Archives

The blue fin tuna is often described as the most exciting sport fish any fishermen can ever hope to catch. In New Hampshire alone, an estimated 200-to-300 fishermen hold tuna licenses. About one hundred of those licenses belong to commercial fishermen. For them, the blue fin tuna represents an increasingly critical component of a highly regulated industry.
But fisherman here on the Eastern Seaboard must contend with very tight quota restrictions. They say the restrictions benefit not the species ? but the fishermen?s competitors on the other side of the Atlantic.
New Hampshire Public Radio?s Doug MacPherson reports.

The National Review Board criticized Catholic bishops for failing to stop widespread clergy sex abuse over the past five decades. The watchdog panel of prominent lay leaders said the bishops? failure to stop the abuse was ?shameful to the church?. Catholic activists in New Hampshire say they?re still worried that the leadership of the Manchester Diocese isn?t taking responsibility for its role. New Hampshire Public Radio?s Raquel Maria Dillon reports.

A common 19th century disease thought to have been nearly eradicated, poses a new threat to Maine.
State health officials say they are struggling to get the resources they need to combat tuberculosis before it becomes a full-blown epidemic.
And the clock is ticking.
State health officials say only with an infusion of state money will they be able to expand efforts begun in Portland where the first outbreak of T.B. in fifteen years has been contained.
Maine Public RAdio's Jeanne Baron reports.

New Hampshire's prison system has faced increased pressure this past year.

Budget cuts have stripped away many of the prison's programs designed to treat inmates and help them move back into society.

One commission has suggested the prisons be run privately, and the governor is reportedly looking into shipping prisoners to other facilities out of state.

But in all the scrutiny of the department of corrections, one facility has escaped the spotlight...the women's prison in Goffstown.

In 1992 a federal court ordered the state to provide female inmates with programs and services on parity with those of male inmates.

But as New Hampshire public radio's Dan Gorenstein reports, more than a decade later, the state hasn't been living up to its responsibility.

Despite the popular jokes that equate lawyers with greed, in any given year, about a third of New Hampshire’s lawyers offer free legal services to the poor. They help with housing disputes, wills, workplace injuries and other civil matters. The program that links volunteer lawyers with people in need was set up about 30 years ago by a lawyer named Mike Hall.

Recently, the state bar association recognized Hall’s long standing efforts to make free legal assistance more available.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jon Greenberg has more.