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New Hampshire
Pond hockey in New Hampshire brightens winter for hundreds. But climate change threatens the sport. – The Boston Globe
Elsewhere, at New York’s Saranac Lake, a palace constructed from thousands of blocks of ice was closed during the winter carnival Saturday due to safety concerns as it melted away. The same day in Maine, an 88-year-old man died when the all-terrain vehicle he was on plunged through the ice after a fishing trip, the latest in a series of such accidents.
In the Midwest, there has been a decrease in both the extent and duration of ice cover on the Great Lakes, while some smaller lakes have lost about 20 total days of annual ice cover over the past century, said Ted Ozersky, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
He said the rapid changes also could affect wildlife and ecosystems. “We really don’t know what this loss of winter means for our lakes,” Ozersky said.
Last year was the warmest ever recorded on Earth, and a natural El Nino weather pattern has made winter even milder in some places.
In Meredith, players traveled from around the country for the tournament that began Feb. 2. The rules were four per side with no goalies, and players ranged in ability from beginners to former professionals.
In all, 275 teams competed across 26 rinks surrounded by small, portable barriers and tended to by skaters carrying snow shovels. There were no referees, and players had to aim the puck at one of two tiny goals. Some hardy spectators watched all day, including one family that wore crampons for traction.
One team arrived decked out in furry coats, another set up a barbecue and most started socializing the moment their games were over.
“It’s the most fun weekend of the year,” said Kelly Kittredge, a former college player whose “Boston Beauties” team ended up finishing second in the women’s open division. “This year, some warm days, but making the best of it.”
As climbing temperatures turned ice to slush on the first day of competition, some players swapped their skates for boots. Cooler temperatures on the following days made for faster action on the ice.
Pond Hockey Classic founder Scott Crowder said there’s nothing better than playing outdoors in a beautiful setting.
“For the older generation, it’s nostalgic. It’s how they grew up playing. They’d go down to the local park and pond, and strap on their skates and play all afternoon,” Crowder said. “I think anybody that’s ever laced up a pair of skates, having the opportunity to skate outside just pulls at the heartstrings.”
Crowder said that, on average, the lake ice was about eight or nine inches thick this year, the minimum they needed to safely host the tournament. He said he can’t predict the future of the event, adding there is plenty of appetite from spectators and players, local businesses, and the township of Meredith.
“But there is one variable we can’t control,” Crowder said, referring to the weather. “And it’s a big one.”
Elizabeth Burakowski, a research assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, said data shows New England is a U.S. hotspot when it comes to winter warming.
“I grew up in New Hampshire, and so driving up to the lakes in northern New Hampshire, Lake Winnipesaukee, you typically expect by January that things are fully iced over,” she said. “That there’s snowmobilers out there, there’s ice fishing going on. And in recent years, that’s just not what I’ve experienced.”
Kibble, for one, has made the trip from Milton every year since the tournament began 15 years ago and has no plans to stop now. His team competes in the over-50s age group these days, and he jokes that the moniker on his shirt, “Eggs,” refers as much to his body shape as his team’s eggnog tradition. He says it’s all about the camaraderie.
“Just being outdoors, skating, playing hockey like we used to when we were kids,” he said.
New Hampshire
Possible 2028 Democratic White House contenders weigh in on Iran with New Hampshire voters
As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overtakes the foreign policy debate in Washington, two Democratic governors with potential 2028 presidential aspirations — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — recently traveled to New Hampshire, introducing themselves to the state’s famously engaged voters. The two weighed in on the war and both criticized and questioned President Trump’s strategy and endgame.
“If a president is going to take a country into war, and risk the lives of American troops and Americans in the region, he has to have a real justification and not one that seems to change every five to 10 hours,” Beshear told CBS News after a Democratic fundraiser in Keene.
“This President seems to use force before ever trying diplomacy, and he has a duty to sell it to the American people and to address Congress with it,” Beshear continued. “He hasn’t done any of that. In fact, it appears there isn’t even a plan for what success looks like. He’s gone from regime change to strategic objectives and now is talking about unconditional surrender, which isn’t realistic where he is.”
Beshear also said he thought that Congress should have reined in Mr. Trump’s war powers.
“He is trying to ignore Congress. He’s trying to even ignore the American people,” Beshear said.
He went on to note that the president’s State of the Union address took place “three — four days before he launched this attack,” and Mr. Trump “didn’t even have the respect to tell the American people the threat that he thought Iran posed to us.”
Last week, both the House and the Senate failed to pass resolutions to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers and stop him from taking further military action against Iran without congressional support.
For Newsom, the war with Iran constitutes part of a broader criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At an event last Tuesday in Los Angeles, Newsom had compared Israel to an “apartheid state.” Later, in New Hampshire, he sought to clarify his comment.
“I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman [New York Times] column last week, where Tom used that word of apartheid as it relates to the direction Bibi is going, particularly on the annexation of the West Bank,” Newsom explained during a book tour event Thursday night in Portsmouth. “I’m very angry, with what he is doing and why he’s doing it, what he’s going to ultimately try to do to the Supreme Court there, what he’s trying to do to save his own political career.”
Friedman wrote that at the same time that the U.S. and Israel are prosecuting a war in Iran, within Israel, Netanyahu’s government has undertaken efforts to annex the West Bank, driving Palestinians from their homes; fire the attorney general who is leading the prosecution against Netanyahu for corruption; and block the government’s attempt to establish a commission to examine the failures that led up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by Hamas.
CBS News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
On Iran, Newsom said, “I’m very angry about this war, with all due respect, you know, not because I’m angry the supreme leader is dead. Quite the contrary. I’m not naive about the last 37 years of his reign. Forty-seven years since ’79 — the revolution,” Newsom said. “But I’m also mindful that you have a president who still is inarticulate and incapable of giving us the rationale of why? Why now? What’s the endgame?”
Many attendees at Newsom’s book event said that the situation in Iran is a top-of-mind issue for them, too. Some said they’re “horrified” by what is happening.
29-year-old Alicia Marr told CBS News she decided to attend Newsom’s event because of his social media response to the war with Iran.
“There was one spot left, and I decided to pick it up, and it was due to his response to the war, that it is just unacceptable, and I would agree with that,” Marr said.
While some voters like Marr are eager to hear about where potential candidates stand on foreign policy, many at Newsom’s event said they care most about how potential candidates plan to address domestic issues.
“I’m more focused on getting the middle class back on track and fighting the oligarchy, and I’m less invested in international issues,” said Anita Alden, who also attended Newsom’s event,
“I wouldn’t call myself America first, but we have so many problems at home that are my priority,” she told CBS News.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may also be weighing another White House bid, told Fox 2 Detroit last week that she “unequivocally opposes” the Trump administration’s military action in Iran and urged Congress to take action.
“If we want to stop Donald Trump with this random decision that he has arrived at, then Congress must act, and Congress must act immediately. The American people do not want our sons and daughters to go into this unauthorized war of choice,” Harris said.
Mr. Trump has lashed out against Democrats who have pushed back on his Iran strategy, calling them “losers” last week and arguing that they would criticize any decision he made on Iran.
“If I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this,” the president said.
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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