From the Newsroom: Seacoastonline - Fosters.com

Portsmouth (N.H.) High School baseball coach Tim Hopley shares a personal memory of athletic director Rus Wilson, who died on Monday, Aug. 31. Wilson was 64. 

Tom Kozikowski of Portsmouth, N.H., shares a story about two city recreation guys summoned to save the Portsmouth High School athletics department. There were big-time changes ... and a lot of balloons. 

Portsmouth (N.H.) High School assistant athletic director Tom Kozikowski reflects on the day he was hired by Rus Wilson and the Portsmouth Recreation Department. Wilson died on Monday, Aug. 31. He was 64.

Jessica Norton, director of inmate services at the Rockingham County jail, discusses why housing is critical for newly-released offenders with substance use disorders. 

Exeter police Chief Stephan Poulin and Bradford police Chief Jim Valiquet, who was the lead Exeter detective investigating 8-year-old Tammy Belanger's disappearance in 1984, talk about the ongoing search, the unsolved case's impact on the community and some of the latest developments in the cold case investigation. 

Former Exeter News-Letter reporter Steve Stevens recounts reporting on the disappearance of 8-year-old Tammy Belanger in 1984.

ROCHESTER — Police cited a Farmington man in a pair of two-vehicle collisions within a two-hour period Wednesday morning, the first sending a vehicle crashing through a Washington Street home’s porch and the second entrapping another driver in her car on Route 11.

George Ballou, 45, was issued a summons for failure to yield in the Washington Street crash and a yellow line violation in the Route 11 crash, according to Capt. Todd Pinkham. Ballou wasn’t charged or arrested.

Both crashes are still under investigation, Pinkham said. The first crash occurred around 7:30 a.m. and the second around 9 a.m.

Authorities, victims and witnesses say it’s fortunate no one was seriously injured in either crash, though one woman was injured in the second crash.

PORTSMOUTH -- A three-hour response by two SWAT teams, more than 30 police officers and multiple firefighters ended after noon Wednesday with the arrest of a Kearsarge Way man, who was the subject of prior SERT calls, the last time ending with two AR-15 rifles and three pistols being seized.

Police Chief Robert Merner said the Seacoast Emergency Response Team initially responded to serve a warrant for the arrest of Isaac Brake, 45, of 322 Kearsarge Way, for criminal trespassing. The chief said Brake was not welcome at that address and while Brake’s guns were not returned to him after his February 2018 arrest, police responded Wednesday morning under the assumption that he could have obtained more guns.

PORTSMOUTH - A state legislative committee is set to vote Thursday on water quality standards for PFAS chemicals that are substantially lower than the ones set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Andrea Amico is a Portsmouth mother and wife whose children and husband were exposed to high levels of PFAS while drinking contaminated water from the city-owned Haven Well.

She called the scheduled vote “a critical moment in New Hampshire to take very protective and proactive steps to help protect residents from these chemicals.”

The New Hampshire Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR) is scheduled to vote on the proposed maximum contaminant levels (MCLs)/drinking water standards for PFAS and ambient groundwater quality standards (AGQS) at its Thursday meeting.

SOMERSWORTH -- When Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris stepped on the stage Sunday for a town hall meeting, the first thing she said was, “I fully intend to win this election.”

Her audience roared their approval.

Harris spoke at Somersworth High School to a packed crowd, filling the cafeteria with so many people unable to find space that an overflow location with a projector was set up in the gymnasium.

“I think we all know we are at a pivotal moment in time, where we are each, as individuals and collectively, being asked, ‘Who are we?’” said Harris. “Part of the answer is that we are better than this. This has become the moment we must fight for the best we are. It’s not a new thing for us to fight for our ideals, not new to fight for our love of country and the for the soul of this country.”