BY MATT SCHOOLEYThe Pembroke Academy spirit squad kept its word. Following a second-place finish at the 2008 Class I winter competition, team members had a message for head coach Donna Ong. “They said last year, ‘Well, we were runner up this year, we’ll win it next year,’” said Ong. “They weren’t ...

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKILunacy. An apt description of the idea a bunch of high school kids could design and build a robot capable of playing a game under conditions similar to the moon’s surface in just six weeks. But that is exactly what teams involved in this year’s FIRST robotics competition are doing for this year’s game, called ...

The Bedford Jaguars junior high school varsity football team made big plays on both sides of the ball, defeating the Pembroke Junior Spartans, 30-0, to win the Granite State Football League (GSFL) championship on Saturday, Nov. 8, at Bedford High. The Jaguars shut down the Jr. Spartans with a pair of goal-line stands, then broke a close game open ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEY With Halloween arriving, not all students will be getting tricks or treats in the classroom, as many schools have shifted away from traditional festivities. One school that has done away with Halloween festivities is Hooksett’s Fred C. Underhill School, as Assistant Principal Ralene St. Pierre said the school has been ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORDivision III football has a different look in 2008. While perennial beast Souhegan of Amherst remains the favorite, and always-solid Milford and Portsmouth are still around as well, Plymouth, winner of seven of the last 10 D-III titles, moves down a division. “From year to year, the teams change so much it’s ...

BY RYAN O’CONNOR Last year, Auburn’s Joey Dudek rode his arm and leg to Gillette Stadium – and very nearly the Super Bowl. Dudek, who won the 10- and 11-year-old division of the local Pepsi Punt, Pass and Kick competition last August, also triumphed at the sectional competition in Bristol, R.I., and then the regional ...

EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS Although Eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, has not been detected in samples taken from around New England this year, officials urge that care be taken to avoid contracting this viral disease, considered to be one of the most deadly mosquito-borne diseases in the United States, according to the U.S. ...

BY JENN McDOWELL As warm summer weather entices people to spend more time outside, state health officials are warning residents to be more aware of the big dangers that lie in wait in the tiniest of organisms. Jason Stull, New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ public health veterinarian, said that right now ...

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKI If there’s one person who’s doing well in this changing economy, it’s John Labbe. Labbe is the owner of Hearth Designs in Hooksett, and he sells pellet stoves, wood stoves, fireplaces and other heating-related items. With people looking for alternatives to heating with oil, he said pellet stoves ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORSitting at a youth hockey conference, watching what was likely to be another boring prerecorded training video, Kermit Brunelle sighed. On the screen, Don Lucia, coach of the national champion University of Minnesota ice hockey team, was giving a speech. “A lot of people think I have the best job in hockey, and I tell ...