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Within the next few days the Department of Defense will announce whether the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard will be placed on a list to close.

Locally in Maine and New Hampshire, politicians, businesses and workers have predicted severe economic and personal pain if the base eventually shuts down.

But communities from Charleston, South Carolina to Vallejo, California have absorbed previous closures and have managed to survive.

New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports locally some officials are starting to consider the daunting question 'What happens if the Shipyard does close?'

Being deaf or hard of hearing has always been difficult yet new efforts across the country are attempting to make life easier and less intimidating for them. There's a proposed town for the deaf in South Dakota, and closer to home, a new federally funded deaf charter school in Concord, yet there's still much work to be done and in the Granite state, many are hard at work to make changes. Today we'll look at life and the everyday struggles of deaf and hard of hearing men and women in New Hampshire as well as the culture, politics and legislation that's hoping to make some changes for them. Kevin's guests are, Susan Wolf Downs, Executive Director of the Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services and Debbie McKinney, a lifelong deaf resident of New Hampshire and Health Advocate for the Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services.