Pay gap
According to a March 24 report by the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (nhfpi.org), women in New Hampshire still make less than their male counterparts. “Nationally, women earned 83 percent of what men earned in 2023,” the report read, “according to the most recently available data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In New Hampshire, women working full-time, year-round, earned 76 percent of what men earned. Of the 25 occupational categories described in 2023 New Hampshire Employment Security data, there were only three in which women had higher median earnings than men”
QOL score: -1
Comment: To read the report in its entirety, including its methodology, visit nhfpi.org/blog.
Visitor to the casino goes owl-in
As reported in a March 28 online article on Boston.com, the Gate City Casino in Nashua had an unexpected visitor last Tuesday, a female barred owl. According to the article, “local rescuers were unable to immediately remove the bird, so casino guests watched as the owl slept perched on a television.” The story quoted the casino’s marketing manager, Mark Martino, who “said the owl, who was named ‘Jack Pots’ by the casino’s security team, seemed slightly bothered by all the noise.” It wasn’t until the next day that a local animal rescue organization, Wings of the Dawn, was able to catch and remove “Ms. Pots.”
QOL score: +1
Comment: Maria Colby, director of Wings of the Dawn Rehabilitation Center, said the owl was ready to leave by the time she got there. “I netted it, and it took all of like 10 seconds to do,” she was quoted by Boston.com. “[She was] shaking” and seemed “shell-shocked. It was obviously a traumatic experience for the bird.” After two days of observation, the owl was released back into the wild.
Not as clean as it looks
In a March 28 story, New Hampshire Public Radio reported that “almost 900 million gallons of untreated sewage flowed into the Merrimack River last year, 30% more than the usual overflows over the past 10 years.” Surprisingly, according to the Merrimack River Watershed Council, that is an improvement over the previous year. “It was a reduction from 2023 — the year of the state’s wettest summer on record — when about 2 billion gallons of sewage ran into the river.” According to the report, about half the sewage in 2024 came from Manchester and Nashua in New Hampshire and Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill in Massachusetts.
QOL score: -1
Comment: The culprit, according to the NHPR story, is an old design of the sewer system that allows it to overflow during rain storms.
QOL score last week: 61
Net change: -1
QOL this week: 60
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?
Let us know at news@hippopress.com.
