Also on today’s menu:
Mayors Ask State To Focus On Homelessness
Victim Of Gilford Police Shooting Identified
Woman On Mobility Scooter Killed In Rochester
The U.S. House of Representatives was unable to elect a speaker for the first time in a century when a divided Republican Party could not muster enough votes to put California Representative Kevin McCarthy in the seat, even though he had already started to move into the speaker’s office. He needed 218 votes but could only muster 203 on the first two ballots and 202 on the third ballot. The loss was even more humiliating because Democrat Hakeem Jeffries was able to poll 212 votes to be named minority leader.
With support of McCarthy decreasing on the third vote, House Republicans adjourned, to return at noon today. Florida Representative Byron Donalds, who had initially voted for McCarthy but switched his vote, said, “When the dust settles, we will have a Republican speaker; now is the time for our conference to debate and come to a consensus. This will take time. Democracy is messy at times, but we will be ready to govern on behalf of the American people. Debate is healthy.”
The sticking point is that ultra-conservatives in the party view McCarthy as too liberal, especially after he supported moderates in November’s elections. “Establishment” Republicans, on the other hand, see McCarthy as too willing to make deals with extremists who want to change the rules to ensure that more extremists get elected.
The last time it took multiple ballots to select the speaker was in 1923, when Progressive Republicans forced incumbent Republican speaker Frederick Gillett to accept rules changes to give them more power. Historian Heather Cox Richardson says an earlier speaker’s contest, in 1855–1856, like today, represented a struggle over the future of the country, with “shifting coalitions that crossed party lines until, after two months and 133 ballots, representatives put Nathaniel Banks, who had ties to most of the different factions, in the speaker’s chair.” A similar coalition may be necessary this year.
Mayors Ask State To Focus On Homelessness
Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer is among other New Hampshire mayors who signed a letter to Governor Chris Sununu, saying the state needs to do more to address homelessness. “The State of New Hampshire’s systems of care for individuals experiencing or at-risk of homelessness are not meeting the needs of communities across the state and are contributing to a statewide homelessness crisis,” they wrote.
In an interview with the Laconia Daily Sun, Hosmer said, “The state hasn’t offered up any leadership. The state has taken in billions of federal dollars in COVID relief money ... and the biggest issue facing the city is homelessness.”
New Hampshire’s mayors had asked Sununu in November 2020 to make homelessness a top priority, but the state is providing only $8 per person per day to emergency shelters, while they say the cost of providing emergency shelter is about $45 per person per day. That means “the costs get downshifted onto the backs of taxpayers” and add stress to city services, Hosmer said.
Victim Of Gilford Police Shooting Identified
Following an autopsy on January 3 that showed the victim of a police shooting in Gilford died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, authorities identified the victim as Mischa Fay, 17, the son of Merrill Fay who owns Fay’s Boat Yard.
Police had responded to reports of a resident armed with a knife at 5 Varney Point Road Left just before 10 p.m. on January 1. One officer had fired a taser at Fay and the second officer fired a gun, according to the Attorney-General’s Office. Fay was pronounced dead after being transported to Concord Hospital-Laconia.
The identities of the officers involved in the shooting are being withheld, and they have been placed on administrative leave until a formal interview is conducted as part of the state’s investigation into the shooting death.
Woman On Mobility Scooter Killed In Rochester
Cindy Aspinall, 57, was struck and killed in her mobility scooter on December 30 while trying to cross Columbus Avenue in Rochester. A southbound vehicle struck her at 1:55 p.m., leading to a shutdown of the roadway for about three hours.
The Strafford County Technical Accident Reconstruction Team is continuing its investigation into the incident but authorities have not released the name of the driver who struck Aspinall.
City Councilor Dana Berlin, who has been leading an effort to make the crosswalk safer, said he had asked city staff to contact Eversource last April to get estimates on additional street poles and lighting to provide more nighttime illumination, but, according to him, Eversource failed to respond. “I’m angry,” he said. “After eight months trying to get an estimate from Eversource and not get a response?”
Support Our Efforts
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. Mondays are reserved for more personal observations which only paid subscribers will receive, while Tuesday through Friday will draw from news stories published by various sources.
The News Café relies on subscriptions, rather than on advertising and grants, for its support. That frees us to provide an independent focus on events and cultural issues without having to weigh whether it would upset advertisers or fit into grant guidelines. Our only obligation is to provide information we believe is useful to our readers.
Subscriptions to this newsletter are available for as little as $5 per month. Subscribers can share their knowledge, thoughts, and questions about any topic, and we may select some of those subjects for more in-depth analysis.
If you’re unable to pay but still want to receive all of the free public posts in your in-box, click the Subscribe button and select a free subscription.
Download the app to view or hear an audio version of the posts, and to join in a group chat.
Visit us at www.libertymedianh.org