Alexander LaCasse

Award-winning journalist. Relentless truth-teller. 

Measuring the carbon footprint of browsing cookies

Advertising technology is the main revenue stream forming the economic connective tissue of the internet. But as the world struggles to transition from fossil fuels to create energy, what that energy powers is drawing more and more scrutiny. This reality led Barcelona artist and digital researcher Joana Moll to ask: What is the carbon footprint from the advertising and cookie tracking infrastructure?

ACLU-NH argues it shouldn't be a crime to criticize Exeter police

BOSTON — The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire has returned to court, fighting for Exeter resident Robert Frese's right to say the town's former police chief "covered up for a dirty cop" without fear of criminal penalties. ACLU-NH is challenging the constitutionality of New Hampshire’s criminal defamation law, presenting oral arguments Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Exeter man, ACLU-NH fight to overturn state's criminal defamation law

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire is appealing a federal court judge’s decision to dismiss its lawsuit seeking to strike down the state’s criminal defamation law as unconstitutional. The ACLU filed the appeal last week in the U.S. First Court of Appeals in Boston, Massachusetts on behalf of Robert Frese, an Exeter man who was arrested on the charge after criticizing the town’s police chief.

COVID-19: Remembering the week the world shut down

COVID-19: Remembering the week the world shut down On March 11, 2020, I settled in to watch the NBA's Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder. Just before tipoff, a trainer sprinted onto the floor to alert the ref that Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for coronavirus and that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had ordered the game canceled. I’ll never forget the looks of panic and bewilderment on the faces of ESPN’s SportsCenter anchors that night. ***(Contact directly for login at alexlacassenh@gmail.com)

Tammy Belanger’s 1984 disappearance still haunts region

On Nov. 13, 1984, an 8-year-old girl walked from her home on her way to Exeter’s Lincoln Street School on a cloudy autumn morning. She never arrived and she remains missing to this day. November marked 35 years since the disappearance of Tammy Belanger. Interviews with investigators and those who recall the fear her abduction spread across the Seacoast say the unsolved case still casts a dark cloud over Exeter.

ACLU sues on behalf of critic of Exeter police

CONCORD — The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court, challenging the state’s criminal defamation of character statute, arguing it is unconstitutional, following the arrest in May of an Exeter man who was charged with violating the law. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Robert Frese, 63, who was arrested in May after he posted online comments critical of Exeter Police Chief William Shupe.

'Dear Friend': Gandhi's letters to Hitler

While he wasn't leading India's independence movement, Gandhi sought to be a peacemaker on the international stage. In 1939 and 1940, Gandhi, who was known as "Mahatma," or "Great Soul," sought to stave off World War II with two letters to Adolf Hitler. According to the Gandhi website MKGandhi.org, the first letter was written in late July 1939. It is a brief note where Gandhi conceded that Hitler was the one man in the world who could choose to avert war.