Stories
Leon Amaya normally gets up early to plan. Over the summer, he usually wrote in his journal in a restored mill in Nashua. The space is part of Step Up, Step Down, a new program for people in a mental health crisis. The program has three furnished bedrooms, brightly colored walls and communal couches. But…
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Dana Nelson experienced a pivotal year in 2020. The 34-year-old teacher gave birth to her son in January as the coronavirus pandemic unfolded. “Then this past December of 2020, I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer,” Nelson said. It’s a rare form of cancer that can be aggressive and difficult to treat. “I have…
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My name is Stuart Crawford Hult. On Sept. 11, I was at my desk, at my office at 5 World Trade Center, eighth floor, working as the vice president of information technology for Credit Suisse First Boston. I was a Williston, Vermont, resident, commuting weekly back and forth to New York City. I had been…
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Heavy rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida caused massive stress on the state’s wastewater infrastructure. The National Weather Service reported more than 8 inches of rain in Stamford, Clinton, Uncasville, North Madison and Seymour. Elsewhere in the state, totals ranged from 3 inches to more than 7 inches of rain. In many cities, stormwater…
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Inside Palmer Lane Maple, a small, white, old parsonage in Jericho, maple products decorate the walls from sweets to hot sauces. This candy store in northern Vermont is also a local legend for their maple creemees. A creemee — for those outside of the Green Mountain State — is called soft serve ice-cream elsewhere. A…
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An historic district is at the epicenter of climate change in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. One of the city’s most popular tourist destinations, the Strawbery Banke district is flooding more often due to seas and heavier rains. And the Strawbery Banke Museum is facing choices that might once have been unthinkable: filling the basements of historic…
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Opponents of a waste dump containing PCB sediment planned for Lee, Massachusetts, took their case before the federal Environmental Appeals Board on Thursday. The Housatonic River Initiative and the Housatonic Environmental Action League are appealing a permit the EPA’s New England office issued for cleanup of sections of the Housatonic River. The river was polluted…
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Very hungry caterpillars have been killing mighty oak trees across southern New England for years. The Northeast sees a lot of different insect invaders, says Audrey Barker Plotkin. She’s a scientist with Harvard Forest. Some trees will die because of insect defoliation, but Plotkin learned in her recent multiyear study why some oaks have more resilience. Click…
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COVID-19 has become a pandemic of the unvaccinated, who are driving up case numbers and landing in hospitals. In Maine, vaccination rates vary widely from county to county. Cumberland has the highest at 74%. The lowest rate is in Somerset County, where a little more than 50% have received a final dose. Efforts to boost…
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There are many sugar maples along the banks of the Mill River in western Massachusetts. But this one is special, at least to Danielle Ignace. Its wide, green canopy keeps Ignace cool as she works or entertains friends, even on this hot summer day in Williamsburg. Its tens of thousands of leaves, rustling in…
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