Increased polarization and eroding social norms is making is harder to police bad behavior in the New Hampshire House. Town meeting season is well underway in New Hampshire, and voters across the state cast their ballots on a number of local issues this week. And majority of the state has been in a drought this winter. Will the snow melt help? We talk about these stories and more on this edition of the New Hampshire News Recap with NHPR's Josh Rogers and Kate Dario.

The U.S. Senate voted down a war powers resolution this week that would have blocked the US military from continuing attacks on Iran without Congressional approval. New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen voted in favor of the resolution, telling NHPR, “There was real concern about having the sole authority to go to war vested in the president of the United States.” Shaheen said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a dictator who was responsible for American and Iranian deaths, but she’s concerned about how the war has escalated and the loss of lives, including six American service members. On this week’s edition of the New Hampshire News Recap, we hear more about her position on the war with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and NHPR reporter Todd Bookman.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is ditching its plan for an ICE detention facility in Merrimack. Emails released by the federal government shed further light on New Hampshire businessman Dean Kamen's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. And state lawmakers are considering a bill that would restrict abortions to 20 weeks. We talk about these stories and more on this edition of NHPR's New Hampshire News Recap with NHPR's Todd Bookman and Boston Globe's Amanda Gokee.

The Midterm elections will be upon us soon, and some campaigns are gaining traction here in New Hampshire. A federal court issued a ruling this week that ends the Trump administration's ban on diversity and equity initiatives in public schools, including here in New Hampshire. And Republican lawmakers are backing a bill that would allow students to attend any public school in the state. We talk about these stories and more on this edition of the New Hampshire News Recap with NHPR's Josh Rogers and Annmarie Timmins.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte has long denied knowing anything about Immigration and Customs Enforcement's plan for a detention facility in Merrimack. But at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday, ICE director Todd Lyons told New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan his agency had been in contact with the governor. Thursday night, Ayotte released an additional statement that she now has documents on the facility from the Department of Homeland Security. These updates come after other communication gaps within Ayotte’s administration about the facility. We discuss these stories and more on this week’s edition of the NH News Recap with reporter William Skipworth at the New Hampshire Bulletin and NHPR's Annmarie Timmins.

The latest batch of Epstein files include dozens of records about the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and New Hampshire businessman Dean Kamen. The board of directors for ARMI, the government-funded Manchester research project led by Kamen, says it will investigate its founder. Newly revealed documents show some state officials had known for weeks about federal plans for an immigrant detention facility in Merrimack. And the Gov. Kelly Ayotte gave her second State of the State address this week. We talk about these stories and more with NHPR's Todd Bookman and Kate Dario.

Senators reached a deal Thursday to avoid a government shutdown. The deal funds most of the government, and also gives Republicans and Democrats time to negotiate on future funding for the Department of Homeland Security. At the center of the negotiations is the federal immigration crackdown across the country and criticisms of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who shot and killed a U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis last weekend. We hear how New Hampshire’s congressional delegation is responding to the immigration crackdown around the country. In New Hampshire, Gov. Kelly Ayotte said this week she's reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, saying the town of Merrimack should have a say on ICE's alleged proposal to establish a detention facility there. And a federal judge blocked New Hampshire from ending annual mandatory auto inspections, which were supposed to permanently end starting in February. We discuss these stories on this week’s edition of the New Hampshire News Recap with NHPR's Josh Rogers and Mara Hoplamazian.

Reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Manchester schools spread across social media and within local communities this week. The Manchester School District says it has not received any substantiated reports of ICE activity, but would continue to monitor the situation. And earlier in January, federal officials dropped the number of vaccines recommended for children. Now it's up to the state as to whether it will adopt those same recommendations. At the same time, New Hampshire lawmakers are considering proposals to eliminate some or all vaccination requirements for children. We talk about these stories and more on this edition of the New Hampshire News Recap with NHPR's Lau Guzmán and the Boston Globe's Amanda Gokee.

Protests have erupted in Minneapolis and across the country this week in opposition to tactics used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE. How active is the federal agency here in New Hampshire? State lawmakers repealed the death penalty in New Hampshire in 2019. Now some lawmakers are looking to bring it back. We talk about these stories and more on this edition of the New Hampshire News Recap with NHPR's Josh Rogers and the Boston Globe's Steven Porter.

Two New Hampshire courts have told the Legislature that it needs to increase the amount of money the state spends per public school student. But in the first meeting of the legislative session this week, lawmakers voted against doing so. And the Trump administration has frozen child care funding in several states amid allegations of fraud in Minnesota, but Gov. Kelly Ayotte told child care providers this week funding hasn’t paused here in New Hampshire. We discuss these stories on this week’s edition of the New Hampshire News Recap with NHPR reporter Annmarie Timmins and Ethan DeWitt from the New Hampshire Bulletin.

It's been a busy year in politics with Donald Trump's return to the White House bringing sweeping federal funding cuts and an aggressive anti-immigration agenda to New Hampshire. The state also saw the start of Kelly Ayotte's first term as governor. As we near the end of 2025, we're recapping the some of the year's top headlines with NHPR's Josh Rogers, Annmarie Timmins and Lau Guzmán.

Parts of New Hampshire have been under extreme drought conditions this year. This summer was the driest on record in the state, and that's led to more than 200 households with dry wells. What's the state doing in response? And state lawmakers won't officially head back to Concord until next month, but Gov. Kelly Ayotte and leaders in both parties are starting to lay out their priorities. We talk about these stories and more on this edition of the New Hampshire News Recap with NHPR's Josh Rogers and New Hampshire Bulletin's Molly Rains.