Story Archives of 'New England'

A mystery has been lurking in bat caves across the northeast.

Late last winter and early spring, wildlife biologists reported that thousands of bats were dying of a mysterious ailment.

They called it white nose syndrome, because the dying and dead bats' noses were covered with a white powder.

In some caves, 90 percent of the bats were affected.

Emily Brunkhurst is a biologist with the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game.

She's with the non-game and endangered wildlife program.

She tells NHPR's Mark Bevis the mystery has been solved....at least partially.

Both the defense and the state have rested their cases in the trial against Michael Addison.
Addison has been charged with capital murder for the 2006 shooting death of Manchester police Officer Michael Briggs.
Later this morning, attorneys for both sides will give their final arguments.
And then it will be up to the jury to decide if Addison is guilty.
If they find him guilty, they will then decide if he gets the death penalty.
NHPR Correspondent Ellen Grimm looks back on the case the jury will have before them.

Nashua’s two state Senate seats are up for grabs this year.

Both incumbents, Senators Foster and Gottesman, have decided not to run again.

Senator Foster’s seat, District 13, is not likely to change party hands.

It’s long been held by Democrats and the party’s candidate, Representative Bette Lasky, is well known and popular.

But it’s a different story in Nashua’s District 12, which includes parts of Nashua, as well as Hollis, Mason, and Brookline.

There, voters have a choice among three candidates, and currently the race between two of them is close.

NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern has the story.

When Marie Jana Korbelová's family fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, they looked to America as a beacon of freedom in a world gone wrong. That little girl grew up to be Madeleine Albright, the first woman named U.S. Secretary of State.

Today, she says that America’s record on human rights abuses, climate change, pre-emptive war and unilateralism have left the country’s international reputation in tatters. Polls show that people in most of the world believe that America provokes more conflicts than it prevents.

Albright’s new book, Memo to the President, advises the incoming president to make restoring America’s reputation and moral leadership number one on his list, and that will make our country safer and stronger. Secretary Albright joined Virginia in front of a live audience at The Music Hall in Portsmouth to make her case as part of the "Writers on a New England Stage" series.

Click here for the full, unedited audio of the event.

(Photo by Andrew Walsh)