How One Reaction to a Mural Tore a New England Town Apart How One Reaction to a Mural Tore a New England Town Apart
The New York Times
The 6,000 residents of Littleton, N.H., had found a way to coexist despite their differences — until a town official’s words set off a conflagration.
Few were present at the select board meeting in Littleton, N.H., last August when Carrie Gendreau, one of its members, began to talk about a mural that had recently been painted on the side of a building downtown.
Until that moment, it had not attracted much attention. Its subject matter — a blooming iris, dandelions, birch trees — did not seem controversial.
But for Ms. Gendreau, 62, who was also a state senator representing northern New Hampshire, the mural had set off alarms. She was certain there were subversive messages in its imagery, planted there by the nonprofit group that had planned and paid for it.
The group was North Country Pride, founded four years ago to build more visible support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the rural region.
“We need to be very careful,” Ms. Gendreau said at the meeting. She urged residents to “research” what the mural “really means,” and called for closer oversight of other public art.
“I don’t want that to be in our town,” she said.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
With little post-pandemic recovery, experts wonder if screen time and school absence are among the causes.
State Senator Zellnor Myrie, who was once pepper sprayed by the police, released a plan to hire 3,000 additional police officers.
Caroline Kennedy stepped out of the shadows and onto social media to assail her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on the eve of his Senate hearing.
Lorne Michaels reportedly dislikes when “Saturday Night Live” cast members break character. But over 50 seasons, it’s become one of the show’s signature moves — one that usually delights the audience.
Gov. Josh Green battled a measles outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly children. President Trump wants Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vaccine skeptic, as his health policy chief.
The Trump administration sought to pause federal dollars to some grantees as it tries to uproot policies like diversity, equity and inclusion. Schools and universities worried important programs could be halted.
Jeal Sutherland, of Colonie, N.Y., hatched a deadly scheme with a convicted killer who was an F.B.I. informer, court documents say.
The former Trump adviser, who faces trial in March, said that he was singled out for his politics. He took aim at the district attorney in much the way the president has.
These parents believe in home-schooling and distrust food and drug companies. In Kennedy, they see “a bull in the china shop.”
The city laid out a series of proposals to reduce cancer deaths by 20 percent, and deaths from heart- and diabetes-related ailments by 5 percent, over the next five years.
In a special session on Monday, leaders seemed to be declaring their independence from a governor who has wielded so much power that legislative sessions have become largely predictable rubber stamps.
There were no Situation Room meetings and no quiet calls to de-escalate a dispute with an ally. Just threats, counterthreats, surrender and an indication of the president’s approach to Greenland and Panama.
A special session that began on Monday pairs disaster aid with two priorities for both the president and Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee: tougher immigration laws and school vouchers.
Thomas J. Mascia scattered casings around and then shot himself in the leg in a bid for attention, prosecutors said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, an unabashed fan of the Buffalo Bills, was perhaps never more popular than on Sunday in downtown Albany.
The 14th Amendment overturned the 1857 decision that denied citizenship to Black people. Scholars say President Trump’s proposal betrays that history.
The bishop asked President Trump publicly to “have mercy,” electrifying some liberal churchgoers in an era dominated by conservative versions of Christianity.
Even more than in his first term, President Trump has mounted a fundamental challenge to the norms and expectations of what a president can and should do.