Stories
A year ago, New Hampshire schools shut down for what many thought would just be three weeks. Now, schools across the state are reopening fully. NHPR’s Sarah Gibson visited Deerfield Community School, where teachers and students have been spending a lot of the pandemic outside. And as they return, many are hoping that doesn’t change.…
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Even as the number of clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine has grown, some Mainers still face challenges getting access. Sometimes the barrier is no internet connection. Sometimes it’s finding a ride. And for some communities, it’s miles of ocean. Residents of Maine’s islands face unique hurdles in their efforts to get vaccinated, but a…
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At the start of the pandemic, Joaquin Lux thought he was dying. “I have no air,” Lux told a reporter in Spanish, as he lay in a hospital bed in Boston. A year later, the Chelsea resident thanks God he survived COVID-19, but still feels lingering effects. Lux says he feels tired and struggles to breathe…
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Teaching is Carmen Rios’ passion, especially kindergarteners. “I love to work with them because they are so kind,” she said. “I like that I can give them that first experience in school and be creative and motivate them to love school.” Rios spent 14 years teaching kindergarten in Puerto Rico. When she moved to Massachusetts…
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The producer and musician International Show works out of a recording studio tucked at the back of a hidden storefront in Weymouth. It isn’t glamorous, but it has everything he needs: a computer, mixing console, recording booth and a little electronic keyboard that he plays when he wants to relax. This is the place where…
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Bridget Donovan has spent most of her senior year alone in her room, staring at a computer screen. Every school day for the past year, she logged into Zoom classes and struggled to pay attention. She missed her friends, her teachers, and the tech booth in the Framingham High School auditorium, where Bridget used to…
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Conservationists say that every North Atlantic right whale counts, as the population has fallen to around 360. But one entangled right whale found in Cape Cod Bay—named Snow Cone—has triggered an outcry of frustration from fishermen, who say they’re being unfairly blamed for the decline of the critically endangered species. The uproar started with a…
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Last year, artist Marla McLeod sold a painting for nearly $10,000, enough money to pay her current rent for more than half a year. She also worked two jobs, doubling her income. Teaching art on Zoom let her jump from Tufts University to Southern Connecticut State University without leaving her apartment. “So it went from…
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The Fish and Wildlife Department and a state science advisory panel disagree over how to protect endangered bats in Vermont from a large-scale pesticide spraying program. Bats are not doing well here. They’ve been ravaged for years by a fungal disease known as White-Nose Syndrome, which has killed more than 5 million bats in the…
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