Tag: 220505

Covid-19 news

State health officials reported 270 new cases of Covid-19 on May 2. The state averaged 393 new cases per day over the most recent seven-day period, a 15 percent increase compared to the week before. As of May 2 there were 2,989 active infections and 18 hospitalizations statewide.

Foster funding

Former foster youth are being urged to apply for time-limited federal funding under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and use it for rent, utilities, groceries, education expenses and other necessities. According to a press release from the state Department of Health and Human Services Division for Children, Youth and Families, more than 300 youth and young adults up to age 22 who spent time in foster care after the age of 16 have already accessed this federal funding. “We streamlined the application process to break down barriers, providing better, faster outcomes for our former foster youth,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in the release. To provide this simplified online application process, DCYF is using its existing partnership with Waypoint, which works with former foster youth to connect them with available community resources, so people can apply through Waypoint’s online portal. “The Covid-19 pandemic heavily impacted our older youth in care and former foster youth, who are either in the process of transitioning to adulthood or are new to this phase of their lives,” DCYF Director Joseph E. Ribsam said in the release. “Through this additional funding, we have an opportunity to impact their future success.” Funding is provided on a first come, first served basis, and amounts depend on age and exit status from DCYF, the release said.

Pot legislation

Though the New Hampshire House passed a bill to legalize recreational cannabis in the state earlier this year, that bill failed in the State Senate last week. According to a report from NHPR, opponents argued that recreational cannabis legalization could lead to higher rates of use by minors, as well as more impaired drivers on the road. The bill would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess up to three-quarters of an ounce of cannabis, as well as cannabis-infused edibles and tinctures. According to the report, the Senate has never passed a cannabis legalization bill. The bill failed on a 15-9 vote, with three Democrats, Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, Sen. Donna Soucy, and Sen. Kevin Cavanaugh, all from Manchester, joining all but two Republicans to kill the measure. GOP Sens. Harold French of Franklin and John Reagan of Deerfield voted in favor of the bill. Supporters said the bill was an important step toward racial equity, as studies show that Black people are more likely to be arrested for marijuana use, despite both white and Black people using the drug at similar rates, the report said. “New Hampshire has become an island in New England, with our overly burdensome regulations of cannabis that are out of sync with what the scientific, health and social data says,” Sen. Becky Whitley, a Democrat from Contoocook, said during the debate, according to NHPR. Adults in New Hampshire can legally purchase cannabis in Massachusetts and Maine, and later this year in Vermont, but there is a $100 fine in New Hampshire for adults caught with small amounts of marijuana, the report said.

Voter confidence

Last week New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan hosted a press conference to introduce the newly formed Commission on Voter Confidence, a nonpartisan effort to discuss, educate and mitigate concerns about the apparent decline in voter confidence due to misinformation and political rhetoric, according to a press release. “Our goal is to reeducate the voting population, with the help of local election officials, on our voting procedures and help voters understand there aren’t any secrets in the election process,” Scanlan said during the press conference. Members are Richard Swett (Co-chair), Bradford E. Cook (Co-chair), Andrew Georgevits, Ken Eyring, Amanda Merrill, Jim Splaine, Douglass Teschner and Olivia Zink. “We want to hear from the people and understand what their concerns are because what they think is true is often just as important as what is not,” Cook said at the conference. The commission then met for the first time on Monday, May 2, to discuss its meeting schedule for the coming months. According to a report from WMUR, the commission will begin a statewide listening tour next week. “I am fearful that some of the partisan rhetoric and some of the anger that exists around elections will come out in the commission,” Zink said at the meeting, according to WMUR.

Boscawen Academy and the “Much-I-Do” Hose House were recently named to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places. According to a press release, the Academy was built in the Late Federal style in 1827-28, and the clapboarded Hose House was built in 1893 to shelter the town’s fire-fighting equipment. Also recently added to the State Register are the 1720s John Gregg House in Derry — one of the oldest houses in town and the only one remaining of the original 20 Scotch Irish families that settled in what was then called Nutfield — and the circa-1912 gambrel-roofed Houston Barn in Hopkinton that was part of a 115-acre farm that originally had chickens, sheep and Angus beef but focused on dairy production in the mid-20th century, the release said.

A commencement ceremony for the first-ever graduating class of the New Hampshire Career Academy Program will be held May 5 at the New Hampshire Department of Education’s office in Concord. According to a press release, the Career Academy provides students with a pathway leading to a high school diploma, an associate’s degree, an industry credential and a job interview with a New Hampshire employer over a two-year period at no tuition cost to students or their families.

The loose change that Derry Garden Club members have been putting into a “Penny Pines” canning jar during meetings has added up — so far it has paid for the reforestation of 3 acres of trees that suffered irreparable damage. According to a press release, the national project raises funds to plant seeds in the areas of the country most in need, and it only takes $68 of loose change to plant one acre. The canning jar will be out for donations at the club’s plant sale on June 4 at the Robert Frost Farm.