OVER THE past 20 years, many young professionals have helped to make the Granite State a great place to live, work and raise a family.

WHEN I work out, I usually listen to music on my headphones, cranking it up loud enough to drown out the junk the gym pipes in through the ceiling speakers.

MANCHESTER’S population has grown more diverse in recent years, with minorities now representing 15% of the population.

IN MID-MARCH as the coronavirus outbreak was forcing nonprofits to postpone public gatherings, Boys & Girls Club CEO Diane Fitzpatrick was focused on when the Manchester club could reschedule its Foundation of Friends breakfast, which it usually holds in April at the DoubleTree Hotel.

ON AN unseasonably warm Christmas Day in 1971 — the Old Farmer’s Almanac says it hit 46 degrees — Santa Claus arrived at our Manchester home, bringing toys and a generous heart at a time when our family was in desperate need.

VISITORS to the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport can amuse themselves while waiting for their luggage by experiencing the work of New Hampshire artists.

THE LOGISTICS of delivering millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines around the country could require as much precision as it did to develop them.

WHILE GOING VIRTUAL might be a temporary measure for nonprofits while COVID-19 curtails public events, it’s the path forward for the New Hampshire Tech Alliance.

I SPENT part of Veterans Day talking to a group of retired people about journalism and the Union Leader. While I’ve used online conferencing tools regularly since the beginning of the pandemic, I had yet to serve as a speaker on a video call.

WITH grocery stores experiencing record traffic during the pandemic, there’s been increased demand for staples like cat litter, hummus, salad dressing and barbecue sauce.

WE’VE had plenty to be angry about this year.

HEAVY DEMAND during the pandemic inspired a Pittsfield pizza maker to finally add delivery.

The Unity Cafe is tranquil at 10 a.m., the midway point between the morning rush and the lunch crowd, such as it is these days.

LIKE all businesses, McLane Middleton has had to adapt to the pandemic. Many attorneys work from home rather than at the law firm’s offices, which include its headquarters on the 10th floor at 900 Elm St.

AS HOSPITALS continue to struggle with losses in the tens of millions, outpatient providers like Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Care Center are beginning to see steady patient traffic.

NEIL LEVESQUE knows more than anyone what could lie ahead for President Trump and the First Lady.

LAST WEEK, a liberal freshman congressman kicked off a webinar for a conservative think tank.

Salespeople know some deals take a long time to close. A commercial real estate broker in Denver once told me he courted an office tower tenant for 18 years.

BEFORE the pandemic cleared out business parks and schools, and every home sprouted an office, few of us had ever heard of Zoom.

OVER the five years Sam Asano wrote “Let’s Invent” for the Union Leader, he almost always delivered his columns on time.

PEAK CORPORATE COUNSEL has locations in Manchester and the Boston area, but what the law firm pays for office space every month is about enough to cover a deluxe hotel room for a single night.

Geno Miller’s escape from the dangers of inner city life outside Washington, D.C., was a football scholarship to the University of New Hampshire.

On my way home from work Tuesday, I stopped at the Hannaford on Hanover Street just in time to watch several fire trucks respond to an alarm at East Side Plaza, which suffered a power outage during the early evening storm.

Chris Duhaime planned for the worst case scenario before he launched his new business.

RICK BARON had just launched his plumbing and HVAC business when COVID-19 reached New Hampshire, and then things got quiet.

COVERING your face with a mask before you mix in public is rapidly becoming as commonplace as strapping on a seatbelt before you turn the key in the ignition.

THE FOURTH OF JULY weekend is the apex of the summer season. Barbecues. Beaches. Fireworks.

DEAN KAMEN invented a portable dialysis machine, a stair-climbing wheelchair, a bionic arm and a water purification device.

A PANDEMIC robs lobbyists of their greatest weapon: personal contact.

COMEBACK? What comeback?