The latest batch of Epstein files include dozens of records about the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and New Hampshire businessman Dean Kamen. The board of directors for ARMI, the government-funded Manchester research project led by Kamen, says it will investigate its founder.

Newly revealed documents show some state officials had known for weeks about federal plans for an immigrant detention facility in Merrimack.

And the Gov. Kelly Ayotte gave her second State of the State address this week. We talk about these stories and more on this edition of the New Hampshire News Recap.

Guests:

• Todd Bookman, NHPR
• Kate Dario, NHPR

Top stories from around New Hampshire this week:

Ayotte calls for review of state agency after documents show communication with ICE about detention facility

At a special Executive Council meeting Wednesday, Ayotte and executive councilors questioned the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources commissioner about failure to alert other state officials about talks with ICE.

ARMI launches ‘independent review’ of Kamen following Epstein revelations

Dean Kamen will recuse himself from leadership at ARMI while a review is conducted related to his repeated contacts with Jeffrey Epstein.

Ayotte’s State of the State highlights nuclear power, housing and child care priorities

In Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s address Thursday, she pushed for continued housing development and childcare affordability, while proposing an expansion of nuclear power in the state.

Nashua students say protest against aggressive immigration enforcement is personal

A few hundred Nashua high school students staged a walkout Wednesday, despite warnings that they would face consequences because the school district had not approved the event.

More New Hampshire headlines:

Who is representing NH at the Winter Olympics? Meet the Granite Staters going for gold.

House committee overwhelmingly rejects bills to bring back capital punishment

Students ask governor and lawmakers to make NH more affordable so they can stay

White House says it won’t withhold funding from NH schools with DEI programs

Hockey players and alpine and nordic skiers with New Hampshire ties are among the athletes to watch as the Winter Olympics get underway in Italy this month.

The 2026 Winter Olympics open Feb. 6 in Milano Cortina, Italy, and New Hampshire is well represented in hockey and snow sports, including alpine, freestyle and cross-country skiing.

Dartmouth College, which has sent athletes to every Winter Olympics since they began in Chamonix, France, in 1924, has over a dozen student-athletes or alumni competing in Milano Cortina.

Scroll down to learn more about Olympians from New Hampshire, as well as athletes who have ties to the Granite State.

Lucinda Anderson, Biathlon

Anderson, 25, is a 2024 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, where she competed on the nordic ski team. She switched to biathlon in 2024.

Cayla Barnes, Hockey

Barnes, 27, attended the New Hampton School in New Hampshire, and then played four years at Boston College, before joining the U.S. team. She is a two-time Olympic medalist.

Mary Bocock, Alpine Skiing

Bocock, 22, is a student at Dartmouth College. She competed for the U.S. Ski Team, not the college team. Her hometown is Salt Lake City.

Sean Doherty, Biathalon

Doherty, 30, is from Center Conway. This is his fourth Olympics. At the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, he was the youngest U.S. athlete to compete in biathlon.

Chloe Broeker

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Dartmouth Athletics

John Steel Hagenbuch, Cross-country Skiing

Hagenbuch is a student at Dartmouth College. He is from Ketchum, Idaho.

Caroline Harvey, Hockey

Harvey, 23, is from Salem. She was also on Team USA in 2022 and won a silver medal at the Winter Games in Beijing.

Grace Henderson, Freeski Slopestyle, Big Air

Henderson, 24, is from Madbury and trained at Waterville Valley before joining the U.S. Freeski Team. Her younger brother, Hunter Henderson, also competes for the U.S. Freeski Team in slopestyle and big air. He is a first alternate on Team USA’s men’s freestyle team.

Read more: Madbury to Milan, Grace Henderson’s ‘amazing journey’ to Olympics

Hilary Knight, Hockey

Knight, 36, who used to live in Hanover, is a four-time Olympic medalist for Team USA. Knight has announced that Milano Cortina will be her final Olympics.

Nina O’Brien, Alpine Skiing

O’Brien, 28, is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and skied at Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont.

Brett Wilhelm/© Brett Wilhelm/U.S. Ski & Snowboard

More athletes to watch

Other Dartmouth College athletes and alumni who have qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics include Jasmine Drolet (cross-country skiing), Michaela Hesová (hockey for Team Czechia) Laura Stacey (hockey for Team Canada), Kyle Negomir, Tanguy Nef (skiing for Switzerland), AG Ginnis (representing Greece in alpine), Lauren Jortberg (Nordic), Julia Kern (Nordic), and Rosie Brennan (Nordic), with Brennan competing in her third Olympics.

John T. Risley/Risley Sports Photography

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Dartmouth College

Get ready for the games

A few hundred Nashua high school students staged a walkout Wednesday to protest the aggressive federal immigration enforcement playing out nationally. Several said living in one of the most diverse cities in the state — or with immigrant parents — has left them fearful for family and friends.

Sixteen-year-old Manuel Lorenzo was the first in his family to be born in the U.S. He lives with his grandmother, who is from the Dominican Republic and speaks only Spanish. Lorenzo fears federal immigration agents won’t care that she is in the country legally.

“It really gets me in my heart because at any moment, that could be my family, the people that I care for,” Lorenzo said.

Nashua’s school superintendent said students who joined the walkout would face consequences because the district had not approved the event.

That didn’t deter senior Kaylee Hall, who said she’s encountered prejudice because her mom is Vietnamese. She shared a story on an Instagram page for the event about an experience at a local fast food restaurant, where a man asked her, “What are you?”

Hall helped organize the rally and a fundraising effort that helped cover expenses. Their “Stand with Nashua Against ICE Harm” GoFundMe page had raised more than half its $1,100 goal by late Wednesday.

“We do not have the power to vote,” Hall said, “but we have the power to speak.”

There are 49 languages spoken in Nashua schools and more than 1,600 students are learning English, according to the district. Senior Keegan Dolan said two things led her to partner with Hall to organize the walkout: news about a possible ICE detention facility in the nearby town of Merrimack, and comments she’s heard from students while interning at a Nashua elementary school.

Most of the school’s students are non-white, she said.

“These tiny, tiny six- and seven-year-olds are scared for their parents, for them,” Dolan said. “And no kids should be scared of that.”

Nashua junior Jordin Lopez, who is Hispanic, put it this way.

“Even if they are legally here, ICE doesn’t care,” she said. “They see you on the street. You look a little Spanish. You have an accent. You’re taken.”

Sixteen-year-old Alexa Couto’s parents are both immigrants. Her father, who is from Brazil, has told her how to react if she is stopped by an immigration agent.

“He just says, ‘Comply. Give your name. Follow instructions. Don’t fight back with them,’ “ Couto said.

Like Lopez, she’s not convinced that would be enough for immigration and border control agents. “The fact is, even if you do comply, they don’t care,” Couto said.

New Hampshire immigration lawyer Ron Abramson, who has fielded calls about immigration enforcement from New Hampshire schools, is not surprised young people are as concerned as adults about the issue right now.

“People’s fear is palpable and justified because there used to be some semblance of guardrails or lines or limits to how far immigration enforcement would go,” Abramson said. “Those seem to have been obliterated in gthis administration. There’s no safe space.”

A few hundred Concord students staged a walkout last week to protest aggressive ICE enforcement.