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I just listened to five hours of testimony on HB377 hearing trans kids, their parents, doctors, social workers, lawyers, therapists, hospital reps, state reps and excellent questions from the committee. More spoke for the bill than against it. Many expressed how they feel the transgender population is being bullied and has become a political target. Some pediatric endocrinologists are leaving our state! I feel our kids are being abandoned. I’m a mother, grandmother, teacher and nurse, and I believe government has no place in health care decisions between a child, their parents and their medical team. Each side had a lot of statistics, research and supportive organizations on their side, but what matters to me is keeping the government out of decisions about children’s medical issues! Children in New Hampshire need to be free to decide with their parents and all their health team professionals.

Divisiveness is our greatest risk. It’s trendy today to build walls on foundations of false dichotomies and misleading information. What kind of democracy has members who too often vilify those who vote differently? A failing democracy. Is our democracy worth saving? If not, what should replace it? Who should benefit?Unity could salvage US democracy. Unity does not mean we have to like each other. It would entail listening, respecting, and perhaps understanding. It’s impossible to find commonalities if we do not listen, understand, and show respect. US democracy would be more apt to succeed if people were to judge others by levels of integrity, not by superficial criteria e.g., race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or political party. Efforts at influencing tend to be more successful if opposing views are shared calmly. Hearing “the other” with an open mind can be thought-provoking and insightful.

As a resident living just around the corner from the proposed Monitor Way project, I was disappointed to learn that the project was denied the variance needed to move forward even after being scaled back to focus solely on much-needed affordable housing. The argument that this space must remain “industrial” in case we might need it someday is laughable, especially considering Lincoln Financial and The Concord Group just sold their plots for redevelopment. Affordable housing is essential for Concord’s growth. Without it, businesses and restaurants will struggle to attract workers who can afford to live here. The proposed 200 housing units would have been an ideal option for employees at Merchants Way and others in our community. As that area continues to develop, prioritizing affordable housing should be a priority. I urge the Concord ZBA to reconsider its decision and grant the necessary variance for this project to move forward. Keeping the site industrial is a missed opportunity, especially in a state grappling with a severe housing shortage. This project would not only support Concord’s growth but also help ease the tax burden on homeowners by attracting new businesses. I hope we don’t let this chance slip away.

Is this what you expected, Gov. Kelly Ayotte, when you courted President Trump’s support for your campaign, then turned and supported him? The tariffs he is imposing on Mexico and Canada are going to affect the lumber industry. Canadians are bypassing New Hampshire ski resorts in protest and booing our national anthem at hockey games. He’s cutting services to the vulnerable and proposing major cuts in education funding. Our state has been welcoming to LGBTQ+, but now he’s going to cut federal funding if we don’t comply with his erasure of certain programs and policies. If you sign into law expanded voucher programs, it’s the children who will suffer. Don’t you care about them? Actually, what do you care about, governor? It’s becoming clear that your vision of our state as ”the New Hampshire advantage” isn’t doing us much good at all.

That sucking sound you will soon hear is the sound of money being sucked out of your wallets to pay increased property taxes because wealthy people no longer pay interest and dividend taxes. The repeal of the I&D tax disproportionately benefits wealthy households and hurts the rest of us.

At the upcoming Bow town meeting, voters have the chance to preserve open space. The Bow Conservation Commission will seek approval, through a town warrant article, for optional powers that are available under New Hampshire law. This would allow the Commission to provide funding to a qualified land trust for purchasing properties or conservation easements in Bow. This would give Bow landowners another option to receive funds for conserving their land.

The real crisis isn’t the rising cost of eggs, it’s the horrific reality that billions of chickens spend their short, miserable lives crammed into factory farms, which serve as breeding grounds for disease. They are subjected to extreme crowding, confinement, abuse and ultimately brutal slaughter.

House Bill 524 is an outright assault on public health and small medical practices, and it should outrage every New Hampshire resident. This reckless bill seeks to dismantle the New Hampshire Vaccine Association, a system that ensures vaccines are accessible, affordable and efficiently distributed. Why? To appease a small group of anti-vaccine extremists at the expense of children’s health and small businesses.

To my neighbors in Wilmot, I am running for re-election to the Wilmot Selectboard. Wilmot is my home by choice. I’ve gotten to know Wilmot, and you, by being there. When I agreed to run for the Selectboard in 2022, Chuck Thompson sat me down to ask my intentions. I told Chuck then the same things I would say now: to preserve all that is good in Wilmot, while watching out for the challenges of the future, and to make sure that Wilmot moves carefully and sensibly towards that future.

Shakespeare’s often repeated — and mostly misunderstood — line in Henry VI, Part II is particularly relevant today. Forty years ago, former Justice John Paul Stevens explained that “Shakespeare insightfully realized that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government.” President Trump apparently agrees. In the first month of his presidency, he has fired nearly all Inspectors General, fired and replaced key lawyers in the Department of Justice and has now fired the key Judge Advocates General in the military branches. He has also fired most of the top generals in the military. In short, he has purged all those in the government who would stand in his way.

The Department of Government Efficiency is headed by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. What a joke. If President Trump wants to get rid of “government fraud, waste and unnecessary spending,” he should put poor people in charge of the program. They know how to spend money carefully.

On several occasions President Trump has reminded us that he survived this past year’s assassination attempt as the result of divine intervention. “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” he’s said. At the inauguration, he told us “I was saved by God to make America great.”

Are you concerned our elected leaders don’t seem to represent the majority of voters? Many multi-seat elections are won with less than 50% of votes because first-past-the-post often results in winners who only represent the margins of political ideologies rather than the largest group of voters. A ranked choice voting method mathematically ensures that winners have the broadest support of the electorate. RCV also reduces polarization and eliminates split voting.

Hooray for Janet Mills, the governor of Maine. In her response to President Trump’s rebuke on Feb. 21, 2025, she upheld the much honored tradition of Margaret Chase Smith, who spent 30 years in Congress as a representative and senator. Margaret Chase Smith is famous for standing up to Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who with the help of his lawyer Roy Cohn and feckless fellow senators, conducted a cruel and destructive witch hunt against anyone in the U.S. suspected of having Communist leanings. Many lives and careers were destroyed and an atmosphere of hate and suspicion permeated the country. In a famous address to Congress in 1950, Smith warned senators not to embrace the Four Horsemen of Calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear. In a recent speech, Illinois Governor Jay Pritzker said “tyranny requires your fear, and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires courage.” Show your courage now!

James Mayotte’s Monitor letter asks a series of questions, but there’s only room to respond to a few. Two related questions he poses are: “Why do Democrats protest DOGE?” and “Why are we negative about Elon Musk?” DOGE is performing surgery with an ax instead of a scalpel. DOGE’s process is not transparent. What are DOGE’s metrics for performance? How can DOGE measure complicated government processes in only weeks?

Last week, we joined with engineers across the country to celebrate Engineers Week, and I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the essential role engineers play in the lives and communities of every Granite Stater. The critical work of engineers makes virtually everything we do in our daily lives possible. Access to clean water, safe roads and bridges, environmentally responsible waste solutions and improved infrastructure are not only critical parts of our communities but they also keep our economy moving. The work that engineers do, in both the private and public sectors, helps keep New Hampshire the best state to live, work and play in, and we need more of them! The focus of Engineers Week 2025 was on designing the future. Not only was it a chance to spotlight the important work of engineers of all disciplines, it also offered us an opportunity to point young people toward a rewarding and empowering career in the field. We need more problem-solvers, thinkers and creators who want to design and build the future for generations to come. If you have a student in your life, discuss engineering as an impactful, rewarding career. Help us inspire and encourage the next generation of innovators, and we’ll design the future together.

As a member of the Northwood Budget Committee, I paid close attention to our School Board’s presentation on its proposed operating budget, especially to the money allocated to be paid into the retirement system. $744,688 was budgeted out of the $15,070,878 total. This represents 4.9% of the budget.

Melody Towle wrote “I can’t figure this out. If President Trump won the election, then why is Elon Musk cleaning out all the federal agencies while Trump just sits there? Who did we all elect to the presidency?” Well, “we all” did not vote for him. Some of us saw a totally irresponsible and destructive person and voted for Kamala Harris. The American people missed the opportunity to have someone who would work “for the people.”

My dad was a World War II veteran in Europe, serving more that four years to ensure that fascist Germany would not succeed in overtaking much of the continent with its White Nationalist values. He knew that two wars had already happened on the same soil, and that it was time for a mechanism to prevent a third war from happening in Europe. NATO was formed and has resulted in 80 years of peace on the continent. He would be appalled to think the U.S. would turn its back on Europe after so much American blood was lost. This is not a game. President Trump is playing with lives we have always considered allies.