out of committee. The bill will defund the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and remove it from statutory existence and eliminate all eight authorized staff positions.

Forum for April 5, 2025: Rural Hanover

I attended Hanover's Planning Board meeting on April 1, at which zoning amendments allowing infill development in districts with water and sewer were approved to put on the warrant for vote at Town Meeting. I heard several residents express their concern that trees would have to be cut, either to install sidewalks or to tuck in housing, resulting in the loss of Hanover's rural character.

Editorial: Time is running out for American democracy

It’s no secret that public confidence in some of America’s leading institutions — Congress, the federal government, the news media, higher education — has been slipping over the years. What is striking about the early days of the second Trump administration is that some of those same institutions seem to have lost faith in themselves. Which raises the question of why the American people should believe in institutions that no longer believe in their own values.

Forum for April 4, 2025: Free speech

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech and the press, the right of assembly and petition. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free expression thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Column: Do New Hampshire voters really want one-size-fits-all zoning mandates?

By MARGARET ML BYRNES

With multiple polls showing housing as the top issue in New Hampshire by a wide margin, it’s no shock that the current legislative session is awash with proposals ostensibly aimed at addressing the state’s housing crisis. These bills are framed as attempts to tackle the shortage of affordable housing and to foster development, which sounds like a no-lose proposition. But take a step back and you’ll notice that most of these proposals are sweeping, one-size-fits-all statewide planning and zoning mandates.

Forum for April 3, 2025: A question of safety?

On March 20, the New Hampshire House approved HB 148, which allows businesses and government agencies to segregate prisons, bathrooms and locker rooms based upon the biological sex a person was assigned at birth. Rep. Jonah Wheeler, D-Peterborough, justified his yea vote by stating that some of his female cisgender constituents expressed that they would feel unsafe in a space that allows transgender women to freely enter. I have to wonder how safe they will feel when transgender men are forced to share that space with them instead?

A Yankee Notebook: Americans were once beloved in the world

By WILLEM LANGE

Some years ago my wife, my younger daughter, Martha, and I stopped for the night in the ancient town of Nettuno, on the west coast of Italy. It happened to be the feast day of La Madonna delle Grazie, a major festival featuring carnival rides, various team competitions and games of chance along the esplanade, followed by a parading of the enthroned Madonna by hundreds of costumed celebrants. (It was also the scene of a bizarre incident in which an Italian cop, who wouldn’t let me drive to our hotel because of temporary one-way signs, allowed me to back up two blocks instead. But that’s another story.)

Forum for March 31, 2025: Solar installers

I write to emphasize a couple of issues relevant to the solar net metering program in New Hampshire.

Forum for March 29, 2025: Lebanon’s crows

In response to Maggie Cassidy’s wonderful article (“Lebanon acclimates to the sound of no crows”; March 15), I would like to say that I do not hear the BirdXPeller device at all. I am just a bit north of 65 and the frequency is out of my hearing range. I expect that it may be out of the hearing range of most people over 60, particularly men.