News – Page 97

News & Notes 22/10/20

Biofabrication celebrated
The Manchester NextGen Resiliency Council will hold a Build Back Better Community Celebration at Arms Park in Manchester on Friday, Oct. 21, from noon to 2 p.m., to celebrate the group’s reception of the Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant to support its Southern New Hampshire BioFabrication Cluster proposal. According to a press release, the Council — a partnership between the City of Manchester, Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, the University of New Hampshire Manchester, Southern New Hampshire University, Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission, Manchester Transit Authority and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport — was selected from more than 500 applicants and 60 finalists to receive the award, which amounts to nearly $44 million in federal funds from the Economic Development Administration. The proposal aims to make Manchester the epicenter of the biofabrication industry, which would create an estimated 7,000 direct jobs and approximately 37,250 total jobs across southern New Hampshire over the next seven years, including a significant number of jobs for non-degreed, biofabrication and quality technicians. The celebration is free and open to the public, and Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig will be in attendance, according to her public schedule.

Adult drug court
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, joined by Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess, Chief Justice Tina Nadeau, Justice Jacalyn Colburn and representatives from the New England Association of Recovery Court Professionals and the Drug Court Steering Committee, attended the Hillsborough County South Adult Drug Court Graduation Ceremony on Oct. 13, honoring 11 graduates who completed the program. According to a press release, the program — established in 2014 as a multidisciplinary effort between the criminal justice system, local police departments and Greater Nashua Mental Health — provides intensive treatment and community-based supervision to individuals in the justice system who are dealing with severe substance use disorder and are deemed to be at high risk of engaging in repeat criminal activity, aiming to reduce recidivism and promote long-term recovery. “Today, we see how our communities have turned a corner through the remarkable progress reflected in the success of today’s graduates,” Shaheen said in the release. “Drug courts like the one here in Nashua are saving lives by focusing on treatment, recovery and rehabilitation. I’m optimistic that this approach will help end the substance use disorder crisis and move our communities toward a brighter, safer and healthier future for New Hampshire families.”

EV charging
The first of multiple grant contracts to establish publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure to promote and enable electric vehicle travel to and within New Hampshire will come before the Executive Council next week. According to a press release, the contracts total approximately $4.6 million in grant awards, with funds from a 2017 Volkswagen legal settlement, which have been held in an Environmental Mitigation Trust reserved for environmental mitigation projects. The first contract will establish electric vehicle charging infrastructure at the Errol General Store in Errol, serving the New Hampshire Route 16 corridor. “In developing our state’s plan for the use of these trust funds, I authorized the maximum allowed funding to be utilized to jump-start the installation of public charging sites statewide and help create a robust, cost-effective access to this clean energy source,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in the release. “Almost every vehicle manufacturer today offers EV options, and it is important for New Hampshire to be a leader in supporting these vehicles while providing economic stimulus to our businesses through these public-private partnerships.” The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has proposed electric vehicle charging infrastructure at 35 locations across 25 New Hampshire towns and cities. Contracts for additional charging sites will come before the Executive Council over the coming months, according to the release.

Violence prevention
The Department of Justice has awarded $88,528 in grants to the Project Safe Neighborhoods Program in the District of New Hampshire to support community efforts to address gun crime and violence. According to a press release, Project Safe Neighborhoods is an evidence-based, community-oriented response to gun crime that is a key component of the Justice Department’s Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime drawn up in May 2021. Its tenants include fostering trust and legitimacy in communities, supporting community-based violence prevention organizations and prioritizing strategic enforcement policies, with a mission focused more on reducing the amount of violent crime that occurs than on increasing the number of arrests and prosecutions for violent crime. “Today’s grant award will hopefully be a step toward preventing violence from occurring in the future,” U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young said in the release. “It is only by a dedicated and sustained collaboration between law enforcement and community partners that we can truly address gun violence that strikes every corner of our communities.”

The City of Manchester Fire Department celebrated the groundbreaking of its new Station 9 at 575 Calef Road on Oct. 17. The 60-plus-year-old station as it currently stands has been officially closed, according to a press release, and will be replaced with an updated, modernized station that can better meet the city’s needs. In the interim, Station 9 personnel will be housed at Station 7, at 679 Somerville St.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who serves as co-chair of the Senate Navy Caucus, was awarded the John Paul Jones Award for Leadership in Military or Civic Affairs at the New Hampshire Navy Ball hosted by the U.S. Navy League and the Navy veterans-focused nonprofit Swim With A Mission at the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel in New Castle on Oct. 13.

The Greater Nashua Area CROP Hunger Walk will take place on Sunday, Oct. 30, beginning and ending at Temple Beth Abraham, located at 4 Raymond St. in Nashua. Now in its 38th year, the walk has raised more than $1 million to fight hunger and poverty locally and around the world and to provide refugee and disaster relief, according to a press release. Registration is open the day of the event from noon to 1 p.m. Opening ceremonies start at 1 p.m., followed by the walk, stepping off at 1:30 p.m. Visit events.crophungerwalk.org/2022/event/nashuanh.

Quality of Life 22/10/20

100 years of diner eats
The Red Arrow Diner celebrated 100 years of serving eats in the Queen City with a party on Lowell Street on Oct. 15 with well-wishers including local politicians and other notables (a Fisher Cats mascot was spotted). The diner started in its 61 Lowell St. location in Manchester as a lunch cart in 1922, according to the history recounted in the Sept. 29 issue of the Hippo (find it at hippopress.com).
QOL score: +1
Comments: Here’s to the next 100 years of Moe’s Specialty Omelettes and Dinah Fingers.

Cough, cough, blah
New Hampshire public health officials are expecting a surge in Covid cases this winter, partially due to low public awareness of and interest in the updated booster vaccine, NHPR reported. Approximately half of New Hampshire residents who are eligible for the first booster have gotten it, and about 35 percent of those eligible for the second booster, which has been available in New Hampshire for a month, have gotten it, according to data released by the CDC.
QOL score: -2
Comment: Find a vaccination site near you at vaccines.nh.gov, which also lists dates for upcoming mobile clinics and maps with vaccination sites for kids ages 5 to 11 and kids ages 5 and under.

Sports for all
Special Olympics athletes and volunteers participated in the first-ever Disability Justice Parade and Celebration, which was held at Arms Park in Manchester on Oct. 13. According to a press release, the event was designed to “celebrate and elevate the values of inclusion, equity and justice for people with disabilities.”
QOL score: +1
Comment: Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig proclaimed the day “Disability Justice Day” in the city.

QOL score: 83
Net change: 0
QOL this week: 83
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].

This Week 22/10/13

Big Events October 13, 2022 and beyond

Friday, Oct. 14

Majestic Theatre is putting on a limited production of Next to Normal starting tonight at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway, Derry) The show follows the life of a normal suburban family as they deal with mental illness, loss and family trauma. Because of the adult themes in the show, the Majestic said that the show isn’t recommended for audience members younger than 17. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for seniors. Visit majestictheatre.net to purchase tickets.

Saturday, Oct. 15

The 25th anniversary of the Aviation Museum is today, with a celebratory fundraising gala from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Executive Court Banquet Hall (1199 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester). The gala will have a gourmet dinner, the 18-piece Bedford Big Band, auction items, raffle prizes and more. Individual tickets cost $75; a table of eight costs $500. Reserve tickets at aviationmuseumofnh.org.

Sunday, Oct. 16

The New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra opens its 118th year with an orchestral showcase, “Nature & Myth,” featuring music by Beethoven, Walker, Grieg and Sibelius, today at 2 p.m. at the Seifert Performing Arts Center (44 Geremonty Drive, Salem). The showcase will also run on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $30 for adults, $25 for seniors and $8 for kids. Visit nhphil.org to purchase tickets.

Tuesday, Oct. 18

The Canterbury Village is holding a showing of the movie Holy Ground tonight at the Peterborough Community Theatre (6 School St.) at 7 p.m. The movie explores the history of the Shakers, a religious group that spanned from Maine to Kentucky. Tickets for the event are free and popcorn and wine will be included for the showing. After the showing, local author Howard Mansfield will read from his book Chasing Eden. Contact Rae Easter at [email protected] to reserve tickets.

Wednesday, Oct. 19

Jeff Belanger is telling ghost stories from across New England at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway) tonight at 7 p.m. Belanger, an author known for writing about the paranormal, UFOs, folklore, ledged and ghosts, is a host on the Emmy-nominated series New England Legends and is a co-host on the New England Legends podcast. Tickets can be reserved through the Derry Public Library at derrypl.org.

Save the date! Thursday, Nov. 3
The ninth annual Distiller’s Showcase is on Thursday, Nov. 3, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton (700 Elm St, Manchester). The showcase will have dozens of distillers from across the country and around the world. It’s part of New Hampshire Distiller’s Week, which begins on Nov. 1. Tickets to the showcase start at $60. For more information about the Distiller’s Showcase and more events happening during Distiller’s Week, visit distillersshowcase.com.

Featured photo. Next to Normal. Courtesy photo.

Quality of Life 22/10/13

Phone scam

The Manchester Police Department is warning the public of a scam in which a person is calling citizens claiming to be a Manchester police officer and trying to solicit money. According to the notice, the caller leaves messages telling the recipient that they have warrants with the police and will face legal consequences if they do not pay a cash bail.

QOL Score: -2

Comment: Anyone who has received this call or another call that they suspect is a scam should contact the Manchester Police Department at 668-8711.

Trail for everybody

New Hampshire Audubon celebrates the opening of its new All Persons Trail at its McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road, Concord) on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 9 a.m. According to a press release, the trail, which features a compacted gravel surface to accommodate people using assisted mobility devices, was designed to increase universally accessible trail opportunities in the state and to increase awareness of the need for native plant and wildflower meadows in the state to support pollinators. “We are pleased to announce that, after many years of planning and learning from the communities we intend to serve, we have built Concord’s first All Persons Trail,” conservation director Marc Nutter said in a press release. “This effort … has opened up new wildlife viewing opportunities for all people.”

QOL Score: +1

Comment: The NH Audubon reached out to the NH Council on Developmental Disabilities to recruit some test riders, whose feedback helped them make the final adjustments to the trail, according to the release.

Was really enjoying the $3.30s

Gas prices in New Hampshire are back on the rise for the first time since early June. According to a GasBuddy price report, the average gasoline prices in New Hampshire increased by 9.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.47 per gallon as of Oct. 10. The data is based on a survey of 875 gas stations across the state. Prices are still 23.6 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, but 35.9 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

QOL Score: -1

Comment: The national average price of gasoline averaged $3.92, according to the report — up 22.5 cents per gallon from a month ago.

QOL score: 85

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 83

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

Baseball 2022 awards

Round 2 of the MLB playoffs is now underway.

First, boo to the new best-of-three format for the Wild Card round. I liked starting it all off with winner-takes-all games to give it drama off the bat. Second, sorry, I just can’t call the Cleveland team the Guardians. I’m fine with the Buckeyes or Cleveland’s baseball team, but I don’t like “Guardians.” Third, I’m not sure giving up seven earned runs in his playoff start is why Mets owner Steve Cohen gave Max Scherzer an astonishing $49 million per to be their ace.

With that out of the way, let’s recap notable moments and Longshots Awards for the 2022 regular baseball season.

Most notably, it was a year of historic achievements at Albert Pujols became just the fourth person to reach 700 homers, Miguel Cabrera became the newest member of the 500 homers and 3,000 hits club and Aaron Judge broke Roger Maris’s hallowed Yankees record (and, oh yeah, for the AL as well) for most homers hit in a season with 62.

Baseball 101: There are seven members of the 500/3,000 club. Name the six who did it before Cabrera.

Want to know how much the game has changed from the olden days? Once upon a time the 155 homers hit by the Red Sox was a respectable team total. The supposedly power-laden Big Red Machine that beat the Sox in the 1975 World Series hit just 124, and 141 when they beat the Yanks the next year. But today 155 ranked 20th overall as seven teams hit 200 or more.

In case you’re interested: No one reached 200 hits for the season. The Dodgers’ Freddy Freeman led the majors with 199. He was also the leader in doubles with 47. J.D. Martinez was fourth with 43.

But what ever happened to the triple, as the most astonishing stat is not one player hit double figures in triples? The leader was Cleveland shortstop Amed Rosario with 9. Not too long ago Curtis Granderson had a 20-20-20 year in doubles, triples and homers when he hit 38-23-23 with Detroit back in 2007.

Talk the Balk Award: Miami Marlins hurler Richard Bleier for balking three times in the same at-bat to become the first to do that since 1900. He did it while pitching to the Mets’ Pete Alonso to let NL batting champ Jeff McNeil come all the way around from first base to score without the benefit of a ball even being pitched! Weirdly, Bleier had never committed even one balk in his 303 MLB appearances prior to that. He avoided getting a fourth by being tossed for arguing after the third one, but only after retiring Alonso. The Marlins won 6-4 despite Bleier’s historic night.

Baseball 101 Answer: Cabrera joined Pujois, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro and Eddie Murray in the 500/3,000 club.

If the Mets outbid the Yanks to sign Judge it will give them a batting with three of the Top RBI guys from 2022. Judge and Alonso led with 131 and Fancisco Lindor was fifth with 107.

It had to be more than just losing their 2021 ace. But the dominos began falling when Kevin Gausman signed with Toronto as they tumbled from 107 wins a year ago to 81. Actually it probably started with the retirement of Giants great Buster Posey. And it helped that everyone had a big stats slide (except young’n Logan Webb) from 2021 and there were injuries. It basically made them to the NL what the Sox were to the AL: the major disappointment.

There was an actual 20-game winner in Atlanta’s Kyle Wright, who went 21-5 with a 3.17 ERA. He’s got my vote for the NL Cy Young award. But since wins don’t matter to the stat geeks, they’ll probably pick the WHIP leader.

Comeback Player: Guess Justin Verlander still has it. After coming back from almost two missed seasons due to Tommy John surgery, at 39 he amazingly went 18-4 in 28 starts with a 1.75 ERA. He should get the Cy Young (his third) in the AL.

In case you’re wondering: It was 35 homers, 82 RBI and .269 for Mookie Betts in L.A. while trademate Alex Verdugo went for 11-74-.280.

Yankees announcer Michael Kay’s call of Judge’s 62nd homer goes into the Top 5 Worst Calls of a Giant Sports Moment of all-time. Zero drama in the voice like an astonished Howard Cosell bellowing DOWN GOES FRAZIER, DOWN GOES FRAZIER after George Foreman shockingly dropped Joe Frazier with a thunderous right 2 minutes into Round 1 of their 1973 title fight. And worse, he talked all through Judge’s trip around the bases. The cardinal rule is make the call, then shut up to let the crowd and team reactions carry the moment. Like Joe Buck’s dad Jack saying after a barely able to walk Kirk Gibson’s pinch hit walkoff homer off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, “I DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!” Then just crowd noise. Which is what Joe did when the Sox ended the curse in Game 4 of the 2004 series.

Speaking of which, the enduring argument for 2022 will be, given the suspicion from the era, is the real homer record the 62 hit by Judge or the 73 of Barry Bonds hit in 2001?

Oddly it’s similar to 1961’s “Does the record belong to Roger Maris or the Babe?” as Nos. 60 and 61 came during the new 161-game schedule and after the old 154-game season Babe Ruth hit his 60 in. At that time Commissioner and Ruth binky Ford Frick gave it an asterisk to diminish what Maris did before it eventually disappeared to make Maris the King.

Finally, congrats to the retiring Eck after 50 years of excellence in baseball. He will be missed.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Updates on the mail

The plant manager at Manchester’s USPS center talks about improvements

As part of Delivering for America, a 10-year plan for the United States Postal Service “to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence,” the USPS has installed 270 new package sorting machines across the country, including one in New Hampshire at the USPS Processing and Distribution Center in Manchester. Plant manager Janie Beltran talked about the machine and other initiatives to improve and modernize the USPS.

What is this machine, and how does it work?

It’s an automated parcel sorter. … The mail handlers will place the mail on the conveyor belt. There’s a computer system that reads the bar code [on the package], and then the machine does its magic and sorts the packages by their zip codes. It can sort into 200 different destinations across the country. It’s very simple, but it does a lot. It currently runs 3,000 pieces an hour. I can’t run 3,000 pieces in an hour doing a manual operation. … We’re running it five days a week for now … and we’ve been processing first class mail — small packages, like something smaller than a shoebox — that originates here in New Hampshire, and we’re distributing to all 50 states.

How did Manchester USPS end up getting one of these machines?

The Postal Service is modernizing its operations to accommodate the growing customer demand for packages. When Covid hit, everybody was at home, and that’s when the packages really increased. It’s grown significantly over the several holiday seasons. So Delivering for America is a 10-year plan where they’re investing almost $40 billion, and that’s an investment in people, equipment and technology. They just deployed about 137 of these new package sorters across the country … which will give us the capacity across the country to process 60 million packages a day. … [Manchester USPS] had the space, the right location, the right mail mix, so we got one of them installed here in Manchester.

Is this machine replacing any of your workforce?

No — on the contrary. It has created more need for employees to staff the machine.

How will this improve service? Will people notice a difference this holiday season?

During the holiday season, we get double to triple the amount that we normally do the other 10 months of the year. … This will ensure that we’re well-positioned to handle the peak volumes … and provide customers with efficient, predictable, reliable service that they expect and deserve this holiday and beyond … and that’s even better than last year. … The goal is to run it for 15 to 18 hours a day during the holiday season. … It’s going to help us run parcels to help Nashua [USPS] and give them some flexibility to concentrate on priority packages. … We envision that this machine can also run some priority packages, which are a little bigger, so during the peak volumes we’ll also be running some priority mail to alleviate the volumes that we anticipate Nashua is going to have, just to give them even more flexibility. … We’re ready for a successful holiday season.

What other improvements has USPS been working on?

We’ve converted some of our non-career [employees] to career [status] to stabilize the workforce. We’ve rearranged the working floor to make it more efficient, so that the mail can travel through our buildings into our trips so that they go on time. … Nashua has gotten other types of equipment to help them this holiday season and moving forward. … [Nationally,] we’ve improved our performance. We’ve decreased our projected losses. It was forecasted that we were going to have a $116 billion loss over the next 10 years, but with all these improvements and investments, stabilizing the workforce and stabilizing our service, we’ve been able to reduce it to, I think, about $70 billion now. That’s a big accomplishment for the organization. … Another thing is, during Covid, the Postal Service packaged and delivered about 60-plus million Covid test kits for America. … The government came to us and asked if we could do that, and we said, ‘Absolutely.’ That was pretty amazing for us to be able to help the American public in that way.

Featured photo: Janie Beltran. Courtesy photo.

Category: News