Also on today’s menu:
House Responsible For Its Own Rules, Court Affirms
AG’s Statement On PragerU Complaint
Fatal Crash At Franconia Notch
Lawn signs emphasizing that “Everyone Belongs” are sprouting up like weeds in the wake of Littleton Selectman and State Senator Carrie Gendreau’s objections to art panels on a private building in town. Gendreau had told fellow selectmen that she did not like that the newly unveiled artwork had LGBTQ+ undertones, and said that the board should vote on such art before any of it goes up on town property.
About 200 residents showed up at the board’s September 11 meeting, with 26 denouncing Gendreau’s comments. Publicity about the comments led to Gendreau resigning from the board of directors of the Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank.
Artist Meg Reinhold had said her works were intended as “a calm nature scene”. The first panel is of an Iris with roots; the second is two white birch trees and a crescent moon; and the third depicts an open book with a flowering dandelion whose roots come up through the book.
House Responsible For Its Own Rules, Court Affirms
Chief Judge Landya McCafferty of the United States District Court issued a ruling on September 11, dismissing a lawsuit by disabled Democrats in the New Hampshire House of Representatives that were seeking remote access to participate as they were elected to do.
“The court is not unsympathetic to plaintiffs’ legitimate concerns,” McCafferty wrote. “But it cannot base its decision on whether it agrees with the procedures voted upon by the New Hampshire House of Representatives…. Based on the foregoing, the defendants’ motion to dismiss (doc. no. 51) plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint is granted. The dismissal of plaintiffs’ state constitutional claims is made without prejudice.”
Representatives Renny Cushing and Katherine Rogers were among the House members filing the lawsuit after Speaker Sherman Packard (R-Londonderry) refused to allow them to participate remotely to avoid risking their health and lives by attending in person, due to their conditions. Both have since died.
The U.S. District Court had originally rejected the lawsuit, but the First Circuit Court of Appeals had sent the case back for rehearing.
AG’s Statement On PragerU Complaint
Attorney-General John Formella issued a statement explaining his office’s decision to take no action against PragerU, which is offering free online video programs that it hopes the New Hampshire Board of Education will approve for students to receive credit to meet the mandated high school-level financial literacy requirement.
“After reviewing the statute, the AGO does not read RSA 292:8-g to require nondomestic entities that merely have a presence in New Hampshire through the existence of a website to incorporate under the provisions of RSA 292:8. In any event, the statute has clearly not been applied in such a manner to similarly situated entities in the past and thus it would not be in the interest of justice to take action against Prager U for failing to incorporate under the provisions of Chapter 292:8 given its present activities. This conclusion is further supported by the AGO’s review of the factual circumstances of Prager U’s activities in New Hampshire, which do not invoke the consumer protection rationale on which the statute is based. Specifically, Prager U makes very clear that it does not hold itself out to be an institute of higher learning. On the Prager U website’s landing page, the first use of the word ‘university’ is in the following sentence: ‘PragerU is not an accredited university, nor do we claim to be. We don’t offer degrees, but we do provide educations, entertaining, pro-American videos for every age.’ (The only other use of the word ‘university’ on the Prager U website landing page is the ‘© 2023 Prager University’ on the bottom of the page). Nor did the AGO find any indication that Prager U charges for its services, much less that it suggests that consumers could pay for courses and ultimately receive a degree. To the extent that RSA 292:8 was designed to protect consumers from such predatory activity by a ‘fake’ university, such concerns are not present here where (i) the entity itself has clearly disclaimed being an accredited university and (ii) this entity’s ability to offer any K-12 educational service of any kind in New Hampshire is directly regulated by the SBOE.”
The Board of Education is slated to take up the program’s approval on September 14.
Fatal Crash At Franconia Notch
An animal that entered the roadway south of Franconia Notch on September 10 caused the driver to swerve to the right side and the white 2011 Infiniti QX56 overturned, striking a stone wall at the sign, “Leaving Franconia Notch State Park.” A woman passenger was ejected and trapped under the vehicle, later succumbing to her injuries.
Troopers from the New Hampshire State Police Troop F Barracks say Interstate 93 was wet under rainy conditions when the crash occurred. The driver of a truck that was following the car backed into the Infiniti to help lift it off the woman.
The driver and four children who were in the overturned vehicle received minor injuries.
Do you have a story to tell?
The News Café is a virtual meeting place where, each weekday, we discuss the news of the day: local, statewide, national, and international. Subscribers can share their knowledge, thoughts, and questions about any topic, and we may select some of those subjects for more in-depth analysis.
Subscriptions to the News Café are free, but compiling these summaries and preparing the information takes time, so we encourage you to consider a paid subscription to help make the effort worthwhile. Click the Subscribe button to select a free or paid subscription.
Join in the conversation through chat or notes by downloading the Substack app or going to the online site.
Also see our new Substack news site, By The Way.