Also on today’s menu:
Gallien To Serve As Ashland’s Interim Town Manager
Scarecrows On The Square
Fed Seeks Higher Unemployment To Curb Inflation
New Hampshire’s Executive Council and Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee approved a new program that utilizes $5 million in federal COVID relief funds to support emergency homeless shelters in the winter. The goal is “to address pandemic-related increased costs and anticipated demand,” an informational note from Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette said.
DHHS maintains contracts with 19 shelter providers but now will also provide funding for temporary winter shelters. The money will be split, with $4 million going directly to the shelters and $1 million going to counties, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations to assist the shelters.
A survey conducted in January found that there were 1,605 homeless people in the state, an increase of 7.6 percent from the same time the previous year.
Gallien To Serve As Ashland’s Acting Town Manager
The Ashland Board of Selectmen appointed Finance Director Marissah Gallien as acting town manager on September 19, to serve during the absence of Town Manager Fred Welch, who will be undergoing surgery.
Chair Bob Letourneau suggested Gallien’s appointment but abstained from the vote because he is Gallien’s grandfather.
Scarecrows On The Square
Bristol’s Community Events Committee is sponsoring its annual Scarecrow Decorating Contest, an event that offers prizes for the best scarecrows appearing in Central Square and around town.
Residents, businesses, schools, and community organizations are invited to build both traditional and creative versions of scarecrows for judging. Scarecrows may be placed on the common beginning October 1, and the Events Committee also will accept photographs of people’s own scarecrow displays.
“Each scarecrow display should be ‘family-friendly’ and those on the town common are not allowed to have a political theme,” according to the committee, which will offer two $75 gift cards to the winners. Entry forms are available at the Tapply-Thompson Community Center, Minot-Sleeper Library, and the Bristol Municipal Building, and may be downloaded from the town website. Mailed copies may be requested by emailing bristolevents@bristolnh.org. The forms may be submitted by mail or in person at the town offices or TTCC.
Fed Seeks Higher Unemployment To Curb Inflation
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would rather see more unemployed Americans and a slow-growth economy than continued inflation, and, in announcing a 0.75 point increase in the borrowing rate, sent stocks sharply lower by the close of trading on Wednesday. The announcement carried the U.S. dollar to a new 20-year high against its global peers.
Powell predicted more interest-rate hikes in the future, saying the Fed would consider halting the hikes only if it saw continued slow growth, a “modest” increase in unemployment, and “clear evidence” that inflation is moving back down to its 2 percent target.
The announcement made it clear that a “soft landing” which would avoid a recession is unlikely, and essentially guaranteed a “hard landing” that would result in a recession, although “No one knows … how significant that recession would be,” he said.
Progressive economists have been warning that a Fed interest rate hike before the country sees significant wage growth would disproportionately hurt people of color and women. People of color are much more likely to be workers on the lower side of the earnings spectrum, who have the least amount of leverage with employers. That means they are often the last people to get hired or get a raise when the job market heats up, and the first to lose their jobs when it cools down.
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