When readers across New Hampshire clicked “donate,” mailed checks or dropped contributions off at local newsrooms this fall, most weren’t thinking about fundraising totals or matching formulas. They were thinking about school board meetings, town budgets, lake health, housing shortages — and the reporters who keep showing up to cover them.

That collective show of support has added up. Partners in the Granite State News Collaborative have raised more than $77,000 to support local newsrooms across the state through a coordinated fundraising campaign that combines community donations with national matching funds.

These types of campaigns have been instrumental in helping local news organizations sustain and sometimes even grow their reporting capacity.

“Since the pandemic days of 2020, news consumers across the state have been incredibly generous to their local news organizations,” said Monitor publisher Steve Leone, who is also a board member of the Granite State News Collaborative. “Many of the same people give year after year because I think they see that the money is being put to good use by the partner news organizations across the state.”

The shared donation drive marks another way that news organizations that have competed fiercely for generations have, in recent years, found ways to work together in support of readers in our state.

“The newscape in New Hampshire is constantly shifting, as are people’s news consumption habits,” said Carol Robidoux, editor and publisher of the Ink Link News Group. “Anything we can do collectively as professional journalists to reinforce the enduring value of journalism in the context of a vibrant and connected community is important to us as a news organization.”

You can donate to the Ledger-Transcript, any other partner news organization and the Collaborative itself by visiting the donation page on ledgertranscript.com.

As of this week, the overall campaign has generated nearly $60,000 in direct contributions from readers and supporters, with additional matching funds bringing the total to $77,848.59 so far. The fundraiser runs through midnight on Dec. 31, and additional matching dollars may still be unlocked before it closes.

The campaign is part of the New Hampshire Community News Fund, a shared initiative created by the Granite State News Collaborative to help strengthen local journalism across the state. GSNC is a nonprofit journalism collaborative that brings together newsrooms, higher education institutions, and community partners to support local reporting, share resources, and build sustainable models for news in New Hampshire.

“At its core, this campaign is about people showing up for the newsrooms that show up for them,” the Granite State News Collaborative said in a statement. “Local news is deeply personal. It’s about your town, your school board, your neighbors. Seeing people support this work — not just one outlet, but many — is incredibly meaningful.”

A shared approach to fundraising

Rather than running separate, competing appeals, participating outlets took part in a coordinated campaign supported by shared messaging, marketing tools, and fundraising infrastructure produced by GSNC. Donations came in both online and offline, and were then amplified through matching programs, including national journalism initiatives such as NewsMatch.

For local editors, the campaign’s success has been both affirming and instructive.

“I’m blown away by the support for this campaign, and humbled that many of our readers have given to sustain local journalism,” said Julie Hirshan Hart, editor of the Laconia Daily Sun. “It shows not only that people are reading and consuming local news, but that they place real value on the work we do.”

Robidoux, who is a founding partner of GSNC, said the response reflects a shift in how audiences think about trust.

“What seemed to start as a broad distrust in ‘the media’ has turned into something more specific — people questioning which sources are real, trustworthy, and human-driven,” she said. “The success of this campaign tells me that New Hampshire readers are ready to be more discerning, and that ‘local’ really matters.”

Supporting local reporting

Funds raised through the campaign are distributed back to participating outlets based on donor intent, giving each newsroom flexibility to address its most pressing needs.

At the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, all support we receive will go directly to our “Preserving Our Region” Solutions Journalism project.  This year-long effort will spotlight towns, businesses, and residents across the Monadnock region who are making a positive environmental impact. Each story will focus on everyday people achieving real, evidence-backed results — solutions that are practical, replicable, and inspiring. Our goal is to show what’s possible and motivate action to protect what makes this region so special. Support for the project will fund the editorial time and effort needed to produce these stories and share them as widely as possible. In addition to the reporting, the project includes a youth environmental initiative and a contest aimed at sparking new ideas.

For smaller outlets, Robidoux said the added financial stability can be critical.

“Most local news organizations operate with very little margin for error,” she said. “Having even a short runway helps us weather the unpredictables that, unfortunately, can mean shutting down a news operation.”

For the Granite State News Collaborative, the campaign’s impact extends beyond the final tally.

“This is a reminder that people still care deeply about having trustworthy, local reporting in their lives,” the Collaborative said. “When newsrooms work together — and when communities are invited into the process — local journalism can still thrive.”

The fundraiser runs through midnight on Dec. 31.

Participating partners include Business NH Magazine, Concord Monitor, Granite State News Collaborative, Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, NH Business Review, NHPBS, NHPR, Nashua Ink Link, and Valley News.

Melanie Plenda is the Executive Director of the Granite State News Collaborative. To learn more about the NH Community News Fund collaborativenh.org/support-the-gsnc.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. Don’t just read this. Share it with one person who doesn’t usually follow local news — that’s how we make an impact. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org

To speed up deportations, the Trump administration plans to hold 80,000 immigrants in warehouses across the country, including in Merrimack, NH, according to a story published Wednesday in the Washington Post.

Quoting internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents, the Post said the plan includes seven large-scale holding centers to stage 5,000 to 10,000 people for deportation each and 16 smaller ones such as in Merrimack to hold between 500 and 1,500, and would include renovating industrial warehouses.

State Sen. Tim McGough, R-Merrimack, said he has not received any direct communication from Homeland Security, ICE or any federal agency regarding a proposed facility in Merrimack, but would work with local and state officials should more information emerge.

State Rep. Wendy E.N Thomas, D-Merrimack, said she is against any ICE building in Merrimack.

“I am opposed to any ICE building in our town. We don’t need warehouses to detain thousands of people, many illegally. ICE has already racked up many human rights violations and they have terrorized people across the nation. ICE is not welcome in our town or even in NH,” Thomas said Thursday evening.

McGough responded to InDepthNH.org by email Thursday evening saying: “Beyond the general reference in the Washington Post article, there is very little concrete information available to town or state officials that I am aware of. Given that, it is far too early to draw any conclusions or offer definitive commentary about what this might mean.”

Gov. Kelly Ayotte didn’t respond to questions about the Post story Wednesday or on Thursday.

McGough said, “Until there is more specific, verified information about an actual proposal, scope, location and process, any discussion would be purely speculative.

“What I can say is that if anything of this nature were to be formally proposed, Merrimack’s local officials – including town administration, law enforcement, the Planning Board and Town Council – would operate within the law and in accordance with all applicable planning, zoning and regulatory requirements.

“I am confident that the town would also ensure appropriate transparency and public notice as required.

“Public safety would also be paramount. I would expect that any discussion would involve close coordination with local municipal, county and state law enforcement officials to ensure they are satisfied at every phase of the process, and to ensure that Merrimack and all District 11 residents are kept safe and treated fairly,” McGough said.

“As the state Senator representing Merrimack, my role would be to make sure that any required state level processes are followed and that residents are kept informed as facts become available.

“Public engagement and adherence to established procedures would be essential. For now though there simply isn’t enough information to comment further. I’ll certainly stay engaged and work with town officials should more details emerge,” McGough said.

According to the Post story, “The large warehouses would be located close to major logistics hubs in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri. Sixteen smaller warehouses would hold up to 1,500 people each,” including one in Merrimack, N.H, the only one listed for New England.

“The draft solicitation is not final and is subject to changes. ICE plans to share it with private detention companies this week to gauge interest and refine the plan, according to an internal email reviewed by The Post. A formal request for bids could follow soon after that,” the Post reported, adding Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said she “cannot confirm” its reporting and declined to answer questions about the warehouse plan.

“The majority of the planned warehouses are in towns, counties and states led by Republicans supportive of Trump’s immigration policies. Two of the largest warehouses are planned for towns with Democrat-led local governments: Stafford, Virginia, and Kansas City, Missouri,” the Post reported.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s former Bradford, N.H. hideout is back on the market, this time the 156-acre estate is selling for $2.495 million. Maxwell was arrested there in 2020. Boundless Estates photo

By RAY CARBONE, InDepthNH.org

BRADFORD – The latest information released by the US Department of Justice this week reveal new details about how Ghislaine Maxwell purchased a mountaintop residence here and what happened the day she was finally arrested.

Maxwell was the longtime associate of notorious financier and child sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein, who died of suicide in jail awaiting trial in 2019.

Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and other related offenses and is now serving a 20-year prison sentence and is seeking a new trial.

Authorities say that she was seeking to evade capture when she purchased the 156-acre estate in a sparely populated area of Bradford.

Documents released under the federal Epstein Files Transparency Act shortly after midnight Tuesday morning say that Maxwell bought the property under a false name; earlier information said that the deal was actually made using a limited liability company or LLC, a business entity that can protect the identity of owners or investors.

The new documents state that a local realtor met Maxwell and a male companion, who identified themselves as Scott and Janet Marshall. The couple had British accents and said Janet Maxwell was a journalist who highly valued her privacy.

It wasn’t until after the arrest that the realtor recognized Maxwell’s face and notified authorities.

The documents also add some details about Maxwell’s arrest the morning of July 2, 2020. Authorities say they knocked on the door of her mansion on East Washington Road in Bradford around 8:30 a.m. but when no one answered, they forced it open. Maxwell then ran to an interior room where she was found and taken into custody.

A cell phone on a nearby desk was wrapped in tin foil, an apparent attempt to neutralize the exact tracking system that led investigations to her location.

Like most people in Bradford, Police Chief Ed Shaughnessy said he wasn’t aware of Maxwell’s stay in his town before the 2020 arrest. “Do you think that if I knew she was there, I wouldn’t have come up to get her,” he asked rhetorically, reflecting on her apprehension.

Shaughnessy may have been the only local person who was at the scene that day. He said he received a phone call at 4:30 a.m. that muggy morning telling him about the pending arrest and inviting him to take part in Maxwell’s capture.

“I didn’t know a lot about her at the time,” he recalled. “Then I got up and googled
her.”

Shaughnessy drove his cruiser eastwards to the Market Basket parking lot in Warner, where he met up with other law enforcement officials for a pre-arrest briefing. Then his vehicle led about 14 others in a caravan heading westward on the two-lane Rte. 103 about 30 minutes back into Bradford, up Center and West roads, and then left onto East Washington Road.

Shaughnessy said that when he arrived around 8:30 a.m., about 30 law enforcement aircrafts overhead. “I don’t know if they were small planes or helicopters,” he said, but the they were definitely related to the police activity and not to the media that flooded the town later that day.

The large police presence was likely related to court records showing that officials believed Maxwell had both the financial resources and social mobility to flee the country if she wasn’t arrested.

Much of what happened during Maxwell’s arrest wasn’t initially made public. Official reports said that she was taken into custody “without incident,” but later information said that she refused to open the front door and she was seen through a window fleeing into an interior room. Officers forced their way into the
home and then into the room where they found Maxwell.

Chief Shaughnessy said that his local department had no role in the arrest but he did see officers escorting Maxwell into a cruiser. She was held at the Merrimack County Corrections Facility in Boscawen for several days before being sent to New York where she stood trial for her crimes.

That morning, the chief also learned that members of Maxwell’s onsite security team were former British secret service personnel. They said she never left the Bradford property. “Her security team did the food shopping, ran the errands,” the chief recalled.

The former Maxwell estate is for sale again. This summer Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty-New Hampshire listed the property at $2,495,000. Maxwell purchased the residence in 2019 for $1 million in cash using a limited liability company, according to paperwork filed by federal prosecutors.

Town records recently listed the property assessment at $1,829,005 with an annual tax of $30,353. The asking price on the land was recently dropped $30,000 to $2,365,000.

The mountaintop estate is not visible from the road but a careful observer can find the dirt road entrance off East Washington Road, across from a modest brown home and adjacent to a utility pole.

About one-quarter of the way up the incline a wire fence blocks traffic and announces that one should “Beware of Dog.”

A security keypad sits a few feet in front of the fence. The newly released documents say that there was a full security system in operation when Maxwell lived there.

On various real estate websites, photographs and descriptions depict an extravagant estate. One realtor called it a “privacy lovers dream.”

The main 4,365-sq ft. residence is a timber-framed two-story structure that includes a Great
Room with a fieldstone fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows. A second structure is a 1800s cape house, with a barn and fireplace. Spectacular views abound and one description calls it the dream of a “hunter, farmer, horse lover, (or) hiker.”

This is not the first time Maxwell’s former residence has been sold. A couple purchased the property last year but later decided to resell it. One local woman said the couple from southern New England might have found central New Hampshire winters too severe.

The newly released photos and documents have been made public because of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law last month.

One released photo of New Hampshire businessman and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, showed Kamen sitting with businessman Richard Branson and Epstein walking behind them. Another more recently released photo showed Kamen and Ghislaine Maxwell riding a Segway. Kamen has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the Epstein matter.

Kamen, the founder of DEKA Research and Development, told WMUR that he was a speaker at the TED Conference in Monterey, California a number of times, including February 2002 (https://www.ted.com/talks/dean_kamen_to_invent_is_to_give).

Kamen told WMUR: “If I had to guess, based in part on helpful reminders from friends, I would say that this photo was taken at that conference (or some similar conference) shortly after the launch of Segway where I gave I rides to many, if not most, of the TED conference attendees.

“Unfortunately, Jeffrey Epstein was a central figure in the TED community for many years. I have no specific memory of this photo or any other interaction with Ghislaine Maxwell and had only limited interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. I hope that it goes without saying that those interactions in no way involved any wrong-doing and, in hindsight with what I now know, I regret even those limited interactions. Again, I have no knowledge of any of the horrific actions of Jeffrey Epstein (or Ghislaine Maxwell) other than what I have learned from news reports,” Kamen said.