Brady Carlson

Pope Benedict’s surprise announcement that he would leave his post at the end of the month is prompting plenty of reflection on his papacy and the state of the Church among Catholics, from clergy to laypersons to scholars.

Michele Dillon is such a scholar. She's a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire and has written extensively about Catholicism, both in the US and in the rest of the world. She talks with All Things Considered host Brady Carlson about the pope's tenure and what may come next for the Catholic Church.

In most cases, New Hampshire’s representatives in Congress have kept the state’s more open approach to gun ownership and gun rights during debates in Washington. There are exceptions, though, and they may tell us something about the state's role in today’s high profile national debate over gun violence.

After years of rancor and stalemate there now appears to be rare bipartisan movement on this issue on Capitol Hill. Still, there is plenty of room for disagreement over such matters as a path to citizenship for those here illegally. We’ll take a look at some of the major issues at stake -- and what may happen nationally and here in New Hampshire.

Guests:

Officials with New Hampshire’s “cold case unit” say that the federal funding they’ve used to operate since 2009 is about to run out – and that without further funding, they won’t be able to investigate more than a hundred still-outstanding cases.

Later this week 110 members of the New Hampshire Army National Guard will mobilize in support of combat operations in Afghanistan. The 237th Military Police Company will train in Texas for several months before departing to Khost Province.

77 of the soldiers are deploying for the first time. But others are on their second and third; one is one his fifth deployment.

It’s those repeated deployments that have been a signature of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – and a researcher at UNH, they could take a toll on servicemembers’ families.

Last week on All Things Considered we talked with Jason Claffey of Exeter Patch about a community effort – a successful one - to save the Exeter UFO Festival from cancellation.

During the interview we talked about a reported UFO encounter by New Hampshire residents Betty and Barney Hill as the reason why the state plays host to a UFO festival.

This week is Catholic Schools Week. For students in New Hampshire Catholic schools, that means some unusual classroom activities, from food drives to snowman making festivals.

For faculty, though, it’s a chance to reflect on the state of the school district – and some of the challenges it faces, from enrollment issues to school safety to teaching Catholic positions on social issues that may no longer be held by the majority of Americans.

We started the week with a presidential inauguration, and on All Things Considered we looked at Franklin Pierce, the only president to hail from New Hampshire and one who added some unique touches to his inaugural ceremonies.

An unusual festival in Exeter, New Hampshire has avoided cancellation with help from a seemingly unusual benefactor.

It's the Exeter UFO Festival, and to explain more we turn to Jason Claffey, editor at Exeter Patch. He's been reporting on the UFO Festival and joins All Things Considered host Brady Carlson with an update.

This week marks what would have been the 103rd birthday of Doris Haddock, better known by the name Granny D.

She made national headlines in the late 1990’s for walking across the country, 3200 miles, to highlight the issue of campaign finance reform, just ahead of her 90th birthday.

Doris Haddock died in 2010 at age 100, but you might be able to hear her voice at a birthday party in her honor in Keene.

Every American president has taken the same oath of office that President Barack Obama took earlier today - every president except one.

For nearly a decade, New Hampshire has been seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from oil companies over the chemical additive MTBE, which the state says caused contamination in the state’s groundwater. The legal proceedings originally involved 26 oil companies; as trial began this week, there were just two left, ExxonMobil and Citgo, and now there may be just one.

A New Hampshire schoolteacher is one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year.

Heidi Welch is director of the music department at Hillsboro-Deering High School. She is one of just four nominees in the country for that award.

She talks with All Things Considered host Brady Carlson about how she teaches literacy through music and how overcoming challenges growing up in Manchester helps her reach students who could benefit from joining band and chorus.

In 1993, the New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned a murder conviction for a man named Carl Laurie, because prosecutors had not disclosed that one of the police detectives on the case had an issue in his personnel file that might have raised questions about his credibility.

Today the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, and each New Hampshire county attorney, keeps what is called a “Laurie List," a record of law enforcement officers whose credibility could be called into question were they to testify in criminal trials.

In a few weeks NHPR's newsroom will look in detail at guns, gun laws and gun culture in the Granite State and you can help. Share your experiences through our Public Insight Network and this short, confidential questionnaire.