Stories
Jinn Hoang made setting up for a Mid-Autumn Festival look easy, but catching up with him was a lot harder. On a recent September night, he spent most of the evening running all over St. Mark the Evangelist Church in West Hartford, Conn., making sure that everyone had what they needed and that the children…
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You may have noticed that your most recent electric bill is higher than usual — and if that change hasn’t happened yet, it’s probably coming this fall. These price spikes are occurring across New England, but bills are rising more in some places than others. Some ratepayers in New Hampshire saw the price of electricity double…
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An international seafood rating program has red-listed the American lobster because it poses a threat to the survival of endangered North Atlantic right whales. The designation from Seafood Watch means the group is urging businesses and consumers to avoid buying lobster. Seafood Watch, a program out of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, says entanglement in fishing…
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On especially hot days, the temperature in 11-year old Chase Bressette’s second-floor classroom at Pelham Elementary School climbs above 80 degrees. He and his classmates guzzle water and gather in front of a standing fan. His teacher draws the window shades and turns off the lights to cool down the room. But still, Chase says…
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A U.S. News report ranks Connecticut as the 7th best state in the country for gender equality, based on factors related to economics, education, health, family planning and care, and representation in politics. Connecticut ranked in the top 10 behind three other New England states: Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont. New Hampshire ranked 8th. So…
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When the pandemic upended schools two years ago, the federal government took the step of providing universal school meal waivers nationwide, in effect making meals free for every child. This fall, those waivers are ending. But a few states, including Maine, have decided to continue providing free meals to every public school student. Local officials…
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To put it bluntly, it kinda just stopped raining this summer. Parts of the northeast that typically get about 9 inches over June, July and August have gotten a fraction of that. Rivers are running low and many streams have gone dry or become a series of disconnected puddles. Lawns are crunchy, vegetation is shriveling and groundwater levels are…
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Around New England, several states are experiencing severe drought. That includes almost all of Massachusetts. Wells and reservoirs are at all-time lows, so are streams and rivers. The rain earlier this week helped, but it wasn’t enough. In Granby, Massachusetts, at Red Fire Farm some fields are looking worse than others. “We have one field…
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Boston boasts a large network of city-run and nonprofit programs dedicated to connecting young people with enriching summer jobs. These positions in government, health care, business and the private sector are seen as a way to foster career skills development and offer mentorship to area teens. But this summer, there’s a problem — those connections…
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E-bikes are getting more Mainers out of their cars — and could help the state meet its climate goals
It’s 5:15 a.m., and the sky is just starting to lighten in the east as Becki Morin rolls her electric bicycle out of her garage in Falmouth, Maine. Morin lives about six miles from Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she’s a nurse practitioner. She says she used to ride a conventional bike to work…
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