Tagged: lawsuit

The City of Manchester has filed suit Monday over the plan that redraws house districts. The lawsuit has been brewing for months.

In a statement, Manchester Mayor Republican Ted Gatsas called the redistricting plan unacceptable. The suit claims the new map would deprive city residents of two to three state representatives. Earlier this year the house passed a plan that combines two Manchester wards with the town of Litchfield.

Speaker of the House Bill O’Brien defended the proposal, calling the lawsuit unrealistic, and a waste of taxpayers’ resources.

The Conservation Law Foundation has asked to help defend the Department of Environmental Services in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of Great Bay area communities.

The suit is an attempt to block rules that would require the towns to upgrade their wastewater treatment plants.

The CLF’s Director, Tom Irwin, says the suit is a stalling tactic, aimed to delay measures needed to help the Great Bay recover its health.

"The science is well settled" Irwin says, "Our view is it’s time to stop haggling over the science and time to start implementing the solutions that are needed."

Dover, Portsmouth, Rochester, Exeter and Newmarket say DES did not conduct the proper public hearings when it created new water quality standards.

A coalition of Great Bay area communities is suing the state and the Department of Environmental Services, claiming DES failed to follow proper rules when determining water quality standards in the Great Bay.

Dover, Portsmouth, Rochester, Exeter and Newmarket claim DES violated state and federal law by not conducting a formal public process when determining water quality standards in the Great Bay.

As a result, the communities say they face unnecessary multi-million dollar wastewater treatment upgrades.

At issue, is the amount of nitrogen pollution in the Bay coming from the communities’ wastewater treatment plants.

The group said DES disregarded scientific studies that show less restrictive limits on nitrogen could still protect the Estuary.

There’s a lot of tension between New Hampshire and hospitals in the state right now.

The source of the problem....money, of course.

Thursday morning the two sides clashed in federal court over a cut in how much the state pays to treat low-income patients.

And then this afternoon, lawmakers drilled down on a tax dispute with some of the hospitals.

Even before the budget passed in June the state’s relationship with hospitals was strained.

But by the time the dust settled the relationship had been put in the ICU.

See, to balance the budget, lawmakers had taken $120 million dollars that had been earmarked for low-income Medicaid patients.

Hospital attorney Scott O’Connell says that last move was just too much.