Mary McIntyre

Like many other New Hampshire communities, the city of Franklin has tried for decades to recover from a lost mill economy resulting in an aging population, struggling schools, and a downtown with lots of vacant storefronts.

The state’s smallest and one of its poorest cities has ambitious plans for growth, making it an appealing backdrop for candidates in the 2020 presidential primary race. 

But how well are these candidates, who are promising to restore the nation, addressing the issues that matter most to Franklin?

The Concord School District has new policies and procedures for student safety. This follows criticism from parents and advocates about how the district handled allegations of sexual misconduct against a former teacher.

Special education teacher Howie “Primo” Leung was arrested in April on charges of sexual assault and faces a trial next year.

The holiday season is in full swing. And with December approaching, there's lots of ways to celebrate in the Granite State.

NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley sits down with NH Magazine's managing editor Erica Thoits at the beginning of every month to chat about upcoming events. Here's what's happening in December:

Events mentioned here:

Lecturers teach at universities across the United States, and many work off of short-term contracts that can come up for renewal every one or two years.

This month, the University of New Hampshire informed five lecturers that their contracts would not be renewed for another year. This follows 17 non-renewals from the university last year.

Michele Dillon is the dean of the College of Liberal Arts at UNH. She spoke with NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley about how eliminating these positions fits into the college's overall strategy for success.

Population growth in New Hampshire has been fairly modest in the last 20 years or so, but there’s been a substantial change in who is actually living in the state.

That’s according to a recent report from the UNH Carsey School of Public Policy. Senior demographer Ken Johnson is the author of that report. Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with Johnson about how shifting demographics in New Hampshire could affect the state's voting population in the upcoming presidential election.

Law schools across the country have struggled in the last decade with declining enrollment.

In that time, the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law has seen many changes. It’s no longer a private school and it’s seen growing deficits.

The school spent more than double its operating budget last fiscal year, but university officials say these losses are an investment in the law school’s long-term success and things are starting to look up.

NHPR’s Morning Edition Rick Ganley spoke with the dean of UNH Law, Megan Carpenter.

NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley sits down with NH Magazine's managing editor Erica Thoits at the beginning of every month to chat about upcoming events.

Listen to find out what's happening in November:

Events mentioned in the interview:

It’s a gloomy, rainy Sunday in downtown Portsmouth. I’m hanging out in a dark basement beneath a bookstore waiting to see a creepy Halloween music show for kids.

Dozens of children dressed in their Halloween finest crowd the room. There are princesses and superheroes. An elephant finds a seat next to a dinosaur as the show is about to begin.

(Editor's note: we highly recommend listening to this story.)

The Hampstead School District has approved a ban on guns inside its schools.

The policy goes into effect immediately. Only police officers will be allowed to carry guns inside school buildings or on school buses.

NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with the Hampstead Superintendent Earl Metzler about why school officials decided to create this policy.

Parents in Concord are demanding the school district release the results of an investigation into how it handled complaints of a former high school teacher who was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a student.

But the school board says that report can’t be made public. That’s because investigations into misconduct of public employees are exempt under New Hampshire’s public records law.

Reports of child abuse and neglect reached a record high in New Hampshire during the last fiscal year.

That's according to data released last week by the Division for Children, Youth and Families, the state's child welfare system.

NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with the DCYF director Joe Ribsam about what this data mean for measuring the agency's progress and how DCYF plans to do better.

(Editor's note: below is a partial transcript from the NHPR interview that's been lightly edited for clarity.)

NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley sits down with NH Magazine's managing editor Erica Thoits at the beginning of every month to chat about upcoming events. Here's what's happening this October:

Events mentioned here:

Legislation that goes into effect Tuesday will allow cities and towns across New Hampshire to create community power programs, in which electric customers will be automatically enrolled.

NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with Henry Herndon from Clean Energy NH about the law and how communities can participate.

New Hampshire’s Office of the Child Advocate is launching a review of some practices used by residential youth facilities in the state.

Child Advocate Moira O’Neill is taking a look at how both private centers and the state-run Sununu Youth Center use restraint and seclusion among children in care.

NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with O'Neill about what she's hoping to understand through her review.

Members of New Hampshire’s Democratic congressional delegation welcomed plans to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump this week.

"The American public should be concerned taht we need to take steps to protect national security and our democracy," U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-NH, said. "And it's really important that we ensure that no one is above the law, including the President of the United States."

The Univsersity of New Hampshire begins a lecture series Tuesday that will explore mass incarceration in New Hampshire and in the U.S.

Donna Perkins is an associate professor of justice studies and UNH, and Blair Rowlett is the director of the Strafford County Mental Health Court. NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with Perkins and Rowlett about defining criminality.

With New Hampshire well into the swing of the presidential primary season, a new podcast from NHPR explores how the state has kept hold of its first-in-the-nation primary status.

It's called Stranglehold, and the first episode is out now. It's called "The Guardian," and it examines the role of Secretary of State Bill Gardner, the man who's been called the "Guardian" of the New Hampshire primary for decades.

Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with Stranglehold co-hosts Lauren Chooljian and Jack Rodolico about the new podcast, which will run right up to the 2020 presidential primary.

City and police officials in Manchester are reporting an increase in the city's homeless population.

The organization Families in Transition - New Horizons works to provide services to homeless people in Mancehster. This includes temporary shelter or housing.

Cathy Kuhn is the vice president of research and training for Families in Transition - New Horizons. She spoke with NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley about what she's seeing as a result of the increase in homelessness in Manchester.

This summer, NHPR has brough you stories from along Route 4 in New Hampshire. 

The roadway stretches across the state, covering many regions from the Seacoast to the Vermont border. That's a lot of road to manage.

Bill Lambert is a statewide administrator and traffic engineer for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. He sat down with NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley to answer some listener questions about traffic and road safety along Route 4.

The Democratic National Committee has been putting pressure on the state of Iowa to make their caucus more accessible to voters.

This led Iowa officials to roll out a plan for a new virtual caucus. But the DNC confirmed last week it would reject the plan.

With changes to the Iowa caucus on the horizon, there are fears surrounding New Hampshire’s reaction, given the Granite State’s history of fiercely protecting its first-in-the-nation primary status.

Here at NHPR, we are adamant that summer is not over. But September is officially here, and Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley sat down with NH Magazine's Erica Thoits to get the run down on some of the best events for this month.

Events mentioned here:

Lecturers at the University of New Hampshire have been in negotiations for a new contract with the school for over two years now.

Lecturers teach undergraduate courses and advise students, but unlike tenured faculty, they have short term contracts. The UNH Lecturers Union has been raising concerns over compensation and job security as they continue to work with the school on a new contract.

NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with the unions current president Molly Campbell.