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New Hampshire
Wanted: New homes for hundreds of N.H. mice and rats. Must love rodents and offer lots of treats. – The Boston Globe
STRATHAM, N.H. — Their names are Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. No, they aren’t the famous fashionistas on a popular television series — they are four tiny rodents in search of their forever homes.
These four mice were among the more than 800 rodents that were surrendered to the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals last month in an unprecedented event that has strained the Seacoast shelter.
The shelter is hosting an adoption event this weekend, in the hope of finding homes for the approximately 250 rodents that remain in its care. The typical adoption fee will be waived during the event, and the shelter is giving out rodent starter kits to families who take some home, including a tank, bedding, and other essentials.
“They’re a less common pet, and so they’re going to be hard to place, which is why we want to do this weekend promotion to really draw some attention,” said Sheila Ryan, the director of development and marketing for the NHSPCA.
In the month since the rodents arrived, the organization has leapt into action to care for the tiny creatures, which it has identified as a mix of fancy mice and African soft-furred rats. They are bred as pets, different from species like field mice that are found in the wild.
“They are friendly, sweet, and curious. They are highly social and prefer to live in groups or pairs,” said Lisa Dennison, executive director of the NHSPCA in a statement. “It’s so much fun to just watch them play on their wheels or with their toys, or just burrowing or eating a sweet treat.”
Ryan said there are 142 mice and 93 rats available for adoption this weekend.
All of the 800 rodents came from one Seacoast home, where shelter staff said they were allowed to reproduce in an uncontrolled manner. After arriving at the NHSPCA, the rodents were separated by sex. The females were placed on a pregnancy watch before they could be adopted. Meanwhile, some of the males have been neutered.
“Male mice don’t like to cohabitate with each other, but they are social,” said Ryan. “They would like to be with their girlfriends, but we don’t want more babies, so neutering the males allows us to send them home with the females.”
About 300 rodents have been transferred to other humane organizations around New England, according to the NHSPCA, while 117 rodents have already been adopted, and more than 100 have been euthanized due to illness or physical conditions. Ryan said some females remain on pregnancy watch and have not yet been cleared for adoption.
While some commentators on social media were quick to suggest that the rodents could be easily transformed into snake food, NHSPCA staff bristled at the suggestion, which runs counter to their vision statement of providing “A safe and loving home for every animal.” Ryan pointed out that these are companion animals meant to be pets, not pet food.
They’ve found other ways to tame the chaos of receiving 800 rodents. On Thursday, several people were hard at work doing a deep clean with the rodents that are ready for adoption. Four spaces in the shelter have been converted into rodent lodging, full of beady little eyes and scampering.
Every single rodent now has a name of its own, and the rodents that live together are often named according to a theme such as cereal, sports, or candy.
Ryan said staff members are logging long hours, staying up past midnight or coming in on their day off to care for the rodents, who need to be evaluated, named, and logged in a database that tracks their outcome. But she noted that the shelter has received less donations than they typically do for such an unusual rescue.
“In some ways it’s been crippling,” Ryan said. “In other ways, it’s been really a labor of love.”
The adoption center is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Wednesday. The adoption event runs from Friday through Sunday.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee. Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
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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