Also on today’s menu:
Another Bristol Resident Charged In January 6 Insurrection
Newly Designated Historic Places In Alexandria, Danbury
Second Trump Term Would End Democracy
New Hampshire received nearly $7 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to use toward improvements of infrastructure that reduce the frequency and duration of electric outages and add to grid resiliency. Among the grants to electric utilities is money for the purchase of rapid pole technology, and Eversource expects to distribute seven of the units to its service areas in the state.
Rapid pole technology is a battery-operated hydraulic unit, attached to a tactical trailer, that feeds high-voltage power back into the system when there is a power outage. The trailer can be deployed around the state as needed. Until now, Eversource has had only one rapid pole for use. It was deployed in March when 700 customers in Laconia lost power after a driver crashed into a utility pole. In April, the company used its mobile transformer during a planned outage in Tilton, bringing the outage time down from four hours to five minutes.
Tim McHugh, the electric service manager for Eversource, said, “These are tools to get the lights on as quickly as we can and as safely as we can for our customers and for public safety reasons.” He said it is equivalent to a 55-foot pole in the ground, and it can be set up within 10 minutes.
Another Bristol Resident Charged In January 6 Insurrection
Shawn Daniel Mahoney of Bristol made an initial appearance in federal court in Concord on November 9, facing four charges, including entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct, for entering the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. He was released on personal recognizance.
He is the second person from Bristol accused of entering the Capitol building after a rally in support of former President Donald Trump turned into a riot. Cindy Young was arrested in June for her alleged role. A few days before that, authorities arrested a Salem man with ties to a white supremacist group, and three other New Hampshire residents have either been found guilty or pleaded guilty to participating in the breach of the Capitol, including Kirstyn Niemela of Hudson, who was sentenced to 11 months in prison.
According to an FBI affidavit, Mahoney appears in surveillance video inside the building, and a former co-worker was able to confirm his identity from photographs of him on the grounds of the Capitol.
Newly Designated Historic Places In Alexandria, Danbury
Alexandria’s Haynes Library is one of four properties the New Hampshire Historical Resources Council has added to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places. One of the first free-standing buildings in Alexandria Village, the library was built in 1894. The brick building has a main reading room with a vestibule and office in an ell. It features fine-cut granite window sills and headers and interior varnished North Carolina pine woodwork. Named for one of its main benefactors, Dr. Timothy Hayes, the library has provided Alexandria with media and access to programming throughout its 125-year history.
Also added to the Register of Historic Places is the District No. 4 School on North Road, Danbury, one of ten district schoolhouses that once existed in Danbury. Built in the winter of 1853-54 and operated through the 1942-43 school year, the clapboarded one-story, one-room wood-framed building has has horizontal-board wainscot in the entrance and the classroom, with a rear woodshed/privy addition. A restoration project in the early 2000s uncovered the original blackboard, and it serves as the Danbury Historical Society’s headquarters and museum, with an array of schoolhouse desks, a wood stove, and various historic artifacts.
Second Trump Term Would End Democracy
People loyal to Donald Trump have been making specific plans to punish critics and opponents, should he win a second term. The former president has named individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute, and his associates are drafting plans that would allow him to invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office so he can deploy the military against any civil demonstrations.
Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants place loyalists in the Justice Department who will investigate officials and allies who have criticized him, including his former chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and former attorney-general William P. Barr, as well as his ex-attorney, Ty Cobb. He even called for the execution of General Mark A. Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for “treason”. He publicly vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” President Joe Biden Jr. and his family for alleged corruption.
The plans would dismantle the separation of powers embodied in the US Constitution and would no longer shield criminal prosecutions from political motivations.
Republicans who support Trump’s fascist agenda no longer hide their intentions. Representative Brandon Prichard (R-North Dakota ) stated, “Direct democracy should not exist…. It would be an act of courage to ignore the results of the election” in Ohio where voters supported the protection of abortion.
Describing the pending government shutdown facing the nation because radical conservatives in the US House of Representatives will not support any budget proposal, Heather Cox Richardson writes, “To impose their will on the majority, they don’t have to understand issues, build coalitions, or figure out compromises. All they have to do is steadfastly vote no. If they can prevent the government from accomplishing anything, they will have achieved their goal.”
By The Way…
National Gratitude Month
The News Café is among the publications that are “Reader Supported” — a revolutionary approach to publishing in response to the struggle of traditional news and magazine publishers, as well as unreliable social media. Many writers were at a loss as to how to reach their readers as their jobs and publications were eliminated. With the exception of the period of the pandemic, people read less and purchase fewer books.
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