News

The New Hampshire Attorney General announced the details of a settlement between the nation’s five biggest banks and forty-nine states. The deal means that borrowers who are struggling could start seeing relief within a few months.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America is eyeing a spot in New Hampshire. The for profit chain wants to build a hospital in the Northeast. CTCA successfully lobbied Georgia to change its regulations so a specialty hospital could be built in that state. The company is hoping lawmakers in New Hampshire will make similar changes. A proposed law would exempt specialty cancer hospitals from certain regulations and also from Medicaid taxes.

Today at 1:30, the resurrected Right To Work bill comes up for public hearing at the Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee.  Given union reaction to the legislation last year, and to other bills targeting collective bargaining this session, it promises to be an eventful hearing.

And we’ll be liveblogging it at Representatives hall, shortly before the hearing begins.

Same-sex marriage is back in the headlines with a ruling on Proposition 8 in California and legislative action in Washington state. Earlier this week, New Hampshire saw rallies both for and against traditional marriage. As this front in the culture war rages from coast to coast, maybe it’s time to figure out exactly what we’re fighting over.

Summer visitors to New Hampshire typically are eager to hear the call of a common loon, emblem of the wild and remote north woods.  Popular souvenirs to take home include coffee mugs, sweatshirts and jewelry—all with a loon motif.

In addition to their striking appearance, I suspect the fact that loons chorus at night adds greatly to their mystique.  Loons of winter don't get much attention, but scan coastal waters and chances are good you'll see a loon or two offshore.  New Hampshire's breeding loons don't migrate far.

Maintaining a healthy and happy relationship is challenging for any couple…perhaps more so when one, or both, partners suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?  ADHD is an increasingly common diagnosis among school age children and can be tricky to identify in previously undiagnosed adults.  Symptoms are often similar to those of depression, anxiety, and even bipolar disorder.

Many Americans view Pakistan one-dimensionally: through archive tapes of street riots, terrorist training camps, or through the eyes of a drone, thousands of feet in the air. A new documentary provides another vision. “Made in Pakistan” follows four young urban, middle class professionals in Lahore – Pakistan’s second largest city.

With neighboring Vermont and Maine now allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their sick patients, a new bill with the same goal is afoot in New Hampshire. But it has an uphill battle as  recent similar proposals have failed before.  We’ll get the latest on the discussion here, and see how Maine and Vermont are doing, since medical marijuana was approved. 

Guests

The New Hampshire state Senate rejected several controversial gun bills Wednesday.

All of the proposals originally passed the House.

The move suggests that the Senate’s patience for 2nd Amendment legislation may be about up.

The Senate made brisk work of the so-called gun bills in front of them.

“We spent a grand total of 6 minutes on 5 bills because we want to focus on the issues that are important to the New Hampshire people,” Senate President Peter Bragdon said.

A report shows that home foreclosures spiked at the end of last year, up 35% from November.

Jane Law of New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority says foreclosures have been declining since their peak in 2010, and December’s jump might be an anomaly.

Law says, "The biggest factor is just mortgage companies are kind of clearing out some inventory before the end of the year, which is the end of their tax year usually" 

The New Hampshire House today voted to eliminate the Chancellor’s Office within the University System. The bill calls for many of the responsibilities of the Office to be shifted to the Board of Trustees and to school presidents. Created in 1974, the Chancellor’s duties include government relations, purchasing and audits.