Also on today’s menu:
Settle Two Before Taking Up A Third
Police Arrest Son of Murdered Danville Woman
State’s Legal Expenses Exceed Appropriations
About 350 people went to see Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a presidential campaign appearance in North Sandwich on August 8. Billed as a “house party” and “meet-and-greet” at the home of a financial services entrepreneur, the gathering provided an opportunity for Kennedy to speak of his focus on children and families.
In his view, America is not the prosperous country it once was. Kennedy spoke of seeing communities in poverty while working as an environmental attorney. The average American, he said, does not make enough money to afford basic living expenses. Parents have to make “impossible decisions” to feed and care for their families, and young adults are unable to own a home.
He blamed bankers and corporate interests for controlling government agencies, leading to a proliferation of hazardous chemicals in foods, environment, and medicine, as well as the high interest rates charged by credit card companies. “If the mafia did it, it’s called loan sharking, but the banks get away with everything,” Kennedy said.
Illustrating the way corporations control the country, Kennedy said, was President-Elect Donald Trump’s plan to have Kennedy lead a commission on vaccines. The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer donated $1 million to Trump and “Then the White House went dark. Nobody would answer our phone calls,” Kennedy said. Trump named Scott Gottlieb as head of the Food and Drug Administration and the government paid billions of dollars to Pfizer to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Now Gottlieb sits on Pfizer’s board of directors.
Kennedy would have the National Institute for Health redirect its attention from infectious diseases to chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, obesity, food allergies, and autism. He noted that such diseases were rare in children before 1989, but now are common. “We know it’s not genes; it has to be some environmental exposure,” Kennedy said, citing 11 possible sources, ranging from “forever chemicals” like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to pesticides, high-fructose corn syrup, cell phones, WiFi radiation, and the escalating number of vaccines now recommended for children.
Settle Two Before Taking Up A Third
A number of other pending education lawsuits led Superior Court Judge David Ruoff to postpone the latest case, brought by taxpayers alleging that the state does not pay for many of the services it requires school districts to provide. The case had been scheduled for trial next month.
Ruoff said he first needs to rule on the lawsuit brought by ConVal and other school districts that claim the state is not covering the cost of an adequate education as required by the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s ruling in the Claremont II lawsuit. Ruoff also must rule on a request for summary judgment on the constitutionality of the Statewide Education Property Tax — a separate tax that is collected locally but which New Hampshire then claims as a state tax.
New Hampshire Attorney-General John Formella argues that the Supreme Court decision does not forbid the legislature from requiring local school districts to dedicate additional resources for schools or educational programs beyond a constitutionally adequate education. The plaintiffs argue that the state should be paying those costs rather than relying on local property taxes that have widely varying rates and do not meet the New Hampshire Constitution’s requirement for reasonable and proportional taxation.
A constitutional amendment approved on November 28, 1984, states that “The state shall not mandate or assign any new, expanded, or modified programs or responsibilities to any political subdivision in such a way as to necessitate additional local expenditures by the political subdivision unless such programs or responsibilities are fully funded by the state or unless such programs or responsibilities are approved for funding by a vote of the local legislative body of the political subdivision.”
Police Arrest Son of Murdered Danville Woman
James Coe, 20, is facing second-degree murder charges in the August 3 death of his mother, Denise Damato-Coe, 59, in Danville. An autopsy conducted by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie Duval determined that Damato-Coe's death was due to multiple gunshot wounds.
Danville police officers had found Damato-Coe’s body when responding to a call from 48 Back Road in Danville.
The warrant issued on August 9 charged that Coe had shot his mother with a rifle and then falsified physical evidence by removing the rifle used to commit the crime. Police arrested Coe in Revere, Massachusetts, on a charge of being a fugitive from justice, and he is being held without bail. He was to be arraigned in Chelsea District Court, followed by extradition to New Hampshire.
State’s Legal Expenses Exceed Appropriations
Attorney-General John Formella is asking the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee for an additional $6.9 million when it meets on August 11, saying the number of cases it is handling has “nearly exhausted” the $350,000 in dedicated funds the Department of Justice received for fiscal year 2024.
Formella said the DOJ’s Civil Bureau is “currently handling a larger, more complex civil litigation load than at any time in recent memory, including an unusually high number of complex and high-profile cases.”
Those include the criminal investigation and civil litigation related to alleged crimes of abuse at the former Youth Development Center, two federal court cases against the Department of Health and Human Services, two lawsuits challenging the redistricting maps for the House, Senate, and Executive Council, and ongoing legal expenses associated with a 2014 mental health settlement agreement.
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