Author: The Hippo Press

Covid-19 news

State health officials reported 108 new cases of Covid-19 on April 11. The state averaged 200 new cases per day over the most recent seven-day period, a 49 percent increase compared to the week before. As of April 11 there were 10 people being treated for Covid in hospitals statewide.

New commission

Gov. Chris Sununu has signed an Executive Order establishing the Governor’s Commission on Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking. According to a press release, the commission was a recommendation from the Task Force on Domestic Violence Cases in the New Hampshire Judicial Branch. It had previously stopped meeting in 2013. “We must keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable,” Sununu said in the release. “Combatting and preventing domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking remains a priority for my administration and I am looking forward to working with this group so that we can develop, support and implement initiatives that address the needs of victims and survivors.” The Commission consists of members of the state’s justice department, health and human services, law enforcement and other departments and organizations.

New laws

Gov. Chris Sununu signed seven bills into law on April 11. Among them are HB 1441, establishing a commission to organize the observance of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; HB 589, requiring workers’ compensation to cover prophylactic treatment for critical exposure; and HB 102, establishing a commission to “study worldwide combined reporting method for unitary businesses under the business profits tax, and relative to the treatment of water or sewerage disposal utilities under the business profits tax.”

Youth literacy

The New Hampshire Department of Education has launched the Leaning Into Literacy initiative to help children advance their reading skills. According to a press release, the Granite State ranks high among students in the country for reading proficiency on the Nation’s Report Card, but there are still about 51 percent of fourth-grade students in the state who are not reading proficiently. “Encouraging children to have a healthy passion for reading will help them excel in school, support other areas of their learning and set them up for future success,” Frank Edelblut, commissioner of education, said in the release. “Strong literacy skills are vital for children, and are skills that are applicable throughout their entire lifetimes.” NHDOE’s Division of Learner Support is looking for proposals for capacity building literacy training for adults engaged in raising, working with or teaching New Hampshire children to be successful readers, including parents, guardians, certified educators, literacy coaches, curriculum coordinators, school administrators and reading and writing specialists. The trainings would aim to increase capacity for providing and overseeing reading instruction and structured literacy based on the science of how children learn to read. “A primary goal of the Leaning Into Literacy initiative is to train 4,500 individuals in the first year and 4,500 more individuals in the second year to help expand literacy training and boost the level of literacy support throughout the Granite State,” Edelblut said.

Child advocate

Cassandra Sanchez is the state’s new child advocate, replacing Moira O’Neill, who served as the state’s first ever child advocate since the Office of the Child Advocate began operating in January 2018. According to a press release, Sanchez comes from the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families as a supervisor in the Kinship unit. “The strategic planning process we undertook this past year with focus groups and stakeholder interviews taught us one important lesson,” O’Neill said in the release. “The Office belongs to the community. Their views and hopes for what the Office will achieve are aligned with statutory intent. They have identified strengths, articulated areas for improvement and agreed upon priorities. Cassandra Sanchez will be greeted with an exceptional staff and a committed, guiding and expectant constituency.”

Good Friday

The Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire’s Digital Mission will offer a walking Stations of the Cross in Manchester on Good Friday, April 15. According to a press release, the Stations of the Cross was created for pilgrims to Jerusalem to relive the suffering of Jesus Christ from his condemnation to his crucifixion and burial. The Manchester adaptation was created by Rev. Deacon Chris Potter, who is also a Manchester school board member. He will lead a procession to 14 stations representing suffering in the Manchester community and hope for its future, the release said. The event will begin at Grace Episcopal Church (106 Lowell St., Manchester) at 3 p.m., with the first stop at International Institute of New England (“Jesus is condemned”) and the last stop at Hartnett Lot (“Jesus is laid in the tomb”). Other stops include Central High School, Veterans Park and City Hall.

The owners of Woods Without Gile in Wilmot have been named New Hampshire’s 2022 Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. According to a press release, Ann and Marc Davis’s working forest implements the four pillars of the Tree Farm program: wood, water, wildlife and recreation. It is open to the public for cross-country skiing, fishing, hiking, hunting, horseback riding, snowshoeing and more, the release said.

New England activists held a Healing Ceremony at the Merrimack Station in Bow, the last coal plant in the region. According to a press release, nine activists decorated the fence with flowers and posters and performed the “Elm Dance,” a Latvian ceremony originally created for the healing of Chernobyl. The activists are a part of the No Coal No Gas campaign to close the Merrimack Station, the release said.

The University of New Hampshire at Manchester has a new scholarship for students enrolled in its psychology and neuropsychology programs, with awards up to $5,000 annually for full-time students. According to a press release, the university has partnered with Network4Health to provide the scholarship, an effort to address the workforce shortage in behavioral health fields that has “become increasingly dire.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that between 2020 and 2030 the number of behavioral health jobs will increase by 23 percent, the release said.