New Hampshire

Teen wins first New Hampshire State Am golf championship

Published

4 months ago

July 13, 2025

Teen wins first New Hampshire State Am golf championship

GONIC – Josiah Hakala has designs on playing for pay some day, but for now he’s building quite a resume.

The 18-year-old defeated Ryan Scollins in the finals of the 122^nd New Hampshire State Amateur Golf Championship, 2-and-1 on Saturday at Rochester Country Club.

“My ultimate goal is to play on the PGA Tour and play for majors,” Hakala said. “That’s what I’ve always wanted to do but you’ve got work your way up in little steps. It’s another step today.”

Along with the trophy and prestige that goes along with winning the grueling, six-day event, the confident Hakala also earned an exemption into next month’s U.S. Amateur where he will go up against some of the best amateurs in the world at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “I can’t wait to get out there and showcase my talents and see how far we can take it out there. Honestly, the hardest thing about those tournaments is getting into them. I feel like that’s where I should be.”

Earlier this year he also won his fourth consecutive high school individual title in Division IV, the first time anyone has accomplished the feat in New Hampshire regardless of class.

Hakala reached the semifinals of last year’s State Am where he lost to eventual champion Rob Henley.

“I learned a lot from that and used a lot of that experience from last year today,” said Hakala, who helped Mascenic Regional High School win two Division IV state golf titles.

Hakala and Scollins are good friends.

“I’ve played a lot of rounds with him,” Scollins said. “He doesn’t miss shots. You can’t expect him to miss anything.”

Hakala qualified this year as the No. 2 seed going into match play while Scollins, 20, was the No. 5 seed. Leading 2-up, Hakala parred the next-to-last hole of the 36-hole event to clinch the victory.

“Any time you can end before 18 is great,” said Hakala, who plays out of Beaver Meadow Golf Course in Concord. “Winning the 16^th hole of the second (18) to go 2-up with two to play was ideal.”

The turning point came toward the end of the opening 18 where Hakala went from 2-down to 2-up in a span of five holes, winning four holes with three birdies and a par during a decisive swing of momentum.

“I played some nice golf on that stretch,” he said. “To have any kind of cushion going into the second 18 was awesome. Ryan is a heck of a player and any kind of buffer you can get was really big. After that I really felt more in control. I didn’t feel like the match was ever going to get away from me.”

Although he never relinquished the precarious lead Hakala could never pull away as Scollins kept applying the pressure and during one stretch during the afternoon 18 pulled within 1-down.

“It was 2-up and the next thing I knew I was 2-down,” said Scollins, whose deepest run in the tournament before this was the round of 32.

Scollins, a rising junior in college at Holy Cross, was still within one hole as late as the 33^rd hope until he made bogey on the 34^th. That gave Hakala all the breathing room he needed to prevail.

“You can’t back off,” Hakala said. “You can’t let up anything. You’ve got to keep your foot on the throttle, and I felt like I did that really well. … I really felt like I didn’t miss a shot with my irons coming down the stretch and really liked the way I was hitting them under the pressure.”

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New Hampshire

Trump approval rating slips in New Hampshire on one key metric. See latest poll

Published

3 hours ago

November 20, 2025

Press Room

Trump approval rating slips in New Hampshire on one key metric. See latest poll

According to the poll, released Nov. 19, only 42% of New Hampshire residents approve of his handling of the economy.
Both people who approve and disapprove cite tariffs as the number one reason behind their opinion.
Trump’s overall approval rating is 45%.

Support for President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy hit an all-time low in New Hampshire, according to a new poll out of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

According to the poll, released Nov. 19, only 42% of New Hampshire residents approve of his handling of the economy, while 57% disapprove. That’s the lowest his approval has been in this area in either of his terms.

Both people who approve and disapprove cite tariffs as the number one reason behind their opinion.

For those who disapprove, the next top reasons, following distantly, are because of the price of goods, because they believe Trump is self-interested or has a poor character and because of the cost of living.

Of those who approve, tariffs are followed by spending or the budget, price of goods, energy prices and because they believe him to be better than his predecessors.

While New Hampshire approval of Trump’s economic policies has fallen, his support overall has remained largely the same: 45% approve and 54% disapprove, giving him a net approval rating of -8 that is statistically unchanged since October.

The poll surveyed 1,402 New Hampshire residents between Nov. 13 and Nov. 17. The margin of error is +/- 2.6%.

How do NH residents feel about the end of the government shutdown?

The government shutdown is now over after some Senate Democrats, including New Hampshire Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, made a deal to reopen the government in exchange for a reversal of federal worker layoffs and a promise for a vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Many national Democrats opposed the deal as it didn’t guarantee an extension of the ACA tax credits that the party had demanded for weeks. In New Hampshire, half of residents support extending the subsidies, including 93% of Democrats and 53% of Independents. It perhaps follows then that 68% of Democrats and 60% of Independents oppose the deal ending the shutdown.

However, overall, 52% of Granite Staters support the deal, including 87% of Republicans, 27% of Independents and 24% of Democrats. And there is broad agreement among New Hampshire residents (95%) that all federal workers who were furloughed or who continued working during the shutdown should receive backpay.

Should Trump sink boats off Venezuela coast?

The survey also looked at approval of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, finding that 54% disapprove and 44% approve, making a net approval rating of -10 that is statistically unchanged since October.

Half of Granite Staters disapproved of the U.S. military sinking civilian boats off the coast of Venezuela that it claimed were involved in drug trafficking. However, it is heavily split by party, with 92% of Democrats disapproving and 83% of Republicans approving.

These actions have appeared to be part of a pressure campaign aimed at Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who Trump seems to blame for drugs and gangs on American streets. While he has not yet made a decision about what he plans to do in the country, all parties in New Hampshire oppose an attempt to remove Maduro from power.

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New Hampshire

New Hampshire Awaits Bitcoin Bond Buyer to Get First State Effort Rolling

Published

22 hours ago

November 19, 2025

Press Room

New Hampshire Awaits Bitcoin Bond Buyer to Get First State Effort Rolling

New Hampshire moved this week to foster the state’s first effort toward establishing a $100 million bitcoin BTC$88,952.65 bond, which would be directed by a state entity but backed by a private-sector firm, according to those involved with the effort.

The New Hampshire Business Finance Authority authorized “$100,000,000 bonds for a project to acquire and hold digital currency,” according to the description on its agenda. The NHBFA doesn’t direct state-backed bonds, but encourages private-sector entities to administer them. If that happens with this bond, the New Hampshire Executive Council will review the deal and vote on whether to approve it.

Once approved, the project will go live — the first of its kind in the nation.

The NHBFA is a self-funded, state-created organization meant to foster New Hampshire’s economic development. Proceeds from its bond projects return to the entity to help bolster its operation.

State Representative Keith Ammon, a longtime advocate for crypto policy in New Hampshire, said this first bitcoin bond effort is meant to be a template for more to come.

“Bitcoin can partially insulate our state’s runaway inflation,” he said in an interview with CoinDesk. “This is like training wheels to get to that point, protecting our state’s finances from future devaluation of the dollar.”

He said the two-year bond would be reliant on a rising value for bitcoin.

In this past year, BTC is down about 6%, after having climbed steadily for months before its sharp decline beginning last month.

New Hampshire has been in the forefront of state governments pursuing crypto policies. The New England state was the first to establish a crypto reserve earlier this year, moving much more quickly than the federal government, which is still in the planning stages.

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New Hampshire

NH toll booth crash leaves 2 people seriously hurt, 2 dogs dead, police say

Published

2 days ago

November 18, 2025

Press Room

NH toll booth crash leaves 2 people seriously hurt, 2 dogs dead, police say

A minivan slammed into a New Hampshire toll both on Tuesday, sending both people inside to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and killing at least two of the dogs inside, police said.

The Chrysler Pacifica crashed into the Bedford Toll Plaza on the southbound side of the F.E. Everett Turnpike about 9:17 a.m., New Hampshire State Police said. The driver, a 76-year-old woman from Manchester, and her passenger were taken to a local hospital to be treated for their serious injuries.

Three dogs were inside, two of whom died, according to police.

An image shared by police showed the minivan, with serious damage to its front end, at rest across the entrance a toll both. The side appeared to have been cut open by first responders working to free the occupants.

Speed is believed to have been a factor in the crash, which remained under investigation as of Tuesday afternoon. The incident closed three toll lanes until late morning.

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