It's been a tough few years for northern New Hampshire, leading many to look for new keys to economic vitality. A new prison’s already there; a new biomass plant is right around the corner. But other plans, like high-tech corporations, arts houses and more tourism, could be years away for a region many say needs a boost now. We’ll look at the state of the North Country’s economy and what could come next.

Guests

• Peter Riviere, executive director of the Coos Economic Development Corporation
• Charles Jordan, editor of the Colebrook Chronicle

We'll also hear from

• Charles Bass, former Congressman and Senior Advisor to the CEO of Laidlaw Energy Group, which has acquired part of the former Fraser Paper Mill in Berlin to construct a new biomass-energy power plant
• Pat Corso, President and CEO of the Mount Washington Resort
• Katie Paine, president and CEO of K.D. Paine and Partners, a market research company based in Berlin

A song sparrow shares a tune at Keene State College. (Photo courtesy Lorianne DiSabato)

The agency in Maine that runs Amtrak’s Downeaster is facing a looming financial crisis.

For years, millions of dollars in federal money has helped pay for the train’s operation.

But next year the federal money will run out to the tune of millions of dollars a year.

Downeaster managers hope New Hampshire might make up some of the loss.

A possibility that state policy makers say is unlikely.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s David Darman has more.

State environmental officials say they’ve contained an estimated one-thousand gallon oil spill in Gilmanton.
Gilmanton police say a large tanker truck parked nearby emptied the fuel oil into a brook that feeds into Rocky Pond.
As New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports, both bodies of water and surrounding wetlands are contaminated and police say the spill might have been intentional.