News
NH Supreme Court rules in state’s favor on federal unemployment benefits lawsuit
The state did not violate the law when it ended pandemic unemployment benefits ahead of the federal deadline, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The state was one of at least 15 to be sued after ending federal unemployment benefits in June 2021, two months before the program was to end. The four people who […]
Marriage equality bill heads to Biden’s desk following bipartisan U.S. House vote
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill Thursday that would ensure same-sex and interracial couples continue holding many of the rights they have now, should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the cases that established those constitutional protections. The measure now heads to the desk of President Joe Biden, who plans to […]
Future of U.S. election law at stake as Supreme Court hears North Carolina case
WASHINGTON – North Carolina Republicans appeared to have at least three of the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative justices on their side Wednesday in a case that could determine the future of elections nationwide, and leave decisions about federal elections in the hands of state legislatures and beyond the reach of state courts. The Supreme Court […]
Laconia officials deny leading selection of developer, contradicting governor and commissioner
Laconia city officials disputed statements Wednesday from the governor and a state commissioner that they led the choice of a proposed buyer for the former Laconia State School who has no experience developing the kind of massive planned village she’s promising to create on the 220-acre site. And the head of a commission that has […]
Lawmakers elect Packard as House speaker, Scanlan as secretary of state
Rep. Amanda Toll, a Keene Democrat, sat nursing her one-week-old baby as a roll call vote that normally takes 30 seconds stretched on for nearly 30 minutes. Members of the New Hampshire House voted the old-fashioned way during “Organization Day” Wednesday, foregoing electronic voting as each of the 380 House members still present instead cast […]
‘Worth the wait’: U.S. Senate Democrats celebrate a 51-seat majority with Georgia win
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer jubilantly announced Wednesday that the Georgia runoff election victory will next year end an evenly divided U.S. Senate, giving Democrats more subpoena power in committees and a quicker turnaround in approving federal and judicial appointments. Schumer, a New York Democrat, congratulated Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock for […]
Congress on track to scrap Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in defense bill
WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. military would no longer be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine under a proposal Congress could pass as soon as this week. The provision eliminating the vaccine mandate is tucked into the massive National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense policy bill that Congress has passed each year for […]
Executive Council gives Jasper another term leading Department of Agriculture
With two members citing serious concerns, the Executive Council voted 3-1 to give Shawn Jasper another five-year term as commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Farms Wednesday. In a second vote, the council unanimously confirmed Lori Weaver, assistant commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services, to fill out the term […]
Energy costs could keep climbing amid ongoing market volatility
A tanker full of liquefied natural gas heads to New England’s largest electricity generator. Then, it abruptly changes course, abandoning its North American contract for a higher bidder in Europe. Scenarios like this are driving up energy costs across New England, experts warn. And that makes it nearly impossible to predict just how expensive electricity […]
Laconia officials raise concerns about developer ahead of Executive Council meeting
Additional concerns arose Tuesday about a Manchester woman with no large-scale property development experience who’s been chosen by the state to buy the former 220-acre Laconia State School and turn it into a massive housing and tourism campus. The concerns come a day before the state Department of Administrative Services is to ask the Executive […]
In secretary of state election, a contest between experience and reform
When New Hampshire lawmakers meet in Concord on Wednesday, they’ll be encountering two anomalies: The first meeting of the most closely divided House in modern history, and the first secretary of state election in 46 years where Bill Gardner is not in the running. Gardner retired in January and appointed his longtime deputy secretary, Dave […]
Buyer’s ambitious plans for Lakes Region site surpass her prior projects – by far
The Manchester developer chosen by the state to turn the 220-acre former Laconia State School into a massive housing, entertainment, commercial, and medical services campus has never completed a project nearly as large, she said Monday. Her biggest project in New Hampshire, a mixed-use property in Manchester, is three years behind schedule and the subject […]