New Hampshire

NH Business Notebook: What’s on tap for 2025? – NH Business Review

Published

1 year ago

January 17, 2025

NH Business Notebook: What’s on tap for 2025? – NH Business Review

Welcome to 2025. May it be the most boring year ever.

Over the holidays, I taped a segment of “New Hampshire’s Business” with WMUR veteran Fred Kocher and Business NH Magazine editor Matt Mowry. It was time for Fred’s annual “crystal ball” episode, so we were prepped to talk about the year ahead.

The morning of the taping, I looked up last year’s episode to make sure I didn’t wear the same tie again. I also wanted a refresher on what we talked about. Big surprise: lack of housing, lack of child care — challenges that follow us into 2025.

I was also reminded that I participated remotely via Zoom for the December 2023 episode: I was in quarantine with my second case of COVID-19, though I suffered no symptoms (unlike my wife).

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic, a worldwide outbreak blamed for the deaths of more than 7 million people, including 1.2 million in the United States and about 3,000 in New Hampshire.

COVID-19 upended every aspect of our lives. It shut down many businesses for months and spiked unemployment in New Hampshire to nearly 17%. We became instant converts to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Google Meet and dusted off Skype. Social distancing became our mantra. It seemed like every idle manufacturing plant started pumping out hand sanitizer.

We started working remotely from home and were distracted regularly by the sound of delivery trucks for Amazon, FedEx and UPS racing up and down our streets, dropping off important merchandise, like toilet paper and Lysol.

Fred, Matt and I didn’t have time to talk about the pandemic during the five-minute “New Hampshire’s Business” segment, a rapid-fire program where we try to pour a gallon of news into a tiny cup.

It’s been on my mind as USA 500, a business networking group I belong to, plans its annual ski day at Loon Mountain Resort. Five years ago this February, our group was gathered in a private meeting room during which the conversation was peppered with talk about a strange flu outbreak that was hitting nursing homes in the Pacific Northwest. It seemed so far away and hardly something for local concern.

COVID-19 never went away. We’ve just learned to live with it. Businesses, including restaurants, retailers and health care providers, are still grappling with a shortage of workers. Businesses and consumers are still battling high prices that spiked during the pandemic and are only now beginning to stabilize.

What will this year’s unknown factors be? Check out longtime columnist Brad Cook’s latest “Cook on Concord” column for a refresher on what President-elect Donald Trump has on his to-do list — any of which has the potential to have a major impact on the economy.

The issues we did touch upon during our TV talk included how new Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the Legislature will address state revenue shortfalls as they create the next two-year state budget, the state’s continuing battle with opioid addiction and homelessness, and business concerns about cybersecurity. On the upside, we noted the rise of New Hampshire’s life sciences industry and the importance of the state’s health care industry.

My wish for “the most boring year ever” means only one where we aren’t blindsided by world events. With two major wars that show no signs of ending and acts of terror becoming commonplace both abroad and in the Unites States, we know to brace ourselves for some level of chaos.

When I finished the first draft of this column, the L.A. fires that have destroyed more than 12,000 structures and killed at least 24 people had yet to ignite. Chaos, sadly, found California right away this year.

The challenges we face in New Hampshire are not easily solved but within reach if we keep trying. As the giant sign inside the Life is Good T-shirt production center in Hudson reminds me, they are, like most everything else, “figureoutable.”

Talking about housing

NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire has invited me to speak at its annual breakfast, 7:30 to 9 a.m., March 27, at the Manchester Country Club in Bedford. (Check out nwsnh.org. for ticket information.)

So far, I have a title for my talk — “Homeward Bound: Housing — and lots of it — is key to NH’s future.”

NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire has more than 500 apartments in its rental portfolio. The nonprofit serves 81 communities and has housed more than 1,600 people.

If you have some housing news or ideas you’d like to share, please send them along to mikecote@yankeepub.com.

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New Hampshire

Mass. man nabbed after allegedly driving over 100 mph in N.H.

Published

5 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Mass. man nabbed after allegedly driving over 100 mph in N.H.

Local News

Police say the Attleboro man was driving 104 mph in a 55 mph zone on Route 202 near in Rindge, New Hampshire.

A Massachusetts man was arrested late Wednesday night after police say he was driving more than 100 mph on a New Hampshire roadway.

Officers with the Rindge Police Department stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. on Route 202 near Sears Drive in Rindge following a report of a car traveling at excessive speed, according to a statement from Chief Rachel Malynowski.

The vehicle, a 2020 Kia Stinger, was spotted traveling at 104 mph in a posted 55 mph zone, Malynowski said.

The driver, a 21-year-old man from Attleboro, was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to police.

He is scheduled to be arraigned April 5. If convicted, the man faces a fine of at least $750, in addition to the court’s penalty assessment, and a 90-day license suspension, Malynowski said.

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New Hampshire

Bill to outlaw using student IDs to vote clears NH Legislature

Published

17 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Bill to outlaw using student IDs to vote clears NH Legislature

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New Hampshire

NH cold case solved 40 years after police found man’s skull in woods

Published

1 day ago

March 8, 2026

Press Room

NH cold case solved 40 years after police found man’s skull in woods

Local News

Investigators partnered with a nonprofit genetic genealogy analysis organization to identify the man who the remains belonged to.

Warren Kuchinsky was born in 1952 and last known to be alive in the mid-1970s. New Hampshire Department of Justice

By Darin Zullo

March 8, 2026 | 9:59 AM

2 minutes to read

After nearly four decades, a man whose skull was discovered in the New Hampshire woods has been identified.

Warren Kuchinsky was born in 1952 and was last known to be alive in the mid-1970s, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark Hall said in a statement. In 1986, his skull was found in a wooded area in the town of Bristol.

At the time, investigators weren’t able to identify whose skull it was, according to officials. Last year, however, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner partnered with the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization, to solve the case using forensic genetic genealogy techniques.

Kuchinsky’s identity was confirmed through DNA testing of a surviving family member, according to officials. There is no evidence that his death was caused by foul play, according to the statement.

Founded in 2017, the DNA Doe Project partners with law enforcement, medical examiners, and volunteer genealogists to apply investigative genealogy to John and Jane Doe cases. By analyzing DNA profiles and building family trees from publicly available genetic databases and historical records, the organization has helped solve more than 250 cases nationwide.

“We are honored to have partnered with the State of New Hampshire on this case,” DNA Doe Project Team Leader Lisa Ivany said in the statement. “Through the power of investigative genetic genealogy and the dedication of our volunteer genealogists, we were able to develop a critical lead in less than 24 hours. We truly hope that this identification brings long-awaited answers to Mr. Kuchinsky’s family.”

Initial DNA testing turned up only distant matches, so the DNA Doe Project selected the case to be worked on at a virtual retreat in May 2025, according to the organization’s case profile. Over the course of a weekend, more than 40 genealogists from the U.S., Canada, England, and Scotland collaborated virtually to work on the case.

Within hours, the team discovered that the unidentified man had roots in New Hampshire and Quebec, according to the profile. They later zeroed in on Kuchinsky, who had attended school in Plymouth, N.H., but had no official proof of life past 1970.

“This identification reflects the power of partnership and scientific advancement,” Formella said in the statement. “The dedication of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the investigative support of the New Hampshire State Police, and the extraordinary work of the DNA Doe Project have restored a name to an individual who had been unidentified for nearly 40 years. We are grateful for their professionalism and commitment.”