New Hampshire Newsmakers of the Year 2006

2006 is now almost in the books, and what a year it's been. It was an extremely good year if you're a Democrat in the state, or if you're a poet by the name of Donald Hall. It was a year that made media stars out of a couple of New Hampshire National Guardsmen recently back from Iraq. It was a year of tough luck for paper mill employees in Berlin, for almost anyone who lived near a major New Hampshire river, and for advocates of the New Hampshire primary. For the police force and city of Manchester, it was a year with a heart-wrenching loss, as they said goodbye to one of the Queen City's finest.

Good or bad, big or small, many events topped Granite State headlines this year. Each year The Exchange looks back at some of the people and events that made the year so memorable on its Newsmakers of the Year program, and NHPR.org has profiles of the year's newsmakers, as well as an archive of our previous stories on each topic and links for more information.