NH News

Presidential candidates have coveted New Hampshire this election even while some swing states have five times the number of electoral votes.

A joke about being New Hampshire Speaker of the House is that you get a parking spot, $125 annual salary, and the chance to bang a gavel.

But when Bill O’Brien took the position in 2010, he took an important but largely under the radar position into the spotlight.

"It’s been all about O’Brien," says Dante Scala, a political scientist at UNH. "For better or worse, O’Brien became the center of gravity in the New Hampshire legislature, and the face of the New Hampshire legislature, in a way that past Speakers rarely are."

The State’s election officials are gearing up for Election Day, preparing voters and town workers to implement the state’s new voter ID law.

Back in September, the new law required poll workers to ask for an ID during the primary. The idea was to start educating voters, even though it wasn’t required to vote.

The Secretary of State’s office says around 6.5% of voters either didn’t have an ID, or refused to show one in protest of the new law.

Delaney: Obviously it’s a sensitive issue.

A judge has ruled that State health officials can access private health records at Exeter Hospital, as it continues to investigate an outbreak of Hepatitis C.

In August, the Hospital went to court seeking a protective order, arguing that the Division of Public Health’s request for patient records violated privacy laws.

But Superior Court Judge Richard McNamara has denied that request, saying that patient privacy must give way to the state’s interest in investigating a public health threat.

At the end of September, Judge Steven McAuliffe did something unique: he invited U.S Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to come to Concord and weigh in on the suit.

The Judge is looking for help in deciding whether or not the State’s slashing of Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals followed proper guidelines.

Well, the Secretary didn’t show. But an attorney for her agency did phone into the hearing, and informed the judge that Sebelius isn’t quite ready to give her opinion.