Also on today’s menu:
Boosting Education Freedom Accounts
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Germany Disrupts Overthrow Plot
Annmarie Timmons writes in a piece for NH Bulletin that Robynne Alexander, the Manchester developer the state has chosen to convert the 220-acre former Laconia State School property into a massive housing, entertainment, commercial, and medical services campus, has never completed such a large project, and her mixed-use project in Manchester is three years behind schedule and the subject of a lawsuit by an investor. Alexander said state officials and the brokerage firm hired to market the property are aware of her professional experience and the lawsuit pending in Hillsborough County Superior Court, but she is confident that she can take on the ambitious project. The Executive Council expects the Department of Administrative Services to ask it to approve a $21.5 million purchase and sale agreement for the property today.
The city of Laconia sent a letter of concern ahead of today’s meeting, saying, “Our residents need assurance that due diligence has been exercised by the State, and that the redevelopment of the property will come to fruition.” Mayor Andrew Hosmer commented, “I don’t want to see a project partially completed, then the balance of the work be largely neglected.” Hosmer said that, if the state does approve the purchase, it should require a bond to ensure that, should Alexander fail to complete the project, the city would have access to money to demolish the standing buildings and complete the remediation of the land — something of the foremost importance to the Laconia City Council.
Alexander has purchased four development properties in New Hampshire, including the former Kings Grant Inn in Gilford. John Ayer, director of planning and land use in Gilford, said Alexander and a partner, who purchased the inn last August, have discussed plans to restore the inn and create senior and market-rate housing, but they have not yet submitted development plans. Alexander has completed only one project in New Hampshire, a seven-unit Hampton vacation rental property that she bought in 2020. She also owns a former religious school in Manchester that remains undeveloped.
Boosting Education Freedom Accounts
The New Hampshire Department of Education is asking lawmakers to more than double the funding for the state’s Education Freedom Accounts in the next state budget, anticipating further growth of the program. EFAs offer an average of $5,000 a year in financial aid to families to help pay for non-public school options — substantially less than taxpayers pay in support of public schools. The program is open to families who make 300 percent or less of the federal poverty level, or $79,500 for a family of four.
In a budget proposal to Gov. Chris Sununu, the department asked for roughly $29.9 million for the program which it seeks to broaden to include 10 more categories of students, including those who are in foster care or homeless, English language learners, students with disabilities, and students attending the lowest-performing schools in the state.
While intended as an alternative to public education, the department reports that about 70 percent of the students enrolled in the program had either never attended public school or had already left public school prior to the program’s implementation. Manchester has the largest number of students participating, followed by Nashua, Laconia, Rochester, and Concord.
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Governor Chris Sununu has directed flags on all public buildings and grounds to fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset today in observance of December 7, National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
Some 50,000 U.S. service members were in and around the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when Imperial Japan attacked at dawn 81 years ago today, propelling the United States into World War II. No one knows for sure how many of the Pearl Harbor survivors — all nearing or past 100 years old now — are left. For the second year in a row, no survivors are expected to attend the annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony on board the USS Midway Museum, but there used to be dozens.
Japan’s aircraft carrier-borne warplanes sank or damaged 21 U.S. warships — including the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma — also destroying or damaging 347 aircraft and killing 2,403 Americans.
Germany Disrupts Overthrow Plot
Raids across Germany have resulted in 25 arrests of people suspected of plotting to overthrow the government. Officials say the group of far-right and ex-military persons — including members of the Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) movement and QAnon — were preparing for “Day X” when they planned to storm the Reichstag parliament building and seize power.
A minor aristocrat, Prince Heinrich XIII, 71, is alleged to have been central to their plans. Federal prosecutors say he is one of two alleged ringleaders among those arrested across 11 German states, with almost half of the arrests taking place in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.
An estimated 50 men and women are alleged to have been part of the group plotting to overthrow the republic and replace it with a new state modeled on the Germany of 1871, an empire called the Second Reich. Wednesday’s dawn raids are being described as one of the biggest anti-extremism operations in modern German history. Three thousand officers took part in 150 operations in Germany, with two people being arrested in Austria and Italy.
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