Shoutout to Marie Mayer, who shared her local hero, Ed Morin—a stellar neighbor.

“My hero Ed is one of our good neighbors here on Roger St in Alton Bay,” she said.

“Ed is a Vietnam Vet and retired High School teacher who is known to everyone in our corner of Lake Winnipesaukee. The reason? Bears. Hundreds of bears.

“Ed carves them in his back yard and then surprises new neighbors with them. He then invites you to name your bear and shows up later with a nameplate for it.

“He also leaves bears ‘lurking’ in the woods along our streets and roadside. This simple gesture of kindness has been going on for years and is one of the things that makes our community great.”

Have a local hero you want to shout out? Tell us about them so we can feature them in this newsletter!

Here’s a little more good news for your morning:

Here’s what’s inside today’s newsletter:

📸 Reader photo: The gorgeous Swift River in Albany. Share YOUR photo!

🥄 Student spotlight: Meet the 17-year-old NH student who invented an allergy spoon

📢 Question of the week: If you could make one change to New Hampshire’s property tax system, what would it be? Sound off!

🌞 The bright side, including: New Hampshire’s north country towns are getting $3M to build climate-resilient road crossings

💪 Nominate a local hero, and we’ll feature them in this newsletter. Tell us your hero!

(Courtesy Rich Collins)

📸 Amazing local photographer Rich Collins of Thirst Productions submitted this gorgeous shot of the Swift River in Albany.

🏔️ Fun fact: The Swift River winds alongside the Kancamagus Highway, one of New Hampshire’s most scenic drives.

📷 Share your pic: Click the button below to send us your photo, and we might feature it in this newsletter. Don’t be bashful!

🔗 Related: 6 best places to go fishing in New Hampshire this summer

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Sami Koltur. (Courtesy USA Today Network)

By USA Today via Reuters Connect

Sami Koltur, a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, designed a spoon called Allergense, which can test food for allergens and send results to a phone via Bluetooth in under 60 seconds.

New Hampshire has no sales or income tax but it has one of the highest property tax rates in the country.

So this week’s question is:

If you could make one change to New Hampshire’s property tax system, what would it be?

Here’s what you’re saying…

“In many (maybe most?) states, counties rather than towns are responsible for essential services such as police, fire, water, and schools, unlike in New England where these services are provided (or not) by the towns. Replacing town property taxes with county taxes would spread the cost over both rich and poor towns and also allow the county to take a big picture approach to building and locating essential services.” — Bill Carr

The following briefs featuring good news around the world are presented in partnership with Andy DeMeo of Granite Goodness. Subscribe today.

🪵 With $20M investment, Maine upcycles wood waste into modern materials

The University of Maine-led tech hub will convert low-value timber into advanced construction systems and sustainable packaging, laying the groundwork for hundreds of skilled manufacturing jobs across rural Maine. UMaine

🌊 Kittery, Maine, adopts ordinance to protect vulnerable shoreline

The town’s updated floodplain management rules designate climate-vulnerable zones and require rebuilt structures to rise an additional foot above base flood elevation. Portland Press Herald

🌉 New Hampshire north country towns are getting $3M to build climate-resilient road crossings

A new federal grant will help northern New Hampshire communities upgrade around 15 stream crossings to withstand major storms while restoring wildlife passages. New Hampshire Public Radio

💙 Know someone in New Hampshire who’s doing something worth celebrating? Whether it’s a neighbor, volunteer, small business owner, artist, or community leader, we want to hear about it!

Send us their name, what they’re doing, and why it matters to you at info@granitepostnews.com.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Katy Savage with stories from Granite Goodness. It was edited by Crystal Niforos.

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