Also on today’s menu:
Fuel Delivery Restrictions Temporarily Lifted
‘Unbelievable But True’ On 80th Anniversary
Surveillance Balloon Prompts High Alert
The New Hampshire House of Representatives has defeated House Bill 95, which would have allowed cities and towns to impose rent controls to keep people in their apartments. While acknowledging the need for affordable housing, the House Municipal and County Government Committee voted 16-3 to kill the bill, and Representative Len Turcotte (R-Barrington) said it would result in a patchwork of regulations across the state. “This is short-term gratification and it will distort the free market,” he said.
Supporters pointed to the 1 percent vacancy rate for housing, with rents having increased more than 70 percent during the last three years. Representative Eric Gallager (D-Concord) said the housing crisis has led to the eviction of tenants who can no longer afford the rent and increased homelessness.
The 301-63 vote recognized that the only way to really address the problem is to build more units to meet the demand. Future building does not help those who face an immediate need for affordable housing, however.
Fuel Delivery Restrictions Temporarily Lifted
The dangerously cold weather predicted to arrive this weekend has led New Hampshire Department of Safety Commissioner Robert L. Quinn to sign an emergency declaration that temporarily lifts the restrictions on hours of service for drivers delivering propane, home heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel, as well as groceries and medicine. Utility crews also are exempt.
“Forecasters have indicated this weather is dangerous and potentially life-threatening, so the delivery of these supplies is critical,” Quinn said. “This emergency exemption allows certain CDL drivers to work extended hours, if they’re able and asked to do so, and ensures Granite Staters receive what they need to stay warm and safe during this stretch of frigid air.”
The forecast calls for wind chills as low as -50 degrees on Friday into Saturday. A shortage of CDL drivers also contributed to the decision to grant the exemption, which will be in effect until February 12.
The exemption does not relieve carriers from the responsibility of making sure fatigued or ill drivers are not allowed or compelled to be behind the wheel, and other regulations concerning the use of controlled substances and alcohol and size-and-weight requirements remain in effect.
‘Unbelievable But True’ On 80th Anniversary
As he observed the 80th anniversary of the conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “It’s unbelievable but true. We are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks.”
The remark was a reference to Germany’s decision to send Leopard tanks to help Ukraine repel the Russian forces attacking that country, but to Putin, it was reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s attack on Stalingrad (now known as Volgograd) during World War II. The Soviet army captured nearly 91,000 German troops during that battle, turning the tide of the war.
“Those who hope to defeat Russia on the battlefield do not understand, it seems, that a modern war with Russia will be very different for them,” Putin said. “We are not sending our tanks to their borders, but we have the means to respond. It won’t be limited to the use of armoured hardware. Everyone must understand this.”
Surveillance Balloon Prompts High Alert
Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters that a surveillance balloon believed to be Chinese has been scrutinizing a U.S. military base in Montana, leading the Pentagon to scramble jets in case President Joe Biden Jr. decided to shoot it down. The balloon is traveling at an altitude “well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground,” Ryder said, but shooting it down might endanger people below.
The announcement comes just before Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s expected departure for Beijing, where he is to hold a series of long-scheduled meetings with senior Chinese officials, aimed at stabilizing the U.S.-China relationship.
While the Pentagon contemplated how to respond to the balloon over Montana, which has a number of missile silos, civilian flights in the area were halted. An official said, “[W]e wanted to make sure we were coordinating with civil authorities to empty out the airspace around that potential area. But even with those protective measures taken, it was the judgment of our military commanders that we didn’t drive the risk down low enough. So we didn’t take the shot.”
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