Category: News

News & Notes 23/01/05

Opioid settlement

New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella has joined a national attorneys general settlement with pharmaceutical retailers CVS and Walgreens for a total of $10.7 billion in regard to the companies’ alleged contribution to the opioid crisis. According to a press release, the civil lawsuit alleges that the companies overly distributed and irresponsibly dispensed prescription opioids at their retail stores. The settlement has brought the national amount from investigations and litigation against the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the opioid crisis to more than $50 billion. New Hampshire stands to receive nearly $57 million from the CVS and Walgreens agreements, which will be dedicated to opioid treatment and prevention programs in the state. CVS has agreed to pay $5 billion over a period of 10 years while Walgreens has agreed to pay $5.7 billion over a period of 15 years, with payments expected to begin during the second half of 2023. “People trust their local pharmacies and these pharmacy chains failed to provide the people of New Hampshire with the pharmacy care and protection they had a right to expect,” Attorney General Formella said in the release. “This agreement mandates significant changes to these pharmacy chains’ business practices, including court-ordered monitoring to ensure checks that should have been in place will now be aggressively enforced.”

New director

The City of Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved the nomination of Michael Quigley for the position of Director of the Office of Youth Services. According to a press release, the city department provides youth programming designed to engage young people who are experiencing difficulties with academics, anger and aggression, bullying and fighting, changes in behavior, communication, changes in family structures, self-harm, death and loss, homelessness, isolation, tensions at home, substance abuse, trauma and more. Quigley, who holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and a master’s degree in adult education and leadership, has worked in youth services since 2007 and has extensive experience working with families, schools, nonprofit partners and government agencies to help better the lives of youth. “I am inspired by the young people in Manchester and believe in their endless potential,” Quigley said in the release. “I am eager to take part in the great work that OYS is currently doing in the community and will work to broaden our impact by strengthening our mission and vision. … The Office of Youth Services will do this by providing new opportunities, partnerships and programs that will allow youth to thrive, and provide spaces for them to use their voice to help this community continue to grow.” Quigley assumed the role on Dec. 27, according to the release.

New logo

Manchester School District has unveiled a new logo that incorporates visual elements from the city. According to a press release, students and school staff were presented with a number of potential logos and asked to vote for their favorite. The logo depicts a school clock tower, the Merrimack River and ornamental flourishes inspired by architecture and signs of Elm Street, in a color inspired by the red brick exteriors of the city’s schools and mill buildings. “We are excited to share this new logo with the community,” Jennifer Gillis, superintendent of the Manchester School District, said in the release. “It’s a significant change, but we feel this logo does a great job of capturing our community and history. In focus groups we held, the historical elements in this logo really resonated with people, particularly our students. We feel this logo does a great job of tying together our present and our past.” The new logo will be implemented as the District launches its new website this month.

New assistant commish

Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council have approved the nomination of David Rodrigue for the position of New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) Assistant Commissioner, according to a press release. Rodrigue, who has a bachelor of science degree from the University of New Hampshire, has worked for NHDOT since 1991 in the Bureaus of Highway Design, Construction, Traffic and Highway Maintenance. He became the Department’s first Intelligent Transportation Management System Program Manager in 2005, where he worked to construct, outfit and open the Bureau of Transportation Systems Management Operations, also known as New Hampshire’s Transportation Management Center. He has served as the director of operations since 2016.

The Dairy Queen on Second Street in Manchester finished 2022 as the highest-earning Dairy Queen location out of 4,353 locations throughout the country, WMUR reported, with a $3,000 lead over the Dairy Queen in Gray, Georgia. The Manchester restaurant has come close in the past, finishing second last year to the Dairy Queen in Medford, Massachusetts, and it has held the No. 1 spot for total ice cream sales for three years running.

Jaffrey couple Chelsie and Jeffrey Thibault welcomed New Hampshire’s first baby born in 2023, WMUR reported. Cayson Thibault, who was originally due on Jan. 3, arrived early on Jan. 1 at 12:36 a.m., at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, to ring in the new year. He is the couple’s second child, little brother to their 4-year-old son.

With the new year comes a new policy on overdue books at Nashua Public Library, WMUR reported. The library is no longer issuing fines, and all existing fines have been forgiven. Library director Jennifer McCormack said in the article that fining people for late books is largely ineffective at ensuring that books are returned on time and often deters people from using the library.

This Week 22/12/29

Big Events December 29, 2022 and beyond

Thursday, Dec. 29

The SNHU Arena (555 Elm St., Manchester) is hosting the Harlem Globetrotters today at 2 p.m. The team will show off their basketball skills with trick shots, routines and more. Ticket prices start at $29. Visit snhuarena.com to buy tickets.

Thursday, Dec. 29

See Joe Gatto for a night of comedy tonight at 7 and 9:30 p.m. at the Capitol Center for the Arts Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St., Concord). Gatto, a comedian, actor, author and podcaster, has performed to sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City and the O2 Arena in London. Tickets start at $40 and can be bought at ccanh.com.

Thursday, Dec. 29

See The Wizards of Winter, a holiday rock event featuring former members of some of classic rock’s biggest names, including Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Def Leppard and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, at The Flying Monkey Movie House & Performance Center (39 Main St., Plymouth) today. Tickets start at $49 and can be bought at flyingmonkeynh.com

Saturday, Dec. 31

Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry) is having The Adam Ezra Group perform tonight at 9 p.m. Buy tickets for the show only (doors open at 8:30 p.m.) for $45, or tickets for dinner and the show (starts at 5:30 p.m.) for $95, at tupelohall.com.

Sunday, Jan. 1

The Apple Therapy and Derry Sports & Rehab Millennium Mile, a one-mile downhill race on Mammoth Road in Londonderry, starts today at 2 p.m. Registration costs $20 for ages 12 and up and $10 for 11 and under, with the first 1,250 registrants getting a winter hat (if available, registration on race day costs $5 more). See millennium-running.com to register in advance.

Sunday, Jan. 1

Today is the last chance to see the Gift of Lights at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1122 Route 106, Loudon). The show, which has more than 3 million lights, is 2½ miles long with 80 different scenes. The shows start at 4:30 p.m. and admission for one car costs $35. Tickets can be bought at nhms.com.

Sunday, Jan. 1

Join NHSCOT for a Hogmany at LaBelle Winery (14 Route 111, Derry) today at 3 p.m. Celebrate the New Year in a Scottish way, with traditional board games, dancing, music, food and more. Tickets cost $32 per adult ages 15 and older, $15 per child ages 6-14, and kids ages 5 and younger are free. For more information, see the story in the Dec. 15 on page 14 (find the e-edition at hippopress.com) or visit nhscot.org.

Save the Date! Thursday, Jan. 19
It’s the opening night of the Cirque du Soleil show Corteo at the SNHU Arena (555 Elm St., Manchester). The show will have acrobats from around the world performing death-defying stunts. The show will be in town until Jan. 22. Opening night show will start at 7:30 p.m. Visit snhuarena.com for more information or to order tickets.

Featured photo. Harlem Globetrotters. Courtesy photo.

Quality of Life 22/12/29

Power down

Around 95,000 New Hampshire electric utility customers experienced power outages on the morning of Friday, Dec. 23, after heavy winds and rain downed trees and power lines across the state, WMUR reported. The National Weather Service issued hazardous weather alerts for icy roadways, hurricane force winds and flood warnings. The storm caused seawater flooding on the seacoast, closing parts of Route 1A in Rye and North Hampton.

QOL score: -1

Comment: This was the second case of statewide outages this month, after around 62,000 electric utility customers were left without power following the first big snowstorm of the season on Thursday, Dec. 15.

Toys for kids

The 11th annual Tower of Toys, an initiative that collects donations of unwrapped holiday gifts for children of families in need, collected around 1,000 toys and raised more than $20,000, according to a press release. “Our mission is to make the work of nonprofit organizations and families easier during the Christmas season, and most importantly, to make the season truly magical for New Hampshire’s children,” Tower of Toys founder and sponsor Larry Thibodeau said in the release. The donations were distributed to a number of local nonprofit organizations that work with children and families, including Dover Children’s Home, Friends of Aine, Friends of Forgotten Children, My Turn, Nashua Children’s Home, New Generation, Roca Kidz Club, Spaulding Academy & Family Services, Walk with a Child and Webster House.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The donated toys were formed into a tower on display at a celebratory holiday reception held at the Beacon Building in Manchester on Thursday, Dec. 15.

An end-of-year gift

Gas prices in New Hampshire have fallen 12.2 cents per gallon in the last week. According to a GasBuddy price report, the average gasoline price in New Hampshire is down to $3.29 per gallon as of Dec. 19. The data is based on a survey of 875 gas stations across the state. Prices are now 41.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The national average price of gas was projected to fall below $3 per gallon for the first time in nearly 600 days by Christmas.

Praise for a NICU nurse

Victoria M. Hastings, RN, a clinical nurse in the NICU at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, is among 10 neonatal intensive care unit nurses nationwide selected as a finalist in the 4moms first annual Nominate a NICU Nurse program. According to a press release, co-workers, friends and families of NICU babies nominate their favorite nurses for the award, and finalists are selected based on submission stories and the number of times they were nominated. “Reading through all of the nominations was truly special,” Hastings said in the release. “It’s nice to be reminded how important the work we all do in the NICU really is to our families, patients and co-workers.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Ten 4moms MamaRoo Swings were donated to CHaD in Hastings’ honor.

QOL score: 90

Net change: +2

QOL this week: 92


What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].

2022’s biggest sports stories

We’ll end the blah sports year of 2022 with a look at its biggest stories.

World’s Cup Runneth Over: Aside from seeing the world’s grandest sports event decided by penalty kicks, which is akin to the NBA Finals being decided by a foul shooting contest, the World Cup lived up to the hype. It ended with an overtime game with uber star Lionel Messi winning what some thought might be his final game. It had underdogs advancing, and the Americans made it out of group play. Best of all, TV ratings were great, which may signal soccer’s day as a spectator sport for the U.S. masses may have arrived.

Here Comes The Judge: Seeing clean cut, non-juiced good guy Aaron Judge chase Roger Maris’s and the Babe’s cherished single-season home run record in the AL was the feel-good story of the year. It was a “he’s got it the whole way” laugh in, until the palms got sweaty the last 10 days. But No. 62 finally came and the record, most importantly to New Yorkers, stayed in the Bronx.

Astros Blast Off in World Series: After being scorned by the baseball world since it was discovered they used an elaborate sign-stealing system all throughout their championship season of 2017, the Houston Astros finally got the monkey off their back. It happened by beating the Phillies in this year’s Fall Classic four games to two. It won’t erase the taint of 2017, but it does validate that after going to four Series since 2017, they have been one of the best organizations in recent memory.

Kyrie Irving’s World Implodes: The world’s most self-indulgent, delusional athlete wrote another chapter for the “why I (sports) hate this guy” book by derailing his team, not once but twice.

The first time was railing about the man in refusing to get vaccinated during the pandemic, which ran afoul of New York City’s mandate for having to be vaxxed to be part of mass gatherings. It led to his missing 53 games, which sent NBA favorite Brooklyn into a lurch that eventually led to their being swept out of the playoffs in Round I by Boston.

The other was getting suspended eight games after refusing to back down to the league-wide storm that followed his posting support for an anti-semitic documentary.

It all cost him close to $70 million in lost NBA salary and his canceled Nike deal.

And for those who still think he’s worth the trouble, the Nets were 11-18 in the 29 games played last year and the count this year was 2-6 before he was suspended and 5-3 in the games he missed.

College Football Playoffs Expands to 12-School Format: It won’t happen until 2024 at the earliest and maybe not until 2026. But the decision by the NCAA to begin a 12-school national tournament for Division I Football was met with near unanimous approval when announced in September. Its time had come for the following reasons: (1) D-1 football is the only sport in the NCAA without a season-ending playoff. (2) With New Year’s Day Bowl games no longer the unofficial ending of college football, it needed a better ending. (3) With schools like USC and UCLA headed to the Big 10, the once recognizable conference picture is a total jumble and this gives a better focus going forward. (4) Given the success of the Men’s Basketball Tournament, is there any doubt this will be a wild success too?

Golden State Proves Me Wrong Twice: First, I said in my NBA pre-season preview that after two injury-ravaged years I didn’t see the Warriors ever returning to their championship level form. SPOILER ALERT — They did. Then when they met the Celtics in the Finals I picked the Green and — SPOILER ALERT — they didn’t, after I underestimated how good their team defense was, their coach Steve Kerr was and historically how great Steph Curry is, which became more apparent as he dominated all but one game in the series. As for the history, winning for a fourth time in eight years cements them as one of the best multi-year run winners, while Curry pushed his way into my Top 10 greatest players ever.

Hot Seat Is Warming for Coach B: Due to repeated personnel miscalculations since 2013, his usual stubbornness, the team’s most mortifying loss since getting run over by the Bears in SB 20 and a major misguided choice for offensive coordinator, things are not going well for Bill Belichick three years into the post-Tom Brady era.

It has folks wondering the once unthinkable: If Coach B does catch Don Shula’s all-time record for wins, will he do it coaching in Foxborough?

I sense a clash coming between the owner and Coach B. One where Bob Kraft demands (as I would) he get some fresh perspective to help get things back on track by going outside the organization to hire a personnel guy with a track record of drafting success and another to lead the offense and develop their highly drafted young QB in a way Matt Patricia can’t.

Will he get stubborn and say no? Then what? Another year to fix it his way, or will a refusal push Kraft into making a “do what I say or else” decision most never expected would ever happen?

Brittney Griner Comes Home: This isn’t a sports story but an international news story involving a well-known American athlete that was in the news most of the year. Given the danger posed by the arms dealer she was swapped for in the prisoner exchange, the question is did it happen because of her celebrity? Or, more likely, because she was an innocent pawn taken hostage by a hostile country in retribution for the action taken by her country in support of Ukraine after it was invaded by a power-hungry dictator?

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Future plans

Project to bring connections, improved walkability to Manch

RAISE Manchester is a $30 million transportation infrastructure project in Manchester funded in part by a $25 million federal RAISE grant. Kristen Clarke, project manager and Manchester Department of Public Works traffic engineer, discussed the project following a public informational meeting held for residents and business owners. Visit raisemanchester.org.

How long has RAISE Manchester been in the works?

The first time we applied for the grant was in 2019. There were some planning efforts that happened leading up to that as well. We applied for the grant in 2019 and 2020 and were not successful and then won the grant in 2021.

What are RAISE grants awarded for?

The grant is [awarded] through the U.S. DOT. RAISE stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity. There are several key items that they’re looking for, which are how we’re improving mobility and congestion and how we’re creating new development opportunities using infrastructure.

What are the elements of the project?

There are four different elements of the grant that are all semi-interconnected. First, there’s the Granite Street and Commercial Street intersection, where we’re going to be building a pedestrian bridge over Granite Street. Then, where South Commercial Street currently dead-ends by the Fisher Cats ballpark, we’re going to be building a bridge over the active rail line that will connect over to Elm Street at Gas Street. Then we’re going to be building a rail trail on the abandoned rail trail corridor from Queen City Avenue up to that Elm and Gas Street intersection. The last piece is the reconfiguration of the South Willow Street and Queen City Avenue intersection from a signalized intersection into a peanut-shaped roundabout.

What are some of the problems that RAISE Manchester aims to address?

The biggest things are we’re looking at how to reconnect the south Millyard area back over to Elm Street across the rail line in hopes that it’ll help spur some redevelopment and extend downtown south of Granite Street. We’re also looking at [improving] safety and traffic congestion by providing alternative ways in and out of downtown.

How are you able to predict what changes will make the biggest impact?

Part of it is looking at where the bottlenecks are happening today. We know that, getting into the city on the Granite Street quarter, there’s a lot of congestion, especially if there’s a ballgame or an event at the SNHU Arena or if a train is coming through there. So that’s where we started looking at where we could create more options.

How much of this plan is confirmed and how much is still developing?

The four elements as presented in the grant application are required to be complete; they have to be done in some fashion based on the stipulations of the grant. The width of the road or the exact alignment of it can change, and that part is still not set in stone. We are in the preliminary design phase right now, which we’re hoping to wrap up over the next couple of months. Then, the final design phase will go on for about another year.

What does that design process look like?

There are three bridges that are part of this project, so a big piece of the design is actually doing all the structural analysis to design the bridges. That’s what takes the longest of all of it.

What is the timeline?

All in all, we have to be ready for all the design to be done by September 2024, and all construction must be completed by September 2029. We’re not sure about the [order of the] stages and which would happen first. A contractor might choose to do multiple of them at the same time. We can’t know yet.

What was the response at the public meeting?

Overall, the response was positive, and people were excited. They wondered how we’ve gone this long without a lot of these projects in place. We did get some great comments from the bike and pedestrian communities on different things that we should explore to see if there were better ways to accommodate bikes and pedestrians. … We’re really excited about it. If people have ideas, we’re happy for them to share their comments through our website, raisemanchester.org, or get in touch with us. We want to make sure that if there’s something someone wants to see, and there’s a way that we can accommodate it, we look into it.

Featured photo: The biggest part of RAISE Manchester will be a new South Commercial Street Extension. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 22/12/29

Fighting fentanyl

The Fighting Emerging Narcotics through Additional Nations to Yield Lasting (FENTANYL) Results Act, a bipartisan legislation supported by U.S. Senators and senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) and U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), has been signed into law, according to a press release. Part of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), annual legislation that authorizes defense programming, the FENTANYL Results Act will increase global cooperation in the fight against synthetic drug trafficking. Two programs through the State Department have been authorized to build foreign law enforcement capacity to detect synthetic drugs and operate an international exchange program for drug demand reduction experts. “Fentanyl is driving the substance use disorder crisis and making this public health emergency more lethal than ever,” Sen. Shaheen said in the release. “It is a killer and we need to get it out of our communities. That effort needs to start with preventing it from crossing our borders. We know that fentanyl is primarily being trafficked from China and Mexico, so it is paramount that we address this issue globally, which is precisely what the FENTANYL Results Act will do.”

Grant funds

Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council have approved an allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act resources for the Community Center Investment Program, which will be overseen by the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority. According to a press release, the program will provide $20 million in grant resources to eligible entities to support infrastructure improvements to community spaces across the state.

Housing

Funding for the construction and preservation of six multifamily housing developments through the allocation of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and other federal and state funding has been approved by the New Hampshire Housing Board of Directors. According to a press release, the projects will include Pembroke Road Apartments in Concord; CATCH Neighborhood Housing at Sheep Davis Road in Concord; Hillsborough Heights in Hillsborough; the first phase of The Apartments at 249 Main St. in Nashua; Coliseum Seniors Residence III in Nashua; and the third phase of Apple Ridge Apartments in Rochester. Once constructed, the buildings will provide 341 units to help meet the need for affordable rental housing for the state’s workforce and other residents.

Overdose prevention

The City of Manchester has been selected by the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Injury Control and Prevention as one of 20 communities across the country to receive $300,000 in funding to bolster overdose prevention efforts on the local level. According to a press release, Manchester recovery support worker and advocate Andrew Warner has been hired as Director of Overdose Prevention, a newly created position within the City’s Department of Health. Warner, who has experience in the field as a provider and program administrator in treating substance use disorders, will lead the City’s response in preventing drug-involved overdoses and fatalities. “My chief focus is to work with the array of resource providers in Manchester to create and implement a strategic plan to prevent drug-involved overdoses,” Warner said in the release. “It’s important to compile, monitor and use the real-time data in the city to help positively impact existing services and funding, improve planning and resource allocation, and ultimately track progress on key metrics.

St. Mary’s retirement

Ronald H. Covey Jr. will retire after 14 years as President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Mary’s Bank, the nation’s first credit union, according to a press release. Covey served as the eighth CEO in the credit union’s 114-year history. During his tenure, he expanded St. Mary’s Bank’s presence with the construction of its Perimeter Road operations center, West Side headquarters, and new branches including Northwest Boulevard Nashua, Milford and Portsmouth. Under Covey’s leadership, membership increased from 60,000 to 98,000 and grew from $652 million in assets to approaching $1.5 billion in assets. His accolades include induction into the national Credit Union House Hall of Leaders earlier this year; Manchester Chamber Citizen of the Year for 2021; and being named one of the state’s 200 most influential leaders by New Hampshire Business Review in 2019 and 2021.

The City of Concord has approved the construction of a new five-story commercial building on Main Street, the Concord Monitor reported. The building will include a Friendly Toast restaurant — the third in the state — on the first floor; 15,000 square feet of office spaces on the second, third and fourth floors; and an event space operated by the Grappone Conference Center on the top floor. Construction is slated to begin in the coming months, according to the article.

New Hampshire Humanities presents a program, “Tangled Lives: Native People and English Settlers in Colonial New England,” at the Manchester City Library (405 Pine St.) on Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 6:30 p.m. According to a press release, storyteller and historian Jo Radner will discuss Native American oral traditions and share stories told by her own New England ancestors, exploring the complex relationships between English settlers and Native peoples during the 17th and 18th centuries. The program is free and open to the public. Visit nhhumanities.org.

Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains will host an informational session, “Explore Girl Scouts,” on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 6 p.m. at the Nashua Public Library (2 Court St.). Girls in grades K through 3 and their caregivers are invited to learn about Girl Scouts and participate in sample activities, according to a press release. Walk-ins are welcome. Sign-ups for Girl Scouts are available year-round at girlscoutsgwm.org.

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