The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts is pleased to announce that this summer several museums are participating in "Blue Star Museums," a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the military family support network Blue Star Families. Blue Star Museums offers free admission to active-duty military and their immediate family. The program runs from May 31 to Sept. 6 Participating museums include: American Independence Museum, Exeter; Currier Museum of Art, Manchester; The Frost Place, Franconia; New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord; Poore Farm Homestead, Stewartstown; Remick…

We guess now would be the time to tell you that this issue is not for the faint of heart. It contains gruesome and horrifying details about what happens when good plants go bad. It’s filled with graphic images of terrible creatures lurking in the woods. The stories are true and the names have not been changed (though, come to think of it, it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to do so). To put it bluntly, the weak-stomached…

Ladies, you’ve heard of Tupperware parties. You’ve probably been to a few. Or perhaps you spent last Friday at your best friend’s house, sipping wine and perusing Pampered Chef products, Lia Sophia jewelry or various kinds of pepper spray. Yes, you read that correctly. Pepper spray. The newly-opened Pepper Defense Supply, 485 N. State St., is the place to go if you’re looking…

The North State saga We know you’re busy with the budget, City Manager Tom Aspell, so we won’t complain about how skimpy the memo was this week. We will, however, complain about this: North State Street improvements will carry on this week. “The contractor will continue road box excavation on North State street between Lake and Knight Streets,” Tom wrote. Quit with the fancy talk, Tom. We know that “road box excavation” is just another way of saying that traffic will be a hot mess. “Traffic will continue to be restricted to one lane during hours of operation, typically 7 a.m. to…