Story Archives of 'North Country'

North Country healthcare providers met recently with Nicholas Toumpas, head of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services .

They got some bad news, a pleasant surprise, and a plea for innovation.

NHPR correspondent Chris Jensen has the story.

The economic downturn put the brakes on plans to revitalize the northern economy. Now studies show that it may take the North longer to get out of the recession than the rest of the state. We’ll check in on how the recession has hit the North Country and what it may take to let the good times roll once again.

Guests

• Barbara Tetrault, reporter for the Berlin Daily Sun
• Peter Riviere, Executive Director of the Coos Economic Development Corporation

We'll also hear from

• Peter Powell, owner of Peter W. Powell Real Estate in Lancaster and former NHPR board member

A record 25 thousand dollar bill for a rescue last spring is fueling a debate among search and rescuers in the North Country.

Last April, 17-year-old Eagle Scout Scott Mason got lost during a one-day, 18 mile, solo hike in the Presidentials.

After a massive search, Mason got home alive and his family got the tab.

They’ve hired a lawyer to fight the bill, but the case brings up some important questions.

What’s the role of government and should people have to pay when they get into trouble?

NHPR correspondent Chris Jensen has the story.

The Northern Forest Center has just released a new report detailing a strategy for how New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and New York can all work together to revitalize the economy in their respective northern communities. The plan was put together by civic and business leaders throughout the region. We’ll look at the plans and possibilities for making the North Country economically vibrant once more.

Guests

• Joe Short, Sustainable Economies Initiative Program Manager for the Northern Forest Center
• Rachael Stuart, senior program director of the Neil & Louise Tillotson Fund at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
• Charlie Jordan, editor of New Hampshire Magazine and longtime North Country journalist

We'll also hear from

• Peter Riviere, executive director of the Coos Economic Development Corporation
• Jim Tibbets, president and CEO of First Colebrook Bank, member of the Sustainable Economies Initiative Steering Committee and organizer of "Coos Goes South"

Noble Environmental Power’s wind energy park in northern New Hampshire has taken a big step toward getting constructed.

New Hampshire’s Site Evaluation Committee has approved Noble’s application to erect 33 wind turbines on two remote mountains.

The few individuals still opposing the project have little recourse now to turn it back.

And there seem to be no bigger players looking to scuttle the conditions attached to the SEC’s approval.

NHPR’s David Darman has more.