Thousands of Kyles head to Kyle, Texas, for 'Kyle Fair'

Updated: 12:56 PM EDT May 22, 2023

The city of Kyle, Texas, made a brave attempt to break the world record Sunday for most people of the same name in one place.It's called "Kyle Fair" and brought in the Kyles from around the world.People named Kyle had to officially register so this could count for the record.A photojournalist from sister station WMUR, Kyle Heavey, made the trip out west, so he could join the gathering of Kyles.”I met Kyles from Canada, I met Kyles from Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas and I was happy to represent the state of New Hampshire trying to break this record, so, it's not broken yet but the Kyles will come together to make this happen in due time," Heavey said. The Kyles set the American Record, but not the world record. If nothing else, this is a great way to meet new friends.You already know everyone's name.

There were numerous attacks on a New Hampshire family's pet on St. Patrick’s Day.

Video shows an owl trying to attack Buddy the parrot.

While celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with her family, Cynthia Auger of Merrimack, New Hampshire, heard a large bang.

"So I came in and I looked out the windows, and all of a sudden in the tree, I could see this big, huge owl," Auger said.

The owl was looking to make Buddy the parrot a snack.

"The owl started to move a little bit. Then flew, and bang." Auger said. "We were all just 'Oh my gosh, what's happening?'"

After numerous tries of breaking through Buddy's window, the owl finally flew away.

Buddy was safe, or so the family thought.

"We hear Buddy freaking out," Auger said. "Squawking, screeching, and flapping around."

The owl came back.

"I looked down and there's the owl in the snow below the window staring at the bird cage," Auger said.

Auger said she was worried that the owl would break through the window.

The next night the owl came back, just staring at Buddy for hours.

Sister station WMUR spoke to Maria Colby, owner of the nonprofit Wings Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Henniker, New Hampshire, about the situation.

"This happens usually a couple of times a year," Colby said.

She said the culprit is a barred owl, which can be found all over New Hampshire. They can go after smaller birds, but it's not their favorite.

Her advice to make sure this doesn't happen again was short and simple.

"Move the bird so the owl doesn't see the bird, or pull down the shades," Colby said.

Buddy the parrot remains safe.

Auger said she's never seen an owl in her neighborhood until the night of the incident.

A u local user in Littleton, New Hampshire, is searching for the owners of some photos after getting old film developed.

Sarah Nolan said she bought the camera in 2019 at a thrift store.

Photos from the camera’s film appear to show a family on vacation, possibly in the western U.S.

The registration on a boat in one of the photos looks like it’s out of Wyoming.

Nolan said she would love to find the original owners.

See the u local post here.

Video: Crowd saves national anthem after technical issues prevent anthem from playing

Updated: 11:59 AM EST Feb 14, 2022

A technical issue prevented the national anthem from being played at a basketball game in New Hampshire, so the crowd stepped up. Students at Conant High School sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" themselves before a varsity basketball game last week. The energy carried over into the game and Conant won on senior night!

Joyride! Raccoon clings to garbage truck as it travels down highway

Updated: 4:23 PM EST Jan 24, 2022

One raccoon is bringing a whole new meaning to the "trash panda" moniker for his species.Multiple people spotted a raccoon clinging to the back of a garbage truck as it traveled down Interstate 93 in New Hampshire on Friday.A woman who shared a photo of the joyriding raccoon on social media said she rolled down her window to alert the driver of the garbage truck, and the driver said he knew about the animal and that it had been there since 3 a.m.

An affidavit released in the case of a missing 7-year-old New Hampshire girl shows that her father is suspected of hitting her in the face and claimed that he brought her to live with her mother two years ago.

Adam Montgomery, 31, of Manchester, has been arrested and charged with second-degree assault, interference with custody and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the disappearance of Harmony Montgomery, 7. He waived his arraignment Wednesday.

Reward money for information about Harmony's whereabouts has grown to $43,000 after New Hampshire business owner Peter Napoli pledged $10,000 in hopes of generating more tips.

Anyone with information about her disappearance is asked to call or text 603-203-6060.

In the redacted affidavit, Manchester police outline allegations of physical abuse, including reports that Harmony was seen with a black eye. Harmony was in the custody of her father after her mother lost custody of her in July 2018 because of substance abuse issues, police said.

The affidavit provides several details of the police search for Harmony, including an interview with Adam Montgomery's current wife, who said that the last time she saw the girl, her husband told her he was going to drive her to Lowell, Massachusetts, to turn her over to her mother.

She said that was in November or December 2019, and she hasn't seen the girl since.

Police said they found Adam Montgomery on Dec. 31 sleeping in a car with his new girlfriend in the area of Harvell Street in Manchester. Investigators said he told them that Harmony was fine and he'd seen her recently, but he later said that he hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving 2019, claiming that her mother picked her up in Manchester.

Manchester police said Harmony's mother reported in November that she hadn't seen her daughter since a FaceTime call made around Easter 2019. The Division of Children, Youth and Families notified police on Dec. 27 that they hadn't been able to find Harmony.

Police worked to track down Adam Montgomery and interviewed members of his family, who said they hadn't seen Harmony in some time. His brother told police that he saw Harmony with a black eye in 2019, and when he asked Adam Montgomery about it, he allegedly told him, "I bashed her around this house."

Adam Montgomery allegedly told his brother that he left Harmony, who would have been 5 years old at the time, in charge of watching her infant brother while he was in the bathroom. Adam Montgomery allegedly said he found Harmony holding her hand over the baby's mouth to stop him from crying, and he responded by hitting her.

Adam Montgomery's wife told police she had seen Harmony with a black eye, and her husband told her it was caused by one of their other children hitting her with a toy.

His wife said she hadn't seen him since late October 2021 and last spoke with him in November. She said he was living in a sober house and then left the area to live in Maine with another woman.

Adam Montgomery's girlfriend told police that she was aware that he had children but he hadn't been in touch with any of them. She said he never talked about Harmony, and she had no idea where she was.

Police said in the affidavit that they had probable cause to charge Adam Montgomery because of discrepancies between his account and what the girl's mother told them. Investigators said the boyfriend of the girl's mother said he has never met Harmony in person.

MOULTONBOROUGH, N.H. — Even with bare branches still anticipating winter snow, the landscape of New Hampshire’s lake region holds an estimable, eerie beauty.

Along with foliage, this time of year also sees an absence of one of New England's beloved waterfowl that is a haunting fixture along lakeshores.

This time of year, common loons leave their lake homes before they freeze to bob and fish in the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean. While they may be at their most elusive in the winter, there’s a group trying to prevent the beloved bird from disappearing altogether at the hands of an invisible enemy.

"These contaminants are ubiquitous and they're persistent and it makes one shudder to think what might all be out there that just hasn't been identified," said Tiffany Grade, a biologist at the Loon Preservation Committee.

Grade has been tracking a disturbing decline in the birds' population since the mid-2000s. Ever since, they’ve been testing no longer viable eggs in look nests on local lakes and what her team has discovered is a disastrous chemical cocktail lurking in the egg, including banned chemicals DDT and PCB.

"Here we are decades after the fact, and these are still showing up in these sediments. They're flushing into the lake and we're seeing them potentially impacting our loon population," said Grade.

DDT was a pesticide used heavily in the 1940s and 1950s in orchards. PCB was used in everything from electrical equipment to fluids for vehicles to sprays to keep the dust down in the summer on country roads. Both have been banned since the 1970s.

It’s not just the loon population in New Hampshire that these “legacy chemicals” have been found in, but in wildlife around the country and world – such as marine life up and down the east coast as well as waterfowl on the Great Lakes.

While the full extent of how these chemicals are impacting animals is still being studied, it’s been found that they can stunt growth, weaken eggshells, reduce reproduction and compromise immune function.

"This is not just the New Hampshire issue. This is a, this is a issue across the country," said Grade. "We just need more information to help us understand. You know where these areas of contaminants are both for the sake of protecting loons, other wildlife, but people as well."

The Loon Preservation Committee may be a small nonprofit, but they’re the one agency in the state who’s systematically testing species high up on the food chain measuring the impacts of these banned chemicals, which is an expensive endeavor. Grade hopes other organizations jump on board to figure out this issue not only for the sake of wildlife but for our sake, too.

"We need to make sure we understand. What the impacts potential impacts of these contaminants can be and that that's an open and transparent process," Grade said.

While this team works to figure out how to save these beautiful creatures, they also have a plea about watching what we release into our revered landscapes, because we may never be able to take it out.

"We know we can't plead ignorance anymore about what these chemicals can do, and we really need to be careful about it," said Grade.

An unusual family tradition just won't end.

Two brothers have been re-gifting candy to each other for more than three decades.

It started in 1987. Ryan Wasson got some Life Savers for his brother as a joke for Christmas knowing his brother, Eric, didn't like them.

So Eric held onto them and re-gifted them back to Ryan the next Christmas. Fast forward 34 years, and they've been going back and forth every year trying to outdo each other and getting very creative.

They have involved family, co-workers and even a sheriff department one year.

It has become difficult to come up with new ways to surprise one another, so Ryan turned to the u local New Hampshire Facebook group for ideas.

"Neither one of us will give up because we're brothers. We can never give up," Ryan said.

Ryan Wasson

"They melted one year, so they look pretty sad. So we've got the original box, and then we've got a new box. Then they both go out, so the old ones are pretty sad. I wouldn't try those," said Eric.

A New Hampshire fire chief is calling a homeowner a hero for what he did after a fire broke out in his living room.

The fire broke out inside a wall at a Windham, New Hampshire, home around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday while his family was asleep and he was at work.

"I open the camera and what do I see, fire in the living room," the homeowner told sister station WMUR. "So I called my wife, and she's sleeping. She's not answering the phone. I call and call and she's not answering so I say, 'OK, I call 911.'"

Police arrived at the home, woke up the man’s wife, and she and their three children and dog got out safely.

Fire crews arrived moments later as the first floor filled with smoke. The smoke alarms did not activate.

"The homeowner just bought this house about a month ago, so this was a tough way to find out whether or not your smoke detectors work," said Chief Thomas McPherson Jr., of the Windham Fire Department.

The homeowner said he loves gadgets, and in this case, it’s a gadget that may have saved his family’s lives.

"You're talking a matter of several minutes before that fire would've grown substantially," McPherson said.

Instead, crews were able to contain the damage to the wall.

"Had those cameras not detected that fire, had the homeowner not been alerted by his phone, this could've ended tragically," McPherson said.

"I know we have an angel watching over us because what if I decided to ignore my phone? Or what if my phone was on silent?" the homeowner said.

The chief said this story is a reminder for all Granite Staters to make sure smoke detectors work.

"In this case, the stars were aligned for this man," McPherson said.

A family thanked staff at a New Hampshire hospital for allowing them to see a relative hospitalized on Thanksgiving, albeit at a distance.

This was the first time in 92 years that Joseph Doherty of Plaistow was not at the table for Thanksgiving dinner, so, his family came to him.

“I didn’t want him to fell alone on Thanksgiving Day,” said son Paul Doherty. “We wanted to send him love from a distance.”

Although Joseph Doherty’s treatment is not related to COVID-19, pandemic restrictions meant his family could not go inside.

Nursing staff at Exeter Hospital stepped in to help, while the family stood outside with a homemade sign that said, "Love you Papa."

“They were really gracious. They stopped whatever they were doing, which I’m sure was a lot, and they got him to the window, and they told us right where to stand and we got to see our dad and he got to see us, and it made his day. They told us it made his day,” Doherty said.

“I just felt so happy that I could be there, just filled with joy in that moment and to see him wave back you could tell how emotional he was getting when he saw the sign,” said granddaughter Erin Doherty.

“My family and I would love to express an enormous amount of gratitude for taking the time to make this happen,” she added.

The family is hoping Joseph Doherty will be back home this weekend.

CONWAY, N.H. — Mother Nature is rarely kind to Mt. Washington. On a recent fall morning, the New Hampshire's tallest peak was bathed in blue skies as tourists from all over the world flocked here to catch one final glimpse of foliage.

This mountain is home to the highest recorded man-measured wind speed in the world and it is also home to the world’s first mountain-climbing train, The Cog Railway.

The operation is about as small-business as they come. Each diesel-powered engine is custom built in a warehouse at the base of Mt. Washington. Like many businesses across the country though, The Cog is being faced with a shortage of mechanics and engineers needed to keep this place going.

"New Hampshire has had a hard time with keeping skilled workers. They always tend to leave out of state," said Rob Arey, who works for the railway.

But the old Cog Railway first constructed in 1868 is about to offer new opportunities to a whole new generation of the workforce.

The idea is simple, connect students at nearby White Mountains Community College with job training opportunities working on those diesel engines which power The Cog Railway. Not only will the program help get graduating students into a job pipeline that desperately needs them, the concept is also being deployed in hopes of keeping students from leaving rural communities like this one once they graduate.

A term typically referred to as “rural flight.”

"This is the first step in us keeping our kids here in the local schools, learning here, falling in love with us as a place to work," Rob Arey added.

Marc Poulit is an instructor at nearby White Mountains Community College. He has about 30 students in his program, all of whom are now eligible to apply for the new internship program.

"We are really planting that seed and thinking about, 'I don’t need to move out of state to get a good-paying job,'" Poulit said.

Perhaps the biggest challenge when it comes to keeping students in rural communities after they graduate is pay. On average, new graduates can earn 15% more on their first job if they move to a big city. That is often a gamechanger for new graduates especially if they have student loans to pay off.

Back at the Cog, they are anxiously awaiting the arrival of new students. While this railway may be old the technology, what they’re using here is more complex than most Amtrak trains, providing a perfect opportunity for the next generation of engineers and mechanics to train on.

"The way this facility was built is for the future. It’s all technology they may not even get at the community college. It’s exciting they get to come in here and learn it first hand," said Rob Arey with The Cog.

Like the trains here themselves, the hope is the whole idea will keep students careers climbing in the communities they call home.

CONCORD, N.H. — It's impossible to comprehend a family's pain in the wake of a murder, and even more so when the search for justice goes quiet.

It's been nearly three years since Trish Haynes’ body was found in a washing machine. The case has gone from cold to frigid, but ahead of the third anniversary of police finding her, her family is on a mission to find any leads that might finally bring them closure.

“Who would ever think that you're going to deal with a murder in your own family?” said Trish’s great aunt, Valorie Haynes-Alvarez. She sits at her kitchen table looking through photos of the great-niece she likened to her own granddaughter.

As she sifts through memories of shopping trips and days full of smiles, she is haunted by the horrific end of Haynes' life.

“She did not deserve any of this,” said Haynes-Alvarez.

In 2017, Haynes was living in Florida with her grandmother, Sandy.

In early 2018, Haynes left Florida and came to New Hampshire for a court date. She was hoping to close a tough chapter of her past, one of domestic violence and abuse.

“She was trusting, too trusting,” said Haynes-Alvarez of Haynes' relationships. “She always looked for love in the wrong places.”

“Trish had a good life, but it definitely it was a little rough,” said Haynes' friend, Chloe French. “At times, she tended to overlook the bad in people."

Haynes-Alvarez said she begged Haynes to stay in Florida and to try and handle the legal proceedings from home.

“I said, ‘Don't go back up there,’” said Haynes-Alvarez.

But, her great aunt said Haynes insisted, saying, “'I want to go back and make it right. I don't want this hanging over my head.'”

Haynes wasn’t planning to stay in New Hampshire for long, so she lived with friends.

“She really had no place to stay,” said her great aunt.

Haynes eventually moved in with an old high school acquaintance, and that’s when her family thinks trouble began. Haynes stopped communicating regularly, worrying her grandmother and family.

“We don't know what happened,” said French.

May 16, 2018, was the last time Haynes spoke to her family.

“She kind of checked in, told her grandmother she loved her, and then said, ‘I got to go,’” recalled French.

Months later, a tip led investigators to a pond outside of Grafton, New Hampshire.

Haynes' remains were found inside a washer and dryer at the bottom of the pond.

“I don't care who you are. You don't deserve to die alone like that,” said French.

“People don't just end up dismembered in a washer and dryer in a pond. Someone put them there,” she said.

The family says what’s happened since this heinous crime leaves them in pain every day.

“Not only have there been no arrests but there's no communication from investigators or detectives, nothing,” said French. “It's frustrating to think that in a small city, in a small state, someone could be killed and disposed of in such an awful way and nothing is done."

To help spread the word about the case, French started a Facebook page. It now has 4,000 followers.

Both French and Haynes-Alvarez both are holding out hope someone will come forward to the police with enough information to make an arrest.

“The more exposure that we've gotten, the more people that have come forward,” said French. “I don't think that this case will die out. I won't let this case go cold.”

And it's true; people actually can help. Shows, podcasts and social media accounts discussing about murder cases have exploded in popularity over the last year, and the public has helped solve a handful of those cases that up until now had gone completely cold.

That’s why Haynes' family is getting out in the community to talk about her case even more. This September, they’re holding a rally to mark the anniversary of the day she was found.

“We're not going away,” said Haynes-Alvarez. “We’re here for the long haul.”

We asked the New Hampshire Department of Safety to talk about the case, but they wouldn’t comment on an active investigation.

“To me, it feels like they just kind of want us to forget about it and move on,” said French. “I'm not going to let that happen.”

Even though answers won’t bring back the bright-eyed young woman with dreams of a better future, answers could help her family and her friends move forward.

“My hope is that people remember that they remember that Trish was a person, that she was a daughter, a granddaughter, a friend, a cousin, and most importantly, I want people to remember that nothing has been done about it yet. I don't want this to be another cold case,” said French.

“I've already come to terms with the fact that Trish is gone,” said Haynes-Alvarez. “My faith in God knows that she has a hope, but what hope does the rest of anybody in humanity, here in the state of New Hampshire have, if they can't put these people behind bars and get them off the street?"

The rally for Haynes will be held on September 4, 2021, at noon at the State Capitol building in Concord, New Hampshire.

A man died while trying to help another swimmer on Echo Lake in Conway, New Hampshire, on Saturday.

New Hampshire Marine Patrol said the 37-year-old went under the water at about 4:45 p.m. on Saturday and didn't come back up.

People were able to pull him out of the water and started CPR.

Emergency crews arrived and rushed the man to a hospital but he did not survive.

An investigation is underway but foul play is not suspected.

On Monday, New Hampshire State Police Marine Patrol officials announced the identity of the victim as Vinod Varadharajan, 37.

Watch the full story about the man in the video above.

Rocker Marilyn Manson surrendered to police in Los Angeles last week in connection with a 2019 arrest warrant out of New Hampshire where he allegedly assaulted a videographer at a concert, authorities said.

Manson, whose legal name is Brian Hugh Warner, is charged with two misdemeanor counts of simple assault stemming from an alleged incident on Aug. 19, 2019 at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford.

Gilford police Chief Anthony J. Bean Burpee said Thursday that Manson had turned himself into law enforcement in Los Angeles the week before. Manson was booked and released without bail pending a court appearance in New Hampshire.

Manson's attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

The victim, a videographer, was in the venue's stage pit area at the time of the alleged assault, Gilford police previously said. The misdemeanor charges can each result in a jail sentence of less than a year and a $2,000 fine if convicted.

Los Angeles Police Capt. Brent McGuyre confirmed Manson's surrender to The Associated Press. Manson turned himself in at the department's Hollywood station on July 2 and was processed on the warrant before being released.

"This is consistent with anybody who has a misdemeanor warrant that is not local," McGuyre said.

Manson also has faced abuse accusations — unrelated to the New Hampshire incident — in recent years. He has denied wrongdoing.

In February, actor Evan Rachel Wood publicly accused Manson, her ex-fiancé, of sexual and other physical abuse, alleging she was "manipulated into submission" during their relationship. Months later, "Game of Thrones" actor Esmé Bianco sued Manson in federal court in Los Angeles, alleging sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

The AP generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Bianco and Wood have spoken publicly.

In 2018, Los Angeles County prosecutors declined to file charges against Manson over allegations of assault, battery and sexual assault dating to 2011, saying they were limited by statutes of limitations and a lack of corroboration. The accuser in that case was identified only as a social acquaintance of Manson.

'Crazy attachment': Ruffed grouse becomes man’s backyard companion

Woman says daughters don't share same bond with bird

Updated: 11:52 AM EDT Jun 5, 2021

Some people are greeted by the family dog. For Todd Westward, it’s a ruffed grouse.The bird started hanging out in the New London, New Hampshire, backyard in April with Westward while his family was away on a trip, his wife, Mary Beth Westward, posted on Facebook. Since then the bird, named Walter, has made himself a fixture in the yard.“I just thought it was a fluke before we left,” Mary Beth Westward said Friday. “While we were gone, this bird formed this crazy attachment. He was here every single day, all day long, following him.”Walter has perched on her husband’s shoulder and arm, and has visited his backyard work station.Mary Beth Westward said she’s gotten a lot of positive comments from her post, and heard some similar stories about social grouses.She said she and the couple’s daughters don’t have the same bond with Walter. He appears to chase them away.“He runs like a feathered velociraptor while he chases us down the driveway in our cars. And he goes back up and sits on the porch and pretends to be our watch-bird,” Westward wrote in her post. The ruffed grouse is the state bird in Pennsylvania. The “tame” grouse phenomenon happens in the spring, during the peak breeding season, according to a video last year from the Pennsylvania Game Commission. One theory is that the grouse is acting hyper-territorial.

A New Hampshire woman heroically rescued a hawk from her swimming pool, but once the bird was out, she had a tough time getting it to move on.

When Cortnie Langley first spotted the hawk, she told WMUR that she didn’t know what to do. She first tried using sticks to get it out of the water, but they weren’t strong enough, so she used her hands.

After she got it out, the bird decided to stick around for nearly 20 minutes on her arm and Langley documented the incredible moment with her phone.

She tried politely asking him to fly away.

"I'm not quite sure where to go from here. You're out and you're safe. You're good. Please fly away," Langley said in her video.

Langley also tried putting the hawk on a rock, but that didn’t budge him either.

It appeared the hawk felt right at home on the woman’s arm. She says there may have been a special connection, because she’s eight months pregnant.

And seemingly out of nowhere, the bird decided to take flight and soared away nearly a half hour later.

WMUR reports Langley is a scientist and her family just opened a farm in Mason, so she considers herself an animal lover. Even though the situation was the “wildest thing” she’s ever done, she told the TV station that she would do it all again.