NH News

After the passage of a new state budget that put restrictions on teaching and trainings on topics like structural racism and sexism, more than half the members of Gov. Chris Sununu's Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion announced their resignations Tuesday. Dr. Dottie Morris, former vice chair of the council, spoke with All Things Considered host Peter Biello about her decision to step down, and what this means for the future of New Hampshire.

Allie Harrop, 9, is getting a COVID-19 test at Memorial Hospital in North Conway. Though the process is a little uncomfortable, she says it's totally worth it because she needs one to go to summer camp this year. She couldn't go in 2020 because of the pandemic. “I'm supposed to get tested, so that I'm not bringing COVID to the other kids,” she says. (For reference: Her favorite activities include high ropes and swimming.)

Since she was 19, Sherry Pratt easily hopped from one job to the next. She's worked in marketing and printing, and her flexibility is a point of pride. Now 47, her career, she says, “was a part of who I was.” She recalls how people looked to her “as that professional if they had a question on layout, design, printing or marketing.”

Nearly 10 percent of restaurants across the country have permanently closed in the past year. Owners and staff faced many challenges: initial shut-downs last spring, limited capacity for indoor-seating, and figuring out how to survive through take-out and delivery.

A North Country-based group found a new way to get people outside and support their work. Summits in Solidarity put together a hiking initiative to raise money for two social justice organizations . Leaders from the two groups, the Cowasuck band of the Pennacook Abenaki people and NH PANTHER, talked with NHPR about their missions and what the funds will do to support their work in BIPOC communities.

Nadia Reguig first found her way to Star Island in 2013, when she spent the summer working as a snack bar attendant and making friends with fellow employees. She quickly fell in love with the place and has returned nearly every year.

For Valyria Lewis, the music didn't go away when she wasn't able to perform in public during the pandemic. She's always sat at her piano to sing, practice and play. “Being on stage is great and having the light and the energy from the audience is awesome,” said Lewis, who goes by Miss Vee when she's onstage. “But sitting at my piano at home is just as great.”

Much of the debate in the waning days of the state budget negotiations has focused on a handful of non-spending questions. At the fore are two in particular: abortion rights and systemic racism. The budget isn't on Gov. Chris Sununu's desk yet, but his position on both those issues can be hard to pin down. And they're ones that are sure to figure in his political future.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on women. The demands of their homes, their heath and safety and their financial wellbeing have taken a tremendous toll. NHPR's new series, Overtime , will explore how women have been getting through the pandemic and how they're moving forward as the pandemic fades.

Legislation that would determine how the topics of racism and sexism are talked about in publicly funded entities, like schools or businesses with government contracts, is still on the table in New Hampshire. The proposed legislation started as House Bill 544 , the so-called “divisive concepts” bill. Some schools, business owners and other community groups have rebuked that legislation. All Things Considered host Peter Biello talked with Manchester business owner and community advocate Deo Mwano to talk about the implications of the bill on business and education in New Hampshire. Below is a transcript of their conversation. Peter Biello: Legislation to police how publicly funded entities, including schools, teach about race and sex has been moving forward in New Hampshire. Versions have appeared in budget proposals put forth by both the House and the Senate, and it first came to public attention as House Bill 544, the so-called "divisive concepts" legislation. The proposals have

N.H. House Majority Leader Jason Osborne doesn't often take to the House floor. But when he does, he tends to stress a basic bottom line: unity among his caucus members.

The debate over so-called "divisive concepts" has been a large focus of the state budget process this year. The New Hampshire Senate passed their version of the budget last week, which includes language allowing for public employees to opt out of any training that suggests race or sex could make someone inherently oppressive or oppressed, even unconsciously. It also lays the ground for lawsuits against school districts that don't comply.

Dating became particularly complicated during the pandemic. Now that it's safer to date in person, people, like Angi Francesco, are starting to get back out there — for the first time, again. Angi Francesco, on her first date since the pandemic started: " I actually had a first date on Friday. It was funny because it's someone I've sort of known, but we've never really hung out or spent time on our own together. We tried out a new restaurant, and it was my first time in a restaurant in some 446 days. It was overwhelming and wild, but at the same time, I was trying to remember how to do everything — being on a date again and being in an environment where you're “on” all the time. We're so used to Zoom and being able to put yourself on mute or hide your picture, and you can't do that in real life. It's a different way to go back to things, and it was nice. I ended up getting a first kiss for the first time in a very long time. Before you go on a first date, just remember your values,

Four Dartmouth College students have died this school year. Three were freshmen and at least two of them died by suicide. Another student died of non-COVID related medical causes.

The New Hampshire Senate votes Thursday on its version of the next two-year state budget. Here's an overview of what's in it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown business operations across the state for a loop. It has also exacerbated long standing inequality. Both have come to a head at one dental center in Tamworth. Even a mask couldn’t hide how swollen Jennifer Hill’s face was. Two of her teeth were throbbing. “I haven’t eaten since Friday,” she said “And even that was minimal.” It was clear talking hurt, too. Pain, she explained, comes “anytime your tongue moves in your mouth.” But Hill had something she wanted to make very clear that day: “If you're poor you don’t deserve to have teeth,” she said. Hill works as a licensed nursing assistant in home health care. She said she can’t afford routine cleanings on her own, making $25,000-30,000 a year with a family to care for. Hill blames the state’s Medicaid program, which for most adults only covers emergency care, but doesn’t pay for preventative treatment like routine checkups. Hill put it simply: “They will pull ‘em, they won’t fix ‘em, and they don’t do

As lawmakers across the country -- including here in New Hampshire -- debate how racism and sexism are taught in schools, schools themselves are grappling with race related conflict among students. Paulette Fitzgerald, the principal of Rundlett Middle School in Concord, recently sent a note to parents about an uptick in such conflicts in her school.

There are only a few occasions when someone needs to rent a tuxedo, and most of those special events — proms and weddings — were cancelled last year. For the stores that rent tuxedos and formal wear, that was financially crushing. But now, those shops are getting back in the business of making teenagers look presentable — for the first time, again.

It's been a busy week in the State House, and in the state Senate in particular. Lawmakers there are working to finalize their proposal for the next two-year state budget. They also met earlier Thursday, where they passed a number of conservative priorities, on topics ranging from abortion to gun rights to vaccines, setting the stage for a potentially contentious wrap up to the legislative session.

COVID-19 cases are at their lowest level in months in New Hampshire, and more than half of the state's adult population has now received at least a first dose of vaccination. While the pandemic is certainly not over, the signs are good. So where are we now in the pandemic, and what do things look like as we head into summer?

In New Hampshire right now, there are more than 5,000 fewer restaurant workers than there were before the pandemic. Will they all come back?

After Memorial Day, New Hampshire's large state-run vaccination sites will stop administering the COVID-19 vaccine as those state-run sites phase out. Vaccine administration is shifting further into traditional health care settings like primary care providers. All Things Considered Host Peter Biello spoke with NHPR's Health & Equity Reporter Alli Fam to talk about how that transition is going.

It wasn't just the big milestones – weddings, birthdays, graduations - that the pandemic put on hold. It was also the smaller rituals: Katie Paine, of Durham, told us what it was like to resume a nearly 20 year tradition of gathering for Sunday breakfast and conversations with friends this weekend for the first time, again.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely limited the kind of contact incarcerated people have with the outside world. Courts have gone remote, in-person visits have slowed, and communication has become largely virtual throughout the criminal justice system.

$1.5 billion in federal money will flow to New Hampshire under the federal coronavirus recovery plan championed by President Biden and passed by Congressional Democrats. The money comes in the middle of budget season in the New Hampshire State House, where Republican lawmakers and Gov. Chris Sununu hold all the cards.

Earlier this week, New Hampshire’s Supreme Court ruled that boarding people with mental health crises in the emergency room is a violation of their due process, and the state’s first post-election audit in recent history is underway in Windham. We talk about these news stories and much more. Air date: Friday, May 14, 2021.

After baseball canceled the minor league season last year due to COVID-19, the Fisher Cats are back in action in Manchester this week. Tyler Murray is the broadcast voice of the Fisher Cats. He’s been looking forward to calling the play-by-play, for the first time, again.

In a major victory for mental health advocates, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued an opinion Tuesday that found the government is violating the due process rights of people in mental health crises as they await treatment in the state. The case involved a woman identified only as Jane Doe, who argued the state failed to provide her with a court hearing to challenge her confinement within three days, as required by law.

As more police agencies across the country adopt the use of body-worn cameras, and as the footage becomes more and more important in conversations over race and policing in America, police reform advocates in New Hampshire are pushing to expand the use of cameras among local agencies.

As the warm weather continues, New Hampshire is preparing for its second summer in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. But state tourism officials say they're optimistic that this summer will be better - and safer - than last year.

At the start of December of last year, there were no known cases of COVID-19 among the men incarcerated at the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility in Berlin. By Christmas, there were 84. The state Department of Corrections says it can’t pinpoint how the virus got in. But now, a group of more than 40 inmates have signed a petition blaming the state Department of Corrections.

Overall, the 2020 election went smoothly in New Hampshire — but there’s still one lingering question that hasn’t been answered: What happened with the vote totals in Windham’s state representative race? After a recount, an appeal to the Ballot Law Commission and months of discussions about who should investigate the issue, the state is one step closer to answering this question through its first post-election audit in recent memory — perhaps ever.

The Brentwood Newsletter was founded in 1977 to fix a problem: people in town weren’t getting along. “Town meetings were kind of well known for being a bit of shouting affairs,” remembers Linda Rousseau.

New Hampshire lawmakers are considering a program to expand school choice for thousands of K-12 students. It’s called an Education Savings Account, and it would give taxpayer dollars to families to pay for tuition at private and parochial schools, or other options. If passed, it would be one of the most sweeping programs of its kind in the country. Here’s what you need to know about it.

The pandemic has left its mark on artists and art organizations throughout New Hampshire. And all this week, we're talking with artists about how difficult the year has been and how it's impacted them and their organizations in a series we're calling The Show Goes On . For the New London Barn Playhouse , COVID-19 meant curtains for all performances last year. This year, the 89th season will be the second in a row with no performances inside the 200-year-old barn. But the show will go on in a new venue.

The state has managed two mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics in recent weeks at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, a site all about efficiency and scale. But there are sectors of the population that are much harder to reach. That includes many homebound residents.

A year ago, New Hampshire schools shut down for what many thought would just be three weeks. Now, schools across the state are reopening fully. NHPR's Sarah Gibson visited Deerfield Community School, where teachers and students have been spending a lot of the pandemic outside. And as they return, many are hoping that doesn’t change.

New Hampshire continues its efforts to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to residents. Residents 50 and older became eligible for shots just this week. But the virus continues to spread across the state. NHPR's Health and Equity reporter Alli Fam has been tracking the latest numbers. She spoke with Morning Edition host Rick Ganley about where things stand for the state.

More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, doctors and researchers are still trying to learn more about patients who have become known as "long haulers" for continuing to experience health effects long after first showing symptoms. All Things Considered host Peter Biello spoke with Dr. Jeffrey Parsonnet, an infectious disease physician at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, about what the medical community knows about long-term impacts of COVID-19. Parsonnet is also Associate Professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine.

A dispute centering on the legal rights of those held against their will because of alleged psychiatric concerns will go before the justices of New Hampshire Supreme Court Thursday.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has declined to issue a definitive order on a case about school funding, instead sending it back to a lower court for a full trial. The unanimous opinion issued Tuesday avoids an immediate overhaul of the state’s education funding model, which currently sends “adequacy aid" to school districts at a rate of about $4,500 per pupil.

The New Hampshire Senate passed a bill last week based on recommendations from Gov. Sununu's commission on police accountability and transparency. The governor created the so-called LEACT commission last summer in response to the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolice Police. But Senate members voted in favor of an amendment that eliminated key parts of the bill, and police reform advocates say the changes effectively gut the bill.

Tensions have been high in the New Hampshire House of Representatives this legislative session, between lawmakers of opposing parties and between lawmakers and members of the public. NHPR's Morning Edition host Rick Ganley spoke with Speaker of the House Sherman Packard about how he's handling these tensions among representatives.

The latest round of stimulus checks from the federal government are on their way to many Americans. It's the third round of direct payments since the pandemic began, and for many people, they couldn’t arrive soon enough. We asked NHPR listeners how they plan to use the money, and received a variety of responses.

A bill in the New Hampshire State House that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver’s license faces an uphill battle this year. Immigration advocates say the legislation is key to improving relationships they’ve been building with police chiefs across the state’s Southern tier.

John Formella, Gov. Chris Sununu’s pick to become New Hampshire’s next attorney general, will have a hearing before the Executive Council Thursday. In some ways, that hearing will be the biggest stage the 34-year old lawyer has ever occupied.

Last week, in his first prime time address, President Joe Biden condemned "vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated." Reports of such attacks have become more common since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, which former President Trump often blamed on China.

The Exchange presents a special broadcast of Writers on a New England Stage with economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.

The iconic Cascade Waterslide near the center of Hampton Beach is being taken down after more than 35 years.

Some of the first teachers in the state received their COVID-19 vaccine shots Friday, as New Hampshire eyes fully reopening more schools. NHPR Education Reporter Sarah Gibson visited one of the vaccination sites in Dover to get a better look at the process. She joins NHPR's Ed Brouder to discuss where the state is now at and what is next in the vaccine scheduling process.

President Joe Biden signed an almost $2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill on Thursday. Now, what does that mean for New Hampshire? Morning Edition host Rick Ganley spoke with Phil Sletten, a senior policy analyst with the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, about how this relief money will have an effect on the state.