Category: News

Grants for new charter schools

The New Hampshire Department of Education recently released data revealing that $10.2 million has been distributed over the past two years to fund the formation of five new Board of Education-approved public charter schools in the state. According to NHPR, the funds come from a $46 million federal grant allocated for charter school startup costs, such as renovating buildings and recruiting staff and students, as part of an initiative to double the number of New Hampshire charter schools over five years. The newly approved schools include Heartwood Chartered Public School in Jefferson, Gathering Waters Charter School in Keene, Northeast Woodlands Charter School in Conway, Spark Academy of Advanced Technologies in Manchester and Lionheart Classical Academy, which opened in Peterborough this fall. Since 2020, four existing charter schools in New Hampshire closed their doors, the article said. The New Hampshire Department of Education expects to award another round of grants this month.

Lottery sales record

The New Hampshire Lottery broke its all-time sales record in the fiscal year 2022, generating more than $536.5 million in total sales, an increase of 3.3 percent, or $17.6 million, from the previous year, when it set a record high of $519 million. According to a press release, the New Hampshire Lottery also delivered a record high amount of $146.3 million to support education in the state in the last fiscal year. “We are pleased to break our sales and revenue records this year, as our success directly benefits schools statewide,” Charlie McIntyre, executive director of New Hampshire Lottery, said in the release. “Over the past year, as we worked to continuously engage current players and new audiences, we have launched countless new games, expanded and enhanced current offerings, introduced the state-of-the-art NH Lottery app, and have continued to build strong momentum with sports betting, all of which supports our ongoing efforts to maximize revenue for education.” New Hampshire Lottery sales have increased by nearly 60 percent, or nearly $200 million, over the past five years.

Underground Railroad site

The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire announced in a press release that the National Park Service has accepted Ona Judge Staines’ burial site in New Hampshire as part of its National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. The site is one of 17 sites added to the Network from its 44th round of applications and joins more than 700 sites, facilities and programs across 13 states that represent that diverse experiences of freedom seekers who escaped slavery and the allies who helped them. Ona “Oney” Judge Staines was enslaved at the plantation of first U.S. president George Washington in Mount Vernon, Virginia and escaped to Philadelphia, where the free Black community assisted her in relocating to and starting a new life in New Hampshire as a free woman. Information on the location of the site is restricted from the public to protect its historical integrity. Visit blackheritagetrailnh.org.

Pop-up pantries

United Way of Greater Nashua’s Pop-Up Pantries will transition from 13 outdoor locations to five indoor locations during the colder months, starting on Oct. 31, according to a press release. The weekly pantries distribute food, provided by the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter, around downtown Nashua to families experiencing food insecurity. The indoor pantries will be located at Arlington Street Community Center at 36 Arlington St. on Mondays; at Girls Inc. at 21 Burke St. on Tuesdays; at Harbor Care at 45 High St. on Wednesdays; at Nashua Community Music School at 2 Lock St. on Thursdays; and at Crossway Christian Church at 33 Pine St. on Fridays. All pantries distribute food on a first come, first served basis starting at 11 a.m. and ending when all food has been distributed, except for Wednesday, when the pantry starts at 2 p.m. Visit unitedwaynashua.org.

Skydiving educators

A group of New Hampshire educators joined Commissioner Frank Edelblut of the New Hampshire Department of Education for a skydiving excursion at the Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover, Mass., on Sept. 28. Each participant was paired with a soldier from the U.S. Army’s Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, for a tandem jump at 12,500 feet. The jumps serve as an exercise in teamwork, courage, discipline and training for the soldiers, according to a press release. “The U.S. Army provides students with a number of life-building opportunities, including numerous educational benefits like tuition assistance for postsecondary education, and leadership and career development opportunities, to name a few,” Edelblut said in the release. “It was an honor to be here today and skydive with some of our great soldiers who are committed to bettering their academic and career paths while serving as role models for our youth.”

CPR kits donated

The Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon recently received a donation of 500 infant CPR home training kits from the American Heart Association, funded by the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, and is distributing the kits to families of babies treated in the hospital’s intensive care nursery upon discharge. According to a press release, the kit contains tools to help new parents learn lifesaving infant CPR and infant choking relief skills in as little as 20 minutes, including a self-directed learning program that allows the user to practice the skills on a manikin while observing a video demonstration. “Learning CPR is one of the most important things all of us can do. You never know when a hero may be needed,” Lauren G. Gilstrap, MD, MPH, a cardiologist at the Heart & Vascular Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, said in the release. “These training kits will allow parents to feel confident and empowered to perform CPR successfully should an emergency occur with their child.”

The New Hampshire Transportation Council will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 9 a.m. at NHDOT, 7 Hazen Drive, Room 114, in Concord, to discuss the New Hampshire Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan recently approved by the Federal Highway Administration. The purpose of the meeting, according to a press release, is to explain the plan to the public, discuss public comments received during the plan’s development and answer questions from the public. The meeting will also be attendable via Zoom. Visit dot.nh.gov.

The Upper Room, a family resource center located at 36 Tsienneto Road in Derry, will host a three-part “Active Parenting for 0- to 5-year-olds” educational series for parents of young children. The series will run weekly on Wednesdays for three consecutive weeks, starting on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and sessions will run from 6 to 8 p.m. Participants will learn skills such as how to identify what a baby’s cry might mean, how to manage the “terrible twos” and more. Visit urteachers.org or call 427-8477, ext. 124.

UpReach Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Goffstown is looking for volunteers to assist in mounted programming, including Therapeutic Riding, Hippotherapy and Carriage Driving; unmounted (no riding) programs, which involve working with horses from the ground; and barn chores, such as mucking stalls, turnout, cleaning buckets, hay distribution, sweeping and more. Volunteer training sessions are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 29, from 9 a.m. to noon, and Tuesday, Nov. 1, from 1 to 4 p.m., with an additional training required for those working directly with horses offered on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 1 to 4 p.m., and Wednesday, Nov. 2, from 1 to 3 p.m. Volunteers must be at least 14 years of age, and horse experience is helpful, but not required. Visit upreachtec.org.

Absentee voting misinformation

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office issued a cease-and-desist order against the New Hampshire Democratic Party on Sept. 23 in regard to a case of “voter confusion” caused by absentee ballot application mailers for the November 2022 general election that the Party published and mailed that contained erroneous information. According to the order, the mailers, which affected 926 voters in 39 communities, had postage pre-paid, pre-addressed return envelopes with wrong return addresses for the appropriate town and city clerks. Voters also reported receiving mailers with return envelopes addressed to “[County Name] Board of Elections,” entities which do not exist; mailers that said, “You have a history of requesting absentee ballots” when the voter had not voted by absentee ballot in the past; and mailers that listed the voter’s domicile address as being in a city or town in which the voter does not reside. “The NHDP’s mailer … is causing voter confusion and frustration,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in the order. “The [incorrect] return mail addresses on the mailer are likely to mislead voters into unintentionally violating [the absentee ballot application procedure]. It could also disenfranchise some voters in that voters may complete the absentee ballot applications, believing they will receive absentee ballots for the State General Election, only to discover that their applications were never delivered to their Town or City Clerks. This discovery could be made at a time when the voters are not able to file follow-up applications for absentee ballots.” The order closed with remediation steps that the NHDP is required to take, including contacting each recipient of the mailers and personally assisting them with the absentee ballot application process to ensure that it’s done correctly so that they will be able to obtain an absentee ballot in time for it to count as a valid vote in the upcoming General Election.

Federal funds to fight opioid epidemic

State Opioid Response grants in the total amount of $28,507,046 for fiscal year 2022 are being made available to the State of New Hampshire to fund resources and efforts addressing the substance use disorder crisis in the state. According to a press release, the federal funding was approved through legislation bolstered by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a senior appropriator on the Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and is nearly $400,000 more than the annual opioid response funding New Hampshire received last year. “We need to continue an all-hands-on deck approach to combating the opioid epidemic, and I will stay laser focused on getting New Hampshire communities and law enforcement the tools that they need to combat this crisis,” Hassan said in the release.

Making monkeypox vaccines accessible

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services has updated and expanded the eligibility criteria to receive the two-dose monkeypox vaccine series known as JYNNEOS. According to a press release, people for whom the vaccine is recommended include “any person who identifies as gay, bisexual, queer, or is a man who has sex with men and believes they are at risk for monkeypox virus infection; a person of any gender or sexual orientation whom a medical provider thinks is at increased risk for monekypox virus infection; [and] persons who report in the prior 14 days a known exposure to the monkeypox virus.” “JYNNEOS vaccine uptake has been low in NH, and with increasing supply we want to make it as easy as possible for people who may be at risk to get vaccinated to protect themselves from infection,” New Hampshire State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said in the release. The vaccine is currently being distributed through city health departments and participating provider clinics throughout the state. If you believe you are eligible to receive the vaccine, contact your primary health care provider for a referral to a participating clinic. If you do not have a primary health care provider from whom you can get a referral, you can still receive the vaccine at a participating New Hampshire Convenient MD location as long as you live, work or have a primary health care provider in the state. Anyone who is experiencing symptoms or has been exposed or possibly exposed to the virus should isolate at home and consult their health care provider. Visit dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/disease-prevention/infectious-disease-control/monkeypox for monkeypox vaccination locations and the latest updates on the monkeypox outbreak in New Hampshire.

New NH Liquor & Wine Outlets

Two new NH Liquor & Wine Outlets are now open, at 850 Gold St. in Manchester and in the Concord Crossing Plaza at 11 Merchants Way in Concord. According to a press release from the NH Liquor Commission, the Outlets feature more than 4,000 sizes and varieties of wines and spirits and have special sections showcasing premium and ultra-premium spirits, high-end wines and Outlet Price Busters and Wine Power Buys. The buildings include high-efficiency materials and LED fixtures, oversized aisles and enhanced accessibility for curbside pickup service. The NH Liquor Commission also announced that construction has begun on a new NH Liquor & Wine Outlet in the Westside Plaza in Nashua, to which the existing Outlet on Northwest Boulevard in Nashua will relocate. It is expected to open in May 2023. “These new Outlet locations represent the latest step in our ongoing effort to enhance the customer shopping experience, strengthen our brand, and continue to generate critical revenue for the New Hampshire General Fund,” NHLC Chairman Joseph Mollica said in the release.

The New Hampshire Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, along with state and local dignitaries, local community members and project partners, gathered atop Pack Monadnock in Peterborough on Sept. 23 to celebrate the revitalization of Miller State Park. According to a press release, the Miller State Park Revitalization Project included upgrades such as improving views, improving parking, painting buildings, removing old conduit and restructuring the poles and wires that run up to the summit and across the access road. The celebration included a ribbon cutting, comments from project partners and dignitaries and the unveiling of a new historical highway marker commemorating Miller State Park as “New Hampshire’s First State Park.”

The Nashua School District has become the first New Hampshire school district, and one of only four school districts in New England, to be accepted as a member of the League of Innovative Schools. According to a press release, the national network was created by Digital Promise, an organization devoted to accelerating innovation in education, and currently includes 150 schools across 38 states. “Being a member of the league offers us access to a network of similar, forward-thinking schools to share best practices in teaching and learning,” Mario Andrade, Superintendent of the Nashua School District, said in the release.

Road work to resurface Route 101 resumed this week in Milford and Amherst, according to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. The work, which is estimated to take one week to complete if the weather permits, is concentrated at all on and off ramps at Route 13, Route 101A and Route 122. Daytime lane shifts are being used between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to accommodate the placement of ramp traffic markings.