Author
For youngest students and their teachers, ‘back to normal’ carries big challenges
Charlene Kurtz has weathered it all since COVID-19 hit – from screens to schedule changes. A year ago, the Manchester kindergarten and first-grade teacher wasn’t sure how she would teach core concepts to 7-year-olds over a camera and a computer. These days, she feels like she’s mastered it. “I’ll be honest: Almost all of my […]
How school lunch leftovers could help in hunger fight
New Hampshire lawmakers are hoping to tackle a persistent problem in the state’s schools: leftover school lunch food that goes to waste. House Bill 500 would allow schools to team up with nonprofit programs to redistribute leftovers. Under the law, schools could repackage perishable meals into frozen meals and send them home on Fridays for […]
Court nominee Conway withdraws her name
Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway has withdrawn her name from consideration to serve as a superior court judge, Gov. Chris Sununu announced Wednesday, a day after at least two executive councilors had raised objections. In brief remarks to the Executive Council Wednesday morning, Sununu said he had received a call from Conway. “I’ll note that […]
Some schools struggle to meet mandate on in-person learning
When Seacoast Charter School in Portsmouth opened its doors for the school year last fall, there was little in the way of hard guidelines from the state. So the district designed its own plan. The school divided its students into “cohorts.” Cohort A would come into school for in-person learning on Monday and Tuesday and […]
Voting record of superior court nominee Conway under scrutiny
The state Attorney General’s Office has been asked to investigate whether a superior court judicial nominee lived in one town and voted in another in 2008. At a confirmation hearing last week, Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway said she voted in Atkinson in 2008 while helping her elderly father to the polls. At that time, […]
Agreement reached on law to release ‘Laurie List’ on police misconduct
This story was updated April 17, 2021 at 10:30 a.m. Police unions, New Hampshire newspapers, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office say they have reached an agreement on a way to release the state’s “Laurie List” – a list compiled over decades of police officers with credible complaints of […]
State’s mayors seek restoration of revenue sharing
New Hampshire’s 13 mayors are turning to the Senate for an ambitious ask: a boost in municipal aid in the budget. In a letter sent Wednesday to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Gary Daniels, mayors from Claremont to Rochester urged Senate budget writers to restore revenue sharing to cities and towns – a once-standard budgeting approach […]
Budget dispute: House Finance chairman issues ultimatum to Senate colleagues
A week after passing New Hampshire’s two-year budget onto the Senate, one prominent House Republican is urging his Senate colleagues to keep some of its most controversial items in place – or risk defeat on the House floor. In an email Wednesday, House Finance Chairman Ken Weyler urged the Senate Finance Committee to keep a […]
Seventy-three bills killed after House crashes against mid-session deadline
Seventy-three bills failed to get a vote in the New Hampshire House after lawmakers missed a key deadline Friday, angering Democrats who accused House Speaker Sherman Packard of setting up the schedule to fail. In one fell swoop, as the House session came to a close Friday, bills ranging from voting to criminal justice died […]
Merrimack Republican Boyd wins House seat
Republican Bill Boyd captured one of the New Hampshire House’s 400 seats Tuesday evening, beating back a high-intensity Democratic challenge to succeed the late Republican Speaker Dick Hinch. In a 2,531 to 2,144 vote, Boyd prevailed against Democrat Wendy Thomas to win one of eight House seats in Merrimack. The town held a special election […]
Progress uneven as lawmakers work toward policing reform
Joseph Lascaze didn’t need to sit on a commission to become acquainted with racial discrimination in New Hampshire policing. The reality came to him uninvited. Last year, the smart justice organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire bought a white Mercedes. Since then, Lascaze, who is Black, has been pulled over at […]