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 ...

BY JENN McDOWELLIt’s going to be a lot harder for the Hills family of Allenstown to stay afloat financially this year, with fuel prices hitting record highs. Jeanne Hills babysits her toddler grandson, staying home while her husband and her adult children work. With the price of heating oil averaging more than $4.50 a gallon, according to ...

BY CHRISTINE HEISERNext winter, when the temperatures drop and the oil tank is low, rising fuel costs might bring on a budget crisis for some homeowners. Unlike public utilities such as gas or electric, private oil companies are not bound by law to deliver in the winter even if the customer doesn’t pay their bill, so each company sets its ...

BY JENN McDOWELLAfter Allenstown voters shot down the Suncook Wastewater Treatment Plant’s $15 million expansion for the second year in a row, sewer commissioners and the plant’s operator said they are back at square one. Sewer Commissioner James Rodger said harsh economic times led to tighter wallets this year, which led to the ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORHanover coach Tim Winslow and his defending state champion Marauders thought they were seeing double most of the second half. With his team ahead, 37- 19, early in the third quarter of the March 5 Class I semifinal against upstart No. 9 Pembroke, Winslow said he assumed his fourth-seeded squad was well on its way to the ...

BY JENN McDOWELLPembroke will not suffer any staff cuts or eliminate any sports programs after voters at the School District Meeting decided in a 95-71 vote to pass the School Board’s proposed operating budget. “The meeting went exactly the way it should have gone,” said School Board Chairman Clint Hanson, adding there is no ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYNear the bottom of the 48-team pack of robotics teams from across New England, Pembroke Academy’s chances at a trip to the national finals were not looking good. But after being selected as an ally with Trinity High School and Rhode Island’s Rhode Warriors team, Pembroke and its new partners went on an impressive run, ...

BY JENN McDOWELLThe Pembroke School District faces cuts in sports and staff in the coming year’s budget if a special education expense deficit in the current budget cannot be defrayed by the School District Meeting on Saturday, March 8. After the Pembroke Budget Committee asked the School Board and the Board of Selectmen to further shave ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORThe Pembroke Spartans, a squad that failed in four regular-season opportunities to beat a team ranked higher in the standings, slew topseeded Oyster River, Class I’s lone undefeated squad, in the quarterfinals of the state basketball tournament. The 45-44 win was a huge step forward for the program, said Matt Alosa, ...

BY JENN McDOWELLAfter the Bow Dispatch Center increased its fees for the four other towns it covers, Allenstown, Epsom and Pembroke are faced with payments that more than double the prior year’s payments for Bow’s services. Despite having to bite the bullet on the fee spike, law enforcement officials from all three towns say the ...