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Rising health care costs, increased fuel costs, and high property tax rates have caused budget problems for school districts across the state.

But in Nashua, the state’s second largest school district, the budget fight has turned particularly nasty.

It’s pit school officials against aldermen, some alderman against the Mayor, and the Mayor against school officials.

New Hampshire Public Radio's Amy Quinton reports.

Dartmouth researcher Aine Donovan is working to put together a better understanding of the "Millennial Generation" and what motivates them. She says that today's high school students are generally more patriotic, service-minded and socially conservative than their parent's generation. As head of the college's ethics institute, Dr. Donovan is particularly interested in finding the moral compass of these kids so teachers and professors can work with their students best. We'll talk with Dr. Donovan about her research.

Also in tonight's show: Each year, John Fladd encourages his eighth graders at Deerfield Community School to "adopt a dead person" from one of the town's many graveyards. It gives the students an introduction to genealogy and sleuthing as they piece together the life of someone long gone. We'll talk with John about this ongoing project and what it's yielded.

Here's a link to Deerfield's "Adopt a Dead Person" site.

Here's a link to John's website, with lots of information on past projects.

Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl commits hari cari… it’s the basis of the plot of one of the most beautiful operas every written, Madame Butterfly. Composed by the Italian Giacomo Puccini, it first premiered over 102 years ago, and has become one of the world's most popular operas. The Granite State Opera will be performing Madame Butterfly this May. Today we talk about Puccini, about Madame Butterfly and their influence on music and opera both then and now. Laura's guests are Philip Lauriat, Artistic Director of the Granite State Opera and Harlow Robinson, Professor at Northeastern University in Boston, author of two books on Sergei Prokofiev and a regular contributor for the Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts and lecturer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.