Here’s some good news to know this morning:

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

📸 Reader photo: Dog takes a paddle board ride. Share YOUR photo!

🛟 Hampton Beach lifeguards win New England Lifesaving contest—again.

📢 Question of the week: What political issue best explains how you vote—and why? Tell us!

🌞 The bright side, including: Could this be the cure for Dutch Elm Disease?

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

(Courtesy Nancy Halloran)

Shoutout to Nancy Halloran, who shared this photo of her neighbor and dog enjoying the water on Great Pond in Kingston.

🏞️ Fun fact: Great Pond spans about 268 acres.

📸 Your turn: Have a great New Hampshire photo to share? Send it our way for a chance to be featured in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below. 

Related: Epsom sanctuary gives senior dogs a peaceful goodbye

(USA Today Network)

By USA Today via Reuters Connect 

Hampton Beach lifeguards captured the New England Lifesaving Championship for the eighth straight year, topping competitors from four states.

The July 29 event unfolded under gray skies and, later, a heavy afternoon downpour, but 67 lifeguards from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine still joined 26 members of New Hampshire’s State Beach Patrol at Hampton Beach to compete and show off their lifesaving skills.

We all have different reasons for casting our ballots the way we do. For some, it comes down to the economy. For others, it might be housing, healthcare, education, abortion, immigration, or another issue entirely.

This week, we want to know what drives your vote:

What political issue best explains how you vote—and why?

Here’s what you’re saying:

“I will be casting votes for progressive Democrats first, old school Democrats if there’s no other choice. And I, at the age of 70, have never voted for the party of cheats, grifters, and pedophiles in my life. And never will. Does that answer your question?” — Joyce Hurd

The following briefs are presented in partnership with Granite Goodness. Subscribe today.

💜 For the first time since 2013, Massachusetts lost fewer than 1,000 people to opioids in a year …

It’s a milestone a decade in the making, the product of years of steady investment in treatment, harm reduction, and recovery across the state. Fall River Reporter

🔒 Connecticut just passed one of the strongest data privacy laws in the country …

Residents will be able to wipe their personal information from every registered data broker with a single request. The law also bans surveillance pricing, where companies use your personal data to charge you more than they’d charge someone else for the same thing. CT Mirror

🎟️ Vermont just made concert tickets fairer …

A new state law caps resale prices at 10% above face value for independent venues. It also bans fake “official” ticket sites designed to trick fans, prohibits selling tickets you don’t actually have, and requires resellers to be upfront about who they bought from. My Champlain Valley

💙 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 USA Today via Reuters Connect, and Granite Goodness. It was edited by Crystal Niforos.

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