NEWS & NOTES Drug ring crackdown
Authorities have indicted more than 20 people who were allegedly involved in a major cross-state heroin trafficking operation between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire. Three of those individuals are Manchester residents and one is from Raymond. Most of the rest are residents of Lawrence, Lowell, Haverhill, Methuen and Salem, Mass. The charges were divided between two groups. The first group includes 16 individuals who were charged with participating in a conspiracy that distributed more than one kilogram of heroin. The second group was charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin but not in such a large quantity. Both groups are set to appear in court in December. Two individuals are fugitives. The others were arrested between Oct. 12 and Oct. 25. The charges and arrests were the result of an investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force with the help of multiple local law enforcement agencies.
Rallies
Candidates for president and their surrogates have ramped up appearances and rallies in the Granite State in the final weeks ahead of the general election. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was set to appear on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s campaign at get-out-the-vote rallies in Plymouth and Hanover on Nov. 1, according to a press release from the Clinton campaign. According to WMUR, Donald Trump appeared in Manchester on Oct. 28, where he told supporters that the system “might not be as rigged” as he thought, referring to news that the FBI was looking into a new thread of evidence connected to Clinton’s email server. His running mate Mike Pence came to the state to rally the weekend that followed, NHPR reported, as did Clinton’s daughter Chelsea Clinton. On Oct. 25, Trump’s son Eric Trump made several stops in the state to energize voters.
PFCs in well
Perfluorochemicals, the same family of chemicals found to be contaminating groundwater around a Saint-Gobain plastics facility in Merrimack and nearby Litchfield, have been found in high concentrations at a new site. According to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, PFCs were detected above state standards in wells near the Kingston fire station. Two separate tests revealed 140 parts per trillion of a PFC called perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, which has been linked to certain forms of cancer. The first test was conducted on Sept. 30, and after detecting the high levels of PFOA, the state directed the town to stop using the water for consumption. The chemical has been used to produce Teflon products as well as fire retardants used against fuel fires.
Reams settlement
An embattled former Rockingham county attorney has won a $30,000 settlement from the state. NHPR reported former County Attorney Jim Ream was investigated by state Attorney General Joseph Foster for allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and financial abuse, and Foster ordered Reams out of his office as a result. However, a judge later ruled that the AG didn’t have the power to remove Reams. Reams was allowed back to work but he retired shortly after and the state didn’t pursue criminal charges. The settlement papers, first obtained by InDepthNH.org, indicate $30,000 went to Reams’ lawyers for their work on his defense.
trict will be able to dip into a surplus of nearly the same amount left over from last year’s budget.
DCYF report
An interim report from an independent auditor has identified serious staffing problems in the state’s child protection agency, the Division of Children, Youth and Families. According to a press release by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Center for Support of Families reported DCYF needs to more than double its child protection caseworker staff in order to adequately handle its current caseload. At present, the report stated, only about 20 percent of cases are completed within the agency’s 60-day guideline. To fix that, the report recommended the number of assessment social workers to be 120 positions, but health commissioner Jeffrey Meyers said in a letter attached to the report that he already added 17 positions that bring the staffing levels up to 102. The report also called for a staffing level of 24 assessment supervisors. The Telegraph of Nashua reported Meyers was recently questioned by the Commission to Review Child Abuse Fatalities as to why the agency became so understaffed. Panel members noted DHHS had not asked the legislature for increased staffing in child protective services for the past 10 years.
Hassan donations
A spokesman for Maggie Hassan’s campaign said she would be returning $51,000 in donations (including $13,000 for her gubernatorial campaign) from a
Organizers for Concord’s traditional tree-lighting ceremony believe they have found the perfect tree but are coming up short in raising the funds needed to move and install it. The Concord Monitor reported the tree is a spruce in Pembroke that’s slated to be cut down anyway. Organizer Dick Patten said he’s about $3,000 short and may have to cancel other features like pony rides to afford the transplant.
A mysterious graveyard in Goffstown with only numbers on headstones has been opened up to travelers now that the Goffstown Rail Trail passes by the plot. The CONCORD Union Leader reported the graves are believed to have belonged to the poor and mentally ill who were housed at the old farm property in the late 19th century and numbers were engraved to Hooksett save on tax dollars.
Goffstown
MANCHESTER
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Amherst A 24-year-old fresco mural at the Janice B. Streeter Theatre Milford in Nashua is going to be restored. The Telegraph of Nashua reported that City Arts Nashua budgeted $18,000 for the project. It was first painted by Lucienne Bloch and Stephen Dimitroff.
Boston law firm that funneled money through individual partners at the firm via a system of “bonuses.” Hassan was the second largest recipient of campaign donations from Thornton Law Firm, which awarded dollar-for-dollar bonuses to lawyers who gave contributions presumed to be with their own money. The practice was revealed by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, which partnered with
Internet infrastructure company Dyn in Manchester was the target of yet another distributed denial-of-service attack on Oct. 29, Derry It startthe Union Leader reported. Merrimack ed around 3:30 p.m. and caused a slow connection for its customers Londonderry until it was resolved shortly after 5 p.m. It’s the third time their servers have been attacked in eight days. NASHUA
the OpenSecrets blog. Individual donations to candidates are capped to within a few thousand dollars. The process has been in place at the firm since 2010. They argue it’s legal because the money comes from a “capital account” that keeps track of each partner’s equity in the firm. Some campaign finance lawyers disagree because the contributions were not deducted from the partners’ distributions.
Heating budget
The Concord school board approved an increase of nearly half a million dollars to its heating budget in order to prepare for what’s expected to be a steep heating bill this winter. The Concord Monitor reported the board signed off on an additional $490,000, but taxpayers will not be expected to pay as much in property taxes related to education thanks to an over-conservative projection in property value changes. What was expected to be a $105 increase for the owner of a $205,000 home is now going to be $83 higher than last year. Plus, the school dis-
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RECOVERY CENTERS
The Executive Council approved $600,000 in contracts for addiction recovery services in the state. The AP reported most of the funds are going to HOPE for New Hampshire Recovery and Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region. HOPE has more than half a dozen recovery centers set up throughout the state already. Recovery services aim at helping people suffering from substance use disorder after they’ve completed treatment and achieved sobriety to maintain that sobriety by connecting them with peer coaches and directing them to other local support services. The council also approved another contract that would use $260,000 in federal funds to create prevention programs for at-risk youth through local school districts.
FRANK GUINTA
A major GOP group has pulled its support of 1st Congressional District Rep. Frank Guinta, who is running for re-election. NHPR reported the Republican National Congressional Committee canceled more than $700,000 worth of TV ads that were slated to air in the last two weeks of Guinta’s campaign. Guinta has been down in the polls and his opponent, Democrat Carol Shea-Porter, has been more successful at raising money. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pulled ads for Shea-Porter weeks ago. While the DCCC did not confirm this was because of the cash advantage SheaPorter has, a spokesperson did say she is in a “very strong position heading into November.”