Coos County

Schools in the Androscoggin Valley have avoided COVID-related quarantines and shutdowns so far, but COVID-19 cases at the federal prison in Berlin have school leaders on alert.

Several towns in Cheshire and Coos counties are getting $300 thousand dollars in federal rural development grants.

The Northern Forest Center received about two-thirds of that grant money to expand broadband access and digital literacy in Lancaster.

The town of Northumberland received $50 thousand dollars to buy defibrillator technology that will help first responders better discern symptoms related to heart attacks or overdoses.

A Keene organization that helps low-income residents with energy efficiency improvements also received some grant money.

More than 10 years since the 2008 recession, the North Country's economy is still considered to be in a transitional phase, according to a 10-year study by UNH's Carsey School of Public Policy published on Wednesday. 

In this report, researchers measured regional changes in demographics and public perception of environmental, social and economic issues in Coös County and neighboring counties. 

Middle and high schoolers in Coös County have a strong sense of community, but higher rates of depression than their peers in southern New Hampshire. That's according to a study released Monday by the Carsey School of Public Policy at UNH.

 In 2008,  researchers began surveying hundreds of young people in the North Country. With help from local school districts and social media, they tracked as many as they could through graduation and early adulthood.

  The state won't make a final decision on the Northern Pass project until late February – but Eversource is already recruiting a workforce to build the transmission line if it's approved.

At least 100 residents and business owners from around New England braved snowy roads for a job fair in the White Mountains Wednesday.

A dispute over a new trail atop Mount Washington will go before the Coos County planning board.

The Mount Washington Cog Railway cleared the three-mile trail for recreation and maintenance uses along its train tracks near the summit.

The trail runs mostly in a path left by state installation of a power line in 2010.

The nonprofit group Keep the Whites Wild says the trail violates county ordinance.

A New Hampshire nonprofit says a new trail atop Mt. Washington was built illegally. The Cog Railway company recently cleared the three-mile path to the summit on its own land – and it disagrees.

After years, even decades of trailing behind the rest of the state, Coos County may be headed in a better economic direction.

New numbers from the American Community Survey, which is released each year by the U.S. Census Bureau, puts the percent of people living in poverty in Coos last year at 11.7%. 

New police recruits in New Hampshire get paid by their towns to attend a 16-week police academy run by the state. New officers stay at the training facility during the week, and return home during weekends.  

Now, two officers are suing their employers, alleging they were underpaid while attending the academy.

 Several hiker-generated petitions have started in opposition to plans to build a hotel near the summit of Mount Washington, the Northeast's highest peak.

An online petition started by New Hampshire hiker Rachel Lewis has more than 2,700 signatures. Another asks hikers to contact the Coos County Planning Board to share their concerns.

The owners of the cog railway that runs up the mountain want to build the hotel.

A mobile clinic for veterans in the North Country has seen a few dozen patients since it opened in late October.  The clinic is set up in the parking lot of the Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin.  A doctor and nurse team there have been able to give out flu shots and other treatments. VA spokesman Rick Salgueiro says there are about 1,000 veterans in the Berlin area who could possibly avoid a long trip to the VA hospital in White River Junction, Vermont.  "We wanted to rapidly deploy primary care into the Berlin area based on what veterans are communicating they want," he says.

More details on the proposed redevelopment of the Balsams Resort in the North Country are available as developers seek a zoning change in the North Country.

The new Balsams resort would start with 4,600 “dwelling units” ranging from hotel rooms to condos.

Its core would be called the Balsams Lake Village and would be anchored around the historic Dix and Hampshire houses, which would be “largely preserved.” The village would include shops and restaurants.

A recount of the votes cast in Coos District 7 hasn’t changed the winner: Republican Leon Rideout defeated Democrat Evalyn Merrick.

Both are from Lancaster.

Merrick requested a recount which was conducted Thursday by the Secretary of State.

Originally Merrick lost by 12 votes.

In the recount, however, that margin increased to 34 votes.

That left Rideout with 3,274 votes compared to 3,240 for Merrick.