By the Way: A century since the Scopes trial

By RANDALL BALMER

Before O.J. Simpson’s white Bronco led police on a slow-speed chase down a Los Angeles freeway in 1994, leading to his trial the following year, Americans considered the events unfolding in the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, during July 1925 the “trial of the century.” Many of the issues raised in the second-story courtroom of the Rhea County courthouse are still contested a hundred years later.

Column: Let’s celebrate our interdependence

By WAYNE GERSEN

In 1776, when 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson, the son of British immigrants, drafted the Declaration of Independence, the world was vastly different place than it is today. Most of North America was unexplored and uninhabited by colonists. Jefferson and the revolutionaries he joined forces with hoped to create a nation where all men would be independent: free from the tyranny imposed on them by Britain’s monarchy and aristocracy, free to speak their minds and free to worship as they pleased. The founders hoped to create a self-sufficient New World where everyone could compete on equal footing and share in the prosperity based on the abundant resources available.

Forum for July 12, 2025: Grafton County’s success

For more than 10 years, I’ve had the honor of serving as chairman of the Grafton County Delegation. In that decade, with Democrats holding the majority the entire time, we have accomplished a great deal for the citizens of this county, while responsibly managing county finances and property tax rates.

A Yankee Notebook: In Boston for a big birthday

By WILLEM LANGE

Years ago, the national anti-tobacco campaign slowly and with little apparent effect chipped away at Americans’ deadly addiction. That battle is far from over, but the results have been significant.

Forum for July 8, 2025: Piper should resign

As a deeply proud Enfield Democrat I feel compelled to respond to Wendy Piper’s letter to the editor, printed in the July 3, 2025 edition. Piper’s source-less, scattered complaints about the Democrats is beyond puzzling to me. It is almost as if she is already a Fox-watching, Kool-Aid-drinking Republican who, instead of paying attention to the Herculean efforts the Dems have been making to hold back the benefit-cutting, entitlement-slashing, tax-happy (at least to the lower income earners) Republicans, she has accepted as truth the nonfactual, baseless slander they have spoon fed our population.

Editorial: Shelter project shows healthy approach to housing crisis

At a time when much of the rest of America has decided that being homeless is not only a moral failure but also a crime, the Upper Valley has rallied handsomely in support of the construction of a new 20-bed low-barrier shelter in White River Junction that is projected to open next spring. Although backing for the project was by no means unanimous, it is testimony to the compassion, good will and wisdom so often exhibited by those who live here.

Forum for July 5, 2025: NH school funding

Gov. Ayotte responded to the recent ConVal ruling by saying: “New Hampshire is top 10 in the country when it comes to funding our children’s education….”

Column: The tragedy behind a newspaper’s struggles

By STEVE TAYLOR

The Claremont Eagle Times informed subscribers this week that it’s suspending publication. The announcement came as no surprise after it was learned most of its staff had walked out when their paychecks bounced. This latest chapter is part of a continuum of tough luck for the star-crossed paper that traces way back to 1950 when its publisher, John McLane Clark, drowned while canoeing in a flooded Sugar River.

Editorial: ‘We hold these truths’

WHEN IN THE COURSE of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Forum for July 3, 2025: Switching parties

Recently, I’ve made the decision to leave the Democratic Party, and I write, respectfully, to provide residents in Enfield, Lebanon and Hanover the reasons for my doing so.

A Yankee Notebook: Imagining a dark, quiet world without birds

By WILLEM LANGE

In midsummer, the sun works its way around to the back of the house and a little before sunset floods the back porch with light and heat. This evening is no exception. Hot as it is, though, I know I’ll miss it when in a few weeks it slips out of sight around the northwest corner of the house for another 11 months.

Forum for July 1, 2025: A duty to care

A turtle died today. The story of the turtle is an allegory for the United States of America in June 2025. The Turtle did not need to die. Someone drove too fast and was not paying attention and hit the turtle as it tried to cross the road in front of our house.

Editorial: Red Sox management has failed the team’s fans

After the Boston Red Sox traded their disaffected slugger Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants earlier this month, Devers told The Boston Globe, “I was surprised when it happened, but I knew it was coming. I know the business of baseball.”

Column: The American flag is for everyone

By LARRY DALOZ

On June 14, I stood among several hundred people exercising our freedom as Americans to assemble and express our fear, anger, heartbreak and hope about this moment in the life of our country. We held signs, chanted, flourished our American flags, and waved to the stream of cars—the drivers honking their horns and giving us a thumbs up. It was a joyful time, and there were millions of others around the country doing the same thing: celebrating democracy.

Column: As we celebrate July 4, a more inclusive pledge

By NARAIN BATRA

Driving through the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside, a first-time visitor would find it hard not to notice the billboard admonishing: “Everyone shall give an account of himself to God.” The US dollar bill features the inscription, “In God We Trust.” When someone takes an oath of office, he has to repeat “So help me God.” If you sneeze, someone is likely to say, “Bless you,” even if they do not know you.

Forum for June 28, 2025: Hartland store project

In response to your article about the proposed 9,000-square-foot Sunnymede Farm Store in Hartland, I would like to ask town officials in Hartland, and the owners of Sunnymede, where will the water come from? (“Ruling allows farm store”; June 20)

Column: Leading and loving the stressful life

By JONATHAN STABLEFORD

How is it possible for retired life to feel so busy? I write lists, some on paper and others on the chalkboards of my mind, and whenever I complete a task, I scratch it off and add two new ones. One item on my internal list (girdling worthless pine trees) is no whim. It’s a requirement in my Current Use forestry plan, but I could roam my woods with a chainsaw for the rest of my life and not get them all. My forester understands. “Do the best you can,” is his implied message; but there is haunt in my nature that wants a job done and over.

Column: Ayotte’s budget breaks promise on housing

By LAUREL STAVIS

In her inaugural address, Gov. Kelly Ayotte made a bold promise: housing would be her top priority. She was right to do so. New Hampshire is facing a unprecedented housing crisis — rents are skyrocketing, workers can’t afford to live where the jobs are and our economy is choking on a critical shortage of affordable homes. But now that her first biennial budget has taken shape, that promise rings hollow.

A Yankee Notebook: Truth and fiction in Trump’s America

By WILLEM LANGE

Donald Trump is a tough target for journalists and commentators to hit. Like a high-flying bomber that spews metallic chaff out its back end to confuse the radar of missiles, he so consistently floods the news cycles with outrages that by the time anyone has the chance to report, comment on or fact-check each one, there’s another one coming, and the current news is passé, yesterday and seemingly irrelevant.