New Hampshire
NH Democratic candidates for governor target Republican Kelly Ayotte in final debate
Republican Kelly Ayotte wasn’t on the debate stage Friday, but New Hampshire’s Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls mentioned her by name at least a dozen times.
Though six Republicans are seeking the GOP nomination in Tuesday’s primary, Ayotte has led in polls and fundraising, making her the target of the three Democrats who appeared in a debate a New England College. Former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington and restaurant owner Jon Kiper mentioned her name at least a dozen times, either touting their ability to beat her in the general election or warning that she would be bad for the state.
“Kelly Ayotte was the only senator in New England who voted against universal background checks after 20 children were gunned down at Sandy Hook,” Warmington said in explaining her support for gun safety measures including universal background checks and waiting periods for gun buyers and a ban on military-style weapons in the wake of this week’s school shooting in Georgia.
Craig said she also would support such legislation and described efforts she undertook as mayor, including implementing a gun violence prevention strategy and an app that allows teachers to summon help quickly in an emergency.
“We have to be thinking about both fronts, moving forward with legislation and what can we do to prevent this and protect families in our state,” she said. “There is nothing more important.”
Kiper, however, emphasized that gun violence is rare in New Hampshire and said he would focus his efforts on ensuring dangerous, mentally ill people didn’t have access to guns and protecting those at risk of domestic violence. He also parted ways with the other two candidates in refusing to take the state’s traditional pledge against a general sales or income tax. He said both need to be on the table to pay for schools and noted that he both collects a rooms and meals tax at his restaurant and pays a type of income tax, the business enterprise tax.
“Frankly it is a slap in the face to every restaurant owner in this state to say there’s no sales or income tax,” he said. “Those things exist, they provide income for the state, and the state could not function without them.”
The candidates largely agreed on most policy issues, though Craig and Warmington criticized each others’ backgrounds during a discussion of the state’s opioid crisis. Warmington once was a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, but she says it was before the true dangers of the drug and the company’s deceitful marketing were fully known.
“To cherry pick my work is completely misleading,” said Warmington, who suggested that Craig has profited from the opioid crisis because her husband is a lawyer whose firm defended drug traffickers.
“My opponent is bringing my husband into this election because she can’t stand by her full record,” Craig responded. “I stand my by record, and I know the challenges that our local communities are facing when it comes to opioids.”
Kiper, who has lagged behind Craig and Warmington, later insisted that he is the only candidate who can appeal to younger, independent voters.
“The reality is that it’s going to be very hard for Cinde and Joyce to beat Kelly Ayotte for reasons that really are not their fault, but the people that are going to decide this election are going to hear ‘lobbied for Purdue Pharma,’ and they’re going to vote for Kelly. They’re going to see videos of homeless people in Manchester, and they’re going to vote for Kelly Ayotte,” he said. “What I can offer you is that I do not have decades of political baggage.”
250 years in, and America is still a work in progress. Many American poets have written hymns and howls, declarations and outcries for this country that brims with so many people, and so many hopes, from all over the world.
“I Hear America Singing,” Walt Whitman wrote, in the 1850s.
“…the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
…The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else…”
Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” was inscribed on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal in 1903. It’s a poem in praise of immigrants who were cast out from other lands and found safe harbor in America.
“Give me your tired, your poor,” wrote Emma Lazarus.
“… your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
But Langston Hughes’ 1949 poem, “Freedom,” reminds us that many Black American families did not sail to America under the flame of a welcoming lamp, but were captive, shackled, to be sold into bondage. After the Emancipation Proclamation, many still endured segregation, bigotry and the constant threat of racist violence.
“I tire so of hearing people say, let things take their course,” wrote Langston Hughes.
“Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.”
This week, as the U.S. Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, you might read Shirley Geok-lin Lim’s 2017 poem, “Learning to Love America,” about how immigrants make America their own as they start families here.
“…because to have a son is to have a country,” she writes.
“…because my son will bury me here
because countries are in our blood and we bleed them”
The America great poets see is imperfect, unsettled, and unfinished, even after 250 years. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote in 1958 these words that still ring out:
“…I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting for someone
to really discover America”
Copyright 2026 NPR
A Times Square Ball Drop, a rolling series of ball drops, timed to occur at midnight on July 3 in every U.S. time zone from Guam to American Samoa, is part of the “Giving 4th Broadcast Benefit Show,” creating a nearly 24-hour celebration of the 250th anniversary. It’s part of the broader “Giving 4th” initiative that aims to make and establish Independence Day the biggest annual day of giving.
A time capsule will be buried in Philadelphia to be opened in 2276 on July 4. It contains a carefully curated collection of letters and artifacts reflecting the leadership, institutions, and communities that shape the country today. It will include contributions from all three branches of the U.S. federal government and submissions from each of the 50 states, Washington D.C., and five territories.
New Hampshire
Man From Concord Arrested On Drug Sale, Subsequent Possession Charges: Concord Police Log
Michael L. Poissant Jr., born in 1965, of Franklin, was arrested at 10:03 p.m. on June 3 on a driving after revocation or suspension-subsequent charge and a stop signs; yield signs violation after an incident or investigation on Merchants Way.
Alison Marie Lombard, born in 1978, of Concord, was arrested at 7:48 p.m. on June 2 on a criminal mischief charge and a bench warrant after an incident or investigation on Loudon Road.
Cathy J. Delisle, born in 1964, of Concord, was arrested at 8 a.m. on June 2 on criminal mischief, simple assault, and domestic violence-simple assault charges after an incident or investigation on Snow Pond Road.
Asende Alinoti, born in 1988, of Concord, was arrested at 9:09 p.m. on May 29 on criminal trespass and breach of bail charges after an incident or investigation at the Morning Star Condominiums on Loudon Road.
Do you have a news tip? Email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube or Rumble channels. Patch in New Hampshire is now in 227 communities and neighborhoods — and expanding every day. Also, follow Patch on Google Discover.
-
Wisconsin36 seconds agoWisconsin Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for July 4, 2026
-
West Virginia6 minutes agoPHOTOS: West Virginia celebrates America’s 250th birthday throughout Charleston
-
Wyoming13 minutes agoCasper residents get festive at Independence Day 250 celebration at Ford Wyoming Center
-
Crypto15 minutes agoHyperliquid Helps VALR Launch Over 200 Perpetual Markets as Decentralized Liquidity Gains Ground
-
Finance21 minutes agoLas Cruces finance director gets national honor for ‘exceptional contributions’
-
Fitness28 minutes ago10 minutes of swimming might not sound worth it – but I tried it for 2 weeks and found the benefits of a quick dip
-
Movie Reviews36 minutes agoThe Revisionist – Film Review – Eye For Film
-
World46 minutes ago
150 people from 50 countries become US citizens at Mount Vernon on America’s 250th birthday
