Category: Featured Content

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (R), Freaky (R), Godmothered (PG)

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (R)

The late Chadwick Boseman probably secures his Oscar with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a new Netflix movie, adapted from a play by August Wilson, which also features a standout performance by Viola Davis.

The bulk of this movie’s action is centered around Ma Rainey (Davis), a real-life founding mother of blues, showing up at a Chicago recording studio in 1927 to record a set of songs. Most of the scenes are either in a large recording room or a small rehearsal room where her band heads between recordings. The band consists of pianist Toledo (Glynn Turman), Slow Drag (Michael Potts) on bass, band leader and trombone player Cutler (Coleman Domingo) and Levee (Boseman), a trumpet player with a lot of ideas about his songs and the band he plans to form and even “better” more modern arrangements for Ma’s songs. Levee is certain his style of playing will better reach customers in the big cities, who might see Ma’s music as too country. The studio’s owner, Sturdyvant (Jonny Coyne), seems to agree with Levee, but Ma doesn’t care about the potential big city audience when she knows what the audience who turns out to see her likes. Her manager Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) might tend to agree with Sturdyvant but knows that ultimately Ma will have things her way. And as we see when she talks to Cutler about making these recordings, she might seem like a diva (demanding cold Coca-Colas or for a nephew to have a small part) but she always knows exactly what she’s doing and how to wring the most from a system that is inherently against her interests.

There are times when this movie very much feels like a play in the staging and the way people talk, but I didn’t mind that, even when it leads to monologues that would maybe feel unnatural in a more “out in the world” movie. Here, the strength of the performances easily pushes past any not-quite-cinematic staginess. The movie takes place, for the most part, on one day in 1927 in one building but also manages to serve up a good slice of late 1800s through mid 1900s American history (the ending of the movie mercilessly encapsulates the next at least 50 years in the American music industry).

Boseman, who died this summer, will likely get the bulk of the spotlight here. This movie shows how much more Boseman had in him, how much of a good-across-the-board performer he was. Boseman was someone who could be an anchor in a big popular blockbuster, a believable action hero and do more nuanced work. Even though he gets some big shouty moments here, you can see layers going on behind Levee’s words.

Davis, of course, is also great here because she is basically great everywhere. Davis is masterful at showing how Ma uses loud demands as protection in a situation of constant vulnerability. Davis doesn’t give us a perfect human being but does give us a rounded character whose life you can see in the expressions on her face. A

Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by George C. Wolfe with a screenplay by Ruben Santiago-Hudson (based on the play by August Wilson), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is an hour and 34 minutes long and distributed by Netflix, where it is currently available.

Freaky (R)

A high school girl swaps bodies with a grunting serial killer in Freaky, a fun horror movie with a particularly fun Vince Vaughn performance.

Teen Millie (Kathryn Newton) is having a hard time. Her father died a year ago, which has left her mother, Coral (Kate Finneran), a bit of a wreck and her police officer older sister, Char (Dana Drori), angry. Millie is so busy trying to smooth over their relationship and take care of her mom she doesn’t seem to have the space to grieve herself or to live her life. Her friends Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich) urge her to go to the upcoming homecoming dance, take a chance on talking to the boy, Booker (Uriah Shelton), she likes and pursue her dream of heading off to college. You don’t want to get to the end of your life and realize you never lived it for yourself, Nyla tells her.

And that end may come much sooner than expected. The Blissfield Butcher (Vaughn) has long been a local urban legend, a spooky tale of a serial killer who hunts teens born from decades-earlier murders. Nobody much believes the stories until four teens are horribly, red-corn-syrupily murdered in the movie’s opening scenes. After the big football game, Millie, who plays the school’s mascot, is waiting alone outside the stadium for a ride home. The Butcher appears and chases Millie before stabbing her in the shoulder with a strange, old blade he stole from the scene of the movie’s first murders.

Char arrives just in time to scare him off but not before Millie notices that the Butcher started bleeding from the same spot on his shoulder where he had stabbed Millie in hers. When she wakes up the next morning, she finds herself not in her cheery bedroom but on a mattress in a murder-lair (complete with disfigured mannequins and dead animals) and in the giant (and smelly) body of the Butcher. Which, of course, means that back at her house the Butcher is waking up to her unsuspecting mom and sister.

Quickly, we figure out the rules to this situation: The knife has curse-bestowing properties, the bodies have been switched for 24 hours, Millie has to stab the Butcher to switch the bodies back or their situation becomes permanent. Though a pretty solid sketch of the Butcher is all over the news — making it hard for Millie to move around her town unnoticed — she does get some help from Nyla and Josh, whom she’s able to convince of her true identity. They work to get the knife from the police evidence locker and find the Butcher to get her body back. She also needs to stop the Butcher, who quickly realizes that his physically weaker new body nevertheless has the benefit of lulling people into seeing no threat until it’s too late. Also, Millie irritatingly notices, the Butcher seems to have done a better job at styling her body (a bold red lip, a sassy red leather jacket) then she usually does.

The Butcher, both as Vaughn and as Newton, is just a grunting kill machine; it’s Millie where the actors get to do a performance, particularly Vaughn. Sure, it’s a little gimmicky to have big, extra-scruffy 50-year-old Vince Vaughn nervously biting at his finger and screeching like a teenager. But he does a really solid job making us see Millie and her feelings, fears and conviction.

Beneath all this silliness, Freaky — not unlike Happy Death Day, which this movie’s director, Christopher Landon, also directed — has some interesting beats about grief and learning how to come back from loss. A scene between Vaughn as Millie and Finneran’s Coral (Millie’s mom) does a good job of being silly and funny, bittersweet and filling in the details of the family’s relationships with each other in a way that really pays off later. There are also some interesting moments about power and gender that transcend what you expect from a movie with this much gleeful gore.

I will admit that I am definitely more in the tank for this kind of horror — horror plus laughs, weighted more toward laughs — and this movie puts you even more at ease by not only making the kills extravagantly stagy but also making everybody other than Millie who is attacked by the Butcher extremely unsympathetic. So, it’s all fun with very little serious “keep you up at night” terror. B+

Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, sexual content and language throughout, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Christopher Landon with a screenplay by Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon, Freaky is an hour and 42 minutes long and distributed by Universal Studios. The movie is currently in theaters and available on video on demand.

Godmothered (PG)

A godmother in training tries to prove her godmothering prowess before her academy of godmothers is shut down and everyone is sent to work as tooth fairies in Godmothered, a live action movie new to Disney+.

Eleanor (Jillian Bell) has never done proper godmother work and it doesn’t look like she’s going to get the chance. Even though she is the rare eager young recruit, there isn’t much call for fairy godmothers these days and the school’s headmistress, Moira (Jane Curtin), is considering shutting the whole thing down. In a desperate attempt to save the Motherland, as the godmother headquarters is called, and prove her own godmothering abilities, Eleanor finds an old letter to a godmother from a young girl named Mackenzie and decides to go to Boston to find and help her.

When she arrives, she learns that Mackenzie (Isla Fisher) is now “old,” an Isla-Fisher-aged single mom with two daughters — teen Jane (Jillian Shea Spaeder) and younger Mia (Willa Skye) — and a crummy job on a fifth-ranked local news show. Eleanor is surprised but still determined to help her; Mackenzie thinks she’s doing an act and calls security. Eventually, by showing Mackenzie her old letter, doing some magic and getting a raccoon to help with household chores, Eleanor convinces Mackenzie that she is a real fairy godmother. But Mackenzie, who is still grieving the death of her husband, says she doesn’t want the ball gown and happily-ever-after with a prince that Eleanor has been trained to provide. Might that change if it turns out that colleague Hugh Prince (Santiago Cabrera) is interested in more than just Mackenzie’s producing abilities?

This has a very Enchanted feel — with the earnest visitor from fairyland learning the strange and grimy ways of the unmagical modern-day Earth. But this movie isn’t quite as, er, enchanting — not quite as smart in its story or its writing, even though I am a fan of Bell and Fisher does solid work here too. This has that second-tier-ish-ness of a direct-to-video sequel (with some direct-to-video-level special effects too). But for that, it’s not the worst. Common Sense Media gives this an age 8 rating and I would say it’s that primarily because younger kids might be a little bored but it wouldn’t necessarily scare or traumatize them. (There is maybe one extremely veiled sex joke that I only half caught because my kids were sort of in and out of the room during the movie; there for the singing and the fairy magic but wandering away during the emotional talking stuff.)

I think Godmothered could have been a more substantial movie with a little rewriting; it has a solid cast, some nice ideas (does True Love really have to be about finding your Prince? And what does “happily ever after” truly mean?) and some cute moments. B-

Rated PG for some suggestive comments, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Sharon Maguire with a screenplay by Kari Granlund and Melissa Stack, Godmothered is an hour and 50 minutes long and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios on Disney+.

Featured photo: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Athanasios Sioras

Athanasios Sioras is the owner of Ya Mas Greek Taverna & Bar (125 Bridge St., Pelham, 635-4230, yamasgreektaverna.com), which opened in late August in the former space of Dimitriou’s, an eatery that was owned and operated by Sioras’s uncle. Ya Mas, which means “cheers,” according Sioras, features an authentic Greek menu split by classic and modernized dishes, including more than two dozen types of small plates; entrees, like pastichio, moussaka and slow-braised lamb shank; and desserts, like kataifi, rice pudding brulee and baklava sundaes. Around 30 percent of all of the restaurant’s products are imported directly from Greece, Sioras said, while others are sourced from local farms, like Brookside Farms on the Pelham and Dracut, Mass., state line. Prior to opening Ya Mas, Sioras worked as a food and beverage program supervisor at the Revere Hotel Boston Common and at the Boston Harbor Hotel.

What is your must-have kitchen item?
Just a regular chef’s knife.

What would you have for your last meal?
I would have a grilled whole fish, a branzino, and a nice bottle of wine.

What is your favorite local restaurant?
I do really like Surf, in Nashua.

What celebrity would you like to see eating at your restaurant?
Jennifer Aniston.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?
My personal favorite thing is the spinach pie, which we hand-roll our own phyllo dough for. It’s a huge serving in its own individual pan. Some people will get it as an entree, because it is quite big, and they’ll take half of it home.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
Gluten-free and vegan. We have a lot of vegan and gluten-free items here.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?
Junk food, or honestly I’ll just order a pizza rather than cook at home.

Gigantes
From the kitchen of Athanasios Sioras of Ya Mas Greek Taverna & Bar in Pelham

2 cups dried lima beans
½ cup diced carrot
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced white onion
¼ cup freshly chopped mint
¼ cup freshly chopped parsley
½ cup tomato paste
3 cups water
1 tablespoon Greek honey
¼ cup Greek extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon black pepper
1½ tablespoons sea salt

Soak lima beans overnight in a bowl. Strain lima beans and place in a baking dish. Add carrot, celery, onion, parsley, mint, salt and pepper. In a bowl, mix honey, tomato paste, water and olive oil. Add liquid mixture to baking dish and mix ingredients well. Wrap with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 90 minutes.

Featured photo: Athanasios Sioras

Yule love it!

A look at the holiday indulgence that is the Yule log

Growing up in Québec, Nathalie Hirte of Litchfield doesn’t remember a Christmas when her mother, Agnès Boucher, didn’t make bûche de Noël, more commonly known here as a Yule log. The chocolate sponge cake, rolled with a jam or buttercream filling and decorated to look like the wood from an actual tree log, was the centerpiece of her family’s kitchen table at dessert.

“She would cut out the edges from the pan, and I remember I always looked forward to getting to eat those crunchy sides, because she wouldn’t use those to roll the log,” said Hirte, now the office manager of the Franco-American Centre in Manchester and the founder of “Franco Foods,” a virtual recipe swap she started earlier this year. “She always made meringue mushrooms to put on top of the cake, and she had this very small plastic Santa Claus on skis. She’d put it on with powdered sugar to make it look like he was skiing down the log.”

While Hirte’s mother most commonly used strawberry or raspberry jam as a Yule log filling, you can use everything from a chocolate or vanilla buttercream to a salted caramel or peanut butter mousse. The variations continue when it’s time to give your cake its own festive decorations.

The result may look fancy, but with the right baking ingredients and tools a Yule log may not be as daunting to make as you might think. Local restaurateurs and baking experts discuss some of their own tips and tricks for whipping up this classic holiday dessert.

Baked in tradition

The precise origin of baking a cake around the holidays to resemble a log is unclear, but Pembroke chef Debbie Burritt, owner of Sweet Crunch Bakeshop & Catering Co., said it may be linked to a long-standing custom in France and other European countries of burning a “Yule log,” or a large tree log, in one’s fireplace on Christmas Eve. Keeping the ashes from the burnt log was thought to bring good luck for the year ahead.

Baking your Yule log cake starts with a basic mixture of eggs, sugar, flour, melted butter, heated milk and baking powder, poured over a prepared sheet pan. Hirte said she likes to butter her pan and then line it with parchment paper before adding the batter. The exact baking time may vary depending on the oven, but it’s generally pretty quick — around 15 minutes, she said.

“You want to be careful not to overbake,” she said. “I’ve found that using a bigger pan … has cooked faster but also rolled better. … You can touch the middle of it and if it’s moist and bouncy then you know it’s ready.”

Because the cake itself is very light and airy, the trickiest part of the Yule log is in the rolling. Denise Nickerson of The Bakeshop on Kelley Street in Manchester said that it should be rolled warm as soon as it’s out of the oven to prevent it from cracking. You can use parchment paper or a small kitchen towel dusted with confectioner’s sugar to carefully roll it before letting it rest for several minutes.

“Once it’s cool, you can unroll it carefully and then spread your filling, because [the parchment paper or towel] kind of trains it to be easily rolled back up again,” she said.

Filled with variation

Whether you’re using a jelly or jam, or a buttercream icing or mousse, the filling flavor inside of your Yule log will be up to your own personal preference. Simply spread out your filling of choice across the cake while it’s laying flat, then gently roll it once again.

Burritt has filled all kinds of order requests in the past, from a chocolate Yule log with vanilla buttercream to pumpkin or peppermint-flavored Yule logs.

“You can start with any basic variation of a sponge cake and turn it into a Yule log by changing the buttercream inside, or the cake itself,” she said.

Hirte said she still likes to make hers the way her mother did, with a strawberry or raspberry jam, but she’s tried other fillings over the years, like a salted caramel mousse.

Popovers on the Square in Epping and Portsmouth also makes its Yule logs with a raspberry jam filling, general manager Matthew Clark said, while at Just Like Mom’s Pastries in Weare, owner and baker Karen Car will make a vanilla sponge cake filled with chocolate mousse on the inside.

In addition to those with chocolate, Nickerson has also taken orders for “birch” Yule logs, which feature vanilla buttercream inside a vanilla cake, made to look like a paper birch tree.

“When we roll ours up we like to leave the ends exposed rather than covering it with frosting, so you can see the swirl, which looks like the rings of the log,” she said.

In Henniker, pastry chef Aaron Mallory of The Grazing Room at the Colby Hill Inn has been serving Yule logs for two as a dessert option on its Christmas Cheer menu, with a hazelnut filling and a chocolate ganache covering.

Time to decorate

Once your Yule log is baked and rolled, the final step is to decorate it to your liking. It’s a good idea to let the rolled cake cool completely, Hirte said, even waiting until the next day if you can, to make sure it is firm and any icing you use as decorative tree bark will not melt.

Lightly running the tip of a fork or a spatula through the frosting is an effective way to manipulate the texture, giving the cake some rough edges that look like tree bark, Nickerson said. You can also cut off a small sliver of the cake from one of the ends and place it against the side of the bigger piece to make it look like the smaller branch of a tree.

“You can dust it with confectioner’s sugar for snow,” Nickerson said. “We also have poinsettias we put on ours that are made out of gum paste.”

Other garnishes to give your Yule log a woodsy look involve adding meringue “mushrooms” dusted with cocoa powder, or holly leaves with sugared cranberries for added color.

Where to get Yule logs
While the deadline to order a Yule log for the holidays has passed for most bake shops in New Hampshire, there is still time to get one at one of these local eateries.
• The Bakeshop on Kelley Street (171 Kelley St., Manchester, 624-3500, thebakeshoponkelleystreet.com) will have a limited amount of Yule logs available for sale, on Thursday, Dec. 24, from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., owner Denise Nickerson said.
• Colby Hill Inn (33 The Oaks, Henniker, 428-3281, colbyhillinn.com) is serving Yule logs for two as a dessert option on its Christmas Cheer menu. According to chief innovation officer Jeff Brechbühl, the menu will continue to be available for a few days after Christmas, on Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 30.
• Frederick’s Pastries (109 Route 101A, Amherst, 882-7725; 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 647-2253; pastry.net) offers a dark chocolate Yule log filled with a light chocolate orange mousse, available to order now through New Year’s.

Agnès Boucher’s bûche de Noël (Yule log)
Courtesy of Nathalie Hirte of the Franco-American Centre in Manchester

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon melted butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the baking pan by buttering its surface and adding wax paper or parchment paper. Butter the surface of the paper and dust with flour. Beat the eggs in a deep bowl. Add the sugar, ¼ cup at a time. Make sure it is incorporated into the batter before adding more. Add the vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and the baking powder. Heat the milk (do not let it boil), then add melted butter. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Add the hot milk and stir gently, to not deflate the mixture, until the liquid is absorbed. Pour onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until it is lightly golden (the cake should be baked throughout, but still moist).
While the cake is baking, prepare a clean towel for rolling. Sift some powdered sugar onto the towel, or use some parchment paper, to help ensure the cake does not stick to it. Take the cake out of the oven. While the cake is still hot, trim off the edges (they will be hard and crunchy). Turn out the cake onto the prepared towel. If it’s still on, remove the paper from the back. Roll the cake quickly with the towel and let it rest, towel and all, for 15 minutes.
Unroll and spread your choice of filling (jelly, jam, buttercream icing, etc.) and roll once again. It will look like a large Swiss roll. Let the rolled cake cool completely. Add any decorations of choice (optional: cutting off a piece to put on top of the cake can give it the look of a cut off tree branch). Cover everything with the icing, spreading it to make it look like bark. You can use a fork or a spatula to add texture. After decorating, display as the centerpiece of your Christmas dessert table.

Featured photo: Raspberry jam and dark chocolate mousse filled Yule log. Courtesy of Popovers on the Square in Epping and Portsmouth.

Will paint for smiles

Nashua students create uplifting art for the community

Nashua high school students are using art to spread messages of hope and positivity amid the pandemic.

A new public art exhibition, “Brave New World: Resilience in the Time of Covid,” features paintings by about 80 student artists and is attached to the chain link fence at Amherst Street Elementary School. It will remain up through Feb. 14.

“Brave New World” is a collaboration between three Nashua public high schools, organized by art teachers Stephanie Sewhuk-Thomas of Brentwood Academy, Robin Peringer of Nashua High School South and Rodney Coffin of Nashua High School North.

The students started on the project in the fall in various art classes and programs that were utilizing “Choose Love,” a social-emotional curriculum developed by Scarlett Lewis, whose son was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The curriculum teaches strategies for turning negative thoughts into positive ones through courage, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion.

“The lessons talk about how, for the average person, 60 to 80 percent of the singular thoughts they have in a day are negative, and because most of our thoughts are repetitive, there’s a lot of power in changing even one negative thought to a positive thought,” Sewhuk-Thomas said. “We really zeroed in on that.”

With “Choose Love” as the basis for the project, the students also learned about the history and style of street art and techniques for using color, design and typography to create impactful images with a message.

Then, the students and teachers worked together to compile a list of short uplifting phrases to incorporate into their artwork, either literally with text or symbolically with imagery. “You are loved,” “Apart, but still together,” “Be someone’s reason to smile,” “Only good vibes” and “Be the best version of yourself” are some of the phrases they came up with, Sewhuk-Thomas said.

“The objective was simply to give someone passing by a positive thought for their day,” she said.

“I think the installation will be a lovely addition to Nashua, as a reminder that togetherness and a sense of community is possible even in separation and isolation,” added student artist Sarah Hinds, a senior at Nashua High School South.

Sewhuk-Thomas said the project has been just as uplifting for the students themselves.

“It’s been really important for them to be able to do something to make a positive difference, especially on a community level like this, at a time when their contact with other people is so limited,” she said.

“[It’s] been a wonderful opportunity for young artists … to really showcase their talents while spreading positivity in a time where most people could really use a reminder that things will be OK,” added student artist Ben Almeida, a senior at Nashua High School North.

“Brave New World” is dedicated to the memory of Tyler Almeida, a senior at Nashua High School North and student artist for the exhibit who died in November.

“Brave New World: Resilience in the Time of Covid”
Where: Chain link fence outside Amherst Street Elementary School, 71 Amherst St., Nashua
When: Now through Feb. 14
More info: sites.google.com/nsd42.net/bravenewworld

Artists & their “Brave New World” creations

Mariah Rodriguez Costa, junior at Nashua High School South
“I wanted my artwork to be simple, bold and easy to understand. I wrote ‘Save Our Planet’ on a plain black background to really highlight the words. The most important, and personally my favorite, part of the piece was my handprint overlapping the Earth. I thought that this tied the piece together and it shows that we have to do whatever we can to save our home. During these hard times, it is crucial that we take care of ourselves, our loved ones, and our planet. … I want people to look at my art and want to make a change to how they treat our planet, whether it be recycling, going zero waste or even picking up trash on the ground. … I truly believe that we can save our planet and provide a better future for the next generation.”

Andre Dabney, freshman at Brentwood Academy High School
“I used the classic smiley face emoji as my inspiration [and] as the focal point of [the] piece and decided to add rays coming from the sun. I used a cloudy sky as the backdrop and wanted to make it [so] that the sun was clearing away the clouds. I added goggles to show that he was having fun and his tongue sticking out to represent that he was silly. … In the times that we are all facing in today’s world, it’s important that we all keep each other smiling and laughing together through this pandemic.”

Ben Almeida, senior at Nashua High School North
“My piece features my demon character Smudge next to the words ‘You Are Loved’ in big rainbow letters. My inspiration was from some of my personal struggles with feeling loved. I find that on my darkest days some of the simplest things can really make me feel better, and being reminded that you are loved … can lift one’s mood. [Smudge] is a symbol of positivity for me. … I’ve had a lot of people tell me that they find him to be very cute so I thought he would be a pleasant addition to my positive message. When people see my piece I want them to smile … [and know] that no matter how dark things may be in their life currently there is someone out there rooting for them now and always.”

Sarah Hinds, senior at Nashua High School South
“My inspiration for the piece was my reconnection with nature during the Covid-19 pandemic. I have been so focused on school and work before quarantine, but as soon as I was forced to isolate myself, I felt an urge to go out and rediscover nature. I started hiking and just tried to spend more time outside, and my increased immersion in nature allowed me to finally feel at peace again. … The hand extending from the [top] right corner was inspired by ‘The Creation of Adam’ by Michelangelo, but instead of the arm of God extending from the opposite corner, I included a bunch of wildflowers. This was meant to represent Mother Nature, and to encourage the audience themselves to reconnect with nature and immerse themselves in it as I had done.”

Featured photo: Mariah Rodriguez Costa, junior at Nashua High School South

News & Notes 20/12/24

Covid-19 updateAs of December 14As of December 21
Total cases statewide31,87537,388
Total current infections statewide6,7526,688
Total deaths statewide604656
New cases6,059 (Dec. 8 to Dec. 14)5,513 (Dec. 15 to Dec. 21)
Current infections: Hillsborough County2,4532,290
Current infections: Merrimack County872929
Current infections: Rockingham County1,7221,580
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Covid-19 news

On Dec. 15, the first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine were administered in New Hampshire to front-line health care workers, according to a press release. The state received 12,675 doses of the vaccine in the first shipment, according to the release, with more expected to continue to arrive on a weekly basis. The state is also expected to receive more than 24,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine this week, according to a Dec. 19 report from WMUR, and the doses will be received in batches throughout the week. Vaccinations from both Pfizer and Moderna will be distributed to long-term care facilities this week, according to the report.

Dr. Beth Daly, Chief of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control of the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services, reported during a Dec. 17 press conference that the state has averaged around 800 to 900 new cases of Covid-19 per day from the previous week. The day before, on Dec. 16, state health officials reported 21 deaths due to the virus, the highest single-day number of deaths in New Hampshire since the beginning of the pandemic.

Later during the same press conference, Gov. Chris Sununu provided an update on the final allotments of federal CARES act funding, which the state is required to spend in full by Dec. 31. An additional $7 million will be allocated directly to hospitals in the state, specifically those that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. “We know that a lot of hospitals have had to give up certain elective procedures, elective surgeries … to make sure that the beds are there,” Sununu said. “That $7 million, combined with additional over $70 million that the federal government is also allocating … creates a lot of economic opportunity for hospitals and doctors that have really been hard hit by this.” Sununu also said an additional $4 million will be allocated to the state’s university system to offset some unanticipated testing capacity costs, as well as $12 million allocated to nonprofit organizations. “We’ve spent it down almost to the penny, frankly,” he said of the federal funds. “The team at GOFERR did a great job of making sure that we had emergency funds available all the way to the end of the year.”

Speaker nomination

Last week, the House Republican Caucus voted to nominate Acting House Speaker Sherman Packard (R-Londonderry) as its nominee for Speaker of the House, to succeed the late Speaker Richard “Dick” Hinch, according to a press release. The nomination will be decided on Jan. 6. “Losing Speaker Hinch has been difficult for all of us, and this is not my first choice of how I wanted this session to go,” Packard said in a statement following the vote. “However, we must continue our work, we must continue his work, and I promise that I will continue to further Dick’s vision of how he would have run the House.”

Money for vets

The City of Manchester is encouraging veterans who have needs that are directly related to Covid-19 to reach out to Easterseals, which still has CARES Act funds remaining for military veterans. All funds must be spent by the end of December, according to a press release, and veterans who need assistance because of Covid-19, including help with mortgage and rental arrearages, car repairs, back car payments, utilities, food, gas, childcare arrangements, heating costs and more, can contact Easterseals at 315-4354 or mvsintake@eastersealsnh.org.

Low unemployment

Last week’s release of the November unemployment rates by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that New Hampshire ranked as the fifth lowest state in the nation, with an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, according to a press release. “Balancing public health and economic success has been a priority of my administration from the onset of this pandemic,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in the release. “This latest economic news affirms that New Hampshire has taken the right approach and that our economy will come back stronger than ever as we near the end of this pandemic.”

Housing stability plan

The state’s new Council on Housing Stability finalized its initial report and action plan and sent it to Gov. Chris Sununu on Dec. 11, according to a press release. Sununu said in a statement that the council has created “an excellent foundation” for the state to begin updating its homelessness plan. He instructed state agencies to move forward with all recommendations that can be taken immediately through executive action, which includes applying for a federal waiver to support services that assist individuals and families in obtaining housing by May 1.

Changes at SNHU

Southern New Hampshire University announced last week new plans for its campus-based programs that it says will be more flexible, accessible and affordable — including a more than 50-percent reduction from its current tuition rate. According to a press release, SNHU will launch new and updated campus academic programs next fall, with greater emphasis on experiential and project-based learning. It will also move from merit-based to need-based financial aid awards, and a tiered tuition rate of just $15,000 or $10,000 per year. Starting in the fall of 2021, there will be more than 50 on-campus programs available. The $15,000 programs will feature face-to-face instruction, with flexibility to explore electives, internships, project-based courses, service learning, study abroad, and other experiential learning elements. The $10,000 programs will include at least 36 credits earned through required experiential learning components such as studio work, lab work, project-based courses, internships or certifications, and the remaining credits will be delivered in a mix of face-to-face classroom settings and online formats. There will be less time in traditional classroom settings, and faculty will be engaging with students in new ways, including as project leads, internship advisors and coaches. These programs are open to new, first-year students and rising sophomores. “This effort is the culmination of years of hard work to fundamentally reimagine a broken model that too often leaves students behind,” President and CEO Paul LeBlanc said in the release. “When we set out to radically reduce the cost of place-based higher education, we knew that it would require a holistic approach, and we are proud of the work our teams have done tirelessly during the pandemic to rethink the cost and delivery of our campus model to put higher education within reach for more learners.” SNHU is also aiming to increase campus enrollment from 3,000 students to 4,500 students by 2025, according to the release.

The First Congregational Church in Manchester is leaving its lights on from dusk to dawn, now through Sunday, Dec. 27, to showcase the recent renovation of its stained glass windows. According to a press release, the windows of the 1880 church are the culmination of a year-long restoration project, and the public is welcome to drive by and see them lit up. The church is located on the corner of Hanover and Union streets.

Rivier University in Nashua has been ranked as a top 100 school for nursing in the nation and as the top private nursing school in New Hampshire, according to a press release. The rankings come from the Nursing School Almanac, which evaluated more than 3,000 U.S. nursing schools.

Work has begun on a new 6,900-square-foot testing and engineering range at the Sig Sauer Academy in Epping. According to a press release from North Branch Construction, construction of the pre-engineered steel building is expected to be completed in late spring.

Giving thanks in a tough year

2020 is not going silently into the night. It’s going out kicking and screaming. And let’s not be nice about this: 2020 has been a brutal year for everyone. More than 500 Granite Staters have passed away from Covid, people have lost their livelihoods, whole industries have been torn apart, families have been separated, kids have been unschooled, and to top it all off we went through one of the most divisive elections in modern times with federal agencies actually warning about possible election-related civil unrest. I mean, come on. It’s no wonder people are drinking a bit more. Yes, beer, wine and liquor sales are up in New Hampshire.

But even in these challenging times there are things to be thankful for.

As fraught as the election was (and could still be, I guess) there wasn’t any violence. The day after most signs were down and people here were back to their daily lives. Is everyone happy? No. But most have moved on to their lives.

As bad as Covid has been, it could have been worse. New Hampshire has largely been successful in tamping down outbreaks, keeping the number of hospitalizations low and balancing the needs of people to move about with the needs of our medical system to combat the virus. Any loss of life is horrific.

While many local businesses (including us) and nonprofits have seen revenues plunge, many other businesses have seen surging demand. Everything from ATVs to swimming pools to builders to takeout pizza has seen strong revenue in 2020.

Unemployment rates have continued to fall. New Hampshire’s rate is now under 5 percent from a high of almost 17 percent in April. That does reflect some people leaving the workforce but it also reflects other jobs in other industries picking up the slack.

New Hampshire showed the country it was truly bipartisan by splitting results with Republicans dominating statewide races and Democrats dominating federal races. More than that, 75 percent of eligible voters voted — a modern record level of voting. And yes, folks, we do live in a democracy. We should also be thankful for that.

There is less traffic — just saying.

Folks in New Hampshire continue to be generous with their time and money in assisting and donating to local nonprofits. While many nonprofits that rely on in-person services have seen revenues decline others have seen people be more generous. It made the news recently that MacKenzie Scott (author, philanthropist and former wife of Jeff Bezos) gave more than $6 million to New Hampshire nonprofits.

Hundreds of Hippo readers have sent in financial contributions this year to support Hippo. We can’t say thank you enough.

As much as we want 2021 to be better than 2020, and I’m hopeful it will be, the road back to normal will be slower than we want. But there is a road back and for that I’m very thankful.

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