Heroes of the Week: Rochester Fire Department Saves Dog from Burning Home

This week's heroes are the firefighters from the Rochester, NH Fire deparment who saved a family dog from a burning home and administered oxygen. The dog happily recovered.

(Photo: Rochester Fire Department responded to a structure fire on Chesly Hill Road on Sunday. Aug. 16, 2026. Credit:  Rochester Fire Department ) 

Dog rescued from two-alarm house fire in Rochester, NH

Fosters Daily Democrat, Staff ReportUpdated Aug. 17, 2026, 3:45 p.m. ET

ROCHESTER, New Hampshire — Firefighters responded to a structure fire on Chesley Hill Road on Sunday, Aug. 16, one complicated by downed power lines.

At approximately 2:36 p.m., a good Samaritan stopped at the Gonic Fire Station to report a house on fire on Chesley Hill Road, the Fire Department reported in a press release. At about the same time, a 911 call was received reporting a fire at 260 Chesley Hill Road.

Engine 4 and truck 6 arrived on scene approximately three minutes later and found the front porch of the residence fully involved with fire, with flames extending up the exterior of the house and into the eaves. A box alarm was immediately requested, bringing first-alarm mutual aid companies to the scene.

After completing an initial 360-degree size-up, the first arriving engine company lieutenant determined that the fire had extended into the residence, the Fire Department reported. Shortly into the initial fire attack, crews encountered an additional hazard when an electric service line burned off the building and fell into the initial attack hose lines. Due to live electrical lines, crews were forced to redeploy hose lines from truck 6 and adjust their fire attack.

The shift commander arrived on scene and assumed command. Based on the fire conditions and the challenges presented by the downed, energized power lines, a second alarm was requested, bringing additional personnel and apparatus to the scene.

Firefighters conducted an interior fire attack while additional crews performed a primary search of the residence. During the search, firefighters said they located the family's dog inside the home. The dog was rescued and brought to safety, where firefighters administered oxygen. The dog was later transported to a local veterinary facility for additional treatment.

The fire was declared under control at approximately 3:15 p.m. Crews remained on scene conducting overhaul operations and checking the building for any remaining fire.

There were no reported injuries to civilians or firefighters as a result of the incident. The home was determined to be uninhabitable, displacing two residents. The American Red Cross was notified to assist the displaced residents.

Mutual aid assistance at the scene was provided by Dover, Somersworth, Farmington, Milton, and Barrington Fire Departments. Station coverage was provided by Newington, Berwick, Lebanon, and Lee Fire Departments. While Rochester crews were committed to the structure fire, mutual aid companies covering both Rochester stations responded to three additional calls for service within the city.

The fire was investigated by the Rochester Fire Department. The area of origin was determined to be the front porch; however the cause of the fire remains undetermined.

Book of the week: Savage Range by Luke Short

 This week's book is another western novel. Written by an author who called himself "Luke Short" after the famous 19th-century Old West gunfighter. The author's real name was Frederick Dilley Glidden, but Luke Short sounds better. He wrote over 50 classic Western novels and numerous pulp short stories, but the book I read is called "Savage Range" and it's a good novel.

The book is about a man who gets hired to clean out squatters from a huge tract of land, but the man who hired him used him and set him up for a fall, while the hiring guy savagely attacks the squatters and blames the hired hand. It's a good story,and you'll find some twists and turns and colorful characters. At some points you don't know who is right and who is wrong... but you'll figure it out by the end. 4 of 5 stars for me.

ABOUT THE BOOK: A ranch foreman must tame a bunch of cutthroat cowboys—or die trying—in this rowdy, action-packed western from a master storyteller. San Jon may be the sorriest town Jim Wade has ever set foot in. Its dry river, ramshackle buildings, and vicious lawlessness make it the spitting image of hell on earth . . . so Wade feels right at home. He’s used to solving problems with his fists and his gun. Wade’s come to take a job as foreman for a ranching outfit, which he finds in just as bad of shape as the town itself. The killers his employer calls cowboys are the roughest bunch he’s ever seen, and they’ve schemed up an awful plan that could cost Wade his neck. To survive, he’ll have to do what he’s done all his shoot fast and ride hard.

DISCOVERY: Oddly shaped rock' unearthed in California turns out to be 'immaculate' mastodon molar

Here's a cool story about a Mastadon's molar discovered in California!

(Caption: A mastodon tooth buried in a creek bed.Geologists discovered a mastodon tooth while conducting field work in San Mateo County. (Image credit: Balance Hydrologics)

 Oddly shaped rock' unearthed in California turns out to be 'immaculate' mastodon molar 

A field survey in San Mateo County, California, has revealed the fossilized tooth of an adult Pacific mastodon, an ice-age giant that was probably native to the West Coast.

LIVESCIENCE, By Sascha Pare Edited by Laura Geggel, Laura Mondragón, September 11, 2026

An exceptionally well-preserved fossilized molar belonging to an adult Pacific mastodon has surfaced in a nature preserve near San Francisco.

Upon first glance, the ancient tooth looked like an "oddly shaped rock" to geologists who were conducting fieldwork in the area, according to a statement from the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space (Midpen), which runs the preserve. But the find was quickly unmasked as a valuable fossil from the last ice age and was sent to scientists at Stanford University for carbon dating.

"The tooth itself is in immaculate condition," Wayne Thompson, a paleontologist and the CEO of Pacific Paleontology, a consulting firm that carried out a preliminary analysis, said in the statement. "It's the most complete mastodon molar from our area, and the most spectacular mastodon molar that I've ever seen. I had chills and shivers up and down my spine."

Brigid Lynch, a geomorphologist with the California-based hydrology consulting firm Balance Hydrologics, found the molar this summer while surveying a creek bed. "As a geologist, I've gone out and seen stuff in the field, but definitely nothing as exciting as this," Lynch said in the statement.

Lynch's team was working on a habitat enhancement project to support the threatened California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) inside the preserve, which is located on the San Francisco Peninsula in San Mateo County. The fossil was a complete surprise and dates to at least 10,000 years ago, when the Pacific mastodon (Mammut pacificus) is thought to have gone extinct.

(Photo: The "Peale Mastodon" erected in Smithsonian's exhibition galleries. Photo by Ariel O’Connor.

The Pacific mastodon was first recognized as a species in 2019. It was closely related to the American mastodon (Mammut americanum). Both elephant-like creatures lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), but the Pacific mastodon inhabited regions farther west than its cousin, roaming parts of present-day Mexico, California, Oregon and the northern Rocky Mountains of the western U.S., according to the statement.

Climate Change's Effect on almost every aspect of our food system

Climate change is not only affecting sea levels, causing droughts and floods, rising seas, intense heat waves and Arctic air winter outbreaks, but they're adversely affecting food from ocean life to land crops. Learn about what will be affected in today's blog. 

Climate Change Affecting Foods - Food is becoming less nutritious

Sept 6, 2026, LIVE SCIENCE, By Stephanie Pappas Edited by Tia Ghose, Laura Mondragón 

With only a couple of months to go before the harvest season for winter wheat in Colorado, the crop faced a whiplash: After a warm, dry winter, a cold snap plunged the plants into freezing weather for 12 hours, and temperatures soared to nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius) two days later. When the final harvest numbers were tallied in July, 73% of the crops were in poo0r or very poor condition. According to early estimates by Colorado Wheat, 2026's winter wheat crop was the smallest in the state since 1965.

As the planet warms, food crops are expected to become less nutritious. That's because, due to plant biology that's not yet fully understood, crops grown under higher levels of carbon dioxide are deficient in zinc, protein, magnesium, iron and other micronutrients. Crops are already less nutritious than they were in the 1950s, but this is partly due to breeding decisions that prioritize yield over nutrition. The carbon dioxide deficiencies will exacerbate this nutrition decline.

The global monthly average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now over 420 parts per million (ppm), well over the preindustrial average of 280 ppm. By the end of the century, those levels will increase to at least 550 ppm in all but the most optimistic scenarios.

That will mean an additional 175 million people will be zinc deficient and an additional 122 million people will be protein deficient by 2050, a 2018 study found. Zinc deficiency has consequences for immune and skin health and may lead to poor growth in childhood; protein deficiency can also cause stunted growth as well as fatigue, muscle weakness and stress fractures. Those figures account only for the effects of carbon dioxide. A cascade of climate shifts and extreme weather may also affect the number of nutrients (and calories) available to the world.

CROP YIELD REDUCTIONS

Climate shifts that harm pollinators and fuel the spread and introduction of plant pathogens such as harmful fungi will also likely reduce crop yields.

Areas that depend on the ocean for food are also facing steep challenges, due to both ocean acidification and the degradation of coral reef ecosystems, which are sources of food for many coastal communities and form much of the base of food chains for the larger fish people eat.

Image:  A wave of warm water and higher-than-usual sea surfaces (red) stretches across the Pacific, a few days before El Niño was declared. Image credit: Data for the map were acquired by the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite and processed by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin)

WARMER OCEAN TEMPERATURES MEAN MORE HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS

"Increasing sea temperature and increasing sedimentation within seas could lead to harmful algal blooms or increasing food poisoning events from temperature-related food spoilage," Golden said. Algal blooms can contaminate shellfish like oysters or scallops with neurotoxins that can sicken and kill people who eat them. Food spoilage is a concern in regions such as Madagascar, where catches are brought ashore and readied for consumption in the open air.

CHANGES IN COFFEE, WINES, APPLES

On that note, growers in the Pacific Northwest and U.S. Northeast will face challenges getting apples to lunch boxes around the world. Fewer cold days and more extreme-heat days will likely reduce apple yields by affecting how and when trees go dormant and bloom. Because it takes five or more years to establish fruiting trees in new regions, this could mean a reduced apple supply and higher prices.

Today's smooth arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) varieties may get harder to find and more expensive as climate change forces coffee growers out of many of the places they used to farm and droughts reduce supply. Earthier, more bitter robusta coffee beans (Coffea canephora) do better in warming temperatures, but even those beans could struggle with increasing seasonal variability caused by climate change.

Climate has already shifted wines in favor of less-acidic and higher-alcohol varieties, Wolkovich said, but it's happened slowly enough that, unless you're a connoisseur, you may not have noticed. Wine lovers can expect more changes: Wolkovich has found that the varieties of wine grapes that growers can produce will shift with climate change. Wildfires in grape-growing regions like California can also produce an unpleasant acrid and smoky flavor in wine.

3-year college degrees grow more popular in the US, saving time and cash.

I didn't know a 3-year college degree was an option now! As someone who went back to school three different times and got three different degrees, I think being able to consolidate time to get a degree would be awesome. I managed to do that with one of my degrees (because I had all the foundational courses from my previous degree), but I do know that some degrees likely need the required four years (like medical degrees!). Today's blog is about the popularity of a 3-year college degree over the standard 4 year degree.

3-year college degrees grow more popular in the US, saving time and cash 

HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, AP August 24, 2026

Giles Sims, 34, was sick of getting passed over for jobs because he didn’t have a college degree. But with a wife and a widowed mother to help support, he needed a quick solution. So the laid-off web developer turned to one of a growing number of three-year degree programs.

“I can’t afford to be out of the workforce for four years. That just seems like forever, and the three-year made it seem less daunting,” said Sims, a student at Ensign College, a private Salt Lake City school that recently changed all its bachelor’s degrees to require fewer classes than a traditional four-year degree.

The condensed programs have exploded in popularity. As of this spring, 26 U.S. states have a college that offers at least one reduced-credit, three-year bachelor’s, according to the nonprofit research group RAND.

Advocates say these programs are a solution to the college affordability crisis and a godsend for non-traditional students like Sims.

Critics, however, worry that they’ll narrow too much what students learn, confuse employers, limit graduate school options and create headaches in fields that require state licenses.

The American Association of University Professors, for one, says the programs devalue the meaning of a college credential. “This is not innovation. This is just cutting corners,” said Todd Wolfson, AAUP’s president.

For decades, colleges have offered accelerated programs that let students finish faster, often by forgoing long summer breaks, maximizing transfer credits and condensing semester-long courses into shorter, five- to 10-week terms.

But those programs maintained the same course load, measured as credits. The new programs let students finish faster by completing as few as 90 credit hours. That shaves a year off the typical 120-hour bachelor’s degree.

Three-year bachelor’s degrees are common in other countries including the United Kingdom, India, France and Italy. But they can create complications for graduates seeking admission to U.S. graduate schools, which sometimes require extra coursework.

Some of the earliest colleges in colonial America, modeled after English institutions like Oxford and Cambridge, initially had three-year degrees, said John Thelin, the author of “A History of American Higher Education.” By the 19th century, the four-year format had taken hold, partly because there wasn’t an established system of public high schools to prepare students, Thelin said. 

A change in accreditation opened the door to shorter degrees 

The idea of bringing three-year degrees to the U.S. got attention in 2009 when Robert Zemsky, the founding director of the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, argued in a Newsweek cover story that three-year degrees could shake up a broken system.

But there was a roadblock, he recalled recently. “Accreditors said, ‘College is 120 credits, not 90 credits,’” he said.

Years passed. And in 2022, amid mounting concerns about college affordability, Zemsky helped revive the idea. The College-in-3 Exchange was born, and dozens of higher education institutions joined the network to look for ways to help students get degrees faster. 

A Fun Weekend at the Maine Paranormal Conference in Augusta!

 On Sept 12 and 13th, I (Rob) participated in the Maine Paranormal and Horror Conference and teamed up with Monique Toosoon, paranormal drag queen tech whiz and investigator- who is also my co-author on three books!  It was my first time there, and it was a big event! 

Monique and I had a chance to give a 45 minute talk about our "Haunting of" Series of 3 books.  

 The "Haunting Of" series is about true paranormal investigations in the U.S. conducted and led by Monique Toosoon and Rob Gutro with the assistance of other professionals in the paranormal field. The books take you to some of the most haunted places, where they get to know the ghosts intimately, and discover secrets that have been hidden from the world for decades. Each book provides a history of the location with photographs and sometimes sketches Rob makes of ghosts he connects with. Reading this series is like going on the investigation with them.  

Books in the Series include: Haunting of Emery Estate, Haunting of Hunt Memorial Library and Haunting of Wilson Castle (in Mass., NH and VT, respectively). 

MEETING OLD PARANORMAL FRIENDS!

I met some old friends at the Maine Paranormal Conference! Ron and Lourdes of the Digital Séance Experience (TDSE) and Maine medium Christopher Brown!

Ron and Lourdes were a big part of the investigation at Wilson Castle with myself, Monique Toosoon, and Lexi Duquette. Their amazing technology provided the confirmations of the medium impressions (from myself and Lexi) and complemented the findings from Monique's technology- which led to the uncovering of a 100 plus year old family secret that we uncovered!

The Digital Seance Experience, TDSE, is a method of slowing down the speed of white noise and filtering it at the moment of contact to achieve realtime spirit communication. The facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/TheDigitalSeanceExperience/ 

Christopher Brown is an amazing medium based in Maine. We've met on several occasions. He does mediumship readings in  private and group settings. He does  Inspirational speaking. Platform readings and he is a Reiki master/teacher.  His facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/PsychicMediumChristopher/ 

Monique and I met some great people and talked about ghosts, spirits, people and pets!

Some had their own experiences with pet spirits or human ghosts!

(Photo: Enjoying the Maine paranormal and horror convention with my co-author Monique Toosoon decked out in blue. We met this great couple: Aaron (right) and his girlfriend Eddie, in drag as the clown! 

It was a double drag meet up!)

(Photo: Monique looking stunning in her blue dress and blue hair at her table at the conference)

The Maine Horror and Paranormal conference in Augusta, Maine happened on Saturday, Sept. 12th andSunday, Sept. 13th, with 160 vendors, medium and Tarot readings and talks! 

For info about Rob Gutro's books, visit www.robgutro.com.

For info about Monique Toosoon and her events and upcoming investigations, visit www.moniquetoosoon.com

Here are photos of some of the cool people I met!

TOMORROW'S BLOG: Our Spirit dog Sprite sends a sign

that he's with me at the conference.

Idiot of the Week: NH Rep. Spillane Censured by the House for Vile Social Media Posts

 This week's idiot is a New Hampshire Republican (no surprise) who was censured by the New Hampshire legislature for his vile and disgusting posts against a NH Democrat. He's got a history of insults and racists posts, too.  When you read what this idiot wrote, you'll be disgusted, or you should be. Since the orange virus came into power, it seems there is no bottom to the insults.  Yet, this idiot was voted in office by people in New Hampshire.

NH GOP Rep. Spillane Censured by the House for Social Media Posts

By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD — The House in what might be its last action of the 2026 session, censured Rep. James A. Spillane, R-Deerfield, for defamatory and demeaning remarks he made about fellow legislators on his social media (X) account.

The Legislative Ethics Committee filed a report recommending the censure after three lawmakers filed complaints in March with the committee and the House adopted the report and the censure on a 185-93 vote Wednesday.

This was not Spillane’s first involvement with the Ethics Committee.

In its report, the committee charged Spillane with “Making postings on the social media website ‘X’ in which he identified himself as ‘Representative James Spillane,’ with offensive and demeaning comments about other House members.

“More specifically, when Representative (Timothy) Horrigan responded to his posted description of Representative (Democrat Cathryn) Harvey as a ‘liar,’ Representative Spillane referred to Representative Horrigan as ‘retarded,’ commented that his mother had ‘f—-d (middle letters deleted) her cousin,’ and accused him of dropping acid in the 60’s,” according to the special report to the Speaker of the House signed by Legislative Ethics Committee chairman Edward M. Gordon.

The committee charged Spillane with violating ethics guidelines that legislators “shall ensure that government is conducted openly, equitably and honorably in a manner that permits the citizenry to make informed judgments, have confidence in the integrity of the legislature, and hold government officials accountable” and violating a principle of conduct that legislators “shall treat each other, legislative employees, and the public with dignity and respect.”

Rep. Robert Lynn, R-Windham, the House Judiciary Committee Chair and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice, said it is clear Spillane’s conduct “crossed way over the line.”

The facts are not in dispute, he said, noting that Spillane identified himself as a representative and the comments were made in a discussion about a vote on legislation in the House.

Before the committee, Spillane argued his posts on social media were not done in performance of his duties as a member of the legislature so his conduct does not fall within the committee’s jurisdiction. Spillane also argued his comments are protected speech under the federal and New Hampshire constitutions. But Lynn refuted those arguments saying the discussion clearly concerned legislation and legislative activity and was related to House business.

He said a 2022 US Supreme Court unanimous decision in Houston Community College System vs Wilson addresses the free speech issues.

The opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch found Wilson’s First Amendment rights were not violated by his fellow board members’ censure because it did not hinder his ability to exercise his free speech as an elected official, and that boards have long used censure of members and as an act of the board exercising its free speech rights, Lynn explained.

“(Rep. Spillane may have a constitutional right to make a statement and we have a constitutional right to say loudly and clearly it violates our ethics rules,” Lynn said. Not only is Spillane’s standing and reputation at issue, the public standing and the reputation of the House is at issue, he said. “If we fail to condemn the actions of Rep. Spillane,” Lynn said, “what will the public think of us for condoning such behavior?”

No one spoke to defend Spillane’s behavior, but Rep. Gregory Hill, R-Hill, said he believes the punishment should not rise to the level of censure, instead it should be a reprimand or they should remove the word guidelines if they are going to be used for punishment.

The same committee admonished Spillane for an anti-Semitic post on the social media site Parler in 2021, but didn’t take it into account in the finding that was released earlier this month. In that case, Spillane said he didn’t know it was an anti-Semitic meme and apologized.

In 2020, the civil rights unit of the Attorney General’s Office investigated a social media post by Spillane that stated “Public Service Announcement: If you see a (Black Lives Matter) sign on a lawn it’s the same as having the porch light on for Halloween. You’re free to loot and burn that house.” Spillane said at the time he meant that post as “tongue-in-cheek” political commentary and the investigation was suspended with no action taken.

Gordon wrote in the report that it is not uncommon for legislators to disagree over the substance of legislation that may even lead to “unpleasant exchanges at times…”

“But here, Representative Spillane has publicly made extremely offensive assertions about another member, calling him ‘retarded,’ alleging he ‘dropped acid in the 60’s’, and, perhaps most offensively, asserting that his mother engaged in sexual activity with her cousin.

“This is not an acceptable disagreement over a legislative outcome. It is a direct personal attack. It demonstrates a complete lack of respect and absolute lack of concern for the dignity of another Representative. The public postings published by Representative Spillane are clearly defamatory of another member of the legislature, Representative Horrigan. His comments were demeaning and constituted harassment. His conduct cannot be viewed in a manner consistent with the established ethical guidelines established by the General Court.”

The three complaints against Spillane were filed by Reps. Paul S. Berch, D-Westmoreland, Harvey, D-Spofford, and Horrigan, D-Durham.

Heroes of the Week: Two local people save lives in Dover house fire

 Two people driving through a neighborhood in Dover, New Hampshire saw a house on fire, pulled over and got the residents out and to safety. These unnamed people are the heroes of the week.

(Photo: Heavy damage is seen from a fire at 12 Old Rochester Road in Dover Aug. 16, 2026. Credit: Deb Cram/Foster's Daily Democrat) 

Two local heroes credited with saving lives in Dover house fire  

Sarah Donovan, Foster's Daily Democrat , Aug. 17, 2026,

DOVER — The quick actions of two people who encountered a house fire early Sunday morning saved the lives of the residents sleeping inside, the Dover fire chief said.

At 1:34 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, all Dover Fire and Rescue personnel were dispatched to 14 Old Rochester Road for a structure fire, said Dover Fire and Rescue Chief Brendan Driscoll.

"Upon arrival, crews were met with a large volume of fire showing from the front and the side of the building," the chief said.

The chief said the residents of the home were able to escape before firefighters arrived thanks to two people who noticed the fire while driving by. While one called 911, the other jumped out of the car and pounded on the front door to wake the sleeping occupants.

"The actions of the (passersby) saved the lives of the residents in that home," the chief said. "We are extremely thankful and proud of the two who first noticed the fire, notified 911, and worked to alert and assist the residents to safety," Driscoll said.

The chief said he'd like to know the names of the two local heroes so he can thank them personally.

Driscoll said on the scene, one resident was treated for a minor injury, but didn't need transportation to the hospital.

"No other injuries from residents or crews working the fire to report," the fire chief said.

Book of the Week; The Never Game by Jeffrey Deaver (Inspired TV's TRACKER Show)

Every now and then a book will grab you from the beginning, introduce a new character and keep you reading. That's what Jeffrey Deaver's "The Never Game" did to me. Before I read it, I have been a fan of the "Tracker" TV show on CBS, and this book introduced that character, Colter Shaw. 

The TV show sticks to the book, with the exception of gender swapping one character. It's fast-paced, full of twists and turns and I LOVE the SHORT CHAPTERS!  That is my idea of a successful writer. Keep chapter ideas short. This book is over 400 pages and I couldn't put it down. I read it walking the dogs, in grocery stores, as a passenger in the car... it was AWESOME. 5 of 5 stars. -***I had previously read another in the series, but this was the first book in the series. I just ordered another in the series.**

ABOUT THE BOOK: 

"You have been abandoned."

A young woman has gone missing in Silicon Valley and her father has hired Colter Shaw to find her. The son of a survivalist family, Shaw is an expert tracker. Now he makes a living as a "reward seeker," traveling the country to help police solve crimes and private citizens locate missing persons. But what seems a simple investigation quickly thrusts him into the dark heart of America's tech hub and the cutthroat billion-dollar video-gaming industry.

"Escape if you can."

When another victim is kidnapped, the clues point to one video game with a troubled past--The Whispering Man. In that game, the player has to survive after being abandoned in an inhospitable setting with five random objects. Is a madman bringing the game to life?

"Or die with dignity."

Shaw finds himself caught in a cat-and-mouse game, risking his own life to save the victims even as he pursues the kidnapper across both Silicon Valley and the dark 'net. Encountering eccentric game designers, trigger-happy gamers and ruthless tech titans, he soon learns that he isn't the only one on the hunt: someone is on his trail and closing fast.

*****************************

A New York Times Book Review Top 10 Crime Novel of the Year

From the bestselling and award-winning master of suspense, the first novel in a thrilling new series, introducing Colter Shaw.

Discovery: Hoard of 15th Century silver coins unearthed near Moscow

Today's blog is about the discovery of a wealth of medieval coins. Found on outskirts of Moscow, 2,600 silver coins may have been buried by a medieval plague victim.

(Photo: Archaeologists discovered a hoard of silver coins containing several rare 15th-century bird-in-flight coins near Moscow. (Image credit: Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences))

2,600 silver coins found may have been buried by a medieval plague victim

LIVESCIENCE, By Kristina Killgrove Edited by James Price, Tia Ghose, August 29, 2026

Archaeologists in Russia have unearthed a medieval hoard of 2,600 silver coins, including more than 350 coins of a type never seen before. The hoard may have been buried by a nobleman who later fell victim to a plague.

The coins were found in an elegant ceramic jug, according to an Aug. 26 translated statement from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The jug was buried in a pit in what is now the historic center of Kolomna, a city about 71 miles (114 kilometers) southeast of the city of Moscow. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Kolomna was the second-most-important city in the region.

Most of the silver coins are a type called a denga. Dengi were first minted in the late 14th century by the Grand Principality of Moscow, a late medieval Russian monarchy. Each denga was worth half a kopek, and there were 100 kopeks to a ruble. The coin hoard is dominated by coins minted in Kolomna under Vasily I (who reigned from 1389 to 1425) and Vasily II (who reigned from 1425 to 1462), according to the statement. These rulers were both grand princes of Moscow, as the city and its wider region were part of an independent principality at the time.

One of the most interesting coin types is an extremely rare denga that features a bird in flight, which was produced during the final years of the reign of Vasily I, according to the statement. Additionally, more than 350 of the coins are previously unknown varieties minted in Kolomna, which experts are now studying.

The person who buried the Kolomna hoard was likely a wealthy, high-status person, such as a high-ranking government official or an extremely successful merchant, according to the statement.

While it is unclear why the hoard was buried, experts think the date of the coins provides an important clue. The most recent coins were minted in the second half of the 1420s, according to the statement. This suggests that the hoard's owner could have fallen victim to a plague epidemic that swept through Russian principalities from 1424 to 1427.

What ghosts in my travels taught me about Hauntings

Today's blog focuses on something I learned from ghosts I encountered while on vacation in Ireland. 

My series called Ghosts on a Medium's Vacation is about History and Hauntings! Places I vacationed and met ghosts who revealed their lives and the history over hundreds of years were in places like Ireland, England and the Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona (by Rob Gutro). In today’s blog I’ll share an important point they taught me about haunting a certain place.

What ghosts in my travels taught me about Hauntings

Earthbound ghosts are the ones who stayed behind in a place they lived or died. People who cross over to the other side or heaven, if you will, are those I call spirits. All of the dead people I “met” in Ireland in these places are Earthbound ghosts.

What they taught me is that there is a lot more history behind the facades of a structure and that someone did not have to die in the current structure to haunt it.

As a medium, I’m not surprised that I run into ghosts in historic buildings, but I do get surprised when I encounter them in newer structures, like the Corbett Court Shopping Mall in downtown Galway, Ireland. I wrote about that story in "Chapter 17: Unexpected Ghosts in a Shopping Mall," in my book "Ghosts of Ireland on a Medium's Vacation." But here's a peek at what I experienced.

Before we met our tour guide in Galway, we decided to walk through a multi-level shopping mall to do some window shopping. The mall entrance was on ground level, and it had a basement level, filled with about 40 stores.

I became aware that we were in the presence of a couple of ghosts who lingered within the mall, and that they suffered traumatic deaths. Those ghosts lingered around the entrance that led to the main street. Some of the ghosts conveyed that something happened there and they were trapped and died there, but there was no indication of any disaster in the mall.

When I returned home from vacation, I did some searching on the Internet. I learned who the ghosts where and why they conveyed those feelings of fear to me... and that their deaths were not in the Mall as it exists today. You can read the entire story in the book "Ghosts of Ireland on a Medium's Vacation" and learn what happened.

It’s important to tell the stories of these ghosts, share their experiences and inform others so the same fate does not befall anyone else.

GET THE BOOKS (paperback, audiobook, E-book): https://a.co/d/0bWqBnmi

4 Weather and Passing Connections in my life as a Meteorologist

As a meteorologist and a medium I bring two different worlds together - Science and the afterlife. One thing that I find specifically connected to me is weather and signs from people who pass. It's NOT a coincidence. There's no such thing as a coincidence when it comes to spirits. Such has been the case of three tropical cyclones going all the way back to 2008, which is especially fitting, because my area of meteorology was tropical cyclones (before I retired). There have been four incidents and the first one happened years ago when my dad passed.

As a meteorologist, I know that the WMO, World Meteorological Organization maintains and updates the official rotating lists used to name tropical cyclones and hurricanes worldwide. In the Atlantic Ocean, there are six years' of lists that get recycled, unless a storm name is retired (causing too much damage or deaths). The name Dolly has been on the list for a long time. But it came up again this year... it was on the one of six lists.

Dolly Parton passed on August 25, 2026. I met her once and told her she taught me how to be a better person, and inspired my outlook on life. She was a mentor and guide for me on how to live my life. I learned optimism, hope, kindness, acceptance and love from her. I learned how to appreciate the simple things in life, from a sunrise to a hot cup of coffee, or a dog's cuddle. On August 27, 2026, I was not surprised about Tropical Storm Dolly formed during the week of her passing.

What's even more is that my friend Christopher in Maryland passed July 31st, and Tropical Storm Cristobal (the Spanish name for Christopher) formed just after his passing this year. Tropical Storm Cristobal was active from August 12 to August 13, 2026.The short-lived storm formed in the central subtropical North Atlantic on August 12 as the third named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. It reached peak winds of 45 mph before dissipating quickly without threatening any land.

In 2020, my dog Dolly (named for Dolly Parton) passed in October. Because the hurricane list is a 6 year list, her tropical namesake was also on the list of storms that year. Tropical Storm Dolly in 2020 formed on June 23 and dissipated by June 24, 2020.

In 2008, my dad, Edward, passed in August. In August of that year, during the week my dad passed, Tropical Storm Edouard (the Spanish name for Edward) formed in the Gulf of Mexico.  By August 6, 2008, Tropical Storm Edouard had come ashore in Texas. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of the storm at 2:17 p.m. local time (19:17 UTC) on August 5 as the satellite passed over the Gulf of Mexico and southwestern United States.

When it comes to spirits, there's no such thing as a coincidence. And when it connects with living people, that's even more proof.