Monadnock

Former tenants of a planned community of tiny houses in Peterborough have filed a lawsuit, alleging the property owner breached their leases by charging them to reside in units that failed to meet safety codes.

Last month, approximately 25 residents of the Walden Eco-Village were given less than a week to vacate their homes after a code enforcement officer for the town cited a range of safety hazards, including electrical and propane heating systems that failed to meet code.

The Monadnock region’s first syringe exchange program is getting off the ground this month. The pilot program is part of a mobile harm reduction effort by the Keene Serenity Center and funded by the national non-profit AIDS United.

Recovery coaches will deliver a kit with clean water, syringes, tourniquets, disposal bags, and safe injection instructions to homeless people who are addicted to opioids.

Keene is the latest New Hampshire municipality to approve a goal of using only renewable energy within a few decades.

The Keene city council approved the non-binding resolution Thursday night 14 to 1.

It says the entire community should work toward using only renewable fuels for electricity by 2030, and for heat and transportation by 2050.

A Keene judge has granted the Monadnock Humane Society’s request to send more than 50 Labrador retrievers to foster homes.

The dogs were seized last month from the home of John Riggieri of Marlborough, who faces 10 counts of animal cruelty.

A Marlborough dog breeder accused of animal cruelty is trying to block the Monadnock Humane Society from temporarily placing the dogs in foster homes.

John Riggieri is facing 10 counts of animal cruelty for mistreating more than 50 Labrador retrievers. Prosecutors allege the animals were subjected to “unnecessary suffering” and living in a house strewn with feces.

Since being seized last month, 52 dogs and one cat have been held at the Monadnock Humane Society, which puts the cost of care at over $40,000.

Prosecutors in Massachusetts say an arrest has been made in the killing of a man found near a road in Rindge, N.H., earlier this month.

Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said 21-year-old Julia Enright was charged with murder at an arraignment  in Gardner. She was held without bail.

She knew the victim from high school, Early said.

Investigators have identified a man found dead off the side of a road in Rindge.

They say the death of 20-year-old Brandon Chicklis, of Westminster, Massachusetts, is a homicide. The cause of death is being withheld pending further investigation.

The body was found off of Route 119 on Tuesday afternoon by a jogger. Chicklis was 20 to 40 feet from the roadside.