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Teen wins first New Hampshire State Am golf championship

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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 122nd 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.

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“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.

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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.

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“Any time you can end before 18 is great,” said Hakala, who plays out of Beaver Meadow Golf Course in Concord. “Winning the 16th 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. 

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Scollins, a rising junior in college at Holy Cross, was still within one hole as late as the 33rd hope until he made bogey on the 34th. 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

2 Hudson, NH, residents arrested after cats found abandoned

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2 Hudson, NH, residents arrested after cats found abandoned


HUDSON, N.H. — An animal cruelty investigation led to the arrest of two former tenants who police say left three cats behind in the apartment they were evicted from.

The Hudson Police Department said officers responded to 19 Oliver Drive on Nov. 25 after the town’s animal control officer received a report that multiple cats had been left behind in an apartment previously occupied by Faith Byers, 48, and Kevin Greene, 57.

The pair had reportedly been evicted a week earlier, on Nov. 18.

Police said that attempts to reach Byers and Greene by phone were unsuccessful, and the property owner later confirmed that the two had moved out without taking the cats or arranging for their care.

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With the owner’s permission, police entered the apartment and found three cats alone inside the unoccupied residence.

Police said they determined the cats had been left unattended for several days in conditions lacking adequate airflow, sunlight, litter and consistent access to food or water. Police added that no care plan had been made for the animals, and neither former tenant indicated any intention to return for them.

The animals were safely removed and transported to the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire in Bedford, where they are now receiving care.

Arrest warrants were issued for Byers and Greene, who are each charged with one count of cruelty to animals, a Class A misdemeanor. They were arrested on Friday and released on personal recognizance bail.

They are scheduled to appear in 9th Circuit Court Nashua District Division at 1 p.m. April 28.

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Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.



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Pakistan hosts diplomatic discussions on ending war

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Pakistan hosts diplomatic discussions on ending war


Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will meet in Islamabad today in an attempt to come up with a plan to de-escalate the Iran war.

The meeting comes as several thousand more U.S. troops arrived in the region and after another group got involved in the expanding conflict: Yemen’s Houthis.

The Iran-backed Houthis launched missiles towards Israel, and there’s concern their involvement could threaten another vital global shipping lane in the Red Sea.

Here are more updates on day 30 of the Iran war.

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Diplomacy Push in Pakistan

The four foreign ministers from regional powers will meet in Islamabad today and Monday for a push towards diplomacy to end the war.

In a statement ahead of the meeting, the Egyptian government said: “Discussions are expected to focus on recent developments related to regional military escalation and ongoing diplomatic efforts to contain tensions and promote de-escalation.”

“The talks come amid heightened concerns about regional stability, with participating countries seeking to coordinate their stances and support political solutions to emerging crises,” it added.

Whether whatever consensus the countries known as “the quad” come up with will be accepted by the US, Israel, and Iran is another question.

Pakistan has emerged as a possible peace-broker in the conflict, passing messages between the U.S. and Tehran. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Saturday that “dialogue, diplomacy, and such confidence-building measures are the only way forward.”

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Dar also welcomed the fact Iran has agreed to allow 20 Pakistan-flagged ships – or two a day – through the Strait of Hormuz.

Houthis enter war

Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen launched the first missile they have fired since the war began toward Israel on Saturday. Israel’s military successfully intercepted it but the Houthis’ attack opens another front in a war that has now moved into its second month.

Up until Saturday’s missile launch the Houthis had stayed out of this war. But a Houthi spokesman said attacks will continue until “the aggression on all resistance fronts stops.”

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs / AP

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AP

In this photo released by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, left, meets with his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, March 29, 2026.

The Yemen-based rebels were active during Israel’s war in Gaza, firing on cargo ships in the Red Sea and disrupting global commercial traffic.

With Iran essentially blockading the Strait of Hormuz, driving up global oil prices, there are concerns that if the Houthis start attacking ships in the Red Sea again global shipping will be even more disrupted.

Iran also hit multiple sites around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Saturday and Israel’s military says Iran is increasingly using cluster bombs.

Designed to detonate at high altitude the munition disperses dozens of smaller bombs that are more challenging for Israel’s multi-layered air defense system to intercept and can cause damage over a wider area.

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Dozens of countries have signed onto a cluster munitions treaty banning the weapons – except Iran, Israel and the U.S.

Iran threatens U.S. universities in region

Iranian authorities and residents say more airstrikes hit them overnight. Social media videos from across Iran showed strikes hitting all over the country.

Israel’s military said it had completed what it called a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting weapons production and storage sites.

Iran claims U.S.-Israeli strikes hit a Tehran university over the weekend and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened American university campuses in the Middle East in retaliation.

“We advise all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas” to stay a kilometer away from campuses, the statement, carried by Iranian media, said.

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Several US universities have campuses in the Gulf, including New York University in the United Arab Emirates and Texas A&M University, among others, in Qatar.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to fire drones and missiles at Gulf countries, with Kuwait saying it was intercepting missile and drone attacks early Sunday. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed ten drones.

Iran also claimed it had attacked two major aluminium sites in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Emirates Global Aluminium confirmed an Iranian attack wounded several and caused significant damage to its plant.

U.S. Troops injured, more arrive

At least 15 U.S. service members were wounded Friday in an Iranian strike on a Saudi air base that hosts American troops, according to the Associated Press, including at least five in serious condition. The missile and drone strikes targeted Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan air base, located outside the capital Riyadh.

A first responder assists an injured boy following a strike that hit a residential building amid the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 28, 2026.
A first responder assists an injured boy following a strike that hit a residential building amid the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 28, 2026.

Iran has targeted U.S. service members at bases throughout the region since the war began a month ago, in retaliation for the U.S. attacks and seeking to drive troops out of the region. Overall, the Pentagon has put the U.S. casualty toll at 13 killed and more than 300 injured.

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On Saturday, troops from the Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, made up of around 3,500 sailors and Marines, arrived in the Middle East, according to U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. military will not say where and how they might be deployed. Thousands more soldiers from the U.S. military’s 82nd Airborne Division are also expected to be deployed.

Journalists killed in Lebanon

Three Lebanese journalists covering the Israeli invasion of the country’s south were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jezzine.

Women hold posters showing Al-Mayadeen TV reporter Fatima Ftouni, left, and, in another poster, Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib, center, and cameraman Ali Ftouni during their funeral at a temporary cemetery in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026.
Women hold posters showing Al-Mayadeen TV reporter Fatima Ftouni, left, and, in another poster, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib, center, and cameraman Ali Ftouni during their funeral at a temporary cemetery in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026.

One of them worked for a TV channel affiliated with Hezbollah and Israel accuses him of being a militant rather than a journalist – but has not provided evidence. The journalist Israel says it targeted was Ali Shaeb, a veteran TV correspondent and household name in Lebanon. After killing him, Israel’s military issued a statement accusing him of exposing the locations of Israeli troops.

The other two journalists killed were siblings, TV correspondent Fatima Ftouni and her cameraman brother, Mohammed Ftouni. Afterward their father appeared on TV, saying he was proud of his children.

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All three had been covering Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon.

Lebanese officials called the attack a flagrant violation of international law, and said they’re complaining to the UN Security Council. Hundreds of fellow journalists marched at a protest vigil in Lebanon’s capital.

The three journalists were among at least 47 people killed Saturday in Israeli attacks, according to Lebanese health officials.

Nine of those killed were paramedics, which the head of the World Health Organization called “a tragedy,” noting health workers are protected under international law.

Residents inspect their home after it was struck by an Iranian missile in Eshtaol, central Israel, Saturday, March 28, 2026.
Residents inspect their home after it was struck by an Iranian missile in Eshtaol, central Israel, Saturday, March 28, 2026.

Israel has intensified its attacks across Lebanon, mostly in the South, where Israeli ground troops are moving northward to try to oust Hezbollah militants.

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Another Israeli soldier was also killed in Lebanon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing his condolences on X over the weekend.

Developments in Syria, Iraq

The war is spreading to more parts of the Middle East. On Sunday, Syria said it had intercepted a drone strike from Iraq targeting a U.S. military base. Pro-Iran Iraqi groups have claimed responsibility for some attacks on US interests.

Separately, the Syrian and UAE governments condemned an attack targeting the residence of the Kurdish region’s president Nechirvan Barzani.

French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned the attack saying: “The sovereignty of Iraq, and of Kurdistan within it, is essential to regional stability. Everything must be done to prevent Iraq from being drawn into the ongoing escalation.”

On Sunday, the Israeli army said it had launched its “first” attack into Lebanon from Syria.

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Jane Arraf in Amman, Emily Feng in Van, Turkey, Lauren Frayer in Jezzine, Lebanon, Carrie Khan in Tel Aviv, and Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026 NPR





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Abandoned Camper Fire On South Main Street Knocked Down By Concord Fire And Rescue Teams

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Abandoned Camper Fire On South Main Street Knocked Down By Concord Fire And Rescue Teams


CONCORD, NH — The Concord Fire Department is investigating the cause of a camper fire on South Main Street late Friday night.

Around 11:30 p.m., fire and rescue teams were sent to South Main Street, not far from Langdon Avenue, for a report of a camper on fire. Dispatch said it was unknown if anyone was inside or if the camper was abandoned.

“We have a couple of calls on it,” a dispatcher said. “It’s fully involved.”

A few minutes later, the fire was confirmed, and firefighters worked to extinguish it. The battalion commander confirmed no one was inside, and it appeared to be abandoned. Dispatch said, if they recalled correctly, the camper had been there for “quite a while.”

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News 603 posted videos from the scene on Facebook here:

And here:

The bulk of the fire was knocked down after about 20 minutes, with firefighters overhauling and dealing with “the hot spots.”

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Not long after the overhaul update, firefighters were sent to a business on South Main Street, near the camper fire, in response to a report of an alarm activation.

After investigating, there did not appear to be an activation at the business, a commander said. Later, dispatch said the alarm appeared to restore itself automatically. Firefighters cleared the scene of the business alarm just after midnight on Saturday.





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