Also on today’s menu:
Sensitive Health Data At Risk
A Tie For Rochester House Seat
Republicans Narrowly Take Over US House
Laconia Police Detective Eric Adams is aware of between 300 and 400 people who are out on the streets without housing in the city, but he says the number of homeless people may be much higher if it were to include those residing in camps or “couch-surfing”. Mayor Andrew Hosmer created a homelessness task force to take a look at the problem, and the group recently completed a series of forums to allow members of the public to discuss the problem and offer possible solutions.
The problem of homelessness has only grown in the eight years since the Liberty Independent Media Project completed a documentary on some of the efforts to help people overcome the circumstances in which they find themselves due to the cost of housing, loss of a job, ill health, or substance misuse. There have been improvements, with Belknap House now offering a year-round family shelter and Isaiah 61 Café offering a place to stay overnight for those who are unable to find beds at other shelters or are disqualified because of continuing substance abuse. Yet with the cost of a studio apartment being $1,000 per month or more, even those with jobs have a difficult time staying housed.
Hosmer said he was alerted to the problem when he attended a summer learning lab at Laconia High School. “I went in and the students had so many questions for me in my capacity as mayor, and so many were regarding homelessness. It struck me that that is a population we should talk to and listen to because housing instability is impacting school-age children. There are students going through instability or witnessing what their peers are going through experiencing housing instability,” he said.
The task force will prepare a report on what it learned through data collection and conversations during the series of forums, and may hold further targeted discussions with business owners, health-care and addiction service providers, and people experiencing homelessness.
Sensitive Health Data At Risk
Mobile health websites have provided a way to expand treatment for substance use disorders, but there has been a persistent concern over how private those websites really are. On November 16, the Opioid Policy Institute and Legal Action Center released the findings of a 16-month analysis of a dozen major substance-use-focused mHealth websites, revealing details of how much data is shared with third parties.
Wired reports that, “While the sharing of any kind of patient information is often strictly regulated or outright forbidden, it’s even more verboten in addiction treatment, as patients’ medical history can be inherently criminal and stigmatized.” Yet, the study showed in an analysis of the websites for Bicycle Health, Boulder Care, Bright Heart Health, Confidant Health, DynamiCare Health, Kaden, Loosid, Ophelia, PursueCare, reSET-O, SoberGrid, and WorkItHealth that all 12 websites included features that collect, identify, and share information about users with third parties and had ad trackers that are used for advertising purposes. Eleven of the sites used third-party session cookies that identify visitors and track them across other websites to serve ads, and four of the 12 used session recording, which monitors mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, and typing, even if the text input is never submitted. Half of the websites used Meta Pixel to send user data to Facebook, 10 used Google Analytics (which can track user metrics), and all 12 sent some data to ad tech companies that buy and sell user data for advertising.
The sensitive information people share during treatment for substance use disorders could affect employment, ability to get a home, custody of children, and even their freedom. Health care providers and lawmakers recognized long ago that the potential threat of losing so much would deter people from getting life-saving help, and they set up strict laws to protect those who do seek treatment. Now, experts worry that the data collected on telehealth sites could bring about the harm they had tried to prevent.
A Tie For Rochester House Seat
Recounts of New Hampshire’s election-day ballots are continuing, with two seats having flipped from Republican to Democratic control; now the recount for a House seat in Rochester has ended in a tie between incumbent Democrat Chuck Grassie and Republican David Walker. Walker beat Grassie by one vote during the election for Rochester’s Ward 4, 971-970. After the recount, it was a tie at 970-970. It now is likely to go before the state’s Ballot Law Commission. If the BLC determines that it is still a tie, the House of Representatives could decide who won the seat.
Twenty-four House seats were sent for a recount, and the process is now at a halfway point. Republicans held 201 seats while Democrats had 199 prior to the Walker-Grassie recount; should Grassie prevail, the parties would be tied at 200 seats each.
The schedule of upcoming recounts is posted on the Secretary of State website.
Republicans Narrowly Take Over US House
Republicans won control of the U.S. House on November 16 by a threadbare majority when they secured the 218th seat needed to flip the House from Democratic control, even as votes in competitive races are still being counted.
The 2022 mid-term elections could give the party its narrowest majority of the 21st century. Republicans had just a nine-seat majority, 221-212 with two independents, in 2001.
The Associated Press reports, “The results could complicate House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s plans to become speaker as some conservative members have questioned whether to back him or have imposed conditions for their support.”
Giving Tuesday
The News Café is a virtual meeting place where we discuss the news of the day: local, statewide, national, and international.
An offering by the nonprofit Liberty Independent Media Project, the News Café does not rely on advertising, as most media outlets do, freeing us to provide an independent focus on events and cultural matters. The project instead relies on direct monetary support from donors and subscribers.
Giving Tuesday is coming up on November 29. If you like what we’re doing, and want to see more of it, please give what you can by going to kindest.com.
You can also support the News Café by converting your free subscription into a paid subscription.
Please consider supporting our work to keep the News Café coming.