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By Luz Lazo The Washington Post
Americans will have two more years to obtain a Real ID driver’s license or identification card, the Department of Homeland Security announced last week.
U.S. air travelers will be required to present the Real ID credential to board a domestic flight beginning May 7, 2025. Before Monday’s announcement, implementation had been scheduled to take effect May next year.
In announcing the new deadline, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the 24-month extension will give states time to ensure residents can obtain the Real ID-compliant license or ID card.
Each state, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories have committed to complying with Real ID requirements, federal officials say. DHS has extended the implementation multiple times, most recently postponing an Oct. 1, 2021, deadline to May 3, 2023, to give states more time amid pandemic-related lags at motor vehicle branches.
But as of May this year, compliance rates were still concerning to some travel groups, which had been urging another extension. About 137 million Real IDs have been issued nationwide, which is about 49% of state-issued IDs in circulation, according to federal data obtained through the American Travel Association. At the time, the compliance rate had been increasing by about 0.5 percentage points each month, the data shows.
Congress passed the Real ID Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Eighteen of the 19 hijackers had obtained state IDs, some fraudulently. The law originally was to take effect in 2008.
DEAR ABBY: I’m a high school junior in a predicament. Early in my sophomore year, during a school trip, I developed strong feelings for a girl named “Joelle.” She’s a grade ahead of me, meaning I don’t see her often or have many chances to talk to her during school except for the occasional …
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2022-12-10T21:56:43Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Real ID requirement for air travel delayed, again | | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/real-id-requirement-for-air-travel-delayed-again/article_2be0bb65-3d9a-513c-8a52-dbd93ade24c0.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/real-id-requirement-for-air-travel-delayed-again/article_2be0bb65-3d9a-513c-8a52-dbd93ade24c0.html
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Xander Bogaerts high fives Alex Cora's kids before the Red Sox' 2022 season finale at Fenway Park.
Commentary: Bogaerts’s choice shows how Red Sox have changed
“I didn’t do this on purpose,” he told reporters at his introductory press conference with the Padres, who officially signed him to an 11-year, $280 million deal on Friday.
“I feel great,” Bogaerts told reporters at the news conference, which was broadcasted live on MLB Network. “Sometimes it’s hard to turn the page, but it’s something I have to do. I was very thankful and appreciative for my time with the other team, the Red Sox, and I met a lot of people who helped me out and helped me be the player I am today.”
Dave Dombrowski, who signed Bogaerts, Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and Christian Vazquez to long-term contract extensions while in charge of Boston’s front office before he was fired in 2019, has been replaced by Chaim Bloom, who traded Betts to the Dodgers and let Bogaerts walk in free agency.
Bloom will get the blame, but he’s a man who takes orders from John Henry and Boston’s ownership group, one that fired Dombrowski for a difference in opinion over the future direction of the franchise.
“My priority was going to a team that was very competitive, a team that wanted to win,” Bogaerts said. “The (San Diego) owner doesn’t like windows, but this isn’t a window, it’s something that’s built for the long run, with the guys on this roster and the commitment to the guys on this roster for the long run. I’m looking forward to bringing a banner here and being part of that.”
Padres general manager A.J. Preller is known as being one of the more aggressive GMs in the game, but his pursuit of Bogaerts took Boras by surprise. Boras said he didn’t expect the Padres to want a guy of Bogaerts’s makeup — he doesn’t hit a ton of home runs and is more of a contact hitter than a power guy.
But Preller said he targeted Bogaerts for more than that. Former teammates of Bogaerts, Allen Craig and Ian Kinsler, are assistants in the Padres’ front office and told Preller he couldn’t do better than Bogaerts from a makeup perspective.
The Padres are loaded with talent. Fernando Tatis Jr. is expected to move to right field to make room for Bogaerts at shortstop. Tatis and others on the San Diego roster told Preller they were OK with it because they wanted to win.
Bogaerts’s two World Series rings will carry weight in the clubhouse.
“This team reminds me of the team we had that won in ’18, a team that was superior to the rest, roster-wise,” Bogaerts said.
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2022-12-10T21:56:49Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Commentary: Bogaerts’s choice shows how Red Sox have changed | Sports | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/commentary-bogaerts-s-choice-shows-how-red-sox-have-changed/article_9d63219b-07c7-5a56-89cc-7664daf52cca.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/commentary-bogaerts-s-choice-shows-how-red-sox-have-changed/article_9d63219b-07c7-5a56-89cc-7664daf52cca.html
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Pinkerton Academy product Zach Sanford leans in for a faceoff during a recent Milwaukee Admirals game against the Texas Stars.
PROVIDED BY MILWAUKEE ADMIRALS
Merrimack’s Tim Schaller looks for an opening during a recent Milwaukee Admirals’ game against the Iowa Wild.
Granite Staters team up in the AHL: Schaller wants to help hasten Sanford's return to the NHL
WHEN Zach Sanford joined the Milwaukee Admirals a few weeks ago, fellow Granite Stater Tim Schaller told him hopefully they will not be teammates for long.
The Nashville Predators assigned Sanford, who grew up in Manchester, to Milwaukee, their American Hockey League affiliate, on Nov. 23. The Pinkerton Academy graduate scored one goal, against his former team in St. Louis, and logged one assist over eight games with the Predators.
When Sanford arrived in Milwaukee, Schaller, a Merrimack native, told Sanford that if he works hard, the goals will come and hopefully he will get called back up to Nashville soon.
“Obviously, he has a lot of experience — NHL hockey and even American League, too — so he knows what it takes to win,” Schaller said of Sanford, “and, I think, once he scores a goal or two here, he’s going to have a breakout.”
Sanford, 28, who helped the Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019, said he is focused on recapturing his confidence and scoring touch while with the Admirals. The 6-foot-4, 206-pound, left-shot forward said that process starts with hanging onto the puck more instead of being quick to chip it away or pass to a teammate.
“I think, at least for me, when the puck is in my hands in those types of situations I think, when I’m on my game, a lot of good can come from it,” said Sanford, who has 97 points (48 goals, 49 assists) over 297 career NHL games.
Sanford, who signed a one-year contract with Nashville in July, split last NHL season between Ottawa and Winnipeg after a trade-deadline deal sent him to the Jets. The Boston College product logged 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) alongside career-high marks in hits (169) and blocked shots (67) over a combined 80 games with both teams.
Schaller, 32, said, at this point in his career, he enjoys teaching and helping his young teammates as a veteran leader. The Merrimack High School and Providence College graduate has logged 57 points (29 goals, 28 assists) over 276 career NHL games and played for the Boston Bruins from 2016-18.
Schaller, a 6-foot-2, 214-pound, left-shot forward, recorded 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) over 67 games with Bakersfield last AHL season and signed a one-year deal with Milwaukee in August. He served as an assistant captain for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 AHL season, logging 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in 32 games.
“I’m always preaching simple and hard,” Schaller said. “Skill guys, obviously they can show their skills here and there but, when it comes down to it, you stick to the simple plan of simple and hard and you’ll see good results regardless of how skilled you are.”
Schaller said he tries to lead by example with his work ethic. He tells teammates it is important to not take practices off — but also have fun.
Sometimes after a loss, Schaller joked, the Admirals’ young players act like they just lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Milwaukee led the Central Division with a 14-6-0-1 record and 29 points entering its Friday game at the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Sanford said his biggest advice to his younger teammates is that NHL games are faster than AHL games but the players are not.
“It’s just the puck movement, the positioning,” said Sanford, who skated on a line with Schaller in his first game with Milwaukee. “Everybody is in the right spots and that’s what makes the game so much faster. If we can build some chemistry and figure out our spots like that, I think it will speed up our team speed and give us a lot more success.”
When Sanford regains his confidence and is at the top of his game, he said he should be able to help Milwaukee a lot more. He posted one assist over his first six games with the Admirals.
Schaller said his focus this season is not on points but rather helping his young teammates improve and, ideally, see them get called up to Nashville.
Schaller hopes Sanford receives one of those call-ups. Sanford adds to an Admirals team that Schaller said has a little bit of everything — a good mix of young and veteran, hard-nosed and skilled players. The team’s goals are to plays aggressive on the forecheck, play shutdown defense and skate with pace, he said.
“I think that’s a pretty good recipe to go pretty far in the playoffs and, hopefully, all the way,” Schaller said.
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2022-12-10T21:56:56Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Granite Staters team up in the AHL: Schaller wants to help hasten Sanford's return to the NHL | Sports | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/granite-staters-team-up-in-the-ahl-schaller-wants-to-help-hasten-sanfords-return-to/article_ceb8229b-db2b-56ae-924e-592309329af7.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/granite-staters-team-up-in-the-ahl-schaller-wants-to-help-hasten-sanfords-return-to/article_ceb8229b-db2b-56ae-924e-592309329af7.html
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UNH President James Dean presents his State of the University speech in June 2020.
Kimberly Haas/Union Leader Correspondent/file
UNH students were out in force at the Sept. 2 season-opening football game against Monmouth at Wildcat Stadium in Durham.
Josh Gibney/Union Leader/file
By Michael Skelton BIA president and CEO
Last month, the University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees froze in-state tuition at the state’s four-year public colleges and universities for the 2023-24 academic year. It’s the fifth straight year of no increase in efforts to make higher education more affordable.
It’s unlikely to continue without increased state investment, and USNH leaders are working to gain support among lawmakers, building their case around the system’s ability to help solve New Hampshire’s workforce shortage.
The fact New Hampshire is last among the 50 states in per capita support of higher education is no secret. What may surprise some is that USNH is still working to recover the lost state investment from a major cut in funding in 2012.
James Dean, president of the University of New Hampshire, spoke to Business & Industry Association board members in November, highlighting the effort to convince state lawmakers to increase funding for the university system. Dean, a BIA Executive Board member, noted USNH’s request would restore support in current dollars to 2011’s level. Even if USNH gets the support it seeks, New Hampshire will remain last among states in investment in public higher education, he said.
New Hampshire’s worker shortage is worsened by the high number of Granite State students who leave for more affordable higher education. On the other hand, USNH brings thousands of young people from around the country to New Hampshire for higher education, but the state has only been able to retain a small portion of those students after graduation. USNH data suggests nonresident students who intern in New Hampshire are twice as likely to stay here after graduation than those who do not, signaling a clear opportunity for growing our future workforce.
BIA, New Hampshire’s statewide chamber of commerce and leading nonpartisan business advocate, represents nearly 400 member companies that employ over 90,000 people throughout the state, representing one in seven jobs. BIA members rank the workforce shortage among their greatest concerns and increasingly back increased investment in the university system.
USNH’s Board of Trustees deserves praise for five years of no in-state tuition increases. Dean highlights that UNH reduced operating expenses the last few years while increasing fundraising to keep tuition down, but that’s not sustainable. After years of careful fiscal management, including significant operating expense reductions, officials say USNH is running out of tools to keep tuition flat and provide additional aid to students.
USNH’s Granite Guarantee, which allows the lowest-income in-state students to attend system schools tuition-free, is also at risk without more support. The system needs more investment to provide New Hampshire with the workforce it needs.
“Without increased state funding, the system’s ability to support the state’s workforce will be endangered,” Dean said, stressing the requested budget increase would lower costs for in-state students.
New Hampshire is at a critical juncture with its future workforce. It needs to retain more of its younger residents. Enrollment in the state’s public K-12 schools has fallen 22% since 2002, and there’s no sign of this reversing in coming years. It’s a staggering decrease that puts greater pressure on the need to keep our students here for their post-secondary education.
“But we lose too many young people to other states,” he said. “I can’t think of a bigger and better lever we can pull to help keep young people here in New Hampshire in the workforce than to increase support for the university system. Without it, it puts New Hampshire at a competitive disadvantage to other states.”
Competition for funding in the state budget will present a challenge, but the need for greater investment in higher education must be prioritized to support expansion of the state’s future workforce. New Hampshire can attract and retain more of its younger workers by making an investment that will pay immediate and lasting dividends.
Michael Skelton is president and CEO of the Business & Industry Association. The BIA, New Hampshire’s statewide chamber of commerce, produces this column monthly exclusively for the Sunday News.
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2022-12-11T00:24:15Z
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www.unionleader.com
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BIA Business Perspective: NH should find way to increase investment in university system | Business | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/columns/bia-business-perspective-nh-should-find-way-to-increase-investment-in-university-system/article_6a9c2fe0-6f9c-5f4e-beb0-8f9c120c9123.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/columns/bia-business-perspective-nh-should-find-way-to-increase-investment-in-university-system/article_6a9c2fe0-6f9c-5f4e-beb0-8f9c120c9123.html
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Machinist Eric Egan programs a milling machine at PlasTech in Bow on Thursday.
PlasTech’s new owner Steve Trotta speaks with a reporter during a tour of his machine shop in Bow on Thursday.
Workers at PlasTech, including Travis Dickinson, left, and Chris Byron, right, work at their stations in Bow on Thursday.
Machinist Chris Grenier measures a piece of plastic stock at PlasTech in Bow on Thursday.
Machinist Brett Claar works on a project at PlasTech in Bow on Thursday.
PlasTech
AFTER RUNNING PlasTech Machining & Fabrication for more than 20 years, Lou Ferriero was ready to sell the Bow company, which makes precision plastic parts for a variety of industries.
“I had just had enough. I had been doing it for a lot of years,” Ferriero said Thursday at the company’s 10,000-square-foot plant on Dunklee Road.
Meanwhile, CNC (computerized numerical control) machines and lathes were producing customized parts as technicians monitored their progress. You could barely hear the rock music above the roar of the machinery.
Steve Trotta and his two partners were on the hunt for exactly the kind of business Ferriero and his wife built from scratch — a small manufacturing company that was modern, profitable and primed for growth.
Since buying the business in November 2020, Trotta and his investment group, DelCam Holdings, have doubled the workforce and the sales.
They’ve also invested $500,000 to buy a few additional machines, including a robot that is helping the crew keep up with customer demand. The team includes 16 machinists and six support staff.
PlasTech’s post-deal growth follows a predictable pattern, though it’s growing faster than most, said Ken Schaefer of Business Transition Strategies, a mergers and acquisitions firm that helped Ferriero find a buyer.
“That’s the goal, and that probably happens 90 percent of the time to some degree,” Schaefer said by phone Friday. “This is two years later, and they’ve doubled it. I can only think of one other at the top of my head that was that quick.
“The goal of the buyer is to do exactly that – to grow the company. And to grow the company the workforce has to grow along with (it). That’s what every buyer strives for,” he said.
Business Transition Strategies, which operates out of Concord, N.H., and Andover, Mass., focuses on the lower-mid market, generally private companies with revenues between $2 million and $20 million.
Schaefer presented Ferriero with three possible options during a process that was delayed for a few months by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What our goal is to provide those options. It’s up to the clients to pick,” Schaefer said. “There could be times where it’s none of the above. It’s their business.”
Ferriero was contracted to remain with the company as a consultant for six months after the sale – a typical scenario with M&A deals. He’s still working there more than two years later, though he’s primed to retire at the end of the year.
“I basically picked and chose who I wanted because I wanted to make sure,” he said. “This is my baby and I didn’t want to have someone drive it into the ground on me.”
About 50 percent of PlasTech’s business comes from medical device makers, the rest from a variety of industries, including semiconductors, marine applications, electronics and radar/sonar.
The company was the first of three small manufacturing businesses DelCam bought over several months in 2020 and 2021.
“When we were looking around at target acquisitions, this shop was impeccable compared to some of the other machine shops,” said Trotta, an Exeter native based in Newton, Mass. He worked for 11 years for Fidelity Investments before leaving the company in 2017 to pursue deals in real estate, and since 2019, in advanced manufacturing.
The private equity group, which includes about 20 investors, acquired two complementary companies in Massachusetts, one that fabricates steel and one that specializes in plastic injection molding.
Together, the companies have about 250 customers, primarily in New England.
DelCam is already working on a second investment fund to buy a few more companies, again targeting first-generation family businesses that are ready to sell. The goal will be the same as it was for first portfolio of companies.
“We had a specific idea in mind when we started our fund, and the idea is to quadruple these companies in size, and even more than that, over a period of 10 years,” Trotta said.
He has high hopes for the resurgence of manufacturing in the United States.
“Our biggest opportunity is in our own backyard, just being able to grow our existing customer base with one of our three shops,” he said.
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2022-12-11T00:24:21Z
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www.unionleader.com
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NH Business: New owners of Bow plastics machine shop invests for growth | NH Business | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/nh_business/nh-business-new-owners-of-bow-plastics-machine-shop-invests-for-growth/article_b95dc72e-135b-5957-bfef-3bf904721278.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/nh_business/nh-business-new-owners-of-bow-plastics-machine-shop-invests-for-growth/article_b95dc72e-135b-5957-bfef-3bf904721278.html
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Danielle Vaughan of Manchester chokes back tears as she details repeated abuse that led to the homicide of her son, Dennis Jr., in December 2019.
Danielle Vaughan of Manchester talks about her wrongful-death lawsuit against the state Division of Children, Youth and Families over the death of her 5-year-old son, Dennis Jr., on Christmas Eve in 2019. Kevin Leonard, foreground, is Vaughan’s lawyer.
CONCORD — A Manchester mother has launched a wrongful death suit against the state’s child protection system, charging its negligence led to the homicide of her 5-year-old son on Christmas Eve in 2019.
Danielle Vaughan also brought the seven-count suit last week on behalf of her other children, who at one time lived with her mother, Sherry Connor, in Laconia where the boy, Dennis Vaughan Jr., died from blunt force injuries to his head and neck.
The suit against the state Division of Children, Youth and Families seeks unspecified damages for wrongful death and charges that DCYF’s failure to supervise and train employees resulted in abuse and emotional distress for Dennis Jr. and the other children in the Connor home.
“There was so much to prevent it, so many facts, so much proof offered that it could have been prevented,” Danielle Vaughan said during an interview at the Concord offices of her lawyer, Kevin Leonard.
“What my children went through, this shouldn’t happen to another child. They endured torment and torture.”
Vaughan, a mother of six and recovering heroin addict, wore earrings that said “Hey” and “Boo,” her nickname for Dennis Jr.
“What these kids went through is like a horror movie, something you don’t expect to happen behind closed doors,” she said.
The suit itself remains under seal, Leonard said, because of an ongoing criminal investigation into Dennis Jr.’s death.
Leonard said he would ask a judge in Merrimack County Superior Court to unseal it.
“There were a remarkable number of complaints made to DCYF, yet no action was taken to ensure the safety of the children,” Leonard said.
The record will reveal that scores of complaints about Connor’s care of the children came to the agency from law enforcement, neighbors and educators, Leonard said.
“Now we are three years later with a criminal investigation that outwardly seems to have gotten no further than the day Boo died.”
Michael Garrity, communications director for the Attorney General’s Office, said the office remains committed to solving the little boy’s homicide.
“I can confirm that it does remain an open, ongoing, and very active investigation,” Garrity said.
Leonard said Connor’s whereabouts are unknown.
Mom lost custody
Vaughan said she and her husband, Dennis Sr., both started using drugs while living with their children.
In 2016 when police raided the family’s Laconia home, they arrested the father. Danielle Vaughan lost custody of her children.
After a failed foster family placement, the state in the summer of 2017 placed them with Connor, who Vaughan said had physically abused her as a child, according to the suit.
After the children went to live with Connor, Vaughan said she noticed many bruises on the children, and one child went to the hospital. When she visited the home, she found them living in squalid conditions.
In July 2019, Vaughan said, her mother duct-taped another son to a chair and left him overnight in an Epsom campground.
DCYF petitioned to remove that boy, who was 10 at the time, to Vaughan’s custody but left the others with Connor.
Up until Dennis Jr.’s death, Vaughan said she repeatedly tried to seek an alternative placement for the other kids.
“I said I am not telling you to give them to me, just get them out of her home,” she recalled telling DCYF.
She said Connor broke off all contact with her.
“I hadn’t seen my kids since July 9, 2019. I never got to see my baby boy again and I never will,” she said, choking back tears.
DCYF skeptical, mom says
Vaughan believes that DCYF questioned complaints she brought to them because of her drug history.
“No one could believe” that she beat her addiction, she said.
“They defined me the moment they took my kids.”
Leonard said the suit, once unsealed, will detail the extent of DCYF’s failure to follow up on repeated requests from Vaughan and others to remove the children.
At the time of Dennis Jr.’s death, the agency had come under question because of limited staffing in child protection investigations, according to an October 2019 report of the Child Advocate’s Office.
Among the report’s findings: An administrator had told the office, “DCYF has held onto staff that might not have the best fit or (be) adequately capable. Administrators will have to adjust to making difficult decisions about fit for the role so as to ensure not only increased numbers of staff, but quality staffing.”
State law bars the Office of the Child Advocate from publicly releasing reports on the death of any child involved with DCYF as long as criminal investigations remain open.
The case had to be brought this month because the statute of limitations to bring a civil lawsuit runs out three years after the date of the injury.
Leonard noted that in many child fatality cases — such as Harmony Montgomery of Manchester and Elijah Lewis of Merrimack — within three years, authorities have made an arrest if not already secured a conviction.
Vaughan said her other children will remain in therapy for the rest of their lives for the trauma they faced in her mother’s home.
She hopes this suit leads to more accountability and ensures DCYF has the resources and qualified staff to protect all children under their care.
“There has to be justice not only for my son but for all the children who were abused due to mistakes made by DCYF,” she said.
While Dennis Jr.’s death certificate said he died on Christmas Eve morning, Vaughan suspects the fatal injuries happened the night before.
“It is virtually impossible the last two years to celebrate the holidays. I haven’t been able to do it at all,” she said, sobbing.
“This is the first and I am trying to make it all about my son, there is so much tragedy around his name. I feel like this is the year to celebrate him, and I feel everybody has forgotten about him.”
Danielle Vaughan
Kevin Leonard
Child Advocate
Michael Garrity
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2022-12-11T00:24:27Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Mom sues DCYF over son's homicide in 2019 | Crime | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/mom-sues-dcyf-over-sons-homicide-in-2019/article_cc843f97-a55b-588f-ac0e-ef580adce656.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/mom-sues-dcyf-over-sons-homicide-in-2019/article_cc843f97-a55b-588f-ac0e-ef580adce656.html
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While Pauline Kochaniec looks on from behind the hot-food counter, Isabella McHugh, a student in the Culinary Arts program at White Mountains Community College, considers her lunch options at the WMCC Bistro.
Kara Gendron, manager of the Bistro at White Mountains Community College, plans out and then preps the items that will appear on her lunch menu Wednesday. Thanks to a unique grant, the Bistro for the past two years has offered free lunches to all enrolled WMCC students while continuing to serve non-students, too.
By Josie Albertson-Grove and John Koziol New Hampshire Union Leader
W hen she’s in class, culinary student Isabella McHugh is surrounded by food.
But for McHugh and for thousands of other community college students around New Hampshire and across the country, finding the time and money to buy meals can be a challenge.
White Mountains Community College in Berlin has been working to relieve some of the strain on students by offering free breakfast and lunch on campus.
“It’s nice to have that pressure off you,” said McHugh, who lives in Berlin.
Every little bit of money saved helps, she said, especially as rents climb in the city. Not having to worry about planning and cooking breakfast and lunch means it’s easier to concentrate on her studies.
White Mountains Community College started offering free breakfast and lunch for enrolled students every weekday in the summer of 2021, as more students were returning to in-person classes.
The hope was that free meals would encourage more students to enroll, help ease the burden of attending college and build community in a student body fractured after remote and hybrid classes.
So far, it seems to be working.
Even before the pandemic, college President Chuck Lloyd said, a significant proportion of White Mountains students didn’t always have enough to eat.
“The pandemic shined a spotlight on issues students face,” he said.
Some struggle to afford groceries. Some are working and taking care of children. These outside burdens mean students take fewer classes or even drop out before they complete a degree or certificate.
More work, less class
Enrollment across New Hampshire’s community colleges is down sharply, following national trends since the pandemic. That could spell trouble for the colleges, and it means fewer skilled workers coming through the pipeline.
But Lloyd said there aren’t fewer students. Rather, they’re taking fewer classes. Rising pay for entry-level jobs has made working more attractive, and the rising cost of living makes working even more necessary.
Lloyd said college staffers are working to turn the tide and draw more students. They want to encourage students to sign up for courses. They want students to come to campus to get advising and tutoring that will help them succeed. They want classmates to build relationships.
All these on-campus supports can make students more likely to graduate with degrees — with the skills that will land them not just a $16-an-hour job, but a job with a family-sustaining wage, growth opportunities and good benefits.
Free meals appear to be helping. Kara Gendron, who manages the college’s cafeteria, said she has seen more students come to campus for meals — even students who take all their classes online.
The free meals program cost about $115,000 for the 2021-22 school year, Lloyd said. Federal pandemic aid and foundation grants, including one from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, covered the cost last year and this year.
The college is still collecting data on how the free meals have influenced the number of courses students take and the number of students completing programs. But in conversations with students and faculty, Lloyd said the program seems to be working well enough for the college to make free meals a priority in the budget.
If the program boosts student retention, persistence and completion, Lloyd said, the meals will be well worth the investment.
Community college students often come from low-income families, and students have high rates of food insecurity.
A survey by the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice at Temple University found that 39% of students at two-year colleges reported being food-insecure — compared with 29% of students at four-year colleges.
Fewer than one in five students who reported food insecurity was receiving SNAP, or food stamps, and more than half of those who were struggling said they did not apply for any assistance because they did not know how.
Over the past five years, all of New Hampshire’s community colleges have opened food pantries for their students. In September, Great Bay Community College in Portsmouth also started offering some free lunches on campus through a partnership with a local food bank.
But the White Mountain effort is unique in New Hampshire. It’s the only community college providing breakfast and lunch every weekday and one free dinner every week for its students in Berlin and delivering prepared meals to campuses in Littleton and North Conway.
Lloyd said he hoped the program won’t be unique for long. White Mountains is putting together a one-page guide to help other colleges start meals programs, and Lloyd said he thinks employers across the state could be persuaded to support meals programs for their potential future employees.
“At the end of the day, it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
More than one stressor
In the cafeteria, it’s clear students are feeling the benefit of free meals.
First, Gendron said, everything feels better if your belly isn’t rumbling. “Your brain works much better when you’re not starving,” she said.
Food insecurity is an “absolutely huge” issue in the North Country, Gendron said. Even if maintaining housing remains a concern for students, she said, “at least their worries are cut in half.”
The cost of housing and other needs might be pushing students to work more hours to support themselves and their families in the short term, pulling them away from school. Getting meals on campus adds a short-term benefit to the long-term increase in pay most students see when they earn a degree.
“If I go to college, I can count on 11 meals in the week,” Lloyd said, and students can pick up some groceries from the campus food pantry. Coming to college meets some of the students’ needs right now, which can make as much of a difference as the promise of a better life after a few more years of school.
Sarah Baillargeon, nursing program coordinator at White Mountains Community College, said her students — many of whom are parents — have said it has been a huge help to not worry about their own meals. They pack up the kids’ lunches and get them off to school or day care, and then all they have to focus on is class. The program saves students money and time.
Putting ‘community’ in college
As the meals program has taken off, Baillargeon has noticed the nursing students eating breakfast and lunch together. They talk about lessons, compare notes from lectures and labs and make plans to meet off campus to study or just to socialize.
“That seems to bring a cohort of students together like a family,” Baillargeon said, which she hopes will help students keep pushing through the rigors of nursing school.
“What I see, is it’s building our community back,” she said. “It’s not just students coming to class and leaving.”
Students who eat together have stronger relationships, Lloyd said, and he hoped free meals would make the poorest students feel more a part of the community — instead of sitting off to the side, insisting they aren’t hungry.
Free meals help students do better in class, they save students’ time and energy — and they build a sense of belonging.
“It has built a community, for the small cost of feeding people,” Lloyd said.
Making the Grade is a reporting effort dedicated to covering education in New Hampshire, with a special emphasis on Manchester and the challenges students face in the state’s largest school district. It is sponsored by the New Hampshire Solutions Journalism Lab at the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications and is funded by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Northeast Delta Dental, the Education Writers Association and the Institute for Citizens & Scholars.
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2022-12-11T00:24:33Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Free meals bring students back to campus, rebuild community at WMCC | News | unionleader.com
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Corey Mondonca turned on his display Thanksgiving Day, and plans to keep it lit nightly into January.
Kathleen Mendonca delivers donations for Toys for Tots to the camper at her son’s Beacon Street light display in Derry.
Corey Mendonca says his approach to holiday decorating is old school.
Corey Mendonca puts Santa Claus in the window of a camper he uses for collection of children’s gifts for the Toys for Tots program.
Electrician and Christmas enthusiast Corey Mendonca has decorated his Beacon Street home with handcrafted displays and decorations he’s purchased over the years in end-of-season sales.
Corey Mondonca’s rented home on Beacon Street in Derry is lit up for the holidays with about 60,000 lights by his estimation.
A glowing green Santa-gator that he picked up for $5 is the latest addition to Corey Mendonca’s Christmas display.
A blow-up figure of the electrified Clark Griswold from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” welcomes visitors to a camper used for collection of donations for Toys to Tots at a Beacon Street holiday lighting display in Derry. Come nightfall, the classic movie is screened on the front of the camper.
By Julia Ann Weekes Union Leader Staff
Julie Weekes
Corey in the yard
I t started when Corey Mendonca was just a little kid catching sight of a neighbor’s sparkling outdoor Christmas lights.
“And it’s turned into — this,” he says, sweeping his hand across a kaleidoscope of color outside his rented home at 12 Beacon St. in Derry. “It’s grown over the years. Excessively,” he adds with a grin.
Reindeers prance across the roof. A multi-hued tunnel of lights arches over the driveway. Lighted evergreen trees in the yard extend toward a sprinkling of stars in the sky. There are Santas, snowmen and nutcrackers as well as oversized candy canes and a myriad of critters including teddy bears, dogs, a goose, and even a Bumble.
In all, there are about 60,000 lights aglow here.
It helps that Mendonca is an electrician by trade. But mostly, it’s a lifelong holiday spirit that powers this and many other displays he’s crafted at the places he’s called home over the years.
He recalls one memorable year when he was a teenager going Griswold on the family’s home on Sunset Circle in Derry, something that didn’t go over very well with the tenants living in the other side of the duplex. When they voiced objection to lights and decorations, Mendonca meticulously decorated just his family’s side of the structure, from the ground up to the face of the building onto the roof.
“I literally split the house in half, right down to decorating just one side of the walkway. It was hilarious,” he says, laughing.
Flash forward and he’s now a dad, indoctrinating children, ages 2 and 12, into the spirit of the holidays.
“When I had my first boy, it was like Christmas started all over again for me, and now I get to see it through two kids’ eyes. It’s fun.”
Going old-school
Mendonca says he has an old-school approach to holiday decorating. He hasn’t jumped on synchronized-music trends, with their constantly changing whirl of designs and patterns, and he’s moving away from inflatables. Those are temperamental in winter weather, often deflating into frozen heaps on the lawn.
The same goes for the holiday movies he favors. Forget sequels. Give him the nostalgic stop-action animation of the 1960s and 1970s in Rankin/Bass Productions classics like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (featuring that famous Bumble) and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and bring on the now-iconic 1980s comedies like “A Christmas Story” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
Unlike Chevy Chase’s frenzied Clark Griswold, Mendonca has a laid-back way of talking. He chats amiable with passersby, offering tips and pointing out many of the hand-crafted wooden displays he’s made and decorations he’s found in stores or online during end-of-season sales, including last year’s purchase of 20,000 lights for about $100.
His face lights up when he introduces his latest find, a green-lit alligator he picked up for $5.
Mendonca has moved around New Hampshire and Massachusetts quite a bit over the years, but he’s always brought his love of Christmas with him and looked for ways to reinvent or add to his displays.
A camper that turned out to be a lemon of a vehicle has been repurposed into a selfie station and collection point for donations for Toys for Tots. It’s locked at night and under surveillance at all times.
Mendonca, who recently moved back to Derry from Lynnfield, Mass., said last year he collected over 1,300 gifts, and hopes he can match that amount in his first year back in the Granite State. People have until Dec. 14 to donate gifts between 6 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.
On a recent Monday night, his mother, Kathleen Mendonca of Deerfield, is dropping off her first load of toy donations.
“My grandkids do well at (Christmastime) but there are other kids who don’t. These kids don’t get spoiled,” she says. “It’s all in the spirit of fun.”
Mendonca’s outdoor display will be lit up into January from 4:30 or 5 p.m. until about 10 p.m. nightly. He’s posted the location on a couple of New Hampshire-based Facebook pages: “Light Up New Hampshire” and “Christmas Lights in Southern NH.”
“It’s so calming to stand out here and look at it,” he says.
Still, he wasn’t able to fit everything that’s in his Christmas stockpile onto his new place in Derry.
“I have a 12-foot clock tower that tells the real time, a 12-foot silhouette of a church, and a whole bunch of houses the same size as that toy store,” he says pointing to a hand-painted display made out of plywood.
He also has 10,000 white lights tucked away.
He hopes someday he has a bigger house — and outdoor canvas.
Follow Julie Weekes
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2022-12-11T00:24:39Z
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Derry's Corey Mendonca is plugged in to Christmas | Human Interest | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/human_interest/derrys-corey-mendonca-is-plugged-in-to-christmas/article_e4f623d7-a485-598b-ba36-586a1bc1475f.html
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Chuckling softly as the sound of laughter fills his home, single dad Michael says he’s hoping to provide a merry Christmas for his 3-year-old daughter.
With expenses rising from inflation, he’s been struggling lately. Michael, whose name has been changed to protect his privacy, said all he does is work and go home, but after he pays bills, there’s next to nothing left of his paycheck to cover any extras.
He’s concerned he won’t be able to give his daughter, Mariah, the Christmas he thinks she deserves, so he is hoping for a little help.
Donations to the Union Leader Santa Fund could make it easier for Michael and other single parents struggling to make ends meet this holiday season.
“I just want to make sure she has a great Christmas morning,” Michael said, “but food and heat come first.”
A new report highlights how single-parent families are struggling to afford basic care — and have been struggling for a while. The 2022 County Health Rankings study highlights how close to the financial edge millions of families are and how almost no single parents are making a wage that covers their basic needs.
The study found that to make ends meet — covering the costs of medical care, transportation, food, housing and child care — a family of one adult and two kids needs to earn an average of $35.80 an hour, or about $75,000 a year.
The study found that in nearly every county in the U.S., a typical worker earns less than that.
The situation is even tougher for families that have minimum wage jobs, which in many states is the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. A full-time year-round worker making the federal minimum wage in the United States makes just $15,000 a year.
Statistics show that one in four American kids is raised in a single-parent household — the highest rate in the world — and most of those households are headed by working moms.
Single parents’ burden
Many of the applications the Salvation Army in Manchester received for assistance this year were submitted by single parents.
A single mother of four. Another from a mother of seven. Each looking for help making the holiday season brighter.
“I’m a single mother raising three beautiful kids,” Mary said. “I’m a self-employed cosmetologist, and the last two years have been difficult to make ends meet. My son is 7 and he’s very smart. He’s not asking for much because he knows times are hard, but I would give him the world if I could. He deserves it. My daughters never complain, and they love coming to work with me.”
Gifts on the girls’ list include dolls, a Little People set and “big hair bows,” while her son enjoys Lego sets. Clothing is also needed.
The Union Leader Santa Fund has supported the Salvation Army for more than 60 years. Money raised provides clothing, meals and toys for local families during the holidays, as well as support for Kids’ Café, summer camps and other programs.
Families like those mentioned in this article are counting on the generosity of Santa Fund donors to help their children enjoy the trappings of the season.
• Drop your donation in the Santa Fund box in the lobby of the newspaper at 100 William Loeb Drive, Manchester, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday except for Christmas.
For more information, contact Billy Wilson, Union Leader Events & Public Relations Manager, at 603-206-7833 or bwilson@unionleader.com.
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2022-12-11T00:24:45Z
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Single parents look to Santa Fund for help this season | Santa Fund | unionleader.com
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A damaged Toyota 4Runner is seen after a rollover crash on Saturday in Hudson.
Provided by Hudson Police
A rollover crash on Lowell Road in Hudson on Saturday afternoon sent a Massachusetts driver to the hospital.
Police said in a statement that they responded to the accident at 276 Lowell Road around 1:44 p.m.
Police said it appeared a 2004 Buick Century attempting to make a right turn out of a business made contact with a 2021 Toyota 4Runner. The Toyota rolled over several times, police said.
Police said the driver of the 4Runner, Carmen Aguiar, 50, of Lowell, Mass., was taken to Lowell General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Buick, Loretta Hubley, 71, of Nashua, was treated and released at the scene.
Police said there was also damage to a property for sale at 279 Lowell Road.
It appears at this time that speed and alcohol were not a factor, police said.
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2022-12-11T00:24:51Z
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Hudson rollover crash sends one to hospital | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/hudson-rollover-crash-sends-one-to-hospital/article_a7363c0c-d3a2-5484-9894-f7d0b5e0400e.html
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LAST WEEK, I accompanied a close family member to a doctor’s appointment that was a follow-up to another doctor’s concern about a potentially serious, undiagnosed medical issue. I attended to be a second set of eyes and ears and to support my family member during a challenging time.
During the visit, we received some news from the doctor that was extremely concerning. I’ll spare the details, but the news we received will create a very difficult situation. It will be a long road, filled with challenges and adversity.
I took the morning off from work to attend the appointment and of course when I got back to work, I was met with a long list of fire drills and other urgent issues that needed to be addressed. I was behind and feeling a bit overwhelmed. And then I paused and thought about the doctor’s appointment I just came from and the reality of the situation my family member would soon be dealing with.
At that moment, I began to question what really matters. Should I be stressed out about the pile of emails I need to get through? Should I be worried that I’m behind and people are waiting on me to get key activities accomplished? All of the concerns I had in my head instantly appeared to be minuscule compared to the news I just received.
Success is something we all work extremely hard for. Our careers are important and allow us to provide for our families and live a lifestyle that we are accustomed to. But every once in a while, something happens in your life that makes you realize what is most important.
Being healthy is something I’ve always taken for granted. Aside from some simple and common issues, I’ve been fortunate to never have had anything seriously wrong with me. Life is hard enough when nothing is wrong, I can’t imagine dealing with a serious medical issue and having to focus and work as hard as I do every day. Unfortunately, many people face this challenge.
I’ve come to the realization that as we all age, things fall apart. My mom jokes around and says that you eventually reach a point where all of the conversations with your friends are about the medical issues you are dealing with. Sad but true.
I have a coworker who used to be a firefighter, and he shared a story with me about a customer who was irate about a scheduling mistake that was made. The customer was furious and screaming at my co-worker. My co-worker responded to the customer with the following.
“An engineer not showing up at your office is not a problem. A problem is when I got dispatched to a car crash on the highway and had to figure out how to extricate someone from a vehicle and attempt to revive them.”
It’s a story I reference a lot, and it always makes people pause and think about what really matters.
I hope sharing this with you makes you reflect on the things in your life that matter the most.
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2022-12-11T02:39:40Z
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Closing the Deal: Certain life events put priorities in perspective | Business | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/columns/closing-the-deal-certain-life-events-put-priorities-in-perspective/article_caf3fde8-5d27-5a75-9d2f-7d440d26c7f8.html
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JOSHUA WEIJER
By Joshua R. Weijer of McLane Middleton
Q. What is “upstream gifting” and how can it minimize my taxes?
A: The average American is generally unconcerned with federal estate taxes because exclusions are historically high (in 2023, an individual can exclude nearly $13 million from his or her estate before any estate taxes are due; double for a married couple).
However, individuals with nontaxable estates can still take advantage of sky-high exemptions to minimize a different type of tax: capital gains tax. Specifically, they can make use of an older generation’s available exemption to readjust the basis of highly appreciated capital assets through a strategy known as “upstream gifting.”
Typically, when a donor makes a lifetime gift, the donor’s basis in such asset “carries over” to the recipient. Any gain recognized on the sale of such asset (i.e., the sale price less the basis) is typically taxed between 15 to 20% (plus an additional 3.8% net investment income tax for some). However, if transferred upon the donor’s death, the basis is instead “stepped up” (i.e., readjusted to the fair market value upon the donor’s death), eliminating any built-in gain.
For example, imagine in 2008 a donor purchases 50,000 shares of Amazon (AMZN) for $2.50/share, resulting in a $125,000 basis. The donor gifts the shares, then valued at $181 per share, to the father. The father passes away in 2021 when Amazon stock is worth $181 per share, leaving the 50,000 shares to the donor in his estate plan, owing no estate tax due to his large available estate tax exemption. The shares bequeathed to donor receive a new “stepped-up” tax basis of $18 per share eliminating a built-in gain of $178.50 per share, resulting in savings of $1.34 million to $1.79 million in capital gains tax if all the Amazon shares are sold.
Savvy investors or small business owners who realize this may be tempted to gift highly-appreciated assets to parents with modest estates. But they should understand the risks, namely loss of control, assets being reachable by a parent’s creditors, utilization of the transferor’s own exemption, survival requirements, and inadvertently creating a taxable estate for the parent.
Instead, an individual might avoid these traps by putting the highly-appreciated assets in an irrevocable trust for benefit of himself and his parent (preferably in a New Hampshire asset protection trust), and giving each parent a formulaic testamentary general power of appointment.
This power, which merely allows the parent to direct distribution to any person (including themselves), triggers step-up even when unexercised. Any person looking to engage in this technique should first consult an experienced estate planner.
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2022-12-11T02:39:46Z
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Know the Law: 'Upstream gifting' can temper the tax bite | Business | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/columns/know-the-law-upstream-gifting-can-temper-the-tax-bite/article_7d553d11-91f2-5ed9-99aa-706099c02859.html
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The earlier SECURE Act, signed into law in 2019, brought notable changes that included moving the age for taking required minimum distributions from 70½ to 72 and instituting a 10-year rule (in most situations) for having to empty an inherited retirement account.
Paul Richman, the chief government and political affairs officer at the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), believes SECURE 2.0 legislation will soon be adopted. IRI is a not-for-profit organization representing the insured retirement income industry, financial advisers and consumers.
“House and Senate committee leaders negotiating the final SECURE 2.0 bill have recently publicly expressed confidence and optimism that whatever outstanding issues remain will be worked out,” said Richman.
SECURE Act 2.0 has bipartisan support. The version created by the House of Representatives, called the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 (tinyurl.com/55trhjcu), was approved by a 414-5 vote in March of this year.
The Senate has two versions of its own for retirement reform: the RISE and SHINE Act (officially known as the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement to Supplement Healthy Investments for the Nest Egg Act — (tinyurl.com/c8yk6zut), which was produced by the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act (tinyurl.com/ysktetxm), which came from the Senate Finance Committee.
While each of the current three versions has variations, there are common provisions that are expected to appear in the finished product.
• Indexing IRA catch-up contributions: In my recent column on new contribution limits for 2023 for individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)s (if you didn’t see it, email me at readers@juliejason.com for a copy), you might have noticed that while the additional amount you can contribute to a 401(k) at age 50 and older (known as the catch-up contribution) increases $1,000 in 2023 to $7,500 due to a cost-of-living adjustment, the catch-up amount for an IRA, which is unindexed, remains unchanged at $1,000. There is a provision in the new legislation that would index the IRA catch-up contribution.
• After-tax employer contributions: Also, there is a provision that would allow an employee with a defined contribution retirement plan (like a 401(k) or 403(b)) to treat matching contributions and other contributions from an employer as after-tax Roth contributions.
• RMDs age increases: An increase in the age for having to take RMDs is in the works. The Senate’s EARN Act has the age move from 72 to 75, effective after 2031. The House’s version has a more gradual, 10-year increase to 75: moving to 73 in 2023, 74 in 2030 and 75 in 2033. As I’ve stated before, I’m in favor of raising the RMD age — the older the better. Keep in mind that these ages have to do with mandated withdrawals; optional withdrawals can occur at any age (above 59½ without penalty for IRAs).
• Others: Among the other proposals are a national database to help people find lost retirement accounts, higher catch-up contribution limits for those in the age range of 60 to 64 (the ages depend on the proposal), permitting employers to make matching contributions to retirement accounts for employees who are not contributing to their retirement plans but are making qualified student loan payments, and auto enrollment requirements for newly created 401(k) and 403(b) plans.
You can read respective summaries of the three legislative proposals at tinyurl.com/5xc5ytme (House) and tinyurl.com/nhzrpfec and tinyurl.com/3fxz5e5r (Senate).
So it appears the retirement realm likely could be changing again. The 100-plus associations and companies that called on congressional leaders for action will be pleased (tinyurl.com/ycxuedjt and tinyurl.com/vzn9taah) as will the millions of Americans who benefit from saving though retirement plans.
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2022-12-11T02:39:52Z
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www.unionleader.com
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'Your Money': Another round of retirement reform is in the works | Business | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/columns/your-money-another-round-of-retirement-reform-is-in-the-works/article_4c00ad23-8e5d-5db4-82c3-2c5987120879.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/columns/your-money-another-round-of-retirement-reform-is-in-the-works/article_4c00ad23-8e5d-5db4-82c3-2c5987120879.html
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The Puritan Backroom, creator (maybe) of the chicken tender.
BELOIN
MANCHESTER OFFICIALS MAY be ready to spend $2 million on a “branding campaign” for the city, but Nick Lavallee last week offered a suggestion for free.
The local comedian used the public comment portion of the Dec. 6 Board of Mayor and Aldermen to suggest that officials proclaim the Queen City the Chicken Tender “capital of the world.”
“Chicago’s home to deep dish pizza,” Lavallee said. “Detroit is known for its ‘Mom’s Spaghetti.’ Manchester, New Hampshire, should be synonymous with the chicken tender. Whether you prefer yours sauced in Buffalo, or naked dipped in duck sauce, there’s no question that this strip of fried fowl is truly a part of who we are.”
The Puritan Backroom restaurant is famous for being the birthplace of the chicken tender in 1974, though some dispute that claim.
Lavallee’s comments generated a round of laughs from the board and hunger pangs in at least one observer.
Proposal draws opposition
Aldermen blocked a shot by board chairman Pat Long to get a vote on an item under new business — a motion to allocate up to $15,000 in contingency funds to cover the cost for some students to play in a local basketball league.
Many of those who voted “no” cited the last-minute nature of the request and a lack of information about the program.
Long made the motion to secure funds that could be offered in the form of scholarships to families of kids who want to play in the Manchester Basketball League — created by Manchester resident and 1987 Central graduate Chris Morgan — after hearing some kids can’t afford the $68 registration fee.
“ My bottom line is there are kids that are not playing,” Long said. “My goal is to get them playing starting tomorrow.”
“You’re saying this, but how do we know that?” Mayor Joyce Craig asked. “Why is this coming to us last minute?”
“I just got some questions answered that I was satisfied with this week. That’s why I thought I’d bring this forward,” Long said.
Craig said she heard from School Superintendent Jenn Gillis during the meeting, who said she was confused why the request wasn’t brought before the school board.
“It’s never come before the school board,” Craig said. “This is the first year we have teams in every elementary and middle school. This is the first I’m hearing there are potentially hundreds of kids that haven’t made those teams and then can’t afford to play, so I’d like to verify that. I just think it’s beneficial to our board to have information before we take a vote.”
Ward 12 Alderman Erin George-Kelly, director of youth services at Waypoint, raised the issue of allowing a nonprofit to receive city funds without going through the same process required of others.
Alderman June Trisciani said she would like to see the school board involved in the discussion.
“One of my concerns is we can then make this argument for every sports team in the city — every Little League, every soccer league,” Trisciani said.
Alderman Tony Sapienza said he had procedural issues with the request.
“I couldn’t look the athletic director in the eye if I voted on this on a whim, because I’m sure she would love to come in here and get $15,000 for her programs,” Sapienza said. “They’re all worthy programs.
New homelessness director announced
Adrienne Beloin was announced last week as the city’s new director of homelessness initiatives. She is the former director of programs and services at St. Francis House in Boston, the largest day shelter in Massachusetts.
“Adrienne’s experience working with people experiencing homelessness and helping them overcome barriers to accessing safe, affordable housing makes her a tremendous asset to our community,” Craig in a statement. “She has a proven track record of being a problem-solver and advocate, which is exactly what we need to address the complex issue of homelessness in Manchester and throughout the state.”
Beloin, who grew up in New Hampshire, has worked with people experiencing homelessness in the Boston area for more than 20 years.
“I have had a warm welcome returning to New Hampshire, and my impression is that there is a tremendous amount of compassion and dedication we can leverage here in Manchester coming from the concerned community, the local service providers and the city departments,” Beloin said.
“We understand that we need to increase access to housing, increase access to treatment and decrease stigma,” she said. “ I know we can improve the ways we work together, unite our goals, and maximize new and existing resources. It will take both an urgent response and a steady approach that is shaped by harm reduction and trauma-informed practices.”
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2022-12-11T02:40:05Z
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City Hall: A compliment tendered, a long shot blocked | City Hall | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/city_hall/city-hall-a-compliment-tendered-a-long-shot-blocked/article_3c9c1e95-7f2f-5077-9b39-14051c53b852.html
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“On behalf of a grateful nation,” Sgt. Colin McGrail of the New Hampshire Army National Guard presents the American flag that draped the coffin of Sgt. Alfred Sidney to his 89-year-old sister, Patricia Lyons.
Pallbearers place the flag-draped casket of Sgt. Alfred Sidney atop his grave Thursday morning in Littleton’s Glenwood Cemetery. Sidney died in a North Korean prisoner of war camp in 1951, but his remains were identified in August of this year.
Members of the VFW Post 816 honor guard stand ready to fire a salute during the interment of Army Sgt. Alfred Harry Sidney at Glenwood Cemetery in Littleton on Thursday.
A table at a reception Thursday at VFW Post 816 in Littleton featured the proclamation that bestowed the Purple Heart posthumously upon U.S. Army Sgt. Alfred Harry Sidney and a photo of Sidney in uniform.
LITTLETON — Seventy-one years after he died in a prisoner of war camp during the Korean War — and four months since his remains were identified — Army Sgt. Alfred Harry Sidney was brought home Thursday to a hero’s welcome, interment with full military honors, and the joy and relief of his family.
“He’s been gone for 71 years but never forgotten,” said Patricia Lyons, 89, of Littleton, Sidney’s only surviving sibling, and after him, the second-oldest of the five children of the late Alfred H. and Hazel M. (Wetherbee) Sidney.
Born in Littleton on Dec. 9, 1927, Sidney was a 1946 graduate of Littleton High School and an honorably discharged Army veteran when he was called up to the reserves and sent to serve in an infantry unit in Korea.
On May 18, 1951, Sidney and several other soldiers were taken prisoner and marched 70 miles to a POW camp in North Korea. Sidney died there on July 31, 1951 at age 23 from exhaustion and pneumonia.
Buried on a hillside near the POW camp, Sidney’s body was returned to the U.S. several years later, but his identity was not established until August.
Lyons said she was feeling “everything” on Thursday, including sadness and happiness that her brother had finally been found and had been laid to rest in the Sidney family plot at Glenwood Cemetery.
“He was tremendous. He was everything that was perfect,” she said. “He never had a bad word to say about anybody. He was kind. He was generous.”
Rhoda Lyons, the youngest of Patricia Lyons’ nine children, said her mom would regale the children with tales of what it was like to grow up with Sidney, who Patricia described to them as “a humble man.”
She said the identification of her uncle’s remains and his burial Thursday gave her family “Closure. Finally, closure.”
Sarah Hopkins, one of Rhoda Lyons’ three sisters, said their mom, who will turn 90 next St. Patrick’s Day, at one time thought “we’d never get him home.”
Hopkins — who was taught that her uncle was “a soul that you do not see often, an older brother who was just a good person” — remembered that her grandmother used to have a great sense of humor, but not knowing what happened to Sidney changed her.
“This is closure, this is happiness,” Hopkins said. “There can be nothing bad.”
VFW Post 816 members Daniel Greenlaw and Greg Darling, the post chaplain, spoke at the interment, with Greenlaw explaining that burial is “the last thing you do for a veteran.”
The burial must be conducted in an “honorable and dignified manner,” he said, adding that Post 816, whose members also were present in an honor guard, were proud and grateful to be a part of it.
Following the interment, a reception was held for Sidney’s family and friends at VFW Post 816 on Cottage Street.
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2022-12-11T03:48:45Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Veteran of Korean War finally laid to rest in Littleton | Veterans | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/veterans/veteran-of-korean-war-finally-laid-to-rest-in-littleton/article_e269224d-d2e4-5ad8-9c7d-667d06044f51.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/veterans/veteran-of-korean-war-finally-laid-to-rest-in-littleton/article_e269224d-d2e4-5ad8-9c7d-667d06044f51.html
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The official stated reason for doing this is that we have too many White people. Don’t take my word for it. Here’s Biden on the matter: “We must ensure that voters of color have a choice in choosing our nominee much earlier in the process and throughout the entire early window.” Under the new math, South Carolina, with a Black population of 26.7%, leapfrogs New Hampshire on the primary calendar, which has a Black population of just under 2%. Which party is obsessed with race again?
Biden and the DNC have gone so far as to demand a groveling letter from New Hampshire’s governor and a change to state laws governing our first in the nation primary and ballot integrity, or else we will be excluded altogether from the block of states voting early. This is some petty, spiteful stuff.
As the meme goes, Democratic State Chairman Ray Buckley, you had one job.
Still, there has been very little, if any, criticism of Buckley’s epic fail from his fellow Democrats. For reasons no one can explain, his plan to save the primary was to hire Troy Price, the guy who so screwed up the 2020 Iowa caucuses he was forced to resign, as the New Hampshire party’s executive director. That suspect personnel decision yielded the predictable result, and now both Iowa and New Hampshire are wiped off the calendar.
Why aren’t Democrats calling Buckley to account for this debacle?
Maybe the primary just isn’t all that important to them. If the party was serious about saving the primary, it would have displayed solidarity by backing Secretary of State Dave Scanlan in his reelection bid. Instead, the Democrats unfairly and dishonestly maligned his reputation because he counted all the votes in a Manchester recount that ultimately resulted in a Democrat loss of a House seat and in court. Then they ran an ideological and partisan challenger against him. This is not the behavior of a party taking a united stand against an existential threat to our presidential primary. To their credit, 25 Democrats in the Legislature backed Scanlan, showing more leadership than their “leaders.”
In fairness, Congressman Chris Pappas had strong words for Biden on Chris Ryan’s New Hampshire Today radio show on WGIR.
“This plan is wrongheaded. It doesn’t make any sense,” Pappas said. “This looks like Biden paying back folks who supported him in the 2020 primary. He wants to have the easiest calendar possible if he decides to run again.”
Still, that’s a far cry from a show of force from our all-Democratic delegation saying, oh I don’t know, they won’t back Biden’s reelection if he continues down this path of punishing New Hampshire voters. It’s not altogether clear that Biden is running for reelection anyway, so such a stand would garner major national attention, add drama to his public ruminations about running again, and possibly out-position the aging President.
What say, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas?
Many speculate that Biden’s true motives are a burning hatred for New Hampshire because he got walloped here in 2020. The truth is, he’s never liked us.
Back in 1987, Biden was in Claremont (yes, he was running for President even back then) and tore into a New Hampshire voter at a house party. I encourage you to search for it yourself on YouTube.
“I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do,” he bellowed at the guy. “The first year in law school I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class and then decided I wanted to stay and went back to law school and in fact ended up in the top half of my class. I won the international moot-court competition. ... I was the outstanding student in the political science department as an undergraduate. ... I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school ... And I’d be delighted to sit back and compare my IQ to yours if you’d like.”
Almost all of this was untrue and swiftly debunked. But the exchange conveyed a larger truth that has only now become crystal clear: Joe Biden thinks Granite Staters are dumb and that he’s better than we are.
Why are the state’s Democrats just sitting around and allowing this man to steal our primary?
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2022-12-11T08:01:19Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Patrick Hynes: How serious are NH Dems about saving the primary? | Columnists | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/columnists/patrick-hynes-how-serious-are-nh-dems-about-saving-the-primary/article_d0da85e5-40c5-5815-bc9b-a9085e765bfb.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/columnists/patrick-hynes-how-serious-are-nh-dems-about-saving-the-primary/article_d0da85e5-40c5-5815-bc9b-a9085e765bfb.html
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The Executive Council’s two-week postponement in the sale to a developer of the massive Laconia State School property makes sense.
Now the deal needs to be laid out for all to see, and the councilors and the public must get answers to quite a few questions.
The secrecy of this proposal and its developer has been troublesome and unnecessary from the start. State Administrative Services Commissioner Charles Arlinghaus may have done his due diligence in recommending the Infinite Equities Group but it was pretty late in the game before the firm and its principal were publicly identified. Before that, interested parties may have been told to keep their lips zipped regarding project details.
Once the identity of the developer, Infinite Equities Group, was revealed, it soon followed that Laconia would be by far the largest project the group has ever undertaken.
Moreover, according to the New Hampshire Bulletin online news service, group principal Robynne Alexander is three years behind schedule on a much smaller Manchester project on Elm Street and is in dispute with an investor there.
This is no small deal for either Laconia or New Hampshire. It is more than 200 acres of land overlooking Lake Winnisquam. The developer would be paying $21.5 million for it. She plans a huge housing development, including single-family, condominiums, town houses and apartments (including “workforce housing” units, which need to be price-defined).
It would be nice if all parties had a pretty high level of confidence that the plan is sound and the developer can fulfill it.
If that takes more than two weeks for the council, so be it.
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2022-12-11T08:01:31Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Laconia questions: Exec. Council needs answers | Editorials | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/editorials/laconia-questions-exec-council-needs-answers/article_95a5b62d-a14a-5d49-a186-719e01222d98.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/editorials/laconia-questions-exec-council-needs-answers/article_95a5b62d-a14a-5d49-a186-719e01222d98.html
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A new letter has been added to NH's conservation plate combinations.
Provided by NH Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
To keep up with demand for New Hampshire’s popular Conservation License Plate — fondly referred to as the “Moose Plate”— a new letter has been added to plate combinations.
Every dollar raised through the sales of Moose Plates goes directly to designated programs that support a wide variety of conservation, heritage, and preservation programs in New Hampshire, including studying rare native plants, working to protect endangered species, securing conservation easements, preserving publicly owned historic properties and artifacts, and planting wildflowers along New Hampshire highways. All 10 New Hampshire counties have benefited from Moose Plate funds.
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2022-12-11T22:05:16Z
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www.unionleader.com
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M is for “Moose” – The newest letter added to NH “moose plate” combinations | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/m-is-for-moose-the-newest-letter-added-to-nh-moose-plate-combinations/article_12a8dcbf-c982-512d-8b3b-5ad978af24f7.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/m-is-for-moose-the-newest-letter-added-to-nh-moose-plate-combinations/article_12a8dcbf-c982-512d-8b3b-5ad978af24f7.html
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Floral tributes left at the Memorial Garden in Dryfesdale Cemetery, are seen on the morning of the 30th anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 which exploded over the Scottish town on December 21, 1988, killing 259 passengers and crew and 11 residents on the ground, in Lockerbie, Scotland, Britain, December 21, 2018. Jane Barlow/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
A spokesman for the Justice Department said Abu Agila Masud is expected to make his first court appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, but didn't say when.
The former Libyan intelligence operative is accused of making the explosive device that destroyed a Pan Am jet on Dec. 21, 1988, killing all 259 people on board the Boeing 747 and 11 others on the ground.
The Justice Department charged Masud in 2020 with helping make the bomb. In announcing the charges on the 32nd anniversary of the attack, then-Attorney General William P. Barr said that the operation was ordered by the leadership of Libyan intelligence and that Moammar Gaddafi, Libya's leader from 1969 to 2011, had personally thanked Masud for his work.
It was unclear how authorities took Masud into custody.
A spokesman for the Scottish Crown Office said Sunday that Scottish prosecutors and police, working alongside colleagues from the United States and United Kingdom, "will continue to pursue this investigation." The office said it would not comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
Stephanie Bernstein, 71, a Maryland resident whose husband, Michael, was one of the victims, called the development "surreal."
"It's critical to hold people like this accountable, no matter how many years after the fact," said the retired rabbi and vice president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 group. "We have generations of people who have been working on this for 34 years. We'll never stop. This is a critical milestone."
The plane bound from London to New York "exploded into pieces almost instantaneously," federal investigators said in a statement of facts filed in 2020. Everyone on board was killed, among them 190 Americans that included a group of Syracuse University students returning home for the holidays.
Masud was the third person charged in the case. In 1991, during Barr's first stint as attorney general, he announced the first charges - against Libyan intelligence operative Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and his alleged accomplice Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. Libya refused to send them to the U.S. or Britain for trial, stalling efforts at prosecution and prompting sanctions.
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2022-12-11T22:05:28Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Man accused of making Lockerbie bomb is in U.S. custody, authorities say | World | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/world/man-accused-of-making-lockerbie-bomb-is-in-u-s-custody-authorities-say/article_27bf6808-c4db-58dd-94dc-2e5d348ebc98.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/world/man-accused-of-making-lockerbie-bomb-is-in-u-s-custody-authorities-say/article_27bf6808-c4db-58dd-94dc-2e5d348ebc98.html
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Shiffrin settles for second place in World Cup slalom
Switzerland's Wendy Holdener defeated American rival Mikaela Shiffrin and claimed a World Cup victory in the slalom at Sestriere on Sunday.
Holdener came from second place in the first run and had a combined time of 1 minute, 56.29 seconds, 0.47 seconds ahead of Shiffrin. Petra Vlhova from Slovakia was in the lead after the first run but ended up in third, 0.70 seconds behind Holdener.
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2022-12-11T22:05:40Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Shiffrin settles for second place in World Cup slalom | Sports | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/shiffrin-settles-for-second-place-in-world-cup-slalom/article_69414218-9cb4-556b-a1a8-f124d8b33ff3.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/shiffrin-settles-for-second-place-in-world-cup-slalom/article_69414218-9cb4-556b-a1a8-f124d8b33ff3.html
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A sign welcoming visitors to Oil City, Pennsylvania in the shape of an oil derrick. 2019
Photographer: Carol M. Highsmith
He and his partner, Scott King, had been walking through New York since March 25, the day they crossed the Vermont border. They were hiking from Maine to California on behalf of the Meredith, New Hampshire, Jaycees. This ambitious project was a unique contribution to the national celebration of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution.
The hikers were assisted by a third Jaycees volunteer, Chris Hurd, who drove the supply van, acted as press agent, arranged for accommodations, and occasionally cooked. The three were often fed and housed by members of local Jaycees clubs.
At 8 a.m. on April 8, a radio station in Olean, New York, interviewed the trio in Wellsville, New York, where they had spent the night. At 8:30 a.m., Hormell and King began walking in a southwesterly direction. They walked around 25 miles, reaching Bullis Mills, Pennsylvania, despite the fact that King’s feet were covered in terrible blisters.
As Hormell described, “I have never seen blisters like Scott’s… Every toe is nothing but dead skin and raw meat. Also, both heals and ball pads are covered with blisters.”
It took King three hours the next morning to bandage his feet well enough so that he could walk. He had to make numerous stops, but he and Hormell were still able to walk 21 miles. On April 10 the hikers walked the same distance, this time uphill much of the way. They passed through the town of Mount Jewett, altitude 2,240 feet, and ended the day in Kane.
The next morning, Hormell and Hurd brought King to the local hospital. A doctor examined his feet, and told him that he needed to stop walking immediately and rest for two to three weeks, or his feet would be permanently injured.
The three men debated what to do. They could go back to Meredith until King recovered, and then return to Kane to continue the trek — or Hormell could hike alone until King could join him. In this second scenario, King would lose the opportunity to complete every step of a transcontinental walk, a notable historical achievement. King decided not to delay the journey, but to ride with Hurd and to help him with his duties.
That afternoon Hormell walked 16 miles to Sheffield, and on April 12 he walked from Sheffield to Whig Hill, around 22 miles. That day he traveled along Route 666, a winding, hilly road through the Allegheny National Forest. He wrote, “For once I saw more live deer than dead, and a couple of wild turkeys.” The next day he continued on for another 25 miles, coming within a short distance of historic Oil City.
Oil City was the site of one of the first oil wells in the United States, which began producing in 1861, and was still a substantial oil producer in 1976. The men were met by local Jaycees who presented them with Pennzoil belts and vials of locally-pumped crude oil. Pennzoil was one of the major petroleum firms operating in Oil City at that time. The company’s logo features the Liberty Bell, a symbol of American independence.
The project received good press coverage as the team progressed through northwest Pennsylvania, including an article in the Oil City Derrick newspaper on April 14. The item featured a photo of Hurd and King standing next to a replica oil rig. That day Hormell continued walking, but not without fearing for his life. He wrote, “The road between Oil City and Franklin was extremely treacherous. I had about 3 feet between the guard rail and the first lane. Cars were going by at 55 mph and I could have reached out and touched each one with my hand.”
The next day, April 15, 1976, Hormell ended the day about three miles from the Ohio border. He had walked around 35 miles over the previous two days. He recorded his thoughts: “Long awaited Ohio is finally here. After the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and the hills of New York and Pennsylvania, the flat lands are going to be very nice.”
Next week: The Bicentennial hikers face more challenges in Ohio.
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2022-12-11T22:05:46Z
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www.unionleader.com
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The Bicentennial hikers – through northwest Pennsylvania in eight days | Looking Back | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/voices/looking_back/the-bicentennial-hikers-through-northwest-pennsylvania-in-eight-days/article_45232cc0-4064-5961-b6c6-eb6ef67633df.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/voices/looking_back/the-bicentennial-hikers-through-northwest-pennsylvania-in-eight-days/article_45232cc0-4064-5961-b6c6-eb6ef67633df.html
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By Brian Thompson
WHEN DISCUSSING wealth management with startup entrepreneurs, some of the most common questions we hear are, “what should I be thinking about?” or “what are the hacks?”
Here are three questions you need to be asking yourself, and your advisers, about your personal wealth:
Do I know if my business qualifies for qualified small business stock?
If your company meets the definition of a qualified small business, you may be able to shield up to $10 million of capital gains, or up to 10 tines your basis if that is larger. This is per tax paying entity, so if you have a family trust that also has a stake in the business and that pays its own taxes (sometimes referred to as a QSBS multiplier trust), both entities will receive this benefit.
This is very powerful, and something definitely worth looking into. The requirements for the business to qualify are as follows:
1. You bought or earned the shares directly from the company (they were not purchased on the secondary market).
2. The stock has been held for more than five years.
3. The company is a C-corp (not an LLC, partnership, or S-corp).
4. Company gross assets were less than $50 million at the purchase of the stock, and the company uses over 80% of those assets in an active trade or business. To be successful, you will want to work with your company’s CPAs to make sure documentation exists for the company showing all of this criteria was met before the sale.
2. Do I have an estate liquidity problem?
If you have a large estate as defined above, unless substantial gifting and planning has been done, you will likely owe estate taxes at your death. A common scenario we see with entrepreneurs is much of their net worth is tied up in their business, in homes, in other illiquid investments, etc.
If there is not sufficient cash and marketable securities, your beneficiaries will likely have to sell some of the illiquid assets to cover the estate taxes, potentially during inopportune market conditions, and likely at a discount if the buyer is savvy enough to understand the urgency of the sale.
If this is the case, life insurance owned in an irrevocable life insurance trust is often a good solution to mitigate this risk. If you are a married couple, survivorship universal life insurance is usually the right product since the proceeds are paid at the same time the estate taxes come due, which is the later of your deaths.
Who are the owners and the beneficiaries of my life insurance policies?
If you are building significant wealth, such that you will someday be subject to estate taxes, this section is for you. If you are over the lifetime exemption threshold, any life insurance owned by you, your spouse, your revocable trust, or any other vehicle considered “inside” your estate for tax purposes, will be subject to federal and state estate taxes.
For example, in some states, the blended estate tax rate can be as high as 50%. That means if you have a $20 million policy of which your estate or your spouse is the owner and beneficiary, approximately $10 million of the death benefit will go to the government.
Luckily, there is a fix to avoid this. Irrevocable life insurance trusts (commonly referred to as ILITs) can be set up to be both the owner and the beneficiary of the life insurance policy. Since they are irrevocable trusts, the policy is outside of your estate, thus, not subject to estate taxes. The trust can be funded upfront with a large gift to subsidize future premium payments, or you can make annual exemption gifts to the trust to avoid using any of your lifetime exemption for each beneficiary of the trust.
If you are just learning this now, do not fear as you can transfer the existing life insurance policy to an ILIT. The transfer may be subject to a gift if there is cash value, and you do need to survive three years beyond the transfer date to avoid having the policy pulled back into your estate, but this can be accomplished with the help of an estate attorney.
While startup entrepreneurs may have a lot on their plate, it’s essential to make time for personal wealth management and financial planning. Building a portfolio that allows for a comfortable lifestyle in the long-term takes strategic planning and foresight.
Brian Thompson is a wealth advisor at Lake Street Advisors, joining the firm in 2012. He works with entrepreneurs and executives to create and implement estate planning and wealth strategies to fulfill their long-term goals. Contact Lake Street Advisors at 603-610-4100 or info@lakestreetadvisors.com.
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2022-12-12T03:35:46Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Ask the expert: Start-up Entrepreneurs: 3 Personal Wealth Items You Need To Be Thinking About | Ask The Expert | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/ask_the_expert/ask-the-expert-start-up-entrepreneurs-3-personal-wealth-items-you-need-to-be-thinking/article_ecf7f8bc-803c-5c6a-9f0b-ba9fd223618b.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/ask_the_expert/ask-the-expert-start-up-entrepreneurs-3-personal-wealth-items-you-need-to-be-thinking/article_ecf7f8bc-803c-5c6a-9f0b-ba9fd223618b.html
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DULAC
Newsmakers: Realtors elect Cushing as association president
Realtors elect Cushing as association president
New London resident Ben Cushing, a regional manager for Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty in Hanover, has been elected as the 70th president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, the state’s largest trade association.
Cushing, 53, is a New Hampshire native, a 25-year Realtor, and a long-time real estate instructor. A volunteer firefighter in New London for more than 15 years, Cushing has a long history of service with the state Realtor association as well, having participated in each of its four standing committees. He served as the organization’s treasurer from 2017 to 2020.
Commission on Aging welcomes new members
Citing their broad and significant experience in state issues and programs connected to older adults, the NH Commission on Aging (NHCOA) is pleased to welcome Roxie Severance of Whitefield and Rep. Lucy McVitty Weber of Walpole as new members.
Since 2017 through her consulting firm RS Consulting LLC, Severance has assisted organizations with all aspects of quality services for seniors, including consulting regarding workforce development, strategic planning, and special projects. Currently she contracts with Southern NH AHEC to implement the Sector Partnerships Initiative program in an effort to recruit and train healthcare workers. Previously she served as the CEO and Administrator for the Morrison Hospital Association in Whitefield. She has also worked as an elderly services coordinator for New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority. She currently serves on a variety of advisory groups and boards.
Weber has served as a state representative of Cheshire District 1 since December 2006. She currently is the ranking member of the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee. During the 2019-2020 session, she was the House Speaker Pro Tempore and chaired the Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee and the Health and Human Services Oversight Committee. Over her tenure as a state representative, she has served on a variety of committees.
She began her professional career in the field of education, then worked for more than a decade as lawyer practicing in many areas of law including elder law. She then served as the general contractor restoring an historic county inn. From July 1999 to July 2006, she co-owned the Walpole Inn in Walpole. She is currently serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Guardian ad Litem.
Ketchum Foundation names board expansion
The Betty C. Ketchum Foundation, founder, and operator of The Mount Washington Valley Adult Day Center, has announced the election of three new board members at its recent November meeting, expanding the board to seven. The new Trustees are Barbara Harmon, Dr. Sohaib Siddiqui, and Holly Summers.
Harmon of North Conway has lived in Mount Washington Valley for over 30 years. While raising her family and volunteering on numerous boards she also held several financial positions for local companies. Her role as CFO for the Berry Co’s has allowed her to refine her executive qualifications for her newly appointed position as treasurer of the board.
Siddiqui has been serving the Mount Washington Valley as a family physician since 2007. He has served on the Memorial Hospital board of trustees as president of medical staff, and in 2019 opened Cranmore Health Partners, an accredited Urgent Care, Primary Care, Family Medicine and Pain Management Center.
Summers, of North Sandwich, has seen firsthand the day-to-day challenges of family members caring for loved ones at home. She brings more than 18 years of nonprofit operations experience in several leadership positions at The Nature Conservancy and a desire to make a positive difference in the lives of others.
Granite VNA names Murch as HR chief
Granite VNA, formerly Concord Regional VNA and Central NH VNA & Hospice, has named Brita Murch director of human resources. In this role, she will oversee team member recruitment and experience, including developing, implementing, and evaluating ongoing human resource programs and initiatives to support employee engagement and retention.
Prior to joining Granite VNA, Murch served as human resources manager for Results Physiotherapy.
Staff appointments at SolutionHealth
SolutionHealth announces the selection of two staff members for leadership roles. Jason Elliott joins SolutionHealth as senior vice president and chief human resources officer and Debra Dulac MBA, RN, CPHIT transitions to the role of senior vice president and chief information officer after serving as interim CIO.
Elliott was previously vice president of human resources at WellSpan Health in Pennsylvania since 2017. Prior to joining WellSpan, he held senior human resources leadership roles at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, and at Maine Health/Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.
Dulac first joined the organization in 2017 initially serving as chief nursing information officer at Elliot Hospital, and later took on the role of leading the EpicONE implementation for Southern NH Health. She later served as vice president of applications, clinical informatics and training for SolutionHealth. She assumed the interim chief information officer role in June. Her prior experience includes working in information system leadership positions with Vidant Health in North Carolina, The University of Vermont Medical Center in Vermont, and Dartmouth Health in New Hampshire. She also brings clinical expertise as she spent nine years in nursing leadership positions during her time at Dartmouth.
Customer journey manager joins wedü
Wedü has announced that Murray Stall has joined the digital team as a customer journey manager. Stall’s role at Wedü will be leading all aspects of customer relationship management strategy, behavioral marketing, thought leadership, implementation and optimization across the organization.
Stall spent most of his career at FanMail Marketing, where he worked as a client relationship manager, services director and lastly marketing director.
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2022-12-12T03:35:58Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Newsmakers: Realtors elect Cushing as association president | Business | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/columns/newsmakers-realtors-elect-cushing-as-association-president/article_edbf8554-3305-5b26-b614-3a9df7b34792.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/columns/newsmakers-realtors-elect-cushing-as-association-president/article_edbf8554-3305-5b26-b614-3a9df7b34792.html
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Doug Morrissette holds up a check on Dec. 9 for $625,724, representing the money raised during the four-day 2022 Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction. Proceeds from the Children’s Auction, which has raised more than $8 million in its 41-year history, will be donated to dozens of local nonprofits to help needy children and families.
BELMONT — Thanks to the generosity of donors and bidders, and maybe some latent magic in the space where it was held, the 2022 Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction set a new record, raising more than $625,000 to help needy children and families.
“Wow! Wow! Wow!,” said Jaimie Souza, moments after the four-day Children’s Auction, having brought in $625,724, wrapped up Friday evening in the former Peeble’s department store space at the Belknap Marketplace.
In 2019, the Children’s Auction, which has led a peripatetic existence since its founding by Lakes Region radio personality Warren Bailey, set a then-record of $600,032 while being simulcast from the Peeble’s in what was then known as the Belknap Mall.
President of the Children’s Auction for six years, Sousa admitted she was “thrilled, exhilarated and exhausted,” and also relieved, when the 2022 Children’s Auction ended.
“We didn’t have enough items to finish (bidding) on Thursday,” she recalled, but once appeals were made for donations, the items came rolling in, literally, in shopping carts.
Sousa said the 2022 Children’s Auction was again blessed by large-ticket items and correspondingly-large winning bids.
For a second year, the Laconia Country Club donated a one-year membership, which has a value of $5,500, but which drew a bid of $40,000 in 2021 and fetched $74,000 in 2022. Meanwhile, a 2023 season pass for two to the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion received a winning bid of $12,000, some $4,000 above its cost.
“The last time we broke a record it was in this space,” said Sousa, who thanked the 300 or so volunteers who helped put on the Children’s Auction and who extended thanks in particular to the LCC.
“We’ve never had quite as high an over-bid as the Country Club,” she said, adding that, hopefully, the pattern will continue on well into the future.
Cumulatively, the Children’s Auction has now raised more than $8 million.
In a post-Auction address to volunteers, Sousa confessed that “I’ve entirely forgotten what we talked about at meetings” before the Auction, stressing that the most important thing was how much was raised to help their fellow Lakes Region residents: “Six hundred twenty five thousand.”
Ward 6 Laconia City Councilor Tony Felch, who is a longtime Auction volunteer and fundraiser, gave Sousa a hug and told her “We did it…again.”
LakesNews@unionleader.com
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2022-12-12T03:36:29Z
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Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction sets a new fundraising record | Human Interest | unionleader.com
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NFL Roundup: Bills rough up Jets, remain in control of AFC East
AFC East-leading Buffalo improved to 10-3.
Chiefs 34, Broncos 28: Patrick Mahomes was 28-for-42 passing for 352 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions, Jerick McKinnon had seven catches for 112 yards and two scores and the visiting Chiefs beat the Broncos for the 14th straight time.
JuJu Smith-Schuster had 74 yards and one touchdown on nine receptions for Kansas City (10-3).
Russell Wilson was 23-for-36 passing for 247 yards, three touchdowns and an interception before leaving in the fourth quarter with a concussion and Jerry Jeudy had eight receptions for 73 yards and three TDs for the Broncos (3-10).
Bengals 23, Browns 10: Joe Burrow passed for 239 yards and two touchdowns and the Bengals won their fifth consecutive game.
Ja’Marr Chase caught 10 passes for 119 yards and one touchdown as the Bengals (9-4) halted a five-game skid against the Browns (5-8).
Jaguars 36, Titans 22: Trevor Lawrence threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth as the Jaguars (5-8) kept their slim playoff hopes alive.
Lawrence completed 30 of 42 passes for a career-high 368 yards, finding tight end Evan Engram 11 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns.
Derrick Henry ran 17 times for 121 yards and a touchdown for Tennesse (7-6).
49ers 35, Buccaneers 7: Rookie Brock Purdy threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another to fuel the 49ers.
Eagles 48, Giants 22: Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another TD, Miles Sanders ran for two scores, and the Eagles (12-1) clinched a playoff berth.
Quarterback Daniel Jones finished 18 of 27 for 169 yards and one touchdown for the Giants (7-5-1).
Cowboys 27, Texans 23: Dak Prescott threw for 284 yards and a touchdown and led a 98-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes to pace the Cowboys to a come-from-behind win.
Prescott’s late heroics — he was 6 for 7 on the final touchdown drive — helped the Cowboys (10-3) overcome three turnovers, including two interceptions.
Ezekiel Elliott ran 2 yards for the game-winning score with 41 seconds remaining. The touchdown put the Cowboys ahead for the first time since the second quarter.
The Texans (1-11-1) led much of the way thanks to Ka’imi Fairbairn’s field goals of 43, 50, and 54 yards.
Lions 34, Vikings 23: Jared Goff passed for 330 yards and three touchdowns as the Lions prevented the from clinching the NFC North title.
Ravens 16, Steelers 14: J.K. Dobbins rushed for a season-high 120 yards and a touchdown to lead the Ravens (9-4).
Dobbins carried the ball 15 times to headline a Ravens offense that racked up 215 yards on the ground.
Pittsburgh is now 5-8.
Panthers 30, Seahawks 24: Sam Darnold threw a touchdown pass and Carolina’s defense made several key plays in the win.
Carolina (5-8) is within a game of the NFC South lead with a strong resurgence under interim coach Steve Wilks.
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2022-12-12T03:36:41Z
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NFL Roundup: Bills rough up Jets, remain in control of AFC East | Sports | unionleader.com
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Mariia Borysenko, helps Nazar, 2, play the piano in their apartment. They are settling in Manchester after leaving war-torn Ukraine.
12/08/2022 Thomas Roy/Union Leader Oleksandr and Mariia Borysenko, as they talk about coming from Ukraine to New Hampshire to live.
In their Manchester apartment, Oleksandr Borysenko and wife Mariia talk about coming to New Hampshire from Ukraine. They are sitting with children Nazar, 2, Zakhar, 5, and Yevheniia, 9.
THE UKRAINIAN CITY of Yahotyn — population 19,000 — is so small that it warrants only a few paragraphs on Wikipedia.
And most of the entry describes the city’s ranking in a regional government structure, information that would grab only a bureaucrat’s attention.
Of more interest: a map places the city about 70 miles east of Kyiv, which is toward the country’s war zone.
I mention this because some informal ties between Manchester and Yahotyn were strung together this year.
Four families from the Laconia-sized city have settled in Manchester since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
They are the hosts of Ukrainian residents who left their native country years ago. Now firmly settled in America, they are opening their homes, and our city, to the villagers they left behind.
“Here, I have friends, I have a church,” said Oleksandr Borysenko, who fled Ukraine in March. He initially settled in Poland, then arrived in Manchester in August.
He spoke in the east Manchester apartment where he, his wife and three young children live.
The four families from Yahotyn are not the only Ukrainians to find refuge in the Granite State. The International Institute of New England counts about 150 Ukrainians who have settled here this year.
They are officially labeled “humanitarian parolees” and did not arrive through the traditional refugee resettlement process, said Henry Harris, director of the Manchester office of the International Institute.
They gained admission because they have a sponsor, someone who will take responsibility for providing their necessities.
“Culturally, they’re pretty Westernized, so they adapt well,” Harris said. “They’re motivated to work. The first word they learn in English is ‘job.’”
Unlike traditional refugees who cluster in cities, the Ukrainians are spread throughout the state, he said.
Though he lacks a full-time job at this point, Borysenko is getting pretty good at the foremost American skill of networking.
The owner of the ODA Auto Precision repair shop in Auburn, a Ukrainian-American, allowed Borysenko to use his tools free of charge so he could prepare his family’s automobile for inspection.
A piano, which his wife Mariia plays, sits in the living room. It cost nothing; Borysenko found it on Facebook Marketplace.
And another local Ukrainian-American — plumber Oleksandr Dolzhanskiy — paid the first six months of the family’s $1,800-a-month apartment. Dolzhanskiy attended the same church as Mariia in Yahotyn.
“Every family, they try to bring somebody, to support somebody,” said Svetlana Chychka, Dolzhanskiy’s sister, who served as a translator for this interview.
A focal point for the family is the Slavic Baptist Church. The church leases space from the First Baptist Church at 536 Union St., where the Ukrainian flag started to fly shortly after the start of the war.
The Slavic church holds its weekly Sunday service at noon. After the service, the church opens a swap center where household goods, furniture, clothes and food are available, thanks to the generosity of First Baptist members, the Manchester Ukrainian community and other organizations.
If there is an advantage to having to flee your country, it is worldwide familiarity with your plight.
Chychka said she left Ukraine 20 years ago for religious reasons. When she told her story in Manchester, people guessed that Ukraine was in Africa or South America, she said.
Now, everyone knows about the war, said Mariia. “They usually say they’re sorry,” she said.
Borysenko said he left Ukraine because he had three children. The country allowed families with a minimum of three children to leave.
He said it was not safe. Yahotyn was about 25 miles from the frontlines early on in the invasion. Missiles would fly overhead on their way to Kyiv.
Borysenko expects to receive a work authorization card in the mail any day. He and Mariia have stayed busy so far — walking his children to and from school, English classes three days a week, his work on the car, keeping up with relatives in Ukraine.
As for Russia leader Vladimir Putin, he is the foremost terrorist in the world, Mariia said.
Is their future in Manchester? Borysenko, 37, wonders.
He thinks of his three children: a 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, who attend Weston School, and a 2-year-old son. An experienced truck driver, he thinks this could be a good place to start over.
“After the war, it will be difficult (in Ukraine). Everything will be destroyed,” he said, “no jobs, it won’t be safe for the children.”
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2022-12-12T03:36:47Z
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Mark Hayward's City Matters: Displaced by war, Ukrainians find a home in Manchester | City Matters | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/voices/city_matters/mark-haywards-city-matters-displaced-by-war-ukrainians-find-a-home-in-manchester/article_82e69a2d-b21b-5ae9-a8e6-a050f86b8b36.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/voices/city_matters/mark-haywards-city-matters-displaced-by-war-ukrainians-find-a-home-in-manchester/article_82e69a2d-b21b-5ae9-a8e6-a050f86b8b36.html
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I know the service industry does not pay well and never has, but if that's the case, is it the customer's fault? Is it the customer or the company they work for responsible for lower wages? Or should the employee look for a better paying job? It's hard to say, but I do know that it's not my job to insure someone else's income with overtipping, or tipping at all.
-- Heloise
Getting ready to make resolutions for the upcoming new year? Here's a few to consider:
Cat collars
-- Davis T., Palmyra, New Jersey
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2022-12-12T05:59:24Z
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Heloise: Tipping gets out of hand | Human Interest | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/human_interest/heloise-tipping-gets-out-of-hand/article_502ca886-ae72-535e-b443-dde96f031443.html
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Jayme Simões
NEW AND GROWING families have a lot on their plate in New Hampshire. Far too often working moms and women of color experience complications from pregnancy or delivery, and they are unable to get the care they need.
America has the highest maternal mortality in the industrial world. Hundreds of lives are claimed by this crisis every year, many of these are moms of color and moms in our rural communities, and that number has been increasing for the past 20 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports nearly two-thirds of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Black mothers are 3 to 4 times more likely to die a pregnancy-related death than white mothers. That’s not right.
Congress has the opportunity to tackle the crisis head on. The end of the year provides a real opportunity to improve the health of moms and children nationwide through bipartisan, affordable, and commonsense solutions. At the center of this work is the “Momnibus Act,” which would invest in addressing the social determinants of health contributing to maternal mortality, including by strengthening the perinatal workforce and providing health care workers with the tools and training necessary to confront discriminatory and biased practices. Additionally, Congress could guarantee 12-month of postpartum Medicaid coverage to new moms nationwide, which would help an estimated 720,000 additional people.
To further protect families, Congress should also pass broader measures to strengthen Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and to ensure mothers and children have the health care they need to thrive. This includes guaranteeing 12 months of coverage for kids on Medicaid and CHIP and permanently reauthorizing CHIP funding. As the COVID-19 public health emergency comes to a close, millions of people are at risk of losing coverage without careful intervention. Safeguarding these measures will help ensure children and their families do not lose their insurance because of paperwork or other preventable reasons. This is critical for maintaining insured levels, reducing churn, improving health, and reducing administrative burden for states.
Because the Medicaid and CHIP programs are important sources of insurance coverage for people of color, these measures are important tools to reduce racial inequities in care and save children and mother’s lives in our state.
Jayme H. Simões is chair of Protect Our Care NH and lives in Concord.
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2022-12-12T05:59:30Z
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Jayme H. Simões: Congress can help protect mothers | Op-eds | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/jayme-h-sim-es-congress-can-help-protect-mothers/article_85408c04-0bd8-5d96-b5be-b8b8ccc2e5d1.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/jayme-h-sim-es-congress-can-help-protect-mothers/article_85408c04-0bd8-5d96-b5be-b8b8ccc2e5d1.html
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The pair had summited Mt. Willard in Crawford Notch around 10:30 a.m. Saturday and were taking pictures of the views of the surrounding mountains when the woman heard her husband yell.
When she looked over, she told officials she saw her husband — whose name was not released as of Sunday — falling over the edge of the mountain, down a steep cliff that extended to the bottom approximately 800 feet, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said in a release.
Conservation officers and members of the Mountain Rescue Service (MRS) responded. MRS rescue personnel rappelled down the cliff and eventually found the man around 2:30 p.m.
Conservation officers said the man was found dead approximately 300 feet below the summit of Mt. Willard.
Rescue crews were able to remove the man from the face of the cliff and raise him back up to the summit. His body was carried off the mountain, arriving back at the Mt. Willard trailhead parking area around 6:45 p.m., officials said.
No other information was available Sunday.
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2022-12-12T14:28:33Z
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Hiker hears yell, turns to see husband fall to his death on Mt. Willard | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/hiker-hears-yell-turns-to-see-husband-fall-to-his-death-on-mt-willard/article_893a9c01-1b6b-5971-bf3b-95db60f7a05f.html
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HUDSON — A 50-year-old Lowell woman was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries following a rollover motor vehicle crash in Hudson on Saturday afternoon.
According to police, a preliminary investigation suggests Hubley was attempting a right-hand turn out of a business parking lot, at which point contact was made between her vehicle and Aguiar's 4Runner.
(c)2022 The Sun, Lowell, Mass.
Visit The Sun, Lowell, Mass. at https://www.lowellsun.com/
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2022-12-12T14:28:33Z
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Lowell woman hospitalized following rollover crash in Hudson | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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The man who died while hiking with wife on Mount Willard in Crawford Notch Saturday has been identified as a 53-year-old from New Hampshire.
Joseph Eggleston of Randolph fell off the summit of the mountain when the couple paused to take pictures, conservation officers said.
The pair had summited the mountain about 10:30 a.m. Saturday and were taking pictures of the views of the surrounding mountains when the woman heard her husband yell and saw him fall down a steep cliff that extended to the bottom about 800 feet, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said in a release.
The couple were frequent hikers and were well prepared for the trail and weather conditions, according to a news release Monday.
“They were equipped with the essential equipment to include traction devices on their boots for the frozen and icy trail,” the release reads.
Conservation officers said the man was found dead approximately 300 feet below the summit of Mount Willard.
Rescue crews were able to remove the man from the face of the cliff and raise him back up to the summit. His body was carried off the mountain, arriving back at the Mount Willard trailhead parking area around 6:45 p.m., officials said.
A man died while hiking with his wife in the White Mountains this weekend after falling off the summit of Mt. Willard when the couple paused t…
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2022-12-12T19:33:16Z
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Hiker who fell to his death identified as Randolph man | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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A picture of the crash in New Mexico, which killed two siblings and injured a third.
The car rolled over in the early morning hours, according to a news release.
Gina Rowena Weathers, along with her brother, Ojeike Keiko Whon, 47, of San Francisco, died in the crash. Another sibling, Geoanna Bluebird Bolduc, also from New Hampshire, was flown to University of New Mexico Trauma Center, in Albuquerque, for treatment of her injuries.
Investigators are still working to determine who was driving the vehicle. The crash remains under investigation.
High speed and no seatbelts are considered contributing factors in the two deaths, according to the release.
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2022-12-12T19:33:17Z
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One NH woman dead in New Mexico crash; another flown to the hospital | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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Majid Reza Rahnavard is shown in an image shared on Twitter. He was executed in Iran Monday over his anti-government protests.
Rahnavard was convicted of fatally stabbing two members of Iran's security forces with a knife on Nov. 17, according to Mizan, the official news site of the judiciary. The site published a photo of men in black ski masks at the execution site.
The protests that started after the death of 22-year old Mahsa Amini in mid-September in the custody of the "morality police" have become a broad-based movement uniting opponents of clerical rule across class and ethnic lines.
Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said on Monday that the E.U. will approve a new round of sanctions against Iran.
"Iran has to understand that the European Union will condemn strongly and will take any action we can in order to support Iranian women, to support peaceful demonstrators and, certainly, reject the death penalty," Borrell said.
A video from Rahnavard's gravesite shows a handful of women wailing and one says "May God curse you" to his executioners.
Rahnavard's family was not informed about his pending execution, according to 1500 Tasvir, an anti-government group that monitors the demonstrations. His mother visited him in prison recently and "She left smiling and hoping that her son would be released soon," the group wrote in an online post.
"The public execution of a young protester, 23 days after his arrest, is another serious crime committed by the Islamic Republic leaders and a significant escalation of the level of violence against protesters," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights. "Majidreza Rahnavard was sentenced to death based on coerced confessions, after a grossly unfair process and a show trial."
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2022-12-12T21:48:06Z
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Iran carries out public execution as a warning to protesters | | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/iran-carries-out-public-execution-as-a-warning-to-protesters/article_3df0372d-0dfc-5db8-a921-43139d6ada7f.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/iran-carries-out-public-execution-as-a-warning-to-protesters/article_3df0372d-0dfc-5db8-a921-43139d6ada7f.html
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Dr. James Squires
Dr. James Squires, founding president of the Endowment for Health and former state senator, and founder of New Hampshire’s first HMO, died Dec. 9 in Hollis. He was 85.
Squires grew up in New London, graduating from high school in 1955 prior to receiving a Congressional appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He left the Academy in 1957 and transferred to Williams College to pursue his dream of becoming a physician. He completed his medical degree at the McGill University Medical School.
In 1964, Squires entered the United States Air Force as a flight medical officer. Following his military service, he spent five years at the Tufts New England Medical Center and the Boston VA Hospital, which inspired him to start a nonprofit prepaid multi-specialty group practice.
After he and his wife, Jan, moved to Hollis in 1971, he founded the Matthew Thornton Health Plan, New Hampshire’s first HMO, which grew to service more than 60,000 individuals.
Squires was a general and vascular surgeon at the HMO as well as serving as president and CEO. He retired in 1996 and was elected to a seat in the New Hampshire Senate.
He launched an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2000, and in 2001 became the founding president of the Endowment for Health. During his tenure, the endowment distributed more than $33 million to community organizations throughout New Hampshire.
Squires also served as Hollis town moderator for 24 years, Hollis School District moderator for 19 years, and moderator for the Congregational Church of Hollis for decades. He was named Physician of the Year by the New Hampshire Hospital Association in 1994, Citizen of the Year in 2003 by the Nashua Chamber of Commerce, and the Pettee Medal Award by the University of New Hampshire in 2012.
The town of Hollis honored James and Jan Squires by naming a new community patio at the Congregational Church of Hollis after them.
Visiting hours will be held in the McGaffigan Family Funeral Home, 37 Main Street, (Rte. 113) Pepperell, Mass., from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday. A memorial service will be held at the Congregational Church of Hollis, 3 Monument Square, Hollis, at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Contributions in Squires' name can be made to the James W. Squires Social Justice Fund, c/o New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, 37 Pleasant St., Concord, NH, 03301.
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2022-12-12T21:48:24Z
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Dr. James Squires, founder of state's first HMO, dies at 85 | State | unionleader.com
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WASHINGTON -- The White House on Monday strongly condemned the claim from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, that she and former Trump aide Stephen K. Bannon would have executed a successful attack on Jan. 6, 2021, if they had organized the storming of the U.S. Capitol and that they would have "been armed."
"It goes against our fundamental values as a country for a Member of Congress to wish that the carnage of January 6th had been even worse, and to boast that she would have succeeded in an armed insurrection against the United States government," Bates said in a statement. "This violent rhetoric is a slap in the face to the Capitol Police, the DC Metropolitan Police, the National Guard, and the families who lost loved ones as a result of the attack on the Capitol.
Greene said Monday that her comment was a "sarcastic joke" about President Biden in a statement that mentioned Hollywood celebrities, drag queens and antifa.
Greene has regularly argued that participants in the Jan. 6 attack have been mistreated and she has indicated that she plans to investigate the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attacks when Republicans take the majority in January. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, who is hoping to become speaker in the next Congress, also has signaled that the GOP would investigate the panel.
McCarthy has pledged to award Greene committee assignments next year; the first-term lawmaker was stripped of them in February 2021 for articulating extremist views, including being an open adherent of the QAnon ideology, a web of false claims that played a role in inspiring the Capitol attack. She has also claimed that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by government forces and that a Jewish cabal sparked a deadly wildfire with a space beam.
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2022-12-12T21:48:37Z
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White House condemns Greene over claim she would have 'won' Jan. 6 insurrection | | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/white-house-condemns-greene-over-claim-she-would-have-won-jan-6-insurrection/article_f626119f-f0e1-50b4-8128-861b03b02364.html
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By Tom Matthews masslive.com
Just seconds later, after being warned by an officer to not start attacking people, Sargent again stepped forward and struck the same officer with an open hand and made contact with another individual.
In a social media message later, he wrote to another person, “I got two hits in on the same rookie cop,” officials said.
Sargent was arrested in Pittsfield on March 9, 2021. In court Monday, he was also ordered to complete two years of supervised release and to pay $500 restitution and a $285 special assessment.
Since the attack on the Capitol, roughly 900 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes connected with the breach of the Capitol, including over 280 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing, officials said.
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2022-12-12T23:54:20Z
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Pittsfield, Mass., man sentenced for assaulting police during Jan. 6 Capitol attack | Courts | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/pittsfield-mass-man-sentenced-for-assaulting-police-during-jan-6-capitol-attack/article_68ee52bb-df86-556f-a8b8-e1a64736d7cd.html
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Ross Moldoff, planning director in Salem, is set to retire on Dec. 30 after 39 years.
Provided by town of Salem
Ross Moldoff leaves Salem looking much different as he plans to retire at the end of the month after nearly four decades as planning director.
The 65-year-old helped the town review plans for a new grandstand at Rockingham Park horse track, the Mall at Rockingham Park, improvements to Canobie Lake Park and the development of Tuscan Village.
Other less flashy projects have included water and sewer improvements to support growth over his 39 years as department head.
“It was an exciting time in Salem’s history,” Moldoff said Monday afternoon. “I played a small part in reviewing the development plans.”
He came to Salem in 1983 after working for the Rockingham County Planning Commission.
“I really wanted to get to the local level,” he said. “I thought I would be able to make a difference at the local level.”
He liked getting into the nitty gritty of local plans. After 20 years, he often joked he might want to return to more regional planning.
“I like being able to make a difference, although I would say it is a relatively small difference,” Moldoff said. “I was able to work with so many different people and it was fun for me.”
Tuscan Village, at about 4 million square feet, is by far the largest project needing attention from the planning division. The development is at the site of Rockingham Park, which officially shuttered in 2016.
Joe Faro, developer of Tuscan Village, first met Moldoff in 2009 as he started to come up with concepts for the development. Moldoff had screensavers of village centers on his computer such as developments in Reston, Virginia, and Annapolis, Maryland, which include homes, shops, restaurants and entertainment.
“Ross is every bit as visionary as we are,” Faro said. “It has been a tremendous experience to visualize and conceptualize and ultimately execute the Tuscan Village.”
Faro said Moldoff had a huge impact on the project.
“He saw the vision for a mixed-use, downtown center even before I did,” he said. “Honest to God, if you didn’t have a planner as visionary as Ross, I don’t know if the Tuscan Village would have been a reality … Ross’ thumbprints are all over the Tuscan Village and we are super proud of that.”
Some of his contributions include architectural features and landscaping. Molfoff pushed for community parks and gathering spaces.
“If you think about everything in Salem that has happened under his guidance, Salem is a transformational gateway to New Hampshire,” Faro said.
Moldoff started at 26 years old with a construction boom going in town. He has seen growth ebb and flow over the years.
“We’ve gone through two or three of them at least,” he said of building booms. “Every decade it seems like there are boom and bust cycles in the economy and that affects the type of stuff I get to do.”
He has worked on three master plans and multiple other comprehensive plans.
“One I kind of wrote myself,” he said. “It was an update. We hired consultants for a couple of them.”
Master plans are often technical and require zoning amendments and changes to town regulations. Some of the work included amendments to wetland, sign, home occupation, affordable housing and accessory dwelling ordinances.
At one point, he oversaw the Conservation Commission, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustments.
“It was quite a workload,” he said.
Eventually, assistant planner Jacob LaFontaine was hired to help with the load. LaFontaine is set to succeed Moldoff.
“We’ve worked together for three years,” Moldoff said. “He’s ready now.”
Faro said construction of Tuscan Village is about 50% complete with its master plan being 85% complete.
“For a city planner, one of the most fun things you can do is help plan a city, that is what we are supposed to do,” he said. “Joe Faro is building a little city out there. It actually isn’t that little.”
Moldoff said he will miss working with small business owners and other town hall employees the most. His last day will be Dec. 30.
The biggest challenge over the years? Keeping up with everything.
“There was so much development,” Moldoff said.
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2022-12-13T01:51:48Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Salem's planning director called 'visionary' as he retires after 39 years | Business | unionleader.com
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SHOGO HANAMURA
A child abuse case in its fourth year inched toward a conclusion recently, when the girl’s mother pleaded guilty, avoided any jail time and agreed to testify about what role her husband played in the burn-related injuries to her 3-year-old girl.
The case has attracted attention because of the alleged abusers’ backgrounds, the interstate and international aspects of the case, an unrelated murder witnessed by the victim in the case, and a civil lawsuit filed against high-profile Boston hospitals and their physicians, who are likely prosecution witnesses.
The girl’s stepfather, Shogo Hanamura, 47, was a commercial airline pilot who flew for Mesa Airlines, a company that operates regional service for American Airlines.
Shogo Hanamura has filed civil suits against doctors, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Shriner’s Hospital in Boston, claiming they misdiagnosed the girl’s rare skin disease as child abuse.
The case grew more intriguing in 2020 when the victim, 5 1/2 years old at the time and living with her biological father in Florida, apparently witnessed the murder of one of her caregivers by another caregiver. The murder victim’s body was found in the trunk of a car abandoned in Tennessee, according to the Hanamura lawsuit.
“She was also allegedly abandoned after the murder, and found wandering alone outside without shoes or adequate clothing by (her father),” reads the lawsuit filed against Massachusetts General Hospital and the Shriner’s Hospital in Boston, which was filed in Suffolk County Superior Court last year.
The Hanamuras and Sara’s four children from a previous marriage were living in an Eagle Nest condominium in Manchester when a Hillsborough County grand jury brought indictments against them in 2019.
He was charged with first- and second-degree assault. The mother was charged with reckless conduct, witness tampering and child endangerment. She allegedly told her other children to not speak to authorities about “discipline in the house.”
“This was an important measure of accountability,” said the prosecutor in the case, Assistant Hillsborough County attorney Patrick Ives. “It’s not just individuals who hurt children, but also those who are in a position to help and don’t take necessary action and thus endanger their children.”
But in June, a judge revoked bail and ordered Shogo Hanamura, a Japanese citizen, jailed after learning he had applied for a passport at the Japanese consul. Hanamura’s bail conditions included surrendering his passport and Hanamura had tried three times unsuccessfully to convince a judge to return his passport.
Hanamura said he needed the passport to extend a work visa. He is scheduled to go on trial on the assault charges in late March. But that’s uncertain. He already has fired two teams of defense lawyers — Michael Iacopino and Jaye Rancourt; Robin Melone and Donna Brown — and is now represented by a Massachusetts-based defender. He would not comment for this article.
The two got into a fight over the girl’s care. One of the women murdered the other while the girl was present in the rental home and Wang was away.
“(The girl) was allegedly found during the course of the police missing persons investigation to be physically abused, eating dirt, and is believe to have possibly witnessed the murder,” the filing reads.
'Discipline in the house:' Mother, stepfather charged with burning 3-year-old
MANCHESTER — A former Manchester couple face felony charges after a 3-year-old girl was punished by having her hand plunged in liquid describe…
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2022-12-13T01:51:54Z
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Court records: Child suffered child abuse in Manchester, witnessed murder in Florida | Courts | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/court-records-child-suffered-child-abuse-in-manchester-witnessed-murder-in-florida/article_6b3b5b58-9ec3-5336-b600-631bc779caac.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/court-records-child-suffered-child-abuse-in-manchester-witnessed-murder-in-florida/article_6b3b5b58-9ec3-5336-b600-631bc779caac.html
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The home at 117 Arthur Ave. is almost completed at the North End by River Edge development in Manchester.
This home at 136 Arthur Ave. in the North End by River Edge development in Manchester is now framed out and ready for siding.
The home site at 85 Arthur Ave. is roped off and has a mailbox post at the North End by River Edge development in Manchester.
The home at 78 Arthur Ave. has a foundation now at the North End by River Edge development in Manchester.
North End homes
Home sales in New Hampshire plunged 31% in November compared to a year earlier, but prices remained strong.
“Interest rates are now taking their toll,” said Rachel Eames, owner and broker at RE/MAX Capital Realty in Concord and RE/MAX Coastal Living in Newmarket.
A 20% drop in new home listings also is hurting sales, she said Monday.
“We’ve definitely peaked,” Eames said, adding prices “might settle a little bit more,” but “it’s certainly not going to become a buyers’ market.”
The 1,095 home sales finalized last month were almost 500 fewer than a year earlier.
November’s median sales price, however, rose by nearly $34,000 over a year’s time to $435,000. That also was higher than October’s price, according to figures from the New Hampshire Realtors.
“The affordability index has dropped considerably, but there’s still a lot of people with money out there,” said Greg Powers, with Keller Williams Realty Metropolitan in Bedford.
There were 312 more homes for sale in November than a year earlier, including sellers who remain wishful.
“Sellers haven’t gotten the word that it’s a more buyer-friendly market,” Powers said.
“Again, it’s not a buyers’ market. Sellers who are still pricing it as if it was March, April and May (when prices were higher) may be part of the reason houses are sitting on the market a little longer.”
Sellers got 99.9% of asking price in November, compared to 101.6% in November 2021.
Interest rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.58% across the country on Nov. 23. That’s more than double a year earlier, when the rate was 3.10%, according to Freddie Mac, a company that buys mortgages and repackages them to investors.
Not all communities were created equal.
Manchester had 39% fewer homes sold last month than in November 2021, worse than Concord (37%), Keene (32%) and Nashua (20%). All, however, saw price growth from 2021.
Lebanon had 33% fewer homes sold in November but at a median price that was 30% higher than a year earlier. Salem saw sales drop 55%, but the median price rose nearly 17%.
Derry, meanwhile, had a 41% decrease in sales and a 2.4% drop in its median price. Londonderry also saw a downturn in sales (off 30%) and in its median price (3.7%).
Rye, meanwhile, had nine closed sales in November vs. four in November 2021. The median price last month was $1.9 million.
Seabrook sold two homes in each of the past two Novembers, but they went for much more money last month. The median price was up nearly 600%, to $3.475 million.
“Houses are staying on the market a little bit longer but not forever,” Powers said.
Eames said homes were not getting as many multiple offers as earlier in the pandemic, but the ones she sold have gone for the asking price or above recently.
“Everything I put on the market I have sold,” Eames said. “It has been our most remarkable year ever in 28 years.”
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2022-12-13T01:52:10Z
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Home sales plunge 31% in November, but prices remain firm | Homes & Garden | unionleader.com
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Danny Richman and Ben Whittle can be seen at Danny’s home in Hemel Hempstead, a town north of London. Richman used the AI tool GPT-3 to build a tool Whittle, who has dyslexia, can use to send clients more professional messages.
the washington post/James Forde
By Drew Harwell, Nitasha Tiku
and Will Oremus The Washington Post
He hooked up the AI to Whittle’s email account.
Now, when Whittle dashes off a message, the AI instantly reworks the grammar, deploys all the right niceties and transforms it into a response that is unfailingly professional and polite.
Whittle now uses the AI for every work message he sends, and he credits it with helping his company, Ashridge Pools, land its first major contract, worth roughly $260,000.
He has excitedly shown off his futuristic new colleague to his wife, his mother and his friends — but not to his clients, because he is not sure how they will react to it.
Now, with the explosion of text-generating systems like GPT-3 and a newer version released last week, ChatGPT, the idea is closer than ever to reality.
For people like Whittle, uncertain of the written word, the AI is already fueling new possibilities about a technology that could one day reshape lives.
It “can tell you if it doesn’t understand a question and needs to follow up, or it can admit when it’s making a mistake, or it can challenge your premises if it finds it’s incorrect,” said Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer. “Essentially it’s learning like a kid. . . . You get something wrong, you don’t get rewarded for it. If you get something right, you get rewarded for it. So you get attuned to do more of the right thing.”
The tool has captivated the internet, attracting more than a million users with writing that can seem surprisingly creative.
In viral social media posts, ChatGPT has been shown describing complex physics concepts, completing history homework and crafting stylish poetry. In one example, a man asked for the right words to comfort an insecure girlfriend. “I’m here for you and will always support you,” the AI replied.
“I had a bit of a strange feeling” sending it, he told The Washington Post, “but on the other hand feel happy. . . . This thing really improved my life.”
“There’s a large reward for having a flashy new application, people get excited about it . . . but the companies working on this haven’t dedicated enough energy to the problems,” he said. “It really requires a rethinking of the architecture. [The AI] has to have the right underlying representations. You don’t want something that’s biased to have this superficial layer covering up the biased things it actually believes.”
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2022-12-13T01:52:41Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Stumbling with their words, some people let AI do the talking | | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/stumbling-with-their-words-some-people-let-ai-do-the-talking/article_d853588f-c30b-5c69-9fa9-d045c5c0b385.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/stumbling-with-their-words-some-people-let-ai-do-the-talking/article_d853588f-c30b-5c69-9fa9-d045c5c0b385.html
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According to McShane, a tractor-trailer unit traveling southbound on the Spaulding Turnpike crossed into northbound traffic, colliding with a 2022 Acura and a 2016 Honda Accord.
An additional vehicle collided with the guardrail in an attempt to avoid a collision with the tractor-trailer, state police said.
The operator of the tractor-trailer was identified by state police as Pedro Ivan Ortiz Andino, 29, of Fitchburg, Mass. The identities of the other individuals involved were not released as of late Monday.
The operator of the Acura sustained fatal injuries, and the operator of the Honda Accord sustained minor injuries, state police said.
One occupant from a separate vehicle was transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, McShane said. Andino was transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Spaulding Turnpike northbound is expected to remain closed for several hours Monday evening as the New Hampshire State Police Accident Reconstruction Team investigates the accident.
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2022-12-13T03:44:56Z
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www.unionleader.com
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One dead in Spaulding Turnpike multi-vehicle crash | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/one-dead-in-spaulding-turnpike-multi-vehicle-crash/article_557d9f47-630a-5fc6-94d4-4a3bd8985d70.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/one-dead-in-spaulding-turnpike-multi-vehicle-crash/article_557d9f47-630a-5fc6-94d4-4a3bd8985d70.html
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Another charged as accessory after the fact in Vineyard robbery
By Kiernan Dunlop masslive.com
Surveillance video from the Steamship Authority Terminal in Vineyard Haven allegedly shows Clayton parking a silver sedan in the lot near the ferry terminal less than 40 minutes after the robbery, buying tickets for and then leaving on the 9:21 a.m. ferry.
A little over half an hour after Clayton left on the ferry, the video allegedly shows one of the men charged with the robbery, Miquel Antonio Jones, get into the driver’s seat of the sedan Clayton left behind.
Jones then allegedly purchased a vehicle ferry ticket for the sedan and drove it onto a freight ferry that left at 12:24 p.m.
Jones, 39, of Edgartown, and Omar Odion Johnson, 32, of New Hampshire, were charged with one count each of armed bank robbery, Rollins’ office announced on Dec. 2. Both men are in state custody and have pleaded not guilty to other allegations in a local court in Edgartown.
Federal court documents say three masked robbers forced their way into the rear door of the bank as three employees were entering the building to open it for the day.
The assailants were armed with semi-automatic handguns and dressed in dark-colored clothing and masks that resembled an elderly man with “exaggerated facial features,” prosecutors said.
Once inside, investigators said one of the robbers held a gun to the head of the bank manager and “forced him to open and access the working vault that was located on the ground level of the bank.”
“As the manager was opening the vault, the robbers kept a gun pointed in his face,” court documents said.
The bank robbers stole about $39,100. Rollins’ office said, and bound the employees with duct tape and plastic restraints before leaving the building. The assailants also searched the employees’ personal belongings and demanded access to their vehicles, authorities said.
The bank robbers then allegedly took an employee’s vehicle, a black Nissan Murano, and used it to flee.
The Nissan was found abandoned in the parking lot of the Manuel Correllus State Forest about 2.3 miles from the bank, according to prosecutors.
Surveillance footage recorded by a passing public bus showed the car in the parking lot while a “blue or black sedan” with missing a hub cap left the parking lot, investigators said. Police later found duct tape and pieces of “green shrub-like vegetation” located in the employee’s vehicle, according to court documents.
A police officer saw the car with the missing hub cap in the Steamship Authority Terminal the day after the robbery, the same lot where Clayton allegedly left the silver sedan that Jones later took onto a freight ferry.
Jones and Johnson were arrested on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25, respectively, following an investigation.
Clayton faces up to 150 months in prison, five years of supervised release and a fined of $250,000 on his charge of being an accessory after the fact to armed bank robbery.
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2022-12-13T05:33:41Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Another charged as accessory after the fact in Vineyard robbery | Crime | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/another-charged-as-accessory-after-the-fact-in-vineyard-robbery/article_4a053d39-1df0-59b7-b5d7-1333e85da600.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/another-charged-as-accessory-after-the-fact-in-vineyard-robbery/article_4a053d39-1df0-59b7-b5d7-1333e85da600.html
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Make public schools compete
A simple solution would be to make public schools so appealing to parents, students and taxpayers that there would be no interest in sending a student anywhere but public school.
Without interest in their product, and if they couldn’t possibly compete with public schools, charter and private schools would close and the problem would be solved. Simple, right?
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2022-12-13T05:34:06Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Letter: Make public schools compete | Letters to the Editor | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-make-public-schools-compete/article_e192661c-92b6-56dc-b9e2-7ae2a0429302.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-make-public-schools-compete/article_e192661c-92b6-56dc-b9e2-7ae2a0429302.html
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Brendan Williams
We may be past the poorhouses of Dickens’ time, but we still fall short in assisting “the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly” that Scrooge was unwilling to help until visited by Christmas spirits.
I cannot conjure any spirits. I can say there are thousands of Granite Staters who are poor, suffer infirmity requiring Medicaid long-term care, and yet struggle to find that care.
Our county-run nursing homes are remnants of a poor farm system. Hillsborough County’s poor farm was established in 1849, six years after publication of “A Christmas Carol.” You can still find town poor farm graves in Weare, for example; graves unmarked by names. The 710 Hillsborough County poor farm graves are also anonymous.
Anonymity persists in the plight of our most vulnerable citizens. Nationally, nursing and residential care facilities have 310,000 fewer workers than in March 2020, despite significant wage increases. Due to the impossibility of finding staff, individual New Hampshire facilities have wait lists of more than 100 people. In contrast to outright facility closures, those stuck in this purgatory don’t capture our attention.
Far too many New Hampshire residents ready to get out of hospitals will spend Christmas being “boarded” by hospitals, as responsible nursing homes will not take in those whose care they cannot adequately serve.
Furthermore, our home and community-based care system is already burdened enough, as advocate Doug McNutt recently described on this page, without it being unable to send to nursing homes those who will get sicker and need hospitalization without that care level. The entire care system is interdependent, and crises in one sector amplify the crises of another. That is why recommendations in a summer report from the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute were so welcome, including using “flexible federal funds and other resources to establish and support initiatives to grow and develop the workforce for nursing facilities and home and community-based services.”
Absent this sort of holistic perspective, we risk engaging in social Darwinism, where the needs of vulnerable populations are pitted against one another. As those in facilities are often out-of-sight, out-of-mind — too frail to, say, rally in Concord — the consequences could be tragic for our nursing home residents, perhaps the nation’s oldest.
The future is going to present a need for all long-term care settings, as well as enormous challenges. In just eight years any remaining members of the “baby boom” generation will have turned 65. Yet as our society ages we had the slowest population growth rate in U.S. history in 2021, and the politicization of immigration reform, particularly, suggests this trend will continue.
Who, then, will take care of our elderly? We lack an abundance of younger residents who might enter long-term care work. New Hampshire saw a 10.6% drop in its under-18 population between 2010 and 2020. As of last school year, there were almost 2,000 fewer public high school seniors here than a decade prior. Yet nationally 21% of nursing assistants in nursing homes are between ages 16-24. As of the last data, New Hampshire has the nation’s 5th-worst staffing shortfall.
As so many other states have done through very sizable assistance, our next state budget affords an opportunity to make caregiving more attractive, for our state is, blessedly, in a period where, to quote the Dickens’ character, “Abundance rejoices.”
Brendan Williams is the president and CEO of the New Hampshire Health Care Association. He lives in Somersworth.
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2022-12-13T05:34:24Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Brendan W. Williams: 'When want is keenly felt, and abundance rejoices' | Op-eds | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/brendan-w-williams-when-want-is-keenly-felt-and-abundance-rejoices/article_d08e24e3-c49f-5ff4-a9f2-c21e0335293d.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/brendan-w-williams-when-want-is-keenly-felt-and-abundance-rejoices/article_d08e24e3-c49f-5ff4-a9f2-c21e0335293d.html
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18-year-old tubing with friends dies after she hits chairlift tower, Utah resort says
An 18-year-old woman died while snow tubing after she struck a chairlift tower at a Utah ski resort, the resort said.
The woman was tubing with her friends around 9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10, at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, the resort said.
Her friends called 911 after she collided into the Silver Strike Express chairlift tower, the resort said.
They brought her to the base of the chairlift where firefighters then took her to an “offsite location” before she was airlifted to the University of Utah’s Trauma Center.
She died from her injuries, the resort said.
“Our hearts and thoughts are with the guest’s family and friends during this extremely difficult time,” the resort said. “Thank you to our local emergency responders for their medical care and assistance.”
Deer Valley Resort also offers skiing and snowmobiling.
Park City is about 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.
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2022-12-13T09:54:44Z
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www.unionleader.com
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18-year-old tubing with friends dies after she hits chairlift tower, Utah resort says | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/18-year-old-tubing-with-friends-dies-after-she-hits-chairlift-tower-utah-resort-says/article_0d7d6359-926b-535a-b7c7-768be496f274.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/18-year-old-tubing-with-friends-dies-after-she-hits-chairlift-tower-utah-resort-says/article_0d7d6359-926b-535a-b7c7-768be496f274.html
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By Gerrit De Vynck and Steven Zeitchik The Washington Post
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested Monday in the Bahamas after U.S. prosecutors filed an indictment against him, a major development in the ongoing saga that has rocked the cryptocurrency world.
Police arrested Bankman-Fried "without incident" just after 6 p.m. at his apartment complex in Nassau, Bahamas, according to a statement from the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He will appear in Bahamian court Tuesday.
The arrest marks a major step in the investigations into Bankman-Fried and FTX. The founder and his company have been under intense scrutiny since November, when, over a period of several days he first sought a bailout from a competing exchange and then filed for bankruptcy after FTX was unable to honor customers' withdrawal requests.
The company owes its creditors at least $3 billion, according to bankruptcy filings, and investigators have sought answers on whether it used customer funds to lend money to Bankman-Fried's investment arm, Alameda Research.
The arrest came at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time."
On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission is set to charge Bankman-Fried with violating securities law, Gurbir Grewal, the agency's enforcement chief, said in a tweet.
Bankman-Fried was slated to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who heads the committee, said in a statement the arrest will stop that from happening.
"The public has been waiting eagerly to get these answers under oath before Congress, and the timing of this arrest denies the public this opportunity," Waters said. "Although Mr. Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that've harmed over one million people, and wiped out the hard-earned life savings of so many."
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), a member of the House panel, tweeted Monday night that his committee was "ready to grill" Bankman-Fried "six ways to Sunday." Zeldin still wanted that opportunity: "Why not allow him to 1st testify tomorrow and answer our many questions?" he wrote on Twitter.
The Bahamas and the United States have an extradition treaty agreeing to hand over people who have been charged with crimes that are illegal in both countries, but it's unclear how long it might be before Bankman-Fried is turned over to U.S. authorities.
At least one legal expert does not expect a long waiting period.
"The Bahamas may be a place people go to get shelter and try to avoid getting dragged back to their home country," said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. "But the Southern District of New York is the gold standard, and if they're on this, I think it's unlikely the Bahamas can get one past them for too long."
A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried declined to comment. Spokespeople for the prime minister of the Bahamas, the attorney general of the Bahamas and the House Financial Services Committee did not respond to requests for comment.
Bankman-Fried has spent the past few weeks in his Bahamas estate, giving numerous interviews to reporters and making dozens of social media posts trying to explain how his company went from being one of the biggest and most-respected crypto exchanges to filing for bankruptcy.
"Look, I screwed up. I was the CEO of FTX. I say this again and again. That means I had a responsibility. We messed up big," he said in a live-streamed interview with the New York Times last month. Bankman-Fried's lawyers had discouraged him from appearing, he said.
The chief executive brought in to handle the restructuring, John J. Ray, has described a chaotic environment at FTX with "a complete absence of trustworthy financial information." In prepared remarks for the congressional testimony, Ray said his initial investigation of the company showed "gross mismanagement, excessive leverage" and "failures of internal controls."
The unraveling of FTX comes as the overall crypto market is floundering, and the situation has increased scrutiny of the entire industry.
Crypto assets have lost huge amounts of their value over the past year, as the potential for a recession, higher interest rates and high-profile collapses of crypto companies prompt people to withdraw the money they invested during the crypto bull market.
Bitcoin and ethereum, the two most popular crypto currencies, are both down around 65 percent for the year.
Bankman-Fried's arrest is made more pointed by his longtime reputation as a savior of troubled crypto companies. When firms began collapsing in the spring and early summer, FTX would often spring to their rescue, offering bailout money to companies like digital brokerage Voyager and crypto lender BlockFi. "We take our duty seriously to protect the digital asset ecosystem and its customers," Bankman-Fried tweeted at the time.
Now, those companies are in trouble, too. Voyager wound up declaring bankruptcy in July but FTX won a bid to buy its assets for $1.4 billion several months later. In the wake of the FTX bankruptcy, that deal was called off. BlockFi filed for bankruptcy in late November after it no longer had access to the credit FTX had extended.
Bankman-Fried founded FTX in 2019 as an exchange that made money by facilitating trades of cryptocurrencies and taking transaction fees. As the crypto boom unfolded and prices for bitcoin, ethereum and dozens of smaller tokens and coins exploded, the company grew to a valuation of $32 billion and received funding from major investors such as venture capital firm Sequoia and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.
As Bankman-Fried, who owned the majority of FTX, saw his own net worth balloon, he amassed political influence as well. He was the second-largest Democratic donor in the 2022 midterm elections. Before FTX's collapse, Bankman-Fried frequented Capitol Hill, urging lawmakers to regulate the crypto industry. This put him at odds with other crypto industry leaders who oppose government intervention.
He was also a major proponent of effective altruism and longtermism - philanthropic ideologies that emphasize efficiently using money to help others and considering the impact of philanthropic projects on the lives of future humans who aren't born yet. He also poured millions into pandemic prevention initiatives.
Many of the charities and organizations that had taken money from him were left in the cold after his company collapsed and his fortune evaporated.
The Washington Post's Tory Newmyer contributed to this report.
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2022-12-13T12:18:25Z
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Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas on U.S. request | Crime | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/sam-bankman-fried-arrested-in-bahamas-on-u-s-request/article_c689a41b-dcd5-5695-8945-64bcf00072a1.html
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By Amy Gardner The Washington Post
Special counsel Jack Smith has sent grand jury subpoenas to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and to authorities in Clark County, Nev., bringing to six the number of 2020 battleground states where state or local election officials are known to have received such requests for any and all communications with Trump, his campaign, and a long list of aides and allies.
State and local officials in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have received similar subpoenas - all of them, like Georgia and Nevada, central to President Donald Trump's failed plan to stay in power after the 2020 election.
"I can confirm that my office was served a subpoena in connection with the special counsel's investigation this morning," said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) last week. "The Department of Justice has asked that we not disclose the contents of the subpoena to prevent harming the investigation, and we will honor that request."
Authorities in Nevada's Clark County - home to Las Vegas - on Monday acknowledged receiving a subpoena dated Nov. 22 that was addressed to the "Custodian of Records" in the county's elections division.
Raffensperger (R) shot to prominence following a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with Trump in which the president urged him to "find" enough votes to reverse his defeat in Georgia.
Previous subpoenas, in Arizona and other battleground states targeted by Trump, have been issued to key Republican players seen as allies in his pressure campaign to reverse the results of the 2020 election. Maricopa County, the sprawling Arizona jurisdiction that is home to Phoenix and more than half the state's voters, was among several localities on the receiving end of that pressure.
The requested communications include those with Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and other advisers, such as Boris Epshteyn. Attorneys identified include Trump campaign lawyers Justin Clark and Matthew Morgan, as well as those serving in other capacities, such as John Eastman, Rudolph Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Cleta Mitchell.
The Washington Post's Yvonne Wingett Sanchez in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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2022-12-13T12:18:25Z
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Special counsel sends Trump subpoena to Georgia secretary of state Raffensperger | National | unionleader.com
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) receive a briefing under the Eagle Pass International Bridge from Texas to Mexico during a tour of the border on April 25.
Tear gas is released into a crowd of protesters, with one wielding a Confederate battle flag that reads “Come and Take It,” during clashes with Capitol police on Jan. 6, 2021.
reuters file/Shannon Stapleton
WASHINGTON - The White House on Monday strongly condemned the claim from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that she and former Trump aide Stephen K. Bannon would have executed a successful attack on Jan. 6, 2021, if they had organized the storming of the U.S. Capitol and that they would have "been armed."
"This violent rhetoric is a slap in the face to the Capitol Police, the DC Metropolitan Police, the National Guard, and the families who lost loved ones as a result of the attack on the Capitol," Bates said in a statement.
Underscoring the criticism, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily briefing Monday afternoon that "it is just antithetical to our values as a country for a member of Congress to wish that the carnage of January 6 had been even worse and brag that they would have succeeded in an armed insurrection against the United States government." Jean-Pierre added: "This is someone who is expected to have their committee positions restored. So we should let that sink in."
Greene said Monday that her comment was a "sarcastic joke" about President Joe Biden in a statement that mentioned Hollywood celebrities, drag queens and antifa.
Greene has regularly argued that participants in the Jan. 6 attack have been mistreated, and she has indicated that she plans to investigate the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attacks when Republicans take the majority in January. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is hoping to become speaker in the next Congress, also has signaled that the GOP would investigate the panel.
The insurrection, the worst attack on the seat of U.S. democracy in more than two centuries, left four people dead, and police officer Brian Sicknick, who had been sprayed with a powerful chemical irritant, had two strokes and died the next day. About 140 members of law enforcement were injured as rioters attacked them with flagpoles, baseball bats, stun guns, bear spray and pepper spray.
McCarthy has pledged to award Greene committee assignments next year; the first-term lawmaker was stripped of them in February 2021 for articulating extremist views, including being an open adherent of the QAnon ideology, a web of false claims that played a role in inspiring the Capitol attack. She has also claimed that the 9/11 terror attacks were orchestrated by government forces and that a Jewish cabal sparked a deadly wildfire with a space beam.
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2022-12-13T12:18:28Z
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www.unionleader.com
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White House condemns Greene over claim she would have 'won' Jan. 6 insurrection | National | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/national/white-house-condemns-greene-over-claim-she-would-have-won-jan-6-insurrection/article_64a12282-b5a5-5338-bb06-38e5948cedc7.html
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By Gerry Shih The Washington Post
NEW DELHI - Indian and Chinese troops have clashed in recent days, resulting in injuries, the Indian army said Monday, marking the most serious incident along their contested mountainous border since soldiers from the two giant nations were killed and captured in June 2020.
On Dec. 9, People's Liberation Army soldiers approached the notional border in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, a state in far northeastern India claimed by China, leading to a faceoff and "minor injuries to few personnel from both sides," the Indian army said in a statement. The statement added that both sides quickly withdrew from the area and local commanders met to discuss the dispute.
Appearing before the Indian parliament Tuesday, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh accused Chinese troops of crossing into Indian territory and "disrupting the status quo unilaterally." Singh said the two sides were engaged in hand-to-hand combat and no Indians were killed or seriously wounded. He did not give details about what had happened or how many soldiers were involved in the confrontation.
When asked about India's allegations on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters that he had no details. He said that, in general, the border situation was "stable."
"The two sides have always maintained smooth communication on border-related issues through diplomatic and military channels," Wang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.
In recent years, soldiers from both sides have patrolled up to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which serves as a notional border. Under a 1996 bilateral agreement, border troops are prohibited from using firearms within 2 kilometers (just over a mile) of the line.
In some parts of the border, the LAC and its patrol points are under dispute and encamped Indian and Chinese soldiers are locked in a standoff. In other stretches, such as Arunachal, it is loosely defined and opposing soldiers often come into contact.
In May 2020, the two sides began tussling over Indian road construction on a barren plateau in Ladakh, at the far northern tip of India. That June, 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese died in a bloody brawl in Ladakh's Galwan River valley. Soldiers bashed each other using stones, makeshift clubs and other weapons short of firearms - and hurled each other off cliffs, according to media reports in both countries. That September, gunshots were fired for the first time in decades.
Friday's clash involved hundreds of soldiers, with some using primitive weapons reminiscent of the deadly 2020 brawl, according to Indian media reports. It's not clear whether the flare-up will seriously derail ongoing talks to lower border tensions.
Since 2020, corps commanders from the two militaries have met 16 times to negotiate a pullback from the LAC in Ladakh. The talks led to troop withdrawals in September from several patrol points where they have been encamped - a development that has been hailed as marking a possible turnabout in India-China relations, currently at their lowest point in decades.
But there is "no significant reduction" in Chinese troop levels in Ladakh, Indian army chief Manoj Pande said in November. He called the border situation "stable but unpredictable."
Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh has seen less of a military buildup but remains tense. Opposition politicians and even local leaders from India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have warned about steady Chinese encroachment on their territory and a buildup of infrastructure and settlements near the border, which have all gone uncontested by New Delhi.
China, for its part, has complained about India's growing closeness with the United States, including in the realm of military cooperation. This month, the U.S. Army's 11th Airborne Division with their Indian counterparts took part in exercises known as Yudh Abhyas. The exercises are scheduled annually but were seen as symbolically significant this year because they took place 65 miles from the Chinese border and focused on mountain warfare and disaster relief operations.
The exercises with U.S. troops "violate the spirit" of border agreements between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last month. "It is not conducive to mutual trust between China and India."
In its annual China Military Power Report published on Nov. 29, the Pentagon said Chinese officials "have warned U.S. officials to not interfere with [China's] relationship with India."
The Washington Post's Shams Irfan contributed to this report.
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2022-12-13T12:18:29Z
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India says soldiers wounded in latest high-altitude clash with Chinese | World | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/world/india-says-soldiers-wounded-in-latest-high-altitude-clash-with-chinese/article_c6927ea3-6d4c-5999-a367-1f23cabd5fe8.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/world/india-says-soldiers-wounded-in-latest-high-altitude-clash-with-chinese/article_c6927ea3-6d4c-5999-a367-1f23cabd5fe8.html
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Members of the Oath Keepers are seen among supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol during a protest against the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021.
Jim Bourg/Reuters
By Spencer S. Hsu and Rachel Weiner The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - U.S. prosecutors on Monday tied four more members of the Oath Keepers to leader Stewart Rhodes, beginning a second seditious conspiracy trial of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by telling jurors that each was in direct contact with Rhodes and his calls for an armed "civil war" to keep Donald Trump in power.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Edwards said in opening statements that on Jan. 6, the defendants accepted Rhodes's "invitation to sedition" and "perverted the constitutional order" by trying "to stop the peaceful transfer of power by force for the first time in our country's history."
"They were willing to use force and violence to impose their view of law and order and their view of constitutional order on the rest of the country," Edwards told a jury in federal court in Washington.
Edwards said the defendants - Roberto Minuta, 37; Joseph B. Hackett, 52; David Moerschel, 44; and Edward Vallejo, 64 - said they were at war with the U.S. government and "energized" rioters after preparing for "their revolutionary war."
Attorneys for defendants criticized the Justice Department for a "rush to judgment." The attorneys said prosecutors had cherry-picked "bombastic" fragments of conversations over months and lumped defendants who barely knew each other, if at all, in a grossly oversimplified, "incomplete and warped" story.
"These people had Twitter fingers, not trigger fingers," said Moerschel attorney Scott Weinberg, ridiculing the government's depiction of defendants as armed militants threatening democracy and paraphrasing rap artist Drake.
Weinberg said the Oath Keepers was headed by an "incompetent" and manipulative "right-wing televangelist" in Rhodes, who lives off members' $50 dues and sought "to ride in Trump's wake to get as much publicity as he could."
"This was not some highly organized group. It was really a bunch of people that were out of shape, overweight, elderly and who wanted to play military," Weinberg said.
Hackett attorney Angela Halim agreed. She asked her client to stand for the jury - a chiropractor from Sarasota, Fla., who wore a tie, V-neck sweater and glasses perched atop his forehead.
"The government has been in overdrive manipulating evidence to show there was a shared goal, a unity of purpose, a meeting of the minds of all these people from all over the country. There was not."
All four men are accused like Rhodes of stockpiling an arsenal of firearms in nearby Virginia, converging on the Capitol in military-style gear, and conspiring to oppose by force the swearing-in of President Joe Biden. They are also charged with conspiring to impede lawmakers and obstructing Congress's confirmation of the 2020 election results.
The seditious conspiracy trial is the second of three from the Capitol siege to unfold blocks from the rioting. On Nov. 29, a jury convicted Rhodes and Florida Oath Keepers "state lead" Kelly Meggs of plotting to oppose federal authority by force after a two-month trial. Three additional co-defendants were convicted of other felony charges similarly punishable by up to 20 years in prison. A third trial will begin jury selection next week with former Proud Boys chairman Henry "Enrique" Tarrio and other leaders of his far-right group facing similar charges.
On one hand, a federal jury of D.C. residents has already endorsed the government's case: Rhodes drew and a top deputy led followers in combat-style gear to the Capitol ready to take up arms against U.S. authorities and attack a "bedrock of democracy," the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
Meanwhile, defense attorneys on Monday repeated Rhodes's and co-conspirators' claims at the earlier trial that there was no plan to attack the Capitol, no plan to attack the electoral college process.
"And there certainly was no plan to oppose the authority of the U.S. government by force," Halim said.
Instead, they argued that errors and gaps in the purported U.S. timeline of events corroborate Rhodes's testimony that Oath Keepers who breached the Capitol did so spontaneously and were concerned with opposing Biden in office, not preventing his inauguration.
Prosecutors say Hackett and Moerschel are among Florida Oath Keepers who began joining Rhodes as early as Nov. 9, 2020, to start planning to oppose Biden's inauguration. They eventually traveled to D.C. and entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 - led by Meggs in a military-style, single-file formation after staging firearms for a "Quick Reaction Force" at their hotel just outside Washington, prosecutors allege.
According to the indictment, Minuta - a New Jersey tattoo parlor owner - coordinated with Rhodes. Minuta also helped lead a second group of Oath Keepers while equipped with ballistic goggles, hard knuckle tactical gloves, a radio and bear spray, before entering and angrily confronting police in the Capitol Rotunda, prosecutors allege. Members of both groups spent the morning guarding Trump confidant Roger Stone and a relative of "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander, both sides said.
Minuta is also accused of being on an Oath Keepers leadership chat group Rhodes messaged on Dec. 12, 2020. Rhodes allegedly wrote that if Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act to call out private militia to stay in power, "then we will have to fight against an illegitimate Biden regime. It will be a bloody and desperate fight. We are going to have a fight. That can't be avoided."
Vallejo, who like Rhodes did not enter the building, stayed at the Ballston Comfort Inn in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 6 where he allegedly oversaw the weapons and ammunition and awaited orders to bring them to Washington, the government alleges. That morning, Vallejo on a podcast predicted "guerrilla war" if Congress rejected Trump's demands. That afternoon, he messaged Rhodes as Oath Keepers breached the building, Edward told jurors, "QRF standing by at hotel. Just say the word."
In addition to the three main conspiracy counts and obstructing Congress, Hackett and Moerschel are charged with damaging the Capitol's East Rotunda doors through which they allegedly entered. They and Minuta are also accused of deleting evidence.
Rhodes's defense said he and co-defendants came to Washington as bodyguards and peacekeepers, bringing firearms only in case Trump met their demand to mobilize private militia to stop Biden from becoming president. While defendants may have engaged in "horribly headed rhetoric and bombast," their venting was constitutionally protected speech and not an illegal conspiracy to violently oppose the government.
For example, Vallejo attorney Matthew Peed noted his client drove to D.C. from Arizona hauling 200 pounds of food, expecting to join others at a campground for an "Occupy Wall Street" protest.
Peed told jurors that far from menacing, members of the Oath Keepers group in general and his client in particular were somewhat hapless - one wound up avoiding charges because he needed to use a restroom when the others moved up the Capitol steps. Vallejo did not go to the Capitol because he lost his truck downtown on Jan. 5.
"The man who was supposed to be a threat to democracy . . . lost his truck," Peed said.
"We all want justice for that day. We want the law to be respected. We want the vindication of the American tradition," Peed said. But "each individual at the table behind me charged in their case has a different set of circumstances. In many ways, the only thing uniting them is the government's theory and the desire to try them together."
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2022-12-13T14:29:01Z
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www.unionleader.com
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In 2nd Oath Keepers sedition trial, U.S. ties 4 more to Stewart Rhodes | Courts | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/in-2nd-oath-keepers-sedition-trial-u-s-ties-4-more-to-stewart-rhodes/article_fe3982e6-90a5-5261-a930-0b368c0a92c4.html
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By Praveena Somasundaram The Washington Post
Last Sunday, police in a Minneapolis suburb brought a sick bald eagle they'd found lying in the snow near a landfill to the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center.
The eagle was barely moving when it was picked up, which is abnormal behavior for the revered birds - and a sign of poisoning from pentobarbital, a chemical used to euthanize animals.
At first, the case seemed typical to the Raptor Center staff, who help care for thousands of birds - from eagles and hawks to owls and vultures - each year. They'd even seen a few cases of pentobarbital poisoning before.
"That set off alarms for us, especially because there was a landfill nearby, which can often be the culprit for how these birds get exposed," said veterinarian Victoria Hall, executive director of the center.
Under Minnesota law, animal carcasses must be disposed through incineration, rendering, composting, burial deep enough to "prevent scavenging" or other methods approved by the state.
"We've definitely seen volumes of sick birds, but not from pentobarbital before like this," Hall said.
Raptor Center workers began intensive care on the birds, drawing blood samples for toxicology and lead testing. The eagles were given fluids and any food in their crops - the storage area beneath their chins - was removed in case it had poison in it.
One of the 11 eagles that had symptoms of pentobarbital poisoning also had avian flu and died. But Hall said she is "optimistic" that the other 10 will recover. Three also have lead poisoning, which eagles can pick up from scavenging on deer that were shot with ammunition containing lead, Hall said.
"Just like pentobarbital, that's coming completely from humans, which means we have the ability to impact it and address it," she said.
Previously included on the national endangered species list, bald eagles are protected under federal laws. The incident in Minnesota, Hall said, is a clear example of how human actions can negatively affect the national bird - and the ecosystem as a whole.
"We see hundreds of cases of poisonings every year with the raptors that come into our center for care," she said. "Lead, rodenticide, in this case pentobarbital, and these are all things that we as humans have an ability to prevent from happening in the future, if we're aware of it."
Last week, the eagles couldn't sit up on their own during their medical exams and treatment, so the center's staff used rolled-up towels to help support their bodies.
But over the weekend, the birds started "acting up," Hall said. They sat up on their own, flapped their wings, made noise and stuck their heads up inside their crates, looking around suspiciously as the staff worked.
In short, Hall said, they've started to get their "spunk" back.
"It just lifted everybody's spirits so much because we know these birds are going in the right direction," she said.
Soon, they'll be taken from their crates to flight rooms so they'll have space to spread their wings. From there, the birds will graduate to outdoor flight pens, where they can fly and to get used to the weather again.
And once they've been tested and cleared, they'll be released to fly back into the wild.
40,000 mink are running loose after someone broke into their facility, Ohio cops say
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2022-12-13T16:35:11Z
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Bald eagles poisoned near landfill where euthanized animals were dumped | Animals | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/animals/bald-eagles-poisoned-near-landfill-where-euthanized-animals-were-dumped/article_ec768fba-c2e8-5d5d-8dd5-987316d5a5ac.html
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Adam Sandler performs a song during his show at the SNHU Arena Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022.
Adam Sandler, who grew up in Manchester, was not nominated for an Oscar for his work in “Uncut Gems,” despite significant buzz about the possibility of earning an Academy Award for his leading role in the movie.
KIMBERLEY HAAS/Union Leader File Photo
By Travis M. Andrews The Washington Post
Joining the ranks of Carl Reiner, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin and Carol Burnett as recipients of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is comedian, actor and filmmaker Adam Sandler.
The ceremony honoring the "Saturday Night Live" alum is scheduled to be held in the 2,465-seat Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center on March 19, the center announced Tuesday. Plans for broadcasting the event have not yet been released.
The Sandman, as the 56-year-old comedian is nicknamed, is frequently referred to as one of "nicest guys in Hollywood." Known for their goofy, juvenile nature, his movies have collectively grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, according to a news release from the Kennedy Center. The announcement raises one vital question: Will Sandler wear a suit to the ceremony, or will he stick to his oversize polos and basketball shorts? (Good money is on the latter, as when his performance in "Uncut Gems" was snubbed by the Academy in 2020, he tweeted, "Bad news: Sandman gets no love from the Academy. Good news: Sandman can stop wearing suits.")
Despite his tremendous box office success, Sandler has rarely impressed critics throughout the three-plus decades he's been in show business -- and he knows it. In 2018, he released a stand-up special cheekily named "100% Fresh," a reference to the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, which calculates a percentage of positive reviews a particular work receives. In an amusing twist, the special actually received a 90% "fresh" rating, ranking it among Sandler's most lauded work.
Occasionally, Sandler will delight said critics by taking a short break from his broad comedies to turn in a stunning dramatic performance for an auteur director, such as Paul Thomas Anderson's ″Punch-Drunk Love" (2002), Judd Apatow's "Funny People" (2009), Noah Baumbach's "The Meyerowitz Stories" (2017), and Josh and Benny Safdie's "Uncut Gems" (2019). After winning best male lead at the Film Independent Spirit Awards for his role in the Safdie brothers' movie as the gambling-addicted jeweler Howard Ratner, he used his speech to joke about not receiving an Oscar nod -- and he quipped that he'd "like to also give a shout out to my fellow nominees, who will now and forever be known as the guys who lost to f---ing Adam Sandler."
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2022-12-13T18:32:42Z
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Adam Sandler to receive Mark Twain Prize this spring at Kennedy Center | Back Page | unionleader.com
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Alexey Brayman of Merrimack, shown here in a Facebook photo with his wife, Daria, was named in a federal indictment Tuesday that says he was part of a network that acquired high-tech equipment and shipped it to Russia from the couple's home.
A federal indictment accuses Alexey Brayman of using this home in Merrimack at 30 Ellie Drive at as a transit point to ship high-tech equipment to Russia.
A home in Merrimack was used as a transit point to ship high-tech equipment to Russian companies that assist the "Russian Federation's war machine," according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The 46-page indictment,, unsealed in the Eastern District of New York District Court, names Merrimack resident Alexey Brayman, five Russian nationals and a New Jersey resident as part of a network that acquired equipment such as dual-use oscilloscopes, signal generators, multimeters and sensitive electronic test equipment.
The equipment was exported to Russia.
Brayman is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, the indictment said.
The seven are accused of violating import controls that were instituted in 2014 when Russian invaded Crimea and renewed this year with the invasion of Ukraine.
The indictment spells out how the seven communicated with one another and operated a network that allegedly supplied material to two Russian companies that U.S. officials that "are instrumental to the Russian Federation's war machine."
And much of the network ran through the Brayman home. The Boston Globe reported their address as 30 Ellie Drive.
"(Co-defendant Vadim) Yermolenko shipped packages to Brayman at the New Hamphisre Residence, which was a frequent transshipment point for items that were unlawfully exported from the United States to Russia," the indictment reads.
His Facebook page shows a young, clean cut, muscular man enjoying life in St. Augustine, Fla.; Haifa, Israel; and Boston Garden, where he is at a Celtics game.
It also shows him with two other adults and a child at the JFK Ice Arena in Manchester in February.
"First time ever standing on skates on ice," the post reads.
Google searches show an Alexey Brayman associated with several businesses and property sales in New Hampshire.
For example, Brayman is listed as the administrator of a business Cool Houz LLC. The listed telephone number was not in operation.
Brayman is listed as an agent for a company that was incorporated in 2013, Yeezy Light Inc. of Manchester, but later suspended. It is described as a foreign profit organization.
An Alexey Brayman also sold property in Derry in 2016.
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2022-12-13T18:32:48Z
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Merrimack resident accused of aiding Russian war machine | Courts | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/merrimack-resident-accused-of-aiding-russian-war-machine/article_cfede673-f35c-5b12-b9ea-b252d754ebfa.html
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Unemployment rate rises to 2.6% in New Hampshire
For the third month in a row, the New Hampshire unemployment rate has gone up slightly after historic lows this summer.
The 2.2% rate in September rose to 2.6% in November, the state Department of Employment Security reported Tuesday.
The November 2021 seasonally adjusted rate was 3%.
The number of unemployed residents increased by 1,370 in November. The total number of unemployed was 19,710, according to a news release.
Seasonally adjusted estimates for November placed the number of employed residents at 752,490, a decrease of 1,110 from the previous month and an increase of 20,630 from November 2021.
From October 2022 to November 2022, the total labor force increased by 260 to 772,200. This was an increase of 17,560 New Hampshire residents from November 2021, according to the news release.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November was 3.7%, which remained unchanged from the October rate, the state said.
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2022-12-13T20:25:51Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Unemployment rate rises to 2.6% in New Hampshire | Economy | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/economy/unemployment-rate-rises-to-2-6-in-new-hampshire/article_fc708482-08c9-5071-8cec-7c851bb6172a.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/economy/unemployment-rate-rises-to-2-6-in-new-hampshire/article_fc708482-08c9-5071-8cec-7c851bb6172a.html
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FILE PHOTO: Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet leads a procession at the start of a mass at the Santa Maria in Transpontina church in Rome March 10, 2013.
Paul Hanna/REUTERS
VATICAN CITY - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet on Tuesday said he was suing a woman who accused him of sexual assault more than a decade ago when he was the archbishop of Quebec.
Ouellet, now a prominent Vatican official, was named in August in a class action lawsuit against the Quebec Catholic archdiocese that alleged cases of sexual assault by some 88 clergy and staff working there starting in 1940.
He denied the accusations at the time and again in a statement announcing the lawsuit on Tuesday.
In the filing in the Quebec Superior Court in August, an anonymous complainant alleged that Ouellet had inappropriately touched her and had made comments that made her feel uncomfortable between 2008 and 2010, when she was an intern in her 20s in the archdiocese.
A copy of the lawsuit, seen by Reuters, says the cardinal is seeking $100,000 in damages from a woman identified only as "Ms. F" and that he would donate any amount won to "the fight against the sexual abuse of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada."
The Vatican said in August that following a preliminary internal review of the accusations, Pope Francis had decided there was insufficient evidence to open a Church investigation into the allegations.
"I have never been guilty of these reprehensible behaviors, much less of those alleged against other members of the clergy cited in the class action," Ouellet said in Tuesday's statement. "This inappropriate association, intentionally constructed and widely spread for improper purposes, must be denounced."
Ouellet said he was taking legal action for defamation before the courts of Quebec "in order to prove the falsity of the allegations made against me and to restore my reputation and honor."
(Reporting by Philip Pullella Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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2022-12-13T20:26:04Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Canadian Cardinal Ouellet sues over accusations of sexual assault | Courts | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/canadian-cardinal-ouellet-sues-over-accusations-of-sexual-assault/article_210627ed-5986-5112-817b-15c58ec5b2c0.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/canadian-cardinal-ouellet-sues-over-accusations-of-sexual-assault/article_210627ed-5986-5112-817b-15c58ec5b2c0.html
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Patriots quarterback Mac Jones scrambles against the Cardinals during Monday night’s game.
Patricia ‘loves’ Mac Jones's passion
The New England Patriots were three plays into the second half when the play clock almost hit zero. That’s when Mac Jones begrudgingly called a timeout. He looked angry as he walked toward the sideline. As the camera cut away, the quarterback let out a loud and audible expletive for the NFL world to here.
As it turns out, Matt Patricia and other Patriots offensive coaches don’t mind Jones’s outburst. In fact, New England coaches say they’d rather have a quarterback like Jones rather than a player they need to jump start.
Patricia isn’t a stranger to strong personalities. He’s seen players scream at their teammates, other opponents and coaches before. The longtime Patriots defensive coordinator, who is now the team’s offensive play caller, even went as far as to compare Jones to four legendary defensive players he coached in the past.
“I’ve coached some pretty awesome rooms before. I’ve been around some pretty great players throughout the years and those guys had a tremendous passion for the game like Mac,” Patricia said. “You love to see that stuff. You always just try to make sure that you direct it in a way that it’ll help everyone in those moments get better… been through some pretty fiery guys now, don’t forget.
“Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Mike Vrabel, Willie McGinest — there have been some great players. Mac is one of those guys who just loves the game, so I love that.”
The Patriots’ offense has struggled this season. They currently rank 24th in yards gained and 18th in points scored.
Patricia isn’t the only coach in New England who likes seeing a quarterback get fired up on game days.
“Anytime the quarterback plays with emotion, football’s an emotional game and a lot of times things like that might spark a team,” said receivers coach Ross Douglass “... I don’t see a problem with that. I’ll tell you this, you’d rather take the guy who would do that than the guy you’ve got to kick in the (backside) a little bit to get going, so we’ll take that any day of the week.”
“There’s passion, there’s fire, there’s competitiveness — I mean I’d rather be that way than the other way. It doesn’t bother me one bit,” said tight ends coach Nick Caley.
“I think everybody wants to go out there and compete at a high level. ... It’s good to have passion. It’s good to care enough where you’re competitive and you want to go out there and want to execute down after down. I don’t overthink that.
“Again, I’d rather be that way than somebody that doesn’t care, that doesn’t show any emotion or exhibit any of those qualities.
“I don’t think much of it, to be honest with you.”
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2022-12-14T03:19:21Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Patricia ‘loves’ Mac Jones's passion | Patriots | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/patriots/patricia-loves-mac-joness-passion/article_d405e70f-75f3-5a1b-94d4-45bbf134ac44.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/patriots/patricia-loves-mac-joness-passion/article_d405e70f-75f3-5a1b-94d4-45bbf134ac44.html
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The problem is, since we separated, she has been seeing my ex-best friend, “Mack,” who was the best man at our wedding. I was crushed when I found out. I have tried to show Jenny that Mack is a manipulator and a liar and that he hasn’t been honest with her.
I know I am clearly the best man for Jenny, our son and our family. However, she continues to see Mack even after his true colors have been shown and after I have done everything to make things right with us and win her back. How should I proceed, knowing she’s making the wrong decision?
DEAR RIGHTING: Please accept my sympathy because it’s obvious you are hurting. You can’t save your marriage all by yourself. It takes two. Your ex is unwilling to accept that Mack hasn’t been honest, and sometimes people must learn the hard way.
As much as you’d like to “save” Jenny, she’s going to have to make her own mistakes. Stay close so you can buffer your son if there are stormy seas ahead. If Mack is as bad as you say, their romance likely will not last.
Neither one thinks cleaning their apartment is important! We have bought them cleaning supplies, but they sit unused. Their place is a disaster.
By the way, she is the mother of a 5-year-old who stays with her three days a week. Part of me wants to call CPS because no child should live in these conditions, but I’m hesitant because of my son. He loves her and enjoys living with her. I desperately need advice on how to handle this.
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2022-12-14T06:30:46Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Dear Abby: Man trying to win back ex blindsided by her new beau | Human Interest | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/human_interest/dear-abby-man-trying-to-win-back-ex-blindsided-by-her-new-beau/article_ae5f1104-5993-5057-95f0-5aa623d5fb8e.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/human_interest/dear-abby-man-trying-to-win-back-ex-blindsided-by-her-new-beau/article_ae5f1104-5993-5057-95f0-5aa623d5fb8e.html
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DEAR HELOISE: I work at a clinic where we help people lose weight, especially if they have health issues that need to be addressed. One of the first things we do is a complete checkup, then construct a diet around that person’s needs.
One of the first things, and perhaps the hardest thing, is to get people to acknowledge that no matter what their friends have told them and no matter what the latest fad diet would have them do, there are two very important factors to their diet plan:
One is to exercise, and the other is to eat what is prescribed by the doctor. If the doctors say no ice cream and no pastries, they mean it. The goal is to teach people to make better choices rather than making excuses as to why they’re not losing weight. I know a cinnamon roll tastes good, but it’s fleeting. Looking and feeling better is worth more.
— JoAnn H., Los Angeles
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2022-12-14T06:30:52Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Heloise: Commit to losing weight | Human Interest | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/human_interest/heloise-commit-to-losing-weight/article_0b059f23-e9bf-5a9f-9827-7e3bca7e3f20.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/human_interest/heloise-commit-to-losing-weight/article_0b059f23-e9bf-5a9f-9827-7e3bca7e3f20.html
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Unsustainable ideology
To the Editor: People are not prepared for what is going to happen regarding inflation. The Biden administration says that it is transitory, which is simply not true. The culprit is the increasing cost of energy, especially diesel fuel needed for the farmers who are the backbone of agriculture.
The next few years are going to astonish average hard working Americans when it did not have to be this way. This is self-inflicted. A dozen eggs will cost $10 a dozen, which does not seem possible. This country continues to spend money that it does not have as the national debt is now $30 trillion dollars. The line item to pay the interest on the debt currently leaves 35% of each dollar to operate this country. As you might suspect, this is not sustainable.
It is hard to believe that President Joe Biden just approved a billion dollars to give to developing countries to address climate change. He is doing this while thousands of veterans are sleeping on cardboard boxes in cities throughout the country.
People are going to suffer this winter just trying to pay for heating oil and natural gas. We have gone from energy producers to energy dependence where the president is out begging Saudi Arabia for oil. No one seems to care about the common good.
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2022-12-14T06:31:22Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Letter: An unsustainable ideology | Letters to the Editor | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-an-unsustainable-ideology/article_0ca3b68e-6c90-5e6d-ae1c-b25fac61e58d.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-an-unsustainable-ideology/article_0ca3b68e-6c90-5e6d-ae1c-b25fac61e58d.html
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NH needs clean energy
To the Editor: As a new year and a new session of the state Legislature approaches, it’s time for bipartisan commitment to a healthy future for New Hampshire’s climate. Given that most of New Hampshire’s annual 15,800,000 tons of CO2 emissions (2019 data) come from transportation and electricity generation, there are four areas where we need to see progress in 2023: widespread charging stations for electric vehicles, Capitol Corridor regional commuter rail, offshore wind energy development, and an updated climate action plan that includes mandated greenhouse gas reductions.
The state Department of Transportation has been studying Capitol Corridor rail since at least 2014, when it found a Manchester to Boston commuter rail line “the strongest alternative” for the overcrowded I-93/Route 3 corridor. Offshore wind has been studied since at least 2019 by the state Department of Environmental Services, but we’re still treading water. The Public Utilities Commission has done its best to stifle EV charging stations across the state, and our toothless state “Climate Action Plan” hasn’t been updated since 2009.
It is time for us to roll up our sleeves and work with our Legislature, governor, and Executive Council to find matching dollars for available federal funds in these areas, get these projects started, and face reality about our alarming but still modifiable climate change future. It’s time to show that the state is open for clean energy business. It’s way too expensive not to.
PAUL FRIEDRICHS
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2022-12-14T06:31:28Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Letter: NH needs clean energy | Letters to the Editor | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-nh-needs-clean-energy/article_827acc35-ac43-5b87-bb07-7db5e8578297.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-nh-needs-clean-energy/article_827acc35-ac43-5b87-bb07-7db5e8578297.html
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James W. Dean Jr.
ALMOST four years ago I announced a renewed commitment to the state as one of the University of New Hampshire’s four strategic priorities. In the pages of this publication, I shared our early progress. You told us the most important issues facing our state were education, health care, the economy, the environment/energy and the state’s workforce, and we worked to document the research and outreach programs that were already making a difference in those areas.
Recognizing that gaps remained between what we were doing and what the state needed, I knew we needed to double down on our vow to embrace New Hampshire.
That’s why last month some colleagues and I hopped on a bus — literally — for two days, making nine stops in eight towns and six counties to hear how UNH’s partnerships are working in communities and to brainstorm new ways to address unique regional challenges. I wanted to see for myself.
Traveling more than 300 miles from the Seacoast and Lakes Region to the North Country and central New Hampshire, the stops included an oyster farm, two downtown development projects, a rural regional hospital, a high school technology education center, an apple orchard and a high-tech start-up that is building satellite systems destined for orbit.
I met so many Granite Staters and learned about the work they’re doing and the success that they’re achieving with the help of our UNH partnerships. Meeting people who are doing heroic things around the state on an everyday basis — operating a regional hospital in Littleton despite a shortage of nurses, being able to fight some of the challenges of climate change with oyster farming in the Piscataqua River, reinvigorating cities or towns like Franklin or Rochester — was incredibly inspiring.
What stood out the most for me was how the diverse elements of the university have been involved in so many different areas of the state. Contributing to education, obviously, but not just at UNH. In response to local workforce needs, four schools in the northern part of the state, including Kennett High School and its Mount Washington Valley Career & Technical Center, are launching outdoor recreation career pathway programs to leverage the area’s natural amenities. Our researchers are supporting these programs and studying how outdoor recreation can improve our quality of life and provide a career opportunity to help retain youth, particularly in the state’s northernmost rural regions.
In health care, we’re sending nurses where they are desperately needed in the North Country with strong placement agreements, immersive clinical training opportunities and a program that lets nursing students live and work in Littleton for their final semester. In Great Bay we’re helping to restore oyster beds that were devastated by pollution and supporting a new and growing oyster farming industry in the process. Traditional apple orchards across the Northeast are benefitting from our research to identify the peach and nectarine varieties that will consistently produce a commercially successful crop.
Those two days in communities around the state confirmed that we’re really having an impact in so many different places, and that was a source of great pride for me. Not just on the Seacoast. Not just in education. Hundreds of people connected to the university are quietly and effectively reaching out and trying to make things better in so many areas of the state.
There is much to celebrate but there is still more work to be done. We’re already thinking about what we can do better as a university. There is a lot of need in the state and ways the university can help. We’ll look at the most impactful things we can do, recognizing the need is quite substantial and resources are not unlimited.
I am already looking forward to boarding another bus to meet more Granite Staters and learn more of what the university is doing and can do in the future. I want everyone in New Hampshire to be as incredibly proud of UNH as I am. Learn more about our programs around the state and tell us how UNH can work for your community.
James W. Dean Jr. is president of the University of New Hampshire. He lives in Durham.
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2022-12-14T06:31:41Z
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www.unionleader.com
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James W. Dean Jr.: UNH proudly serves NH in many ways | Op-eds | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/james-w-dean-jr-unh-proudly-serves-nh-in-many-ways/article_bab3469f-3456-5d39-871b-40ec98e8d8cc.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/james-w-dean-jr-unh-proudly-serves-nh-in-many-ways/article_bab3469f-3456-5d39-871b-40ec98e8d8cc.html
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Susan Mathison shows a photo taken during a trip to Lviv, Ukraine earlier this year in which two young girls in national dress are with their mother while an air-raid siren sounds.
Restaurateur Alex Ray, a member of the Plymouth Rotary Club, holds a sign that is affixed to every pallet of humanitarian aid provided by the club to Ukraine.
Alex Ray and Susan Mathison hold the flag of Ukraine on Tuesday at the Common Man Inn & Spa in Plymouth. They will be leaving for Poland today on their third trip to bring humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
PLYMOUTH — After raising $2.3 million for the effort, volunteers from the New Hampshire Relief for Ukraine Fund are returning to the war-ravaged country this week with more humanitarian aid, Christmas gifts for orphans and money for stoves.
The volunteers, including Susan Mathison and her friend Alex Ray, founder of the Common Man family of restaurants, will leave for Poland on Wednesday and arrive Thursday in the southeastern city of Zamosc.
In Zamosc, the Relief for Ukraine Fund has since May stored food, clothing and other essential supplies that have then been driven by truck to Ukraine.
Among the items that Mathison and Ray are bringing on their third trip to the region are Christmas gifts that Ray — dressed as Father Frost, a Slavic version of Santa Claus — will present to 1,300 children who lost their parents since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Among the gifts are hand-knit teddy bears, ducks and foxes that were delivered anonymously to one of Ray’s businesses in a large plastic bag.
Inside the bag were 20 toys and a card, Mathison said, “in a script that you would associate with an older person” that said the donor was concerned about what was happening to the Ukrainian people.
“I don’t have any money, but I have yarn,” the note said.
Mathison said that instance was one of many acts of kindness done since Ray, a member of the Plymouth Rotary Club, enlisted his fellow Rotarians, both locally and in Poland, to help Ukraine.
Three days and $2 million
Speaking with Steve Rand, a fellow Rotarian and president of Rand’s Hardware in downtown Plymouth, Ray said the men concluded they could provide financial support. The first donation of $500 came from the Plymouth Rotary Club, backed by a pledge from Ray to match that amount and future donations, up to $1 million.
Next, as Mathison remembers it, Rand consulted an international Rotary directory and though not conversant in Polish, telephoned there, telling the person on the other end of the line that, “We’re four Americans, we’re going to raise $2 million for humanitarian aid, and we’re going to be there in three days.”
Following that trip and a second in October, Ray and Mathison identified the most pressing needs and established a rapport with the Rotary Club in Poland.
To date, the NH Relief for Ukraine Fund has assisted in the purchase and delivery of more than 700 tons of food, funded a counseling center for children traumatized by the war, purchased and deployed a bloodmobile to supply field hospitals, and distributed 50 generators and more than 10,000 sleeping bags.
With winter on the way, the Ukraine Fund is focusing on making sure that Ukrainians are fed and warm, Ray said.
Russia, which has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure, is attempting to make the winter unbearable for Ukrainians and force the country’s leaders to the negotiating table, observers of the conflict have said.
Ukrainians, Ray said, “can’t depend on electricity, propane or oil,” but the country has a lot of wood, which can be burned in stoves for heat and cooking.
Support in all sizes
Ray and Mathison, who gave a shout-out to Ryszard Luczyn, their point person in Poland, said they have been humbled by the support that the NH Relief for Ukraine Fund has received so far from more than 2,500 people.
Eighty percent of the donors are from the Granite State, including an anonymous donor who, after verifying that the enterprise was fully on the up-and up, dropped off a cashier’s check for $250,000.
A trio of Catholic nuns sent $15, with an apology and an explanation that “We don’t have much money,” Mathison said.
In Bristol, a fundraiser by an eight-person ukulele band netted more than $1,700, which Ray matched.
Statewide, some 1,500 high school students wrote letters in Ukrainian to students in refugee camps, while Girl Scouts of the White and Green Mountains knit 300 scarves and included a personalized message with each of them, Mathison said.
Ray said former Gov. John Lynch has been very active with the NH Relief for Ukraine Fund, helping with fundraising and connecting it with like-minded partners.
While the NH Relief for Ukraine Fund has met many of its immediate goals, Mathison said its works likely will continue for a long time.
“We’ve been in Ukraine enough to know that there’s a lot more good to do,” she said, noting that the Common Man’s corporate motto is “Do good.”
Donations to the NH Relief for Ukraine Fund will be accepted until Dec. 31 and can be made online, via the Granite United Way, at www.graniteuw.org or by texting NH4UKRAINE to 41444.
Checks made out to Granite United Way with NH Relief for Ukraine in the memo line can be mailed to: Granite United Way, 22 Concord St., Manchester, NH 03101. More information about the effort and a donation link can be found at cman4ukraine.org.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, a decision that could be a…
KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine pounded each other’s forces in heavy fighting in the eastern region of Donetsk on Tuesday as Kyiv…
Ukrainian-Americans in Manchester and New Hampshire quietly host families fleeing the war in Ukraine.
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2022-12-14T13:54:56Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Xmas gifts for orphans, knit goods and money for stoves, on the way to Ukraine | Human Interest | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/human_interest/xmas-gifts-for-orphans-knit-goods-and-money-for-stoves-on-the-way-to-ukraine/article_6e096acd-6bd8-554a-b62b-570a69689747.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/human_interest/xmas-gifts-for-orphans-knit-goods-and-money-for-stoves-on-the-way-to-ukraine/article_6e096acd-6bd8-554a-b62b-570a69689747.html
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Richard B. Fehrs
Courtesy/NH State Police
Richard B. Fehrs may be driving a 2009 Toyota Highlander, gray, with New Hampshire registration 4343950, according to New Hampshire State Police.
CONCORD - The state's Silver Alert System has been activated to help locate a 72-year-old man missing from Concord Hospital, according to New Hampshire State Police.
The alert was issued by state police at the request of Concord Police Department and the public is being asked to keep an eye out for Richard B. Fehrs.
Fehrs is described as 5'6", weighing 160 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes. He was reported missing about 4:23 a.m. Tuesday morning.
"He was last seen leaving Concord Hospital shortly after midnight and failed to return to pick up his wife," state police said. "He was wearing blue jeans, a burnt orange down jacket and a baseball cap with 'Perkins Cove' printed on it."
Fehrs may be driving a 2009 Toyota Highlander, gray, with New Hampshire registration 4343950, they said.
"Mr. Fehrs is also suffering from the onset of dementia according to his wife," state police said.
If contact is made with Fehrs, please notify the Concord Police Department at (603) 225-8600.
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2022-12-14T13:55:02Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Silver Alert issued for man missing from Concord Hospital | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/silver-alert-issued-for-man-missing-from-concord-hospital/article_890e9a56-9c51-5a5e-b55e-e5eaa74f135c.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/silver-alert-issued-for-man-missing-from-concord-hospital/article_890e9a56-9c51-5a5e-b55e-e5eaa74f135c.html
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BOSTON — Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy addressed Xander Bogaerts’s departure publicly for the first time Tuesday afternoon and he wasn’t too forthcoming about Boston’s star shortstop landing with the Padres.
Speaking to masslive.com on Friday night, Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom acknowledged that the organization’s failures to sign stars like Bogaerts and Mookie Betts to long-term contracts gave the club “some things to think about” when it comes to negotiations with stars. The Red Sox lowballed Bogaerts with a four-year, $90 million offer during spring training then ultimately fell more than $100 million short in his free agent sweepstakes, reportedly offering a deal in the six-year, $160 million range.
Arguably the biggest decision that looms over the Red Sox in the next year-plus is the future of star third baseman Rafael Devers, who is set to hit free agency after the season. The club has repeatedly expressed its desire to negotiate an extension with Devers, but so far nothing has come to fruition. Kennedy deflected when asked how the Bogaerts situation would impact Devers’s future.
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2022-12-14T13:55:33Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Red Sox’s Sam Kennedy channels Bill Belichick discussing Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers | Red Sox | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/red_sox/red-sox-s-sam-kennedy-channels-bill-belichick-discussing-xander-bogaerts-rafael-devers/article_42a6938e-185d-51d1-ad5b-b2ea4da75420.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/red_sox/red-sox-s-sam-kennedy-channels-bill-belichick-discussing-xander-bogaerts-rafael-devers/article_42a6938e-185d-51d1-ad5b-b2ea4da75420.html
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"Curtis proudly wore the Court Services Officer uniform and honorably served the people of Alaska for 13 years," Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell said in the news release. "He was a proud member of the Nome community and a dedicated member of the Alaska law enforcement family."
Known as stocky, long-haired animals that can weigh up to 800 pounds, with shoulder humps and horns, muskoxen are slow-moving grazers in the Arctic and are not normally aggressive, according to the National Park Service. But they are still wild animals and can pose significant threat to humans and dogs, the agency says.
"Keep your dogs under control if a muskox is near," the National Park Service said in a news release. "An agitated muskox can easily injure or kill a dog, so make sure your dogs are on a leash or in a pen if muskoxen are around."
"If you are charged by a muskox, RUN," the agency said. "Never stand your ground against a charging muskox."
Worland, who provided prisoner transport services, courthouse security and court document service for the Alaska State Troopers since 2009, "will be sorely missed by the DPS family," the agency said in a news release mourning his death.
"I hope that Alaskans will keep Curtis' family, friends, loved ones, and the Alaska State Troopers in your thoughts as we process this tragic loss for our state," said the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
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2022-12-14T19:47:21Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Muskox kills Alaska law officer trying to protect his dogs outside home | Animals | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/animals/muskox-kills-alaska-law-officer-trying-to-protect-his-dogs-outside-home/article_9b24d135-3390-558c-be5c-c10d8e0e3c36.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/animals/muskox-kills-alaska-law-officer-trying-to-protect-his-dogs-outside-home/article_9b24d135-3390-558c-be5c-c10d8e0e3c36.html
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A U.S. Air Force F-35A fighter jet on the opening day of the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, U.K., on July 18, 2022.
Jason Alden/Bloomberg
By Kamil Kowalcze and Michael Nienaber Bloomberg
The procurement schedule foresees a handover in tranches, with 10 F-35 deliveries in 2027 and the same number in 2028, and a final batch of seven by 2029, according to German lawmakers. The first models will remain at a base in Texas so that pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe air force receive training, said the lawmakers, who asked not to be identified because the timeline isn't public.
In total, Germany has ordered 35 of the Lockheed Martin Corp.-built combat aircraft, part of a major push to upgrade the country's aging kit. Its air force now relies on the Tornado model and the more recent Eurofighter Typhoon, and any European next-generation warplane would not become available for more than another decade, prompting Germany to look overseas for new aircraft.
Britain and Italy recently agreed to merge plans for a next-generation warplane with a parallel project in Japan - called the the Global Combat Air Programme - while France's Dassault Aviation SA and the German arm of Airbus SE have joined up in a Franco-German project. That plane is due to enter service about five years after the GCAP, which is slated to bring a fighter to service by 2035.
The defense and budget committees of Germany's lower house of parliament approved the procurement of the F-35 models on Wednesday, with a proposed budget of 9.9 billion euros ($10.5 billion) for the purchase. The figure is part of a debt-financed €100 billion special fund that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
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2022-12-14T19:48:01Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Germany to receive first F-35s in 2026 to rejuvenate air force | Military | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/military/germany-to-receive-first-f-35s-in-2026-to-rejuvenate-air-force/article_90df3e49-f4a9-5c20-b204-377f7d72b687.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/military/germany-to-receive-first-f-35s-in-2026-to-rejuvenate-air-force/article_90df3e49-f4a9-5c20-b204-377f7d72b687.html
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International visitors boosted spending in the world’s most-visited cities this past year and were one of the key contributors to driving their recovery, according to the Top 100 City Destinations Index 2022, a report released on Tuesday, from independent market research firm Euromonitor International.
Travelers spent more this year in the places they visited. This “inbound” tourism spending-from transcontinental and inter-regional visitors-has increased by 112% compared to 2021, in spite of inflation. Globally, tourist spend per trip is showing a 13% increase at current 2022 prices, with an average spend of $1,331 per arrival worldwide. For 2023, total tourist spend is projected to exceed $1.4 trillion dollars globally. Excerpts from the report were shared with Bloomberg ahead of its release.
Globally, across all of these categories, Paris takes the top prize. The City of Lights has also received the most tourism arrivals in 2022, from both domestic and international travelers. Dubai follows in second place as best overall city destination performer, and New York sits in 10th. They are the only two non-European destinations in the top 10. Other usual suspects on the list include Amsterdam, Madrid, Rome, London, Munich, Berlin, and Barcelona.
A close look at tourism performance as a standalone category also reveals a solid comeback for U.S. cities.
On the top 10 list of global urban tourism performance based on growth of international arrivals in 2022, after Paris, New York and Orlando surpass Dubai to come in third and fourth place, respectively. Los Angeles takes the fifth spot ahead of Rome and Amsterdam.
Globally, travel will continue on its strong recovery path-both international and domestic trips will grow in 2023, the report further suggests. International travel is expected to grow by 40% in 2023, as compared an 80% growth pace in 2022, which Euromonitor International explained isn’t a decline in trips but merely a difference in growth. Inflation may have impacted the pace of recovery for international travel at the end of this year, but it isn’t stopping its continued rebound-yet. “Of course if prolonged, the economic uncertainty and rising cost of living can seriously hurt the rebound of the industry and travellers’ preferences,” said Popova.
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2022-12-14T22:19:45Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Despite recession fears, tourist spending is expected to grow in 2023 | Business | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/despite-recession-fears-tourist-spending-is-expected-to-grow-in-2023/article_d669849f-df61-57cf-b521-f653ecf199c9.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/despite-recession-fears-tourist-spending-is-expected-to-grow-in-2023/article_d669849f-df61-57cf-b521-f653ecf199c9.html
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A person holds a fuel pump nozzle at a Chevron gas station in San Francisco on March 11, 2021.
By Chunzi Xu Bloomberg
Average gas pump prices in the U.S. fell by nearly 1% overnight Wednesday, the largest decline since late March 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down offices and schools across the country, devastating fuel demand.
The national average of gasoline now stands at $3.214 a gallon, according to auto club AAA. That’s the cheapest price American motorists have paid in more than 14 months.
Gasoline’s seasonal weakness this year is compounded by softer-than-usual demand, which fell to its lowest level for this time of year since 1998, excluding 2020, according to trailing 12-month data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The drop in fuel use is driven by improving fuel efficiency in the long term and a winter storm sweeping the country in the short term.
Pressure is building on the supply side as well, with Europe poised to export an excess of the fuel to the U.S. As a result, stockpiles have grown for five straight weeks to levels exceeding those at the same time last year.
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2022-12-14T22:19:51Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Pump prices in U.S. have biggest one-day drop since March 2020 | Business | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/pump-prices-in-u-s-have-biggest-one-day-drop-since-march-2020/article_6ca00882-83ff-5ce0-84de-35a556699844.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/pump-prices-in-u-s-have-biggest-one-day-drop-since-march-2020/article_6ca00882-83ff-5ce0-84de-35a556699844.html
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The former manager of an Alton Bay marina faces 25 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking of a minor, and production of child sexual abuse materials.
John E. Murray III, 56, of Alton Bay, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Concord on Wednesday to four counts of sex trafficking of a minor, and 12 counts of producing the materials, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Murray also subjected minor employees to unwanted sexual contact and sexual acts,” the release said. Murray made cash payments to two young victims in exchange for him performing sexual acts on them, officials said.
A binding plea agreement filed in federal court recommends that Murray be sentenced to 300 months – 25 years – in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Sentencing is scheduled for next March.
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2022-12-14T22:20:02Z
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www.unionleader.com
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After guilty plea, former marina manager faces 25 years in federal prison | Courts | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/after-guilty-plea-former-marina-manager-faces-25-years-in-federal-prison/article_3535db78-9741-5882-a291-c72213f6aa13.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/after-guilty-plea-former-marina-manager-faces-25-years-in-federal-prison/article_3535db78-9741-5882-a291-c72213f6aa13.html
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According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Philip Wetmore, 32, of Nashua, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and possessing firearms in furtherance of that trafficking. Officials say he sold crystal methamphetamine to someone working with the FBI.
Wetmore sold approximately 81 grams of crystal meth at a residence and later in a retail store in Nashua, the release said. After the second drug sale, FBI agents arrested Wetmore as he drove out of the store’s parking lot. He had a loaded firearm at the time, police said, despite being legally prohibited from possessing firearms.
The FBI subsequently executed a search warrant on Wetmore’s vehicle and seized more than 670 grams of crystal meth, another loaded firearm and other items related to drug trafficking, the release said.
Brandon Dumont, 30, pleaded guilty to making a false statement in connection with the attempted purchase of a firearm, and to possession of firearms and ammunition by a prohibited person, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On April 11, Dumont was found in possession of three firearms, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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2022-12-14T22:20:05Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Feds announce guilty pleas in three weapons and drug trafficking cases | Courts | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/feds-announce-guilty-pleas-in-three-weapons-and-drug-trafficking-cases/article_85a10a1f-bc60-5e17-8a17-1531cd4cb9b3.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/feds-announce-guilty-pleas-in-three-weapons-and-drug-trafficking-cases/article_85a10a1f-bc60-5e17-8a17-1531cd4cb9b3.html
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By Isaac Stanley-Becker, Chris Zubak-Skees and Nick Mourtoupalas
His largesse to Democratic causes was surpassed over the past two years only by that of George Soros, the liberal financier. Bankman-Fried has claimed that he gave just as much to GOP causes, but through nonprofit groups not required to disclose their donors. Much of the money Bankman-Fried gave went to super PACs. These groups, which can accept unlimited individual and corporate contributions, must remain formally separate from campaigns as they run ads or sponsor other communications supporting or opposing candidates.
Federal campaign filings show he gave a combined $7 million to the two main super PACs supporting Democratic candidates for Congress in the 2022 elections. He also gave to groups focused on voter turnout and, in certain cases, shelled out millions for highly specific races.
Bankman-Fried also provided 95 percent of funds for Protect Our Future, a fledgling Democratic-aligned super PAC that supported a wide range of candidates and causes. Its leaders described it as committed to principles of effective altruism, an approach to philanthropy that seeks to make use of data to allocate money effectively, in many cases to long-term threats. Among the causes championed by candidates backed by Protect Our Future was pandemic preparedness.
Protect Our Future spent more than $10 million backing an unsuccessful candidate in the Democratic primary for an open U.S. House seat in Oregon. The candidate, Carrick Flynn, is an adherent of the effective altruism philosophy said to have guided the PAC's giving. (He lost the primary to state lawmaker Andrea Salinas, who won the general election.)
Bankman-Fried has acknowledged in interviews over the past several weeks that the philanthropy undertaken by companies, including his own, is often designed to elicit good PR.
His desire to spread his resources broadly is evident in the number of politicians he backed: He contributed to more than 60 federal candidates, including members of both parties representing all corners of the country. Unlike his donations to super PACs, Bankman-Fried ran up against limits in these contributions. Federal law says individual donors can give up to $2,900 directly to a candidate committee for each election - which means once in the primary and again in the general, for a maximum of $5,800 per cycle.
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2022-12-14T22:20:25Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Breaking down Sam Bankman-Fried's political donations, mostly to Democrats | National | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/national/breaking-down-sam-bankman-frieds-political-donations-mostly-to-democrats/article_2c396502-e398-5c30-866b-dd7c0db0bd65.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/national/breaking-down-sam-bankman-frieds-political-donations-mostly-to-democrats/article_2c396502-e398-5c30-866b-dd7c0db0bd65.html
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A family of migrants is dropped off at a local shelter run by the Annunciation House by a transport contractor for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency in downtown El Paso, Texas,Tuesday. REUTERS/Ivan Pierre Aguirre
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Many of the hundreds of migrants who crossed the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez into El Paso, Texas, this week were part of a group kidnapped in Mexico as they made their way to the United States, according to nine migrants interviewed by Reuters.
Four migrants said people in police uniforms stopped the buses they were traveling in and attempted to extort them for between $10 and $255, before entire busloads were taken by armed men to nearby properties where they were held against their will.
"I sincerely felt I had reached the end ... that I wasn't going to survive," said Rizo, who is now in El Paso.
Three men -- two from New Hampshire and one from Connecticut -- have pleaded guilty to weapon- and drug-related charges in separate federal cases, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.
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2022-12-14T22:20:37Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Migrants tell of mass kidnappings in Mexico before crossing into the U.S. | National | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/wire/national/migrants-tell-of-mass-kidnappings-in-mexico-before-crossing-into-the-u-s/article_4dd5d781-2c2f-5bc3-8831-c297ef7cd350.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/wire/national/migrants-tell-of-mass-kidnappings-in-mexico-before-crossing-into-the-u-s/article_4dd5d781-2c2f-5bc3-8831-c297ef7cd350.html
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Joe Ribsam
OVER THE last five years, New Hampshire has transformed the way it serves juvenile offenders. During this time, the number of youth in detention at any one time has fallen from a peak of 75 to an average of 12 — a reduction of 600%. This has been accomplished by redesigning the juvenile justice system in a way that provides accountability without criminalization, offering alternatives to justice system involvement, and providing an individualized approach based on youth’s risks and needs. New Hampshire has among the very lowest rates of juvenile incarceration and violent crime in the country.
Some youth still are court-ordered to detention at the Sununu Youth Services Center (SYSC), usually for very brief periods of time, to maintain community safety. In prior decades, their experience was highly punitive, resembling a jail or prison. SYSC today is a very different place; it is designed around a modern, humane, data-driven understanding of the factors underlying youth’s aggressive or illegal behavior, and the services needed to help them achieve positive outcomes.
Most of these young people have endured hardship in their young lives beyond comprehension. As their case files reveal — and brain science confirms — their challenging behaviors are largely rooted in the adversity, poverty, neglect, and abuse they have shouldered. As the state, our job is to address their underlying issues and to ensure individuals, families, and communities are safe. We do this by engaging a team of clinicians and counselors to design and implement treatment plans for each detained or committed youth, to help them build skills in educational and recreational arenas, and to work collaboratively with community partners to wrap services around their families that promote long-term stability.
As we work to support more youth and families in community-based settings, we are faced with a question: what is the best way to care for the small but highly complex population of young people who require placement in a secure facility in the future? Everyone agrees the current SYSC isn’t appropriate: a facility with 144 beds that typically houses 12 young people is neither therapeutically nor financially sound. The problem is that current law requires the state to shut down the facility in a matter of months without a plan in place to care for these children.
In the fall of 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services provided a comprehensive plan for building on other reforms in juvenile justice by reimagining the role of detention as a place of last resort and first-rate care. This plan involves closing SYSC and replacing it with a small, home-like program dedicated to trauma-informed care and evidence-based practices. This architecturally secure, therapeutically-oriented approach is situated within New Hampshire’s robust System of Care, incorporating the same standardized treatment assessments, community-based care coordination, and comprehensive services that are proven to improve lives. A bipartisan legislative committee assigned to study the options recommended adoption of the DHHS plan.
Unfortunately, in the shuffle of the 2021-2022 legislative session, there was limited public awareness of this plan. During the Committee of Conference final sprint before the end of the legislative session, negotiations broke down over the number of beds; opponents of the proposed policy solution were unwilling to support a facility with more than 12 beds.
We agree that the facility should be as small as necessary to meet the need. However, the proposal to limit the size of the facility to only 12 beds is inadequate to meet the needs of our youth and community. At times, New Hampshire needs up to 18 beds in order to safely care for youth who may require separate space based on their gender, clinical needs, or court orders (for example, requirements to separate youth involved in related criminal activity).
Establishing a size that is too small will pose a risk to the community and to youth who are placed at the facility.
The delay in finding a solution has already had serious consequences. Facing a pending closure, uncertain future, and ample employment alternatives, one-third of staff have already resigned. Overtime demands have been extremely difficult. Recruitment is all but impossible.
Absent agreement, SYSC will close in March 2023 without any place to send the youths. We have contacted other states, who do not have space to accept them no matter what we offer to pay. Current law will not allow county jails to care for these youth, nor is an adult correctional setting appropriate or safe. We need the Legislature to act. We need approval of the original DHHS plan to build a small but adequate therapeutic replacement.
New Hampshire is a national leader in its child protective and juvenile justice services. Failing to act on a responsible closure and replacement plan will put the well-being of some of our most vulnerable residents and families in jeopardy. Instead, let’s open the door to safe and stable outcomes for children and communities.
Joe Ribsam is director of the Division for Children, Youth & Families at the state Department of Health and Human Services. He lives in Concord.
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2022-12-15T06:49:44Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Joe Ribsam: Transforming and modernizing juvenile justice in NH | Op-eds | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/joe-ribsam-transforming-and-modernizing-juvenile-justice-in-nh/article_5fa2cf43-0b51-5e0c-8a9e-a889d03b49e5.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/joe-ribsam-transforming-and-modernizing-juvenile-justice-in-nh/article_5fa2cf43-0b51-5e0c-8a9e-a889d03b49e5.html
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Legislation passed in 2021 allowed for the governor to sell the property with approval of the Executive Council. It removed the well regarded Lakeshore Redevelopment Planning Commission from playing a role in the redevelopment. The state hired CBRE to market the property in the fall of 2021 and after engaging numerous inquiries, CBRE called for final and best offers to be submitted last summer.
Throughout 2022, the state was in contact with Laconia to seek input, share information and provide updates. City staff were available to answer zoning and land use questions of interested parties.
Once final proposals were accepted, the state reached out to Laconia and asked Planning Director Dean Trefethen to serve on a selection committee to review and make recommendations regarding all proposals received. Trefethen attended many of the Lakeshore Redevelopment Planning Commission meetings and was well prepared to represent the city’s land use and planning criteria.
Once Laconia was made aware of the new selection committee, on Sept. 22 Mayor Andrew Hosmer wrote DAS Commissioner Charlie Arlinghaus, Governor Sununu and the executive councilors a two-page letter highlighting about 15 concerns or priorities of the city. This included “a dedicated or shared parking area for evening and weekend activities” at adjacent Robbie Mills Park.
It is my understanding the committee was made up of eight members, five of whom were employed by the state. Trefethen, Councilor Joe Kenney and Rusty McLear were the remaining three members. While Laconia had a voice at the table in selecting a preferred project, it had no role in performing background checks on the proposed buyer, reviewing prior development experience or identifying financial wherewithal and such. Nor should we have. This is a state-driven project, these are the responsibilities of DAS or possibly CBRE as the state’s agent.
Laconia was not involved in drafting the purchase and sales agreement and did not receive an advance copy prior to it appearing on the Governor and Executive Council agenda late in the day Friday, Dec. 2, in advance of its Wednesday, Dec. 7, meeting. When the document was reviewed, it was clear it didn’t address some of Laconia’s concerns raised in the Sept. 22 Hosmer letter.
For Governor Chris Sununu to allege the city administration is incompetent and looking to slow the process is almost laughable. City administration is very competent, Laconia isn’t the one driving the process and it was on record with multiple concerns with the aforementioned seven ranking state officials who received Hosmer’s letter.
Once the proposed sale agreement became public, news reporter Annmarie Timmins published an article in the New Hampshire Bulletin that referenced the proposed developer of the State School property as never having completed a project nearly as large. The article mentioned a Manchester project that was three years behind schedule and the subject of an investor lawsuit. It raises red flags. Somewhere during the state’s vetting these issues were either missed or found inconsequential.
Hosmer’s letter states: “We trust the committee will perform their due diligence in terms of financial backing and the wherewithal to undertake and successfully complete such a project.”
At a presentation Oct. 19 at Laconia City Hall regarding the chosen developer, when asked about the qualifications of the developer, Commissioner Arlinghaus responded: “Yes, actually it is of particular interest to the state. We relied to a large extent on CBRE to look at the qualifications of the interested parties of the people who were proposing where they would go. There were a number of people who looked at things and we feel very confident that the experience and financial wherewithal of the chosen party is actually really quite strong and it’s a significant criteria.”
Laconia raised a number of issues in its letter to the Executive Council of Dec. 6, 2022, and Governor Sununu expressed his displeasure, terming the issues raised as the “11th hour.” But it is apparent the city raised these issues when they became aware of them. Why didn’t the state uncover these issues sooner and address them?
To assuage concerns, Commissioner Arlinghaus could reveal some of the significant criteria they used and provide financial background to Executive Councilors and city officials in a confidential manner. Could the P&S agreement be amended to include a performance bond or some other benchmark guarantees to protect the city and ensure a fully completed development? City residents deserve protection so that the state doesn’t walk away with a $21 million dollar check while Laconia gets far less of what was proposed.
I currently serve in no official capacity in the city, I am a resident. We’ve waited decades to get this far. A few more weeks to ensure it is done correctly shouldn’t make a difference.
Scott Myers served as Laconia city manager from July 1, 2011, to Oct. 2, 2022. He lives in the city.
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2022-12-15T06:49:50Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Scott Myers: Laconia owed fair share of State School deal | Op-eds | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/scott-myers-laconia-owed-fair-share-of-state-school-deal/article_e80522a8-05e8-553f-bda2-b6ab568bff9e.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/op-eds/scott-myers-laconia-owed-fair-share-of-state-school-deal/article_e80522a8-05e8-553f-bda2-b6ab568bff9e.html
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On Nov. 16, he lowered the flag - begrudgingly. DiSario, who is in his mid-60s, hopes the concession is a temporary defeat in a months-long battle with his homeowners association over whether he can publicly display the tribute to his slain son.
Last week, DiSario sued the Cumberland Crossing Homeowners Association and Omni Community Association Managers, alleging they violated his First Amendment rights when they threatened him with fines if he didn't take down the flag, which they deemed "a political statement." In his federal lawsuit, DiSario is asking a court in the U.S. District of Southern Ohio to block the homeowners association from punishing him if he raises the flag again.
"He was honoring his son for his service to his community, and he is being attacked because of it," DiSario's lawyer, James Bopp Jr., told The Washington Post.
The "thin blue line" is a metaphor for law enforcement being the last line of defense preventing the social order from devolving into chaos. In 2014, a flag was created to symbolize the concept and express support for the pro-police "Blue Lives Matter" movement - a direct response to its namesake. Proponents say it's a way to express support for law enforcement, while others deride it as a racist response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
DiSario's son, Steven "Eric" DiSario, was gunned down while responding to a call about an active shooting at a nursing home on May 12, 2017. The gunman also fatally shot a nurse and a nurse's aide before killing himself. Steven DiSario, a 38-year-old father of five who had a sixth child on the way, had been chief of the police department in Kirkersville, a small village east of Columbus, for only about three weeks when he died.
His father started flying the "thin blue line" flag outside his house in Cumberland Crossings that same month, according to the lawsuit. DiSario did so without issue until May of this year, when he received a "Deed Restriction Violation" notice from Omni. The management company told DiSario that his flag was "a political statement" and demanded that he remove it within 10 days, threatening fines or legal action if he did not, according to the May 13 letter.
"To be honest, when I saw the letter that people are fighting me over something very valuable to me and personal, I broke down and cried," DiSario told the Newark Advocate at the time. "That's how much it meant to me."
Dye, Omni's president, argued in a July 5 response that DiSario, in moving to a neighborhood governed by a homeowners association and its bylaws, had agreed to limit his freedom-of-speech rights "as a fair exchange for his neighbors' agreement to limit their right to express themselves, in manners that may be objectionable to him."
Omni's demand that DiSario remove the flag had nothing to do with disrespecting his son's sacrifice, nor disregard for his death, Dye added. "Many of those involved in the operation of the HOA and in its management (the author of this letter, included) have a deep and abiding respect for the police, and mourn Mr. DiSario's loss."
"The HOA's policies and procedures result in the exact same treatment for a sign that says 'I love x', as for a sign that says 'I hate x'. Content is not relevant, and the Board does not judge enforcement based on content," he wrote.
On Nov. 11, Omni sent another letter, informing DiSario that it would fine him $175 if he didn't take down the flag and $5 for every day it stayed up. Five days later, he lowered the tribute to his dead son.
The neighborhood squabble had already bubbled up to the Ohio legislature. In August, two Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that would make it illegal for homeowners associations, mobile home park operators and landlords to restrict the display of the "thin blue line" flag, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
Last month, the bill was referred to a state House of Representatives committee, according to the legislature's website.
The "thin blue line" flag has been flown by white supremacists in recent years, becoming a controversial symbol.
In 2019, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) banned the flag from county buildings, saying he was trying to improve police-community relations. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) rebuked Elrich, saying he was "offended and disgusted" by the decision.
As protests and riots broke out across the country in the days after George Floyd was murdered in May 2020, sheriff's deputies raised a "thin blue line" flag in front of the Hamilton County Jail in Cincinnati. A city councilman criticized the sheriff for escalating tensions by hoisting a "politically charged" symbol as thousands were protesting police brutality in the city's streets. The sheriff's office replaced it with an American flag.
Last year, the chief judge for Maryland's district courts ordered court employees to stop wearing the symbol while at work after Maryland Public Defender Paul DeWolfe complained that doing so jeopardized defendants' rights to a fair trial.
The Washington Post's Rachel Weiner, Clarence Williams, Rebecca Tan and Laura Meckler contributed to this report.
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2022-12-15T14:00:27Z
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www.unionleader.com
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He flew a 'thin blue line' flag to honor his son. His HOA banned it. | Back Page | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/he-flew-a-thin-blue-line-flag-to-honor-his-son-his-hoa-banned-it/article_f44cf291-65eb-5467-9000-30c80c77acd2.html
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At his Rose City, Mich., home, he showed off the machinery he used to manufacture gun barrels and custom parts, according to an affidavit. In two days, he could fashion a silencer from a titanium tube, he explained to an associate in a phone video, and modify a rifle trigger so it could fire fully automatic, the affidavit states.
Prosecutors say Myers also bragged about his customers - members of a roster of outlaw motorcycle clubs, including the Jokers, Outlaws and Avengers. There was going to be a "war" between the Outlaws and the Hells Angels, he allegedly said as he discussed a purchase in October. He said he'd supplied the Avengers and Outlaws with machine guns and silencers, according to the affidavit.
But Myers, 53, had been bragging to an informant and an undercover federal agent, court documents say. Authorities arrested him earlier this month and charged him with selling firearms without a license.
An attorney for Myers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening, and declined to comment to Michigan news outlet MLive.
In a recently unsealed affidavit, special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives described a months-long investigation into Myers using information gathered by several confidential informants and, eventually, an ATF agent working undercover.
One informant, a felon, told agents in September that they'd purchased a shotgun and pistol from Myers, the affidavit alleged.
Myers allegedly told the informant that he dealt guns to outlaw motorcycle gangs, national networks of counterculture bikers sometimes associated with criminal activity. Among his customers, the affidavit alleged, was Frank Bartels, whom the affidavit alleges was the leader of a club based in Flint, Mich., called the Avengers.
Upon determining that Myers did not possess a federal firearms license, an undercover agent accompanied the informant to purchase a rifle from Myers at his home in October.
There, Myers revealed more details of his gunsmithing, according to the affidavit. He allegedly displayed three mills he used to produce metal gun parts, including barrels and trigger components. According to the undercover agent, Myers said he used aircraft aluminum to fashion his guns because it was harder to trace and sourced it from aircraft manufacturers Boeing or Honeywell, the affidavit states. He claimed to have served 26 years in the military, and said that he learned to work with weapons as a Marine, according to investigators. Marine Corps officials did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that Myers served.
At one point during the visit, Myers "excitedly" showed the agent a black block of carbon fiber, according to the affidavit, and claimed to have made a carbon fiber "belt buckle gun" that would be undetectable in an X-ray machine.
Myers was arrested Dec. 2 after another informant allegedly told authorities Myers had sold a pump action shotgun to a drug dealer.
It is unclear whether the impending "war" Myers described between Michigan's biker gangs in October came to pass, but violence between feuding motorcycle clubs is common. Nine people were killed and 18 injured in Waco, Tex., in a 2015 shootout between the Bandidos and the Cossacks. The same year, members of the Avengers were accused of assaulting members of another Michigan bike club in Springfield with bats and pipes, the Battle Creek Enquirer reported.
Upon his arrest, Myers was released on orders not to leave eastern Michigan or possess drugs or firearms, according to court records. He is due back in court Dec. 22.
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2022-12-15T14:00:34Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Michigan man accused of building guns, silencers for biker gang 'war' | Back Page | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/michigan-man-accused-of-building-guns-silencers-for-biker-gang-war/article_f8b3bc92-ab6c-51fe-9059-37644de2c7fe.html
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FILE PHOTO: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her husband Paul Pelosi arrive for the 42nd Annual Kennedy Awards Honors in Washington, U.S., December 8, 2019.
By Reis Thebault The Washington Post
"Okay, well, I got a problem, but he thinks everything is good," the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on speakerphone as the intruder stood feet away with a hammer in one hand and a fistful of zip-tie handcuffs in the other.
Audio of the call, played publicly for the first time in a courtroom here Wednesday, was among the new evidence prosecutors unveiled in the case against David DePape, who is accused of bludgeoning Paul Pelosi with a hammer.
DePape sat next to his attorney in court as prosecutors sought to convince a judge that the case should proceed to a trial. Dozens of spectators, including the Pelosis' daughter Christine, packed into a small gallery, separated from the well by thick plexiglass, to watch. After the roughly three-hour proceeding, Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy ruled the case could move forward.
"The most stark evidence of planning and motive in this case were the statements of the defendant himself," San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Maffei said during the hearing.
Prosecutors walked the court through a battery of evidence, including video footage of the attack and a recorded interview with DePape, in which he recounted the conspiracy theories that he said drove him to the Pelosi home, where he said he wanted to take the speaker hostage as punishment for Democratic "lies" and "crimes."
DePape told investigators that his other targets included California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), President Biden's son Hunter Biden, actor Tom Hanks and feminist author and professor Gayle Rubin.
"It's an endless f---ing crime spree," DePape said in an interview with Sgt. Carla Hurley of the San Francisco police shortly after the assault.
Asked why he attacked Pelosi, DePape replied, "I told him I'm not going to surrender, I'm here for the fight," according to the recording.
Video footage from the body cameras worn by the responding police officers captured the attack and the seconds leading up to it, from the moment the door to Pelosi's house opened until officers detained DePape.
In the shaky footage, the two men can be seen standing in the doorway, each with a hand on the hammer.
"Drop the hammer," one officer says.
DePape can be heard responding, "Um, nope," before lunging at Pelosi.
Pelosi, 82, sustained a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, confining him to a hospital for nearly a week while he underwent surgery and recovered. Prosecutors said the beating was "near fatal."
San Francisco police patrolman Kyle Cagney, one of the two responding officers, recounted the chaotic scene in testimony Wednesday, describing how it unfolded in a matter of seconds and ended with Pelosi motionless on the floor.
"Mr. Pelosi was laying facedown on the ground, a pool of blood around his head," Cagney said.
Pelosi made his first public appearance more than a month later, in early December, accompanying his wife to the Kennedy Center Honors in D.C. He wore a black fedora over his head wound and a glove on one hand. He was met with a standing ovation from the star-studded audience.
The assault came during a period of rising violence and vicious rhetoric aimed at leaders, lawmakers and government officials. Nancy Pelosi has for years been the target of right-wing demonization - vilification that culminated around 2 a.m. on Oct. 28, when prosecutors say DePape broke into the Pelosis' home. "Where's Nancy? Where's Nancy?" DePape asked, according to the court filing, echoing the chants of some in the mob of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The House speaker, in Washington ahead of the midterm elections, was not home.
DePape, whose descent into extremism left a messy public trail, later told investigators that he intended to take the House speaker hostage and that he viewed her as "the 'leader of the pack' of lies told by the Democratic Party," according to a separate affidavit filed by an FBI agent. DePape said he planned to break Nancy Pelosi's kneecaps so that "she would then have to be wheeled into Congress," sending a message to other members of Congress, the document said.
The affidavit was filed in federal authorities' case against DePape, as part of the multi-jurisdictional effort to prosecute the attack. The federal charges against him include attempting to kidnap a federal official and assaulting an immediate relative of a federal official. DePape has pleaded not guilty in the state and federal cases, which are expected to proceed simultaneously. If convicted of the state charges, DePape will face 13 years to life in prison.
After DePape's arraignment last month, his public defender, Adam Lipson, told reporters that "there's been a lot of speculation regarding Mr. DePape's vulnerability to misinformation, and that's certainly something we're going to look into."
Lipson declined to elaborate on a defense strategy after the Wednesday hearing, telling a group of reporters that "Mr. DePape is going to be fighting this case in court, not the hallways."
The San Francisco district attorney's office said Wednesday marked "a key milestone," with prosecutors easily clearing the first hurdle to the case proceeding, successfully persuading Murphy, the judge, that they have enough evidence that DePape committed the crimes he was charged with. The threshold is a lower bar than determining guilt or innocence, and Murphy said he had seen enough to green-light a trial on all six counts.
DePape's next appearance in the state case was set for Dec. 28. Meanwhile, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said her office would weigh whether it would offer DePape a plea deal. In a brief news conference after the hearing, Jenkins said DePape "clearly had a plan and acted on that plan."
She said that the case demonstrates "the toxic political environment that we are living in at this time" and that she hopes the prosecution "sends a clear message to the country that things have gone too far and that we must tone down our rhetoric."
In her most detailed comments since the episode, Nancy Pelosi said last month that she has been racked by trauma and something akin to survivor's guilt.
"It's so sad for our country," she said.
The Washington Post's Holly Bailey contributed to this report.
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2022-12-15T14:00:34Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Prosecutors play 911 call, show body-cam footage in Paul Pelosi attack | Crime | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/prosecutors-play-911-call-show-body-cam-footage-in-paul-pelosi-attack/article_3e174881-d8ad-5365-88ba-e493ed870daf.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/prosecutors-play-911-call-show-body-cam-footage-in-paul-pelosi-attack/article_3e174881-d8ad-5365-88ba-e493ed870daf.html
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Students at Holderness Central School on Dec. 9 examine Rik Yeames’ 2018 Dodge Challenger, which is nicknamed the “Eclipse Mobile” in honor of the April 8, 2024, full solar eclipse that will be visible in much of New Hampshire, but most pronounced in the North Country.
Three architectural and engineering firms have been invited to submit proposals to help with the Manchester School District’s long-term facilities planning process.
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2022-12-15T14:00:35Z
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www.unionleader.com
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A place in the sun: Holderness students get head start on solar eclipse | Education | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/a-place-in-the-sun-holderness-students-get-head-start-on-solar-eclipse/article_d1ccdd08-b30c-5673-9848-0de569489c0b.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/a-place-in-the-sun-holderness-students-get-head-start-on-solar-eclipse/article_d1ccdd08-b30c-5673-9848-0de569489c0b.html
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Then Democratic 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders shakes hands with Joe Biden after the presidential debate in Charleston, S.C., in April, 2020.
By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Karoun Demirjian The Washington Post
The legislation, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), would have ended some U.S. support for the Saudi-led war effort in Yemen, which has gone on for more than seven years. Forces from a Saudi-led coalition have bombed and killed hundreds of thousands of Yemeni civilians and blocked crucial ports, helping fuel a nationwide famine.
Similar resolutions passed the Senate in 2018 and 2019, during the Trump administration, with support of all Democratic senators. In 2019, the measure won the support of both chambers of Congress, but not enough to override a veto by President Donald Trump.
Now those efforts have been renewed. President Joe Biden's White House also opposes the measure, putting the president in the unusual position of standing against an effort to punish a Saudi regime that has been anything but friendly to him.
But Biden aides say the president is opposing the resolution for different reasons than Trump did. The current version of Sanders's measure differs from the previous versions, particularly in defining intelligence-sharing and support operations as "hostilities." That could have dire consequences for U.S. operations globally, some congressional aides say, including in such hot spots as Ukraine.
"It really has made us nervous," said one senior Democratic aide, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The changes "could have real ramifications for our support for Ukraine right now, or our support for Israel," the aide said. "This is the first time that the Congress is being asked to vote on defining hostility as intelligence-sharing, and it's dangerous."
The White House is concerned enough that it distributed talking points to senators ahead of a scheduled vote Tuesday night, arguing that the resolution would endanger a fragile pause in the hostilities between the Saudi-led faction in Yemen and the country's Houthi rebels. The talking points acknowledged that senators might be reluctant to switch their positions after taking a forceful stance in favor of the resolution just three years ago.
"We know that it is a difficult decision to change a vote, but the circumstances are fundamentally different than they were in 2019, and a vote would undermine the possibility that we can finally bring an end to this war and the humanitarian suffering of the people of Yemen," the documents said. "If this resolution were presented to the President, his staff will recommend the President veto it. The stakes are too high."
The White House cited a nine-month halt in fighting and pointed to ongoing U.S. diplomacy that it said was not in place three years ago. "The bottom line is that this resolution is unnecessary and would greatly complicate the intense and ongoing diplomacy to truly bring an end to the conflict," the talking points said.
Sanders, while nominally an independent, is allied with the Democratic Party, and he had expressed confidence in recent days that the measure would secure enough votes to pass - based, perhaps, on the support for the previous Yemen war powers resolutions.
Some proponents of the legislation pushed back on the administration talking points. "The White House is touting the lack of recent Saudi airstrikes, but their opposition to Bernie's bill shows that they remain open to supporting a Saudi escalation," said Erik Sperling, executive director of the advocacy organization Just Foreign Policy and a former congressional staffer who has worked on Yemen policy since 2015.
"The best way to support Yemen's truce is to guarantee that the era of Saudi airstrikes is over," Sperling said.
In 2019, seven Republicans joined all Senate Democrats in backing the measure - albeit with exemptions for intelligence-sharing and protections for military cooperation with Israel, which are omitted from the current resolution. In 2018, when the Senate passed a more vaguely worded resolution, seven Republicans also joined Democrats to back the measure.
The current Saudi regime, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is viewed with distaste and even disgust by many in Congress, given its record of human rights violations that include the murder of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. In an effort to improve relations, Biden visited Saudi Arabia in July and was criticized in many quarters for giving Mohammed a fist bump - only to have a Saudi-led coalition announce a few months later it was slashing oil production, in a move potentially damaging to the U.S. economy as well as Biden's political prospects.
Sanders, who caught Democrats and the White House off-guard when he announced last week he would reintroduce the measure, said he is now in talks with the administration on a compromise, though it remains unclear what that would look like. Aides and others involved in the legislative push say it is uncertain whether the outcome will be simply a delay in the vote, a diluted version of the war powers resolution, or an agreement to pull down the effort entirely while Biden officials try to forge a long-term peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
"Let me be clear. If we do not reach agreement, I will, along with my colleagues, bring this resolution back for a vote in the near future and do everything possible to end this horrific conflict," Sanders said in withdrawing his resolution Tuesday.
Sanders introduced the measure in July, along with Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). "Why are we supporting a corrupt theocracy that brutalizes its own people, in a war that is best known for causing immense suffering and death among impoverished, defenseless civilians?" Leahy said at the time.
Other key Democrats, including Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a close ally of Biden and a longtime champion of efforts to end the bloodshed in Yemen, had expressed support for the measure ahead of the vote.
"The Saudis have shown more willingness than in the past to end the war, and right now, the Houthis are the biggest obstacle. But the Saudi interest in de-escalation comes and goes," Murphy wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
"I just don't think the US should play any role in the war any longer," Murphy wrote in a separate tweet several hours later.
But even supporters of Sanders's resolution acknowledged that the vote was not as cut-and-dry as it was in 2019. Some expressed frustration at both the White House and Sanders for complicating an already difficult situation.
One Democratic congressional aide, whose boss supported the motion and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said there was frustration at Sanders for bringing up the resolution when the vote is tougher for some Democrats than it was three years ago.
The aide added that many Democrats felt Trump had been overly friendly to Saudi Arabia and wrote the kingdom "blank checks" without any effort to end the war, and Congress was pushing Trump to be more active in negotiations. In contrast, Biden has been far more proactive in trying to bring the conflict to a close, Democrats argued.
The White House itself is pointing to a lull in the fighting in Yemen, crediting that relative calm to its own "robust diplomatic efforts," according to the talking points. Some advocates of the war powers resolution said continued pressure from Congress also played a key role in forcing Saudi Arabia to pull back on airstrikes.
"The port and airport have opened, with food and fuel flowing, and there's rarely a shot fired. The Saudis have conducted no airstrikes at all over the past nine months," the talking points said, while emphasizing that the Biden administration had "halted ALL sales of offensive munitions" to Saudi Arabia.
But few diplomats are confident the hostilities are definitively over. And the dispute over the resolution comes at a time of heightened scrutiny surrounding the Biden administration's relations with the Saudi government.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration has taken heat for attempting to reset relations with Saudi Arabia, which wields significant influence in international markets thanks to its copious petroleum reserves at a time when oil and gas markets have been roiled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Biden's visit to Riyadh this summer broke his campaign promise to make Saudi Arabia "the pariah that they are." And when OPEC Plus, a Saudi-led coalition, announced weeks ahead of the midterm elections that it would cut oil production, some in Biden's circle saw it as a personal shot at the president.
Biden promised consequences for the move, but those have yet to materialize.
The tenuous situation was punctuated further in recent days by the Biden administration's decision to grant Mohammed immunity in Khashoggi's murder, prompting a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit against him, as well. The crown prince was condemned by both a U.S. intelligence report and the U.S. Senate as responsible for the 2018 murder, which took place in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
But opponents of the Yemen resolution said it was important not to turn it into a referendum on Saudi Arabia.
"The way the administration has gone about expressing its opposition to the resolution has been firmly placed in the context of Yemen policy and the impact on Yemen," a second senior Democratic aide said.
The aide added that Democrats who oppose the resolution will be watching to make sure the White House lives up to its commitments regarding the Yemen war. Lawmakers, the aide said, will be "measuring the actions of the administration now, both in terms of what they've done to withdraw support for Saudi Arabia . . . and also what they've done to double down on diplomacy."
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2022-12-15T14:00:53Z
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www.unionleader.com
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White House pushes to derail Sanders measure cutting Saudi support | National | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/national/white-house-pushes-to-derail-sanders-measure-cutting-saudi-support/article_4936c500-46a3-5026-9eb5-29961054f41f.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/national/white-house-pushes-to-derail-sanders-measure-cutting-saudi-support/article_4936c500-46a3-5026-9eb5-29961054f41f.html
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Who was Miss Cleo?
SOMETIMES THE MOST ephemeral pop culture says the most about its era. The 2022 documentary “Call Me Miss Cleo,” streaming on HBO Max, recalls a fixture of the late 1990s, a time of infomercials and 1-900 telephone schemes that were little more than scams.
No one stood out in this crowded field quite like Miss Cleo, a turban-wearing self-described shaman who promised to read your cards, foretell your future and advise you about your love life or problems with your family. Speaking in a distinct, if somewhat slippery, Jamaican accent, she was quickly a figure of fun and parody.
Two actresses who spent time spoofing her, Raven Symone and Debra Wilson (“Mad TV”), appear here to discuss their fascination with her and her larger-than-life appeal.
We also hear from employees who worked in the boiler rooms of these infomercials, their job being to string along callers for well beyond their first three “free” minutes so that their phone bills would run into the hundreds of dollars.
A search for Miss Cleo’s real story takes us to a theater company in Seattle, where she operated with a different name and accent and left unpaid bills and employees behind.
Yet Miss Cleo eventually emerges as more victim than fraudster. Investigators into phone scams expected her to be some criminal mastermind. It turns out she was a not-so-well-paid employee of criminals who made the most of her performances and even owned the intellectual property rights to her “character.”
Miss Cleo, who died of cancer in 2016 at only 53, had a number of admirers who vouched for her psychic abilities. She obviously touched a nerve with audiences of her commercials, even those who never dialed her number. An author and expert on the Caribbean diaspora in the United States sees her as a great example of how her island accent and large frame were seen as comforting and magical by white people in search of a mystical but nonthreatening “mammy” figure.
She might be an example of what Spike Lee described as Hollywood’s fixation with “the magical negro,” characters whose sole purpose is to “humanize” the white people around them.
In earlier decades, Hollywood had attributed that kind of mystical magic to Irish characters, often accompanied by stereotypical music, who appeared to be in touch with spirits unseen — or distilled.
A good example of the magical Irishman genre is “It Happened on 5th Avenue,” a rarely seen 1947 Christmas movie about a wise, blarney-spouting hobo (Victor Moore) who reconciles a tycoon (Charles Ruggles) with his estranged wife (Ann Harding) and runaway daughter (Gale Storm). It can be streamed on HBO Max.
“Call Me Miss Cleo” does a masterful job of leaving judgments to its audience. As to her character, I am reminded of the line about Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” She may have been a phony, but she was “a real phony.”
• Jason Batemen and Will Arnett return to their “Murderville Murder Mystery” Netflix franchise with the holiday installment “Who Killed Santa?”
• The Seattle Seahawks host the San Francisco 49ers in Thursday Night Football, streaming on Amazon Prime.
• Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph host a holiday special of the Peacock series “Baking It” (8 p.m., NBC TV-PG).
• Honey gets a do-over on “House Broken” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
• “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) recalls the animated musical.
• NBC repeats the 2016 holiday movie “Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love” (9 p.m., TV-G).
• “The Parent Test” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) compares child-rearing philosophies.
A priest (Dirk Bogarde) falls in love with a prostitute (Ava Gardner) during the Spanish Civil War in the 1960 drama “The Angel Wore Red” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-PG).
Dying for romance on “Ghosts” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) ... A dating app proves too effective on “So Help Me Todd” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) ... Barb returns on “Welcome to Flatch” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) ... Our love’s in jeopardy on “Call Me Kat” (9:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) ... Bodice rippers can be murder on “CSI: Vegas” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper and Louis Cato are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) ... Jimmy Fallon welcomes Regina Hall, F. Murray Abraham, Edvin Ryding, Omar Rudberg, Andrea and Matteo & Virginia Bocelli on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) ... Brendan Fraser, Diego Calva and Weezer appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (11:35 p.m., ABC).
Paul Bettany, Lily Collins and Kevin Murphy are scheduled to visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) ... Expect Margot Robbie and Jean Smart on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
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2022-12-15T16:20:08Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Who was Miss Cleo? | | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/who-was-miss-cleo/article_c9d79017-aff1-5eac-8b40-cbc2447dddc2.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/who-was-miss-cleo/article_c9d79017-aff1-5eac-8b40-cbc2447dddc2.html
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Exeter police are investigating the death of a person who apparently was struck by a train Thursday morning.
Provided by Exeter police department
Police say a man who was struck by a train Thursday morning in Exeter died by suicide.
First responders were called to the train tracks on Front Street shortly after 10 a.m. for a report of a pedestrian struck by a train. An adult male was found dead at the scene.
Exeter police said investigators gathered information that indicated that the man had died of an apparent suicide, something that witnesses to the tragedy corroborated, according to a news release.
Amtrak, which operates the Downeaster train in that area, posted a statement on its website, reporting “train delay due to police activity in Exeter, NH.”
“Train 681 is anticipated to be approximately 3 hours delayed to Exeter and stations north,” the statement said. Three later trains “are anticipated to encounter minor delays as well,” Amtrak said.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or are concerned about a loved one who may be in distress, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. The Lifeline offers 24/7 confidential support.
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2022-12-15T18:26:33Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Police: Exeter train tragedy was apparent suicide | Public Safety | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/police-exeter-train-tragedy-was-apparent-suicide/article_cb992966-2383-5759-b495-cde4c7639d03.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/police-exeter-train-tragedy-was-apparent-suicide/article_cb992966-2383-5759-b495-cde4c7639d03.html
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Claudine Gay, a scholar of political behavior, will become Harvard University's 30th president next year and the first Black person to serve in that post.
By Nick Anderson Washington Post
She will take office on July 1, succeeding Lawrence S. Bacow, the university's retiring president, Harvard said. Gay will be the second woman to serve as president.
"Claudine has brought to her roles a rare blend of incisiveness and inclusiveness, intellectual range and strategic savvy, institutional ambition and personal humility, a respect for enduring ideals and a talent for catalyzing change," Penny Pritzker, senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation and chair of the presidential search committee, said in a statement. "She has a bedrock commitment to free inquiry and expression, as well as a deep appreciation for the diverse voices and views that are the lifeblood of a university community."
Founded in 1636 as the first college in Colonial America, Harvard now is an iconic university with a global reputation and more than 31,000 students in its undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. The university is perpetually in the center of conversations about higher education, including an affirmative-action case pending at the Supreme Court. In that case, justices are weighing a challenge to Harvard's use of race as one of many factors in its holistic admissions. Harvard has defended its process as legal and necessary to pursue its goals for campus diversity -- a position that many other selective universities share.
Gay said in a statement on the Harvard website: "With the strength of this extraordinary institution behind us, we enter a moment of possibility, one that calls for deeper collaboration across the University, across all of our remarkable Schools. There is an urgency for Harvard to be engaged with the world and to bring bold, brave, pioneering thinking to our greatest challenges."
Gay earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Stanford University in 1992, and she earned a doctorate in government from Harvard in 1998. She was on the Stanford faculty from 2000 to 2006 before joining the Harvard faculty.
In her research, Harvard said, Gay "has explored such topics as how the election of minority officeholders affects citizens' perceptions of their government and their interest in politics and public affairs; how neighborhood environments shape racial and political attitudes among Black Americans; the roots of competition and cooperation between minority groups, with a particular focus on relations between Black Americans and Latinos; and the consequences of housing mobility programs for political participation among poor people."
In a video accompanying the announcement, Gay said: "As a woman of color, as a daughter of immigrants, if my presence in this role affirms someone's sense of belonging at Harvard, that is a great honor."
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2022-12-15T22:21:55Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Harvard names Claudine Gay as president, first Black person at helm | Education | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/harvard-names-claudine-gay-as-president-first-black-person-at-helm/article_20bc7af4-2465-5a93-acb6-7be07b71d3ee.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/harvard-names-claudine-gay-as-president-first-black-person-at-helm/article_20bc7af4-2465-5a93-acb6-7be07b71d3ee.html
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and Pavel Polityuk Reuters
(Adds quotes, EU financing)
U.N. says aid center in Kherson hit
In Brussels, European Union leaders agreed on 18 billion euros ($19.16 billion) in financing for Ukraine in 2023 after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged them to back "our struggle for peace for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe."
Russian shelling killed two people in the center of Kherson, the southern city liberated by Ukraine last month, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president's office. The shelling also knocked out the city's electricity, officials said.
'LIKE ZOMBIES'
The Kremlin said the United States was getting "deeper and deeper into the conflict in the post-Soviet republic," and that U.S. Patriot systems would be legitimate targets, something that Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday applied to all weapons supplied to Ukraine by the West.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a speech to the Rights Council following a visit to Ukraine that Russia's strikes were exposing millions to "extreme hardship."
A senior U.N. official expressed optimism that there would be a breakthrough in negotiations to ease exports of Russian fertilizers to avoid global food shortages next year.
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2022-12-15T22:22:01Z
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www.unionleader.com
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WRAPUP 8-Ukraine general says Russia digging in for long war | National | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/wire/national/wrapup-8-ukraine-general-says-russia-digging-in-for-long-war/article_db8fbf16-96c2-5ca2-b836-7de7b3f2a06f.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/wire/national/wrapup-8-ukraine-general-says-russia-digging-in-for-long-war/article_db8fbf16-96c2-5ca2-b836-7de7b3f2a06f.html
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Coach seating on the new Amtrak trains that will debut in 2026 on various routes, including the Northeast Regional.
A first look at the trains that will replace Amtrak's 50-year-old rail cars
The entire new fleet is expected to be operating in 2031. It is unclear how much of the rail car program is funded. Congress authorized $200 million for the rail cars and Amtrak said Thursday it expects funding from the infrastructure bill that passed last year will go toward the program.
As part of the contract, Siemens will provide Amtrak with technical support and maintenance for 20 years after delivery of the first train set. Amtrak next year is expected to debut the first of 28 new Acela high-speed train sets under construction in Upstate New York by French manufacturer Alstom. Those trains, part of a $2.5 billion project, are expected to enter service in the fall after delays caused by testing, as well as production and training interruptions during the pandemic.
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2022-12-16T00:10:35Z
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www.unionleader.com
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A first look at the trains that will replace Amtrak's 50-year-old rail cars | News | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/a-first-look-at-the-trains-that-will-replace-amtraks-50-year-old-rail-cars/article_f89fc3e4-a9ca-56a3-a2e1-c4a7f80af7d4.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/a-first-look-at-the-trains-that-will-replace-amtraks-50-year-old-rail-cars/article_f89fc3e4-a9ca-56a3-a2e1-c4a7f80af7d4.html
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The Institute for Justice (IJ) filed the motion to intervene Wednesday in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord on behalf of parents currently using the EFAs to fund the education they choose for their children.
“The New Hampshire Constitution allows the state to have a public school system and alternative educational options,” said IJ Educational Choice Attorney David Hodges. “The educational establishment does not like that parents have new options and now wants to undercut a program that has been working for thousands of New Hampshire families.”
The motion was filed on behalf of parents Jessica Ash, a single mother who lives in Newport with her three children; Amy Shaw and her husband, who live in Rochester with their two children; and Karl Jackson and his wife, who live in Pembroke with their six children.
All three families say they depend on the program to send their children to the schools they are attending today, and are asking the court to consider their arguments in the coming legal battle over the future of the program.
“They wish to defend the very program they depend on to afford the educational options that best fit their families,” the motion states.
“The EFA makes it possible for me to send my girls to a school that meets their needs and exceeds my expectations,” said Amy Shaw. “Because of my daughters’ unique educational needs, they were unsafe in their previous public school. The thought that the program could go away is worrying to me and I want to defend it on behalf of my girls and many other families who count on it today.”
Deb Howes, president of the American Federation of Teachers-NH (AFT), filed the lawsuit last Thursday against state Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, claiming his department is violating the New Hampshire Constitution and state law by using state lottery dollars and money from the Education Trust Fund to fund the state’s private-school voucher program.
The Department of Education has issued a statement saying it is aware of the filing but declined comment.
In its motion to intervene, IJ reports in nearly every legal challenge to an educational choice program over the past 30 years, parents who have sought to intervene to defend the program have been permitted to do so.
“If the EFA Program is declared unconstitutional, (these) parents and many other New Hampshire parents will forever lose the opportunity to protect their interests in the greater educational opportunity and flexibility that the EFA Program provides,” the motion states. “To protect the educational future of their children, parents should be allowed to intervene as defendants.”
Motion to Intervene
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2022-12-16T00:10:41Z
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Institute for Justice files motion to intervene on behalf of parents in voucher program lawsuit | Courts | unionleader.com
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Influenza, coronavirus and RSV are sweeping the nation and prompting a huge demand for children’s medicines.
The Washington Post spoke with four experts about the shortage and to answer common questions about what parents can do to help their children if they can’t find these drugs. Here’s what they said.
Q: Why is there a shortage of some children’s medications?
A: First, “the shortages aren’t everywhere,” said William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist and professor of preventive medicine in the department of health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “There are spot shortages.”
Joanna Dolgoff, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatricians, said she has never seen such a situation of “so many respiratory illnesses at the same time hitting so hard” with “emergency rooms, urgent care and doctors’ offices overflowing with patients.”
“Everybody is sick and everybody needs medicine at once,” and companies can’t keep up with the high demand, Dolgoff said.
Gabrielle Virgo, a Silver Spring, Maryland, pediatrician says her practice also has experienced a shortage of amoxicillin suspension, the pediatric formulation of an antibiotic used against childhood bacterial infections. While antibiotics don’t work against viruses — only bacteria — Virgo says physicians are seeing secondary bacterial infections with the current “tridemic” that require first-line antibiotics such as amoxicillin.
“My pharmacists have been out of certain suspension concentrations, but not all, so I have been adjusting my dosing,” she said. “The pharmacists, however, have also had a steady supply of either amoxicillin tablets or capsules, which I can use for my adolescent patients.”
Antibiotics should not be used against viruses alone, she added, since their inappropriate overuse contributes to the growing problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Q: How long is this drug shortage expected to last?
A: Schaffner believes the problem will be short-lived. Manufacturers are saying they have the stocks and need to get it to retail locations quickly, he said. Schaffner advised people to call different pharmacies and stores to find the medications if they can’t find it at their regular location.
Others think it might be weeks or months, which “doesn’t help somebody whose child is sick today,” Dolgoff said.
Q: What can you substitute for children’s Tylenol or Motrin?
A: While name brands may not be available, generic forms might be easier to find — and are fine to use, Dolgoff says. Generic Tylenol is acetaminophen and generic Advil and Motrin is ibuprofen.
Virgo also urges parents to look for store brands, and even sometimes provides prescriptions to her patients for these same drugs in over-the-counter strength, if they have prescription insurance coverage. “I assume this gives them access to a supply of medication independent of what is available over the counter,” she said.
Dolgoff said that it isn’t always necessary to treat a fever with medication, and parents shouldn’t stress if they can’t find one. “A fever itself is not dangerous unless it gets super high super quick,” she said.
Dolgoff offered these pieces of advice to parents or other caregivers: Keep the child’s room cool. Place a fan nearby to keep cool air moving. Dress the child lightly. Have the child drink extra fluids. And consider sponging the child with tepid — not cold — water. The water should feel just slightly warm. Too cold water can cause shivering, which can raise temperature, she said.
Q: Can children take adult medication? How do you know what dose to give?
A: Administering adult medication to youngsters can be tricky, even risky, the experts said.
“Young children should not take adult medications,” said Katie Lockwood, a primary care pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Teens “can use these forms if that’s what is available but should make sure that they take the same dose they would have taken in the pediatric version.”
If you are unsure what dose to give your child, check with your pediatrician. Taking too large a dose can be dangerous, she said.
To save liquid formulations for infants, older children could use chewables, if available, or tablets if they are able to swallow them. “This is a great time to teach children to swallow pills, as it makes you more flexible when there are drug shortages,” Lockwood suggested.
Giving a child adult medication also depends on the age of the child, Virgo said. “A healthy 160-pound 15-year-old can take the adult tablets of Tylenol or Motrin, but you cannot give adult tablets to a 3-year-old,” she said. “Consult with your pediatrician if you have, for instance, Childrens’ Tylenol Elixir for your 3-year-old and want to use it for your 6-month-old infant. Always remember, we pediatricians want to help you in making safe decisions for your children.”
Most importantly, anyone considering giving a child adult medication should do so only under the guidance of a pediatrician or family doctor, the experts said. “If it is appropriate for your child, the doctor will determine the correct dosage,” Dolgoff said. “Never try to do this yourself.”
Q: What medications should you definitely not give children and why?
A: Don’t use aspirin, especially if a child has flu-like symptoms. Aspirin is associated with Reye’s syndrome, a rare but serious condition that causes swelling in the liver and brain, often striking children and teenagers recovering from a viral infection, most commonly the flu or chickenpox.
Also, “avoid giving multi-ingredient OTC medications that contain ibuprofen or acetaminophen, as some of the other ingredients may not be needed and can have unwanted side effects in children,” Lockwood said.
Use extreme caution when administering more than one drug at a time, especially when also giving Tylenol, as many over-the-counter medications — including allergy, and cough and cold products — also contain acetaminophen as an ingredient. Too much acetaminophen can cause serious liver damage, resulting in a liver transplant or death. Read the ingredient listings on the labels.
Q: What’s the difference between Tylenol, Advil and other pain relievers?
A: Tylenol — or acetaminophen — reduces pain and fever, while Advil and Motrin — or ibuprofen — are part of a class called NSAIDs, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which reduce pain, fever and inflammation. “As with any medication, different children respond best to different medications,” Virgo says. “Tylenol can be given every 4 to 6 hours and is not harsh on the digestive tract. Advil and Motrin can be given every 6 to 8 hours and should not be taken on an empty stomach due to potential digestive system irritation.”
Moreover, acetaminophen is metabolized by the liver and Ibuprofen is metabolized by the kidneys, “so if a child has a liver or kidney disease, they may not be able to take one of these medications,” Lockwood said. Also, ibuprofen should not be given to infants under the age of six months, she said.
“Select the medication that has worked best for your child and follow the dosage instructions. If in any doubt,” Virgo said, “consult your pediatrician. Safety first.”
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2022-12-16T00:10:54Z
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Why is there a children's Tylenol shortage? Here's what parents can do. | Health | unionleader.com
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The TikTok logo is pictured outside the company's U.S. head office in Culver City, California, U.S., September 15, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
By Paul Feely Union Leader Staff and Wire Reports
Gov. Chris Sununu signed an executive order Wednesday that bans state workers from using the popular social media app TikTok because of an “unacceptable level of cybersecurity risk” to the state.
The order prohibits workers from using TikTok and other Chinese-company backed applications on state networks and state-issued devices, according to Sununu’s office.
“TikTok can harvest large amounts of data from devices it is installed on including when, where, and how the user conducts Internet activity,” the order states. “On June 30, 2022, TikTok admitted in a letter to nine United States Senators that China-based employees can access U.S. data, even though that data is stored in the United States.”
The order claims state officials recently were informed about growing threats posed by Chinese and other foreign vendors and products that “introduce an unacceptable level of cybersecurity risk to the state.”
“New Hampshire is joining the growing list of states that have banned TikTok and other Chinese companies from state government devices and networks,” Sununu said in a statement. “This move will help preserve the safety, security, and privacy of the citizens of New Hampshire.”
The order also bans the messaging app WeChat and other apps owned by Chinese firm Tencent. It also bans apps owned by Chinese firm Alibaba and telecommunications hardware and smartphones made by Chinese firms including Huawei and ZTE.
At least seven states have issued similar bans on TikTok in the past two weeks, including Alabama, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Texas.
Nebraska banned TikTok from state devices in 2020.
The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday banning TikTok from federal devices. A companion bill introduced in the House in 2021 has yet to receive approval from the House Oversight Committee.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she had yet to decide whether the U.S. House of Representatives will join the Senate in backing the legislation.
"We're checking with the administration -- just in terms of language, not in terms of being opposed to the idea," Pelosi told reporters a day after the Senate vote. "I don't know that that will be on the agenda next week but it's very, very important."
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has for months sought to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of TikTok's more than 100 million users, but it appears no deal will be reached before year's end.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin urged Americans to stop using TikTok. "Maybe America has finally reached the point where we realize that our innermost secrets, privacy, security are at stake here," Durbin told MSNBC.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday unveiled bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok altogether in the United States. At a hearing last month, FBI Director Chris Wray said TikTok's U.S. operations raise national security concerns.
Information from wire services were used in this report.
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2022-12-16T00:11:00Z
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Sununu bans TikTok from state government devices | Politics | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/sununu-bans-tiktok-from-state-government-devices/article_e521947f-0157-5734-a34e-fbdcab67f058.html
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People dip themselves in the Jordan River at the Qasr el-Yahud site, near Jericho, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Jordanian officials say the site, which is believed to be the place where Jesus was bapitzed, could become a tourist city.
People gather at the Qasr el-Yahud site, near Jericho, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as pictured from the Jordan Valley, Jordan December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
A Franciscan friar drips water from the Jordan River on a woman at the Qasr el-Yahud site, near Jericho.
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi Reuters
People dip themselves in Jordan River at the Qasr el-Yahud site, near Jericho, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as pictured from the Jordan Valley
This number could swell to one million visitors a year if a proposed phased six-year estimated $300 million project for a ‘tourist city’ adjacent to what is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site goes ahead.
Among those who gathered at the river bank last week were Jordan’s King Abdullah and Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch, Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, who joined architects, museum curators and investors to hear about the proposal from its organizers.
Organizers hope that with souvenir shops and walking trails, boutique hotels and botanical gardens, the site — which lies outside the formal boundary of the baptism location — will eventually attract five times as many annual visitors than the current 200,000, and will help preserve the region’s dwindling Christian presence.
King Abdullah has been praised by Christian leaders for fostering religious harmony in Jordan’s majority Muslim population by offering land to churches and pilgrimage centers.
“This helps Christians in the Middle East to preserve their presence and their credo,” Al-Rai, who is Lebanon’s leading Christian cleric, told Reuters after a ceremony attended by the monarch that unveiled the masterplan for the project. Bethany Upon The Jordan, around 31 miles west of Amman, is mentioned in the Gospel of John as the place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.
“We are talking about rustic stones and pebbles in architectural designs that preserve the place’s pristine nature and ensure that the sanctity and spirituality that existed 2,000 years ago are not trampled on by any development,” said Kamel Mahadin, the 67-year old architect behind the designs who briefed the monarch on the masterplan.
“We are not talking about a high-tech landscape,” he said.
“The extraordinary resonance of this landscape... and the significance of that event in human history shakes you to the core,” said John Booth, chairman of Britain’s National Gallery, who attended the launch.
Samir Murad, a former minister and businessman who chairs the nonprofit independent foundation set up by law that oversees the project, said no state funds would be spent and no land sold to foreign investors.
His pledges are meant to allay fears of profiteering and over-commercialization, though some were still skeptical.
Jordanian Baptist Evangelical researcher Philiph Madanat says strict guidelines should be put in place to guarantee transparency and prevent the abuse of funds, given it would be the kingdom’s first money-generating Christian site.
“This is an attempt to usurp religious spirit. It is unprecedented to have such a Christian holy site used for this purpose in Jordan,” Madanat added.
Camels and sheep graze in a landscape dotted with tamarisk and persimmon trees in scenes unchanged from 2,000 years ago, and some clerics say that is how it should stay, insisting on the site’s sanctity.
The World Bank says resurging tourism post-COVID would help boost Jordan’s economic recovery from a slump in recent years.
“It will lead to prosperity when tourists who come and buy souvenirs and get services help the local community and the country at large,” said Father Ibrahim Dabbour, the general secretary of the Assembly of Christian leaders of Jordan that represents all denominations.
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2022-12-16T01:51:05Z
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Jordan eyes tourism bonanza in expansion of Jesus' baptism site | Back Page | unionleader.com
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Ritter attempted to intervene when Starks pulled out a handgun and shot Vereen in the face or neck, Police Chief John Phillips told reporters. Starks then shot Ritter in the chest and then turned the gun on himself, police said. “One of the victims was in a relationship with the shooter. The other was just an innocent bystander that was coming to work and then trying to help the coworker,” he said.
Officers responded to reports of the shooting about 8:30 a.m. behind the Berks Center for Digestive Health in Wyomissing, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia’s city center.
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2022-12-16T01:51:11Z
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Shooting at Pennsylvania medical clinic leaves two wounded, suspect dead | Crime | unionleader.com
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A banner is shown at the University of New Hampshire School of Law during a 2013 ceremony. The UNH School of Law is becoming the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law.
Megan Carpenter, dean and professor of law, said the “monolithic ranking system” is detrimental to legal education and the legal profession.
“It is our opinion that the rankings are seriously flawed, have an outsized negative influence on legal education, and are inconsistent with our values,” she said in a statement.
UNH Franklin Pierce ranked No. 8 in intellectual property law and No. 105 overall in the 2023 ranking of law schools, according to the U.S News website.
The school became the 18th to distance itself from the rankings, after Harvard and Yale on Nov. 16. Georgetown and Columbia law schools also have withdrawn from the rankings.
Yale, which has topped the list for three decades, said the list doesn’t recognize the importance of public interest careers, need-based aid or welcoming working-class students into the profession.
UNH Franklin Pierce’s Carpenter said the for-profit magazine puts too much weight on standardized tests and undergraduate grade-point averages.
“Some information collected by U.S. News isn’t publicly available nor is it subject to vetting or authentication. The rankings erode support for public interest careers, disadvantage students who have to take out loans to go to school, discourage innovation and do not reflect the realities of a modern law degree,” she said.
The rankings are not based on curriculum, employment, program breadth or depth, but rather on professors’ rankings of schools on a scale of one to five, according to the school.
The school will share relevant data with prospective students.
“Having this one monolithic ranking system of U.S. News ... disadvantages students and schools, fails to promote equity, doesn’t celebrate innovation and ends up wasting tuition dollars on law schools’ marketing to one another,” Carpenter said. “That is not good for legal education and it’s not good for students.”
U.S. News & World Report says it will continue to rank all fully accredited schools regardless of whether they participate in the data collection process.
“U.S. News has a responsibility to prospective students to provide comparative information that allows them to assess these institutions,” the magazine wrote in a statement.
“The U.S. News Best Law Schools rankings are designed for students seeking to make the best decision for their legal education,” the statement reads. “We will continue to pursue our journalistic mission of ensuring that students can rely on the best and most accurate information, using the rankings as one factor in their law school search.”
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2022-12-16T01:51:17Z
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UNH School of Law joins snub of U.S. News & World Report rankings | Education | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/unh-school-of-law-joins-snub-of-u-s-news-world-report-rankings/article_30380bfa-224e-5469-afab-d6f8cc2deef3.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/unh-school-of-law-joins-snub-of-u-s-news-world-report-rankings/article_30380bfa-224e-5469-afab-d6f8cc2deef3.html
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Former President John F. Kennedy, center, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, right, and Texas Gov. John Connally, left, and his wife are pictured riding in the presidential motorcade moments before Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas, in this handout image taken on Nov. 22, 1963.
and Jarrett Renshaw Reuters
Thousands of books, articles, TV shows and films have explored the idea that Kennedy’s assassination was the result of an elaborate conspiracy. None have produced conclusive proof that Oswald — who was fatally shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby two days after killing Kennedy — worked with anyone else, though the idea is still popular.
150 years of Granite State history represented by new properties named to the NH State Register of Historic Places
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2022-12-16T01:51:23Z
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National Archives releases documents related to JFK assassination | History | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/history/national-archives-releases-documents-related-to-jfk-assassination/article_bd0f6423-f8df-59db-9989-d4e59b34af69.html
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While the snow is falling, we don’t always think of our spring green lawns. But the seasons change, and soon the grass will need tending to. Setting up a company to take care of your loved one’s lawn now will save them time and money once the seasons change.
Also, if someone plans some landscaping changes once warmer weather arrives, you can give them a head start with a gift card from a local landscaping company.
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2022-12-16T01:51:29Z
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Ask Angi: What home services can I buy as gifts? | Homes & Garden | unionleader.com
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A woman measures the size of a broken hospital window following recent shelling in Donetsk, part of Russian-controlled Ukraine, on Thursday.
“The Kremlin ... is seeking to turn the conflict into a prolonged armed confrontation,” Gromov said.
Malyar added: “We and the world should not relax, because the ultimate goal of the Russian Federation is to conquer all of Ukraine, and then it can move on.”
Gromov did not say what Russia’s aim might be in prolonging the already nearly 10-month-old war.
“This is why you are seeing battles along the 1,500 km (932-mile) frontline ... they are constraining our troops in order not to allow us to regroup,” the magazine cited him as saying in an interview published on Thursday.
“The next problem that we have is, first of all, to hold this line and not lose any more ground. It’s crucial ... Our troops are all tied up in battles now, they are bleeding.”
Ukraine’s military staff said Moscow’s current main focus was on the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, but that Russian forces were shelling Kherson daily and trying to get a stronger foothold in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia.
“They understand that if they do not stretch the front now, then this winter will be a disaster for them,” said Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office.
Russia, which has also been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, has ruled out a Christmas ceasefire. Gromov also dismissed the possibility of a ceasefire over the festive New Year period.
“There will be a total ceasefire only when not a single occupier remains on our land,” he said.
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2022-12-16T01:51:42Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Russia preparing for long war, Ukrainian military says | Military | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/military/russia-preparing-for-long-war-ukrainian-military-says/article_cf56d974-acf9-519c-946a-6d2bea5ee6fb.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/military/russia-preparing-for-long-war-ukrainian-military-says/article_cf56d974-acf9-519c-946a-6d2bea5ee6fb.html
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“We should move quickly to avert a shutdown today, without any unwelcome brouhaha that has caused shutdowns in years past,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor earlier on Thursday. “Both sides are going to spend the day working on an agreement to get the weeklong CR done.”
Congressional negotiators announced earlier this week a framework for the full-year “omnibus” package, but did not provide details on the amount they had agreed on or what was included in it.
It is expected to tally about $1.7 trillion and include aid for Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces and a bill reforming the way Congress certifies U.S. presidential elections.
The last time Democrats and Republicans allowed government funding to lapse, a record-long, 35-day partial shutdown ensued, spanning from Dec. 22, 2018, until Jan. 25, 2019. The main stumbling block was over then-President Donald Trump’s demand for large new investments in a U.S.-Mexico border wall that many saw as ineffective and wasteful.
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2022-12-16T01:51:48Z
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Senate sets first vote on stopgap funding bill Thursday -aide | National | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/national/senate-sets-first-vote-on-stopgap-funding-bill-thursday--aide/article_e8481b22-4189-5fbe-84cd-fc3a11954d93.html
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Ahead of Friday’s forecasted storm, Shyana Sanborn (foreground) and Thanh-Thanh Nguyen fill five-gallon buckets with sand at the public works yard on Lincoln Street in Manchester Thursday. Up to three buckets of free sand is available to city residents.
Ahead of tomorrow’s forecasted storm, Shyana Sanborn of Manchester loads a 5-gallon bucket of sand into her SUV at the public works yard on Lincoln Street in Manchester. Also pictured is Roberton Granados. Up to three buckets of free sand is available to city residents.
The map of the first significant winter storm as of 4 p.m. Thursday.
The first significant storm of the winter season is expected to last through Saturday, bringing more than a foot of snow in the North Country, but mostly rain along the coast.
Manchester and Nashua are expected to only get a small amount of snow — between a half inch and an inch — during the slow moving nor’easter, according to the National Weather Service.
“New Hampshire is on track for the first big winter storm of the season,” said meteorologist Jerry Combs.
Precipitation was set to start Thursday night and wind down throughout the day on Saturday.
“It is going to be primarily snow, especially the further you get away from the coast,” Combs said. “Manchester is right on that transition line. The closer you get to the coast it is going to be mostly a rain event. Temperatures just look a little too warm as we get back toward the coast.”
Snow is expected further inland and up north away from the coast.
Mount Washington and other peaks in the presidential range could see upwards of 20 inches of snow.
The widespread amount of snow is expected to be between 4 to 12 inches of snow in elevations above 1,000 feet. Heavy, wet snow is possible on the line between rain and snow, including Concord.
A winter storm warning has been issued for much of the state until 7 p.m. Saturday. A winter advisory has been issued for Hillsborough and Rockingham counties.
“Periods of moderate snow and low visibility will be the biggest hazards,” the warning reads.
In southern New Hampshire, “the snow will be heavy and wet and may cause down tree limbs and scattered power outages.”
Eversource says it’s ready for “whatever the storm may bring” and prepositioning crews and equipment across the state.
“As with any potential hazardous weather approaching our state, we’ve been following multiple forecasts and models this week — keeping a particularly close eye on the potential snow-rain line because of the damage that heavy, wet snow can cause to trees and the electric system,” Eversource President of New Hampshire Operations Doug Foley said in a statement.
Roads could be slick.
“It is going to make for difficult travel,” Combs said. “If you don’t have to go out, stay home if you can. If you do have to go out, make sure to carry some supplies in your car just in case you get stranded.”
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2022-12-16T01:51:54Z
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Winter storm warning issued for New Hampshire | Weather | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/weather/winter-storm-warning-issued-for-new-hampshire/article_3f887296-ee50-59d7-b52d-94ac43996745.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/weather/winter-storm-warning-issued-for-new-hampshire/article_3f887296-ee50-59d7-b52d-94ac43996745.html
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Gloucester Daily Times (TNS)
The captain of the fishing vessel Hot Tuna, featured in the hit reality television show “Wicked Tuna,” found himself in some wicked hot water in October 2021 and recently paid for it.
Massachusetts Environmental Police posted Dec. 7 on its Facebook page, “officers discovered that several bluefin tuna had been sold illegally to a Gloucester fish market. Criminal charges were taken out against the captain of the vessel in Gloucester District Court.”
The post says that late last month, the captain signed a plea deal and paid $13,000 in fines “for the illegal sale of the fish.”
Capt. Timothy J. “TJ” Ott of Great Neck, New York, was charged with nine counts of violating a commercial fishing license. According to a district court clerk, the money goes to the state’s environmental trust fund.
According to MEP reports in district court, officers were conducting marine fisheries inspections on Oct. 16, 2021, at Stellwagen Bank National Sanctuary, inspecting tuna vessels for compliance because a permit from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service is required to target highly migratory fish.
Commercial fishing of tuna was closed at the time, and the officers did not disrupt the Hot Tuna’s charter fishing trip, but knowing Ott was a well-known commercial fisherman, they performed an administrative search of his permits.
They located his federal permit for 2021, but they were unable to locate his state Division of Marine Fisheries permit for that year. Through a spreadsheet of Ott’s sales, they found he had sold 10 bluefin tuna for a total of $21,859.
“It is illegal for an individual without a commercial permit issued through the (state Division) of Marine Fisheries to sell any fish that they catch; additionally, it is illegal for a fish house to purchase fish from an unpermitted individual,” the MEP’s post states.
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2022-12-16T01:52:12Z
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www.unionleader.com
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'Wicked Tuna' captain pays $13K in tuna sale plea deal | | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/wicked-tuna-captain-pays-13k-in-tuna-sale-plea-deal/article_91e22c29-6107-58a2-b934-a35c7757d9f0.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/wicked-tuna-captain-pays-13k-in-tuna-sale-plea-deal/article_91e22c29-6107-58a2-b934-a35c7757d9f0.html
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It was Nov. 23 and the Bruins were in Florida. With the score 1-1 in the second period, Zboril went back into his end to play the puck and, though he had to think quickly, he had just about enough to move it out of harm’s way. Instead, he opted to eat it, take the hit and then move it. But Sam Reinhart took the puck from him and fed Anton Lundell for the Panthers’ go-ahead goal. The B’s never got even again and suffered a 5-2 loss, just one of four regulation defeats on the season going into Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
With Hampus Lindholm not feeling well (his availability was a game-time decision), there was a possibility that Zboril was finally going to get a chance to atone for that mistake. For a player coming off major knee surgery, and one that has openly talked about his struggles with confidence, sitting in the press box night after night has not been easy.
“It’s not easy, especially for me. I’ve always struggled if I made a mistake and I don’t get that next shift right away, I keep thinking about it, so I have to manage my emotions out there. But I think I’ll be able to handle it,” said Zboril, who tore his ACL in Nashville on Dec. 2, 2021.
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2022-12-16T03:35:16Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Bruins notebook: Jakub Zboril readies for possible return | Bruins | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/bruins/bruins-notebook-jakub-zboril-readies-for-possible-return/article_f1a4fe5b-1192-5171-89f7-22e029168abb.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/bruins/bruins-notebook-jakub-zboril-readies-for-possible-return/article_f1a4fe5b-1192-5171-89f7-22e029168abb.html
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Interim head coach Joe Mazzulla has proven to be a pretty good fit for the Boston Celtics.
Celtics interim head coach Joe Mazzulla congratulates Boston Celtics forward Blake Griffin as he comes to the bench during a recent game against the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.
SPORTS-CELTICS-SEASON-PREVIEW-5-THINGS-1-YB.jpg
It was Mazzulla’s coaching at work. In Monday’s blowout loss to the Clippers, Mazzulla took some heat for keeping his starters in the game too long on the first night of a back-to-back. He explained that he asked them if they wanted to stay in the game and they said yes. And while he admitted he has some growth to do in those decisions in lopsided games, it was another example of Mazzulla putting the game in the hands of his players to figure things out.
“Joe tells us all the time he’s not going to save us, especially in the course of the game when we’re not playing the way that we should be,” Jayson Tatum told reporters in LA. “A lot of times he tells us, figure it out. And he challenges us. That’s what he did (Tuesday). Even before the game, how he talked to us to start. Myself, J.B., (Marcus) Smart, he challenged us that just the way we’ve been playing, it’s not going to cut it. Regardless of the outcome tonight, we had to play better on both sides of the ball. We took that to heart.”
“It’s more of a surprise if he does call a timeout, especially 28 games in or so,” Tatum told reporters. “We’re used to it. Most coaches, 6-0, 8-0 run, call a timeout, but Joe wants us to figure it out. I think in the long run that’s going to help us once we get in those moments later in the season, in the playoffs and things like that.”
Al Horford is expected to return Friday against the Magic after missing five consecutive games. Horford missed the second game of a back-to-back last Monday against the Raptors before entering health and safety protocols for the next two games. He missed the last two games due to the birth of his child. … The Celtics will begin a season-long seven-game homestand on Friday that stretches through the end of the calendar year and includes their Christmas Day game against the Bucks.
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2022-12-16T03:35:22Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Joe Mazzulla continuing to build Celtics’ confidence with unique coaching habits | Celtics | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/celtics/joe-mazzulla-continuing-to-build-celtics-confidence-with-unique-coaching-habits/article_42cddc3e-660a-5eec-8381-d0ceb0173573.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/celtics/joe-mazzulla-continuing-to-build-celtics-confidence-with-unique-coaching-habits/article_42cddc3e-660a-5eec-8381-d0ceb0173573.html
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Robert Williams may be back in uniform Friday night when the Celtics host the Orlando Magic.
Report: Robert Williams to make Celtics season debut in Friday’s game against Magic
The Celtics will get a big boost in their return to TD Garden on Friday as Robert Williams plans to make his season debut against the Orlando Magic on Friday night, according to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com.
Williams was upgraded to questionable on the team’s injury report for the first time all season after missing the first 29 games of the year. He has been taking part in scrimmages with bench players and coaches in recent weeks after undergoing offseason knee surgery. Interim head coach Joe Mazzulla has indicated that Williams was day-to-day for the past couple of weeks as he’s progressed in his recovery.
Williams’ return at the start of a seven-game homestand by Boston is sure to be a welcome development for his teammates, who have eagerly awaited his return.
“We’ll be that much better of a team,” forward Jayson Tatum said last month of Williams’ return. “That’s how important Rob is to our group. I can’t stress enough how important he is to the offensive end, defensive end, his presence, lob threat, protecting the rim and his ability to pass the ball. Obviously, we miss him but we don’t want to rush him back because we want to win when it matters most.”
Orlando will be riding a four-game winning streak heading into the Friday’s matchup against Boston.
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2022-12-16T03:35:28Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Report: Robert Williams to make Celtics season debut in Friday’s game against Magic | Celtics | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/celtics/report-robert-williams-to-make-celtics-season-debut-in-friday-s-game-against-magic/article_3a97e002-1df1-53b1-8146-b02e42b85e6a.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/celtics/report-robert-williams-to-make-celtics-season-debut-in-friday-s-game-against-magic/article_3a97e002-1df1-53b1-8146-b02e42b85e6a.html
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Shortstop Jeter Downs, who the Red Sox acquired as part of the 2020 trade that sent Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers, was designated for assignment on Thursday.
BOSTON — Less than three years after trading Mookie Betts to the Dodgers, the Red Sox are moving on from one of the key players they received back in the deal.
Boston designated infielder Jeter Downs for assignment on Thursday to make room on the 40-man roster for new outfielder Masataka Yoshida. Yoshida’s five-year, $90 million contract with the club is now official and he was introduced Thursday at a press conference at Fenway Park.
Downs was one of three players, along with outfielder Alex Verdugo and catcher Connor Wong, who the Red Sox acquired from the Dodgers in exchange for Betts and lefty David Price in Feb. 2020.
Downs entered the organization as one of its top prospects and a top-100 prospect in baseball but struggled mightily at the plate after missing a year due to COVID-19 causing the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season. Downs hit just .191 with 14 homers and a .606 OPS in 99 games at Triple-A in 2021, then posted a subpar .197 average and .728 OPS in 81 games for the WooSox in 2022. In a 14-game big league cameo over the summer, he was 6-for-39 (.154) with one homer. He struck out at an absurd 51.2% rate, going down on strikes in 21 of 41 plate appearances. He dealt with an ankle sprain at the end of the season.
Downs is seen as a competent middle infielder but his offensive struggles were clearly enough for the Red Sox to feel like it was time to move on. While Downs (16 homers and 18 steals in 2022) has demonstrated power and speed, he whiffs much too frequently to be relied upon as a major-league infielder. MLB Pipeline ranked Downs as the No. 44 prospect in baseball when the Red Sox acquired him; he’s now the 24th prospect in Boston’s system.
With that said, it’s still striking that the organization is admitting defeat on a large part of the Betts deal so quickly. The 24-year-old Downs still has minor-league options remaining and somewhat of a ceiling, which will likely make him intriguing to other clubs. Boston will have seven days to trade, release or waive Downs. If he clears waivers, the Red Sox can send him to Triple-A.
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2022-12-16T03:35:52Z
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www.unionleader.com
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Red Sox cut Jeter Downs, who was top prospect in Mookie Betts trade in 2020 | Red Sox | unionleader.com
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/red_sox/red-sox-cut-jeter-downs-who-was-top-prospect-in-mookie-betts-trade-in-2020/article_e12b7c66-1bf8-5346-bccc-b389bf532f4a.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/red_sox/red-sox-cut-jeter-downs-who-was-top-prospect-in-mookie-betts-trade-in-2020/article_e12b7c66-1bf8-5346-bccc-b389bf532f4a.html
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