PORTSMOUTH, NH — Downtown will again turn its focus to families next month when Pro Portsmouth presents Children’s Day on Sunday.

The annual event, planned across downtown Portsmouth, with a block party and live performances on Pleasant Street, will be held from noon to 4 p.m.

Families will be able to use an activity map and legend to follow the alphabet through downtown. Along the way, children can take part in crafts, games, and interactive activities hosted in shops and restaurants.

Entertainment scheduled for the Pleasant Street block party includes Bryson Lang, Juggler Extraordinaire!, Musical Fun with Friend Andrea, and Movin’ & Groovin’ with musician, TJ Wheeler. The announcement describes Children’s Day as a “kid-friendly” event for Seacoast families.

The Children’s Day map will be available at the event and can also be downloaded or printed from the Pro Portsmouth website. Information about street closures and parking is also posted online as families make plans for the downtown event.

Support for Children’s Day comes from 2026 Program Partners, Mass General Brigham/Wentworth Douglass Hospital, Lonza, and Ocean Properties, along with event sponsors Treehouse Toys, G.Willikers, ad cetera, Blue Dolphin, and the Kiwanis Club of the Seacoast. The org also thanked the city of Portsmouth, City Manager Karen Conard, and city departments for supporting the event.

Pro Portsmouth, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization serving the Seacoast area. According to the group’s description, its mission is to promote the arts, culture, history and community of the area through events including Children’s Day, the Market Square Day Festival & 10K Road Race, Summer in the Street and First Night Portsmouth.

Children’s Day information, including the event map, street closure details, and parking information, is available through Pro Portsmouth online ahead of the May 3 event.

When a new leader takes the reins, they will always look for easy wins to win the team over. Maybe they make changes to the coffee machine, upgrading your caffeine intake. They might take a few meetings off your plate or give you more facetime with leadership. There are simple wins that help people get on your side and feel good about the company’s direction.

New Jersey Devils GM Sunny Mehta is trying to do the same thing, but it’s different for a hockey leader. He can’t upgrade the coffee maker for million-dollar athletes. He has to upgrade the facilities. And oftentimes, that’s beyond his control. 

What he can do is get the players and the fanbase to trust him by making moves that build excitement. The most obvious move to make that happen is to agree to a new contract with Nico Hischier. The Devils’ captain is up for an extension, but he’s not eligible to do that until July 1st. 

Mehta has a chance to make something happen even before that. 

He can sign Mikhail Yegorov to an entry-level contract. The Devils’ 2024 second-round pick has been one of their top prospects for two seasons. He was incredible, lifting Boston University to the Frozen Four and NCAA Championship Game in 2025. Last season, BU lost too much in front of Yegorov, and the replacements, which include the Devils’ second-round pick Conrad Fondrk, didn’t play well enough to make up for lost talent.

Signing Mikhail Yegorov would be a huge win for the New Jersey Devils and would build good will for Sunny Mehta

Despite his numbers dropping across the board, anyone who actually watched Yegorov play would know he’s destined for the NHL. The excitement for him shouldn’t waver because of an average season on a mediocre team. Jay Pandolfo’s squad will likely be better next season, which might make this move harder than expected.

Yegorov played a season and a half of college hockey. Most goalies grow during these years, and then they need about two years of AHL play before they are NHL-ready. That’s probably why Tom Fitzgerald re-signed Jacob Markstrom. The idea was to lay the groundwork for Yegorov to take over. Then, Jake Allen could be his backup. 

If Mehta can get Yegorov to sign now, it would be a big win for the Devils. And it would be an even bigger win for the Mehta regime.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — More than 1.5 million Pennsylvanians won’t be able to vote on May 19 because of the state’s closed primary elections.

The state is an outlier, as 42 other states and D.C. have open primaries, which means voters don’t need to affiliate with a political party ahead of the election to vote. Lawmakers have been pushing for reform since at least 1995, but so far none have successfully changed the law.

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The issue has support from Democrats and Republicans. But now a group of independents has filed a lawsuit asking a Pennsylvania court to force them into the primaries.

John Jones, a former federal judge, cited the “free and fair elections” in Pennsylvania’s Constitution for grounds to open the state’s primary elections.

“Emphasis on the word fair,” he said. Jones and political scientists argue too many elections are decided on primary day, rather than Election Day in November.

“You look statistically in elections from 2020 to 2025, in the state legislature, for example, only about 10% of those elections were actually really contested,” he said.

 Pa. primary election 2026: A complete guide 

Not everyone is open to open primaries. Republican strategist Chris Nicholas said if voters don’t care to be a part of a party, they shouldn’t get a say in the primary.

“Imagine if you’re a member of the Elks Lodge, and you work all year to make the Elks Lodge the best it can be,” he said. “Then on Election Day, you let those folks from the Moose Lodge in, and they come in for one hour, vote in your elections and leave, never to come back again.”

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