Chris Jensen

The White Mountain National Forest will be getting $4 million in federal funds to repair road and bridge damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene.  But that will still leave the enormous recreational area well short of what it needs, an official said.

It is still a bit of good news for the economy of the North Country.

Some of the work will be done by WMNF crews but help from outside contractors will be needed, said Tiffany Benna, a spokeswoman for the WMNF.

The money is available from the Federal Highway Administration, said spokesman Doug Hecox.

North Country representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of House Bill 1405 which would allow jurisdictions such as Manchester to ask for a moratorium on refugee resettlement.

As NHPR reported: “Under the bill New Hampshire towns could ask for a one-year moratorium on new refugee resettlements, which opponents say the state doesn’t have the authority to do.”

Eight North Country representatives voted Wednesday against House Bill 1659, a bill that the Associated Press reported would make pregnant women wait 24 hours and certify they had been given information on fetal development before getting an abortion.

Five North Country representatives voted for the bill and three were excused from voting.

As NHPR reported the House on Wednesday passed a so-called right-to-work bill. Barring unions from requiring non-members to pay for representation has been a priority for House Republican leaders.

The bill passed 198 to 139.

It now goes to the Senate.

Four North Country reps voted in favor and eight against.

Here are the North Country reps who voted in favor:

* Duffy Daugherty (Republican) of Colebrook.

* Edmond Gionet (Republican) of Lincoln.

Three representatives from the North Country voted not to kill House Bill 1264 which would have allowed “an individual to choose not to provide accommodations, goods, or services for a marriage if doing so would violate his or her conscience or religious faith.”

It was proposed by Rep. Jerry Bergevin, a Republican from Hillsborough.

Two of three North Country towns yesterday approved an ordinance designed to fight the Northern Pass project by trying to strip corporations of their power.

Lancaster, Sugar Hill and Easton all had the same idea: An ordinance that would assert a town’s rights over those of corporations.

The idea is to prevent large corporations – such as those behind the Northern Pass project – from using the legal muscle given them by U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

A trial date has been set for Craig Sanborn, the man accused of negligent homicide and manslaughter in the deaths of two North Country men who worked at his Black Mag factory in Colebrook when it exploded almost two years ago.

Jury selection is set to begin on January 11, 2013 in Superior Court in Lancaster for the trial of Sanborn, 62, of Maidstone, Vermont.

Earlier this year Sanborn – whose company operated the facility - was indicted in the deaths of Jesse Kennett and Donald Kendall.

Warm weather has forced the cancellation of an attempt to mush a sled-dog team up the Mt. Washington Auto Road.

As Brady Carlson reported earlier this month the Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel in Jefferson hoped to make an attempt last Thursday.

Then, a contrary combination of winds and warm weather resulted in a postponement until this Wednesday.

But things only got worse.

Last week the Executive Council confirmed Michael Harrington’s appointment as one of three Public Utilities Commissioners.

But before Harrington could preside over his first hearing on Monday a couple from the North Country filed a motion asking he be disqualified for a conflict of interest.

As NHPR reported the New Hampshire House moved Thursday to decriminalize a person’s first two possessions of less than a half ounce of marijuana. 

House Bill 1526 passed by a single vote.

The vote was 162 to 161.

Nine North Country representatives voted against the bill. Six voted in favor and one was excused from voting.

Here are the North Country representatives voting in favor:

As NHPR reported on Thursday the House passed HB 1297 which would prevent New Hampshire from creating its own health insurance exchange.

There was no roll-call vote on House Bill 1332 so there isn’t a record of how representatives voted when it passed.

However, before that there was a roll-call vote on whether to accept the recommendation of the House Committee on Fish and Game and Marine Resources that the bill be killed.

That killing motion failed on a vote of 171-174.

Eight North Country representatives voted to kill the bill and seven voted to revive it. One was excused.

In a surprising – and to some puzzling - move late last month the New Hampshire House narrowly passed a bill a House committee recommended be killed.

Fish and Game officials say the legislation would make it far more difficult for them to enforce state laws designed to protect wildlife.

The bill’s supporters say it protects individual rights by requiring Fish and Game to meet the same standards as other law-enforcement agencies when it comes to searches.

But a law professor says Fish and Game already has to meet those standards. 

North Country representatives were evenly split on the vote for House Bill 1546, which NHPR reported allows “any employer with a religious objection to deny workers insurance coverage for contraceptives.”

Supporters of the bill said it was about religious freedom.

Opponents note the Catholic church helped draft the bill and say it supports its anti-contraception views.