New Hampshire

Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day vigils in Dover, Portsmouth, around NH

Published

2 years ago

December 21, 2024

Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day vigils in Dover, Portsmouth, around NH

Lau Guzmán
| New Hampshire Public Radio

Nearly a dozen New Hampshire communities are hosting vigils this week to remember friends and family who passed away because of homelessness this year. Keene hosted a vigil on Monday, Concord had one Thursday, and more are scheduled Saturday, including in Dover and Portsmouth.

“It’s the first night of winter, the longest night of the year, the darkest day of the year,” said Maggie Fogarty from the American Friends Service Committee. “It’s a good time for a solemn reflection on the loss of our siblings to homelessness, also coming as it does during a season of celebration and of light.”

Fogarty helps compile the list of people who will be remembered at these vigils. She explained that it includes people who passed away while being unhoused, as well as people who died prematurely because of the toll from being unhoused, even after finding housing.

About 60 people will be remembered this year, either just with their name, or a memory from someone who knew them. While some names are submitted by friends and family, most are from people who provide supportive services to unhoused people.

She added that these vigils are also a chance for community members to reflect and commit to advocacy, especially because 2025 is a budget-writing year for state government.

“That commitment to system change and to ensuring that public policy, not just charity, combine to protect everyone from poverty,” she said. “That’s as important an aspect of this remembrance as the coming together as a community to remember our siblings.”

According to a new report, New Hampshire saw the highest percentage rise in homelessness in the country between 2022 and 2023. The number of people facing homelessness in the Granite State went up by roughly 52%, while other states’ saw an average increase of 12% during the same time period, according to the report.

The report is put out annually by the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness using information from a “point in time” count, which is an effort to count the number of homeless individuals in the state on a single day each year.

That data in the latest report suggests that New Hampshire saw a decline in veterans experiencing homelessness between 2022 and 2023. But the problem worsened for people dealing with chronic homelessness, single adults, families and sheltered individuals.

Homeless Persons Memorial Day vigils in Seacoast

Colebrook – Saturday, December 21 at 6 PM at 147 Main Street, in front of the Congregational Church. Contact: TRI County Community Action Program, ebecker@tccap.org

Concord – Thursday, December 19 at 4 pm at the State House, Concord. Contact: Angela Spinney, aspin@concordhomeless.org. Facebook event.

Conway – Saturday, December 21 at 6 PM at The Way Station, 15 Grove Street, Conway. Contact: TRI County Community Action Program, ebecker@tccap.org

Dover – Saturday, December 21 at First Parish Church, 218 Central Ave, Dover at 5 PM to 6 PM. Contact: Joyce Tugel, jtugel@gmail.com. Here’s the flyer.

Keene – Monday, December 16 at 5:30 PM at Saint James Episcopal Church, 44 West Street, Keene. Hosted by Hundred Nights, info@hundrednightsinc.org. More information here.

Laconia – Friday, December 20 at 5:30 PM at Isaiah 61 Cafe, 100 New Salem St, Laconia. Contact: Dawn Longval, dlongval@metrocast.net

Lancaster – Saturday, December 21 at 6 PM at the Centennial Park Green Gazebo on Main Street in Lancaster. Contact: TRI County Community Action Program, ebecker@tccap.org

Littleton – Saturday, December 21 at 6 PM at the Littleton Winter Shelter, 18 Pleasant Street Littleton. Contact: TRI County Community Action Program, ebecker@tccap.org

Manchester – Friday, December 20 at 6 PM at Veterans Park, Manchester. Contact: Crystal Butts-Ducharme, crystal.butts-ducharme@cmc-nh.org

Manchester – Saturday, December 21 at 12 noon at 1269 Café 456 Union St Manchester. Contact: Craig Chevalier craig@thetwelveonunion.org

Nashua – Saturday, December 21, 5 PM to 6 PM, at City Hall, at 229 Main Street Nashua. Contact: Tom Lopez, LopezT@NashuaNH.gov. Facebook event.

Newport – Saturday, December 21 at 6 PM at the Newport town common by the gazebo. Contact: Rev. Elisabeth Smith, Church of the Good Shepherd (United Methodist), pastorelisabeth415@gmail.com

Peterborough – Saturday, December 21 at 4 PM on the steps of the Peterborough Town House, 1 Grove Street, Peterborough, NH. Hosted by the Monadnock Area Transitional Shelter (MATS). Contact: Susan Howard, mats.peterborough@gmail.com

Portsmouth – Saturday, December 21, 5 PM to 6 PM at South Church, 292 State Street, Portsmouth, hosted by CrossRoads House. Facebook event.

Upper Valley – Friday, December 20 at 5:30 PM at LISTEN Community Services, 42 Maple Street, White River Jct, VT. Contact: Lynne Goodwin, lynne.goodwin@lebanonnh.gov

NHPR’s Olivia Richardson contributed to this report.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.

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New Hampshire

JUST ONE STATION: Father of Hampton, NH shooting victim speaks about ‘random act of violence’ – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

Published

59 minutes ago

July 16, 2026

Press Room

JUST ONE STATION: Father of Hampton, NH shooting victim speaks about ‘random act of violence’ – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

TEWKSBURY, MASS. (WHDH) – The father of a 23-year-old man who was shot in a random attack at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire before the shooter turned the gun on himself spoke with 7NEWS Thursday about his son’s recovery.

On July 5, officers responded to a reported shooting in the area of 29 Ocean Boulevard at approximately 1:20 a.m. and found a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman suffering from gunshot wounds, according to a joint statement issued by Attorney General John M. Formella, New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall, and Hampton Police Department Chief Alexander J. Reno. Both were taken to a nearby hospital.

Robert Perault said his son Chase was shot three times while he was walking with his 25-year-old girlfriend at the beach.

“Bullet was lodged in his left arm, and then two in the lungs,” Perault said. “It just blows your mind that this happens. I can’t explain any other way, it’s just a random act of violence.”

Soon after, at the intersection of P Street and Ashworth Avenue, officers encountered the suspect, Tyshawn Cooper, 21, of Taylors, South Carolina, who pulled a handgun, raised it, and shot himself in the head as an officer fired at him, officials said. Cooper was a sailor in the United States Navy.

After an autopsy, Cooper’s cause of death was determined to be suicide.

Perault said his son and his girlfriend have both been released from the hospital but are continuing to recover from their injuries.

“The fact that he was threatening, so they say, people – to shoot somebody prior to that was kind of an indication that this was something going on,” Perault said.

He said his biggest questions are what Cooper was doing with the gun, and how he got the gun in the first place. He said he has received “not a word” from the Navy in the wake of the attack.

Chase graduated from Tewksbury High School, loves fishing, and now works in construction with his father. Perault said his son has only had one question on his mind since he first woke up at the hospital.

“‘Why did he shoot us?’ That was the very first thing to come out of his mouth,” Perault said.

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New Hampshire

N.H. police chief placed on leave after video released of him grabbing someone by the throat inside police station

Published

13 hours ago

July 16, 2026

Press Room

N.H. police chief placed on leave after video released of him grabbing someone by the throat inside police station

Local News

An investigation into the incident is active, officials said.

The Gorham, New Hampshire police chief has been placed on administrative leave following the release of a video showing a physical altercation inside the police station.

In the station’s security footage — acquired by Stephen Gregory, of Berlin, New Hampshire, who sent it to WMUR, the outlet reported — Chief Jimmy Willhoite is seen grabbing a man by the throat and shoving him against a wall.

“Due to the allegations involving our Chief of Police, he has been placed on administrative leave while the allegations are being investigated,” Town Manager Joe Hemings said in a statement to Boston.com. Hemmings denied to comment further on the allegations.

Gregory told WMUR that the recording captures a confrontation between him and Willhoite that escalated when the chief grabbed Gregory by the neck and pushed him against the station wall.

Prior to the incident, Gregory was attending the annual Fourth of July carnival in Gorham with his wife and saw a man who, he says, threatened to stab him about two months earlier.

After the man allegedly yelled at him, Gregory went to the police station to report him — and then the confrontation with Willhoite happened, Gregory told WMUR.

The state’s Department of Justice Public Integrity Unit and NH Police Standard and Training Council is investigating the incident, Hemmings said.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office told Boston.com that it would “neither confirm nor deny any potential New Hampshire Department of Justice Public Integrity Unit matter,” citing state privacy laws.

Town officials said Gregory was arrested that night and charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct, though Gregory disputes he was arrested, WMUR reported.

“The safety of our community and the integrity of our law enforcement agencies are top priorities for the Town,” Hemmings said. “We take all allegations of misconduct seriously.”

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New Hampshire

NH Forests: A Story of Revival and the Challenges Ahead: Business NH Magazine

Published

1 day ago

July 15, 2026

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NH Forests: A Story of Revival and the Challenges Ahead: Business NH Magazine

Jack Savage, president of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, spoke at the first Jaffrey Amos Fortune Forum of the season on Friday evening about the state of New Hampshire’s forests, conservation efforts and where he’d like to see the state in the next 15 years.

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