Also on today’s menu:
Taking On Polystyrene
A Fine For The Steele Dossier
The Croydon School Board finalized the details of the $800,000 budget that voters passed at the annual school district meeting, but also scheduled a special school district meeting to reconsider the original $1.7 million budget that had been proposed, according to the Union Leader.
The special meeting is the result of a citizens’ petition signed by 140 residents who were upset by the passage of a reduced budget, based on a $10,000-per-student cost, spearheaded by Selectman Ian Underwood, husband of School Board Chair Jody Underwood. There will be a public hearing on the matter on Friday, April 8, and the special district meeting will occur on Saturday, May 7.
In order to meet the $800,000 figure, the school board announced that Croydon Village School, which provides an education to about 24 students in kindergarten through Grade 4, would use a state-sponsored microschool vendor, Prenda, in place of the current school staff. The board also voted to limit tuition payments for students in grades 5-12 to $9,000 annually, with parents responsible for picking up the remainder of the cost of tuition. Beyond Grade 4, parents have a choice of sending their students on a tuition basis to Newport Middle-High School, Mount Royal Academy, or Newport Montessori School, whose tuition ranges from $8,100 to $17,800.
Taking On Polystyrene
Gilford Public Works Director Meghan Theriault is piloting a program that would have the town serve as a recycling center for polystyrene, commonly known as Styrofoam, which takes up valuable space at landfills and can take centuries to break down.
The Laconia Daily Sun reports that Theriault and Cindy Heath of the New Hampshire Networking Group envision having Rotary clubs collect the polystyrene and bring it to Gilford where the town would use a special extrusion unit to chop up the foam, heat it, and extract the 98 percent of the product that is air, leaving a plastic ingot that sells for between $700 and $800 per ton.
Theriault noted that it requires a regional source, not just from Gilford, to accumulate enough of the material to make the program work. “We’re hoping for a radius of 50 miles,” she said, and expects to work with Rotary clubs and other towns to set up a recycling district. She also is looking for grants and support from Rotary to connect the extrusion unit with electricty.
A Fine For The Steele Dossier
The Federal Election Commission has fined the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee for failing to properly disclose the use of campaign money for the compilation of the discredited Steele dossier to use against then-candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Retired British spy Christopher Steele pulled together unverified and salacious allegations against Trump, including claims that his campaign colluded with the Kremlin to win the election. Although Trump’s campaign had many contacts with Russian agents, no one was ever formally accused of conspiring with Russia.
The Clinton campaign and the DNC never conceded that they violated campaign finance laws, but agreed to pay the fines ($8,000 and $105,000, respectively) to end what a DNC spokesman described to CNN as “aging and silly” FEC complaints.
Café Chatter
Anyone have a trail camera they can mount at the Old Town Hall to see if we can get a glimpse of the woodpecker who has been visiting the tree?
— Susan Duncan, Bristol
I finished reading your informational letter today 03/30/22 about the Tax Deception and Federal Money Funds 10-Year Highway Plan.
Regarding Intuit software company being deceptive probably is true since I ran into this same thing with Tax Act software. You input all your information and ready to click file return and up comes a message you now have to pay X dollars to continue. So, I believe all these online tax software companies are doing the same thing and the only free fliers are those filing the basic of basic returns.
Regarding the Dept. of Transportation having less revenues because of more electric vehicles EV on the road is somewhat true, but … I have never seen a government department having less, so I believe and it is almost here all vehicle owners will be charged by miles driven each year. This would be an invasion of privacy if they do it this way. The government will know if you drive 2,000 miles or 50,000 miles each year and maybe at one point start to censure you or charge you an additional tax. If this is not the engine to collect or make up tax revenues from having more EV on the road then they will find another way. Maybe they will tax everyone 1 or 2 percent of their income (even Social Security income).
Governments hardly ever get smaller, just look what has happened to Bristol over the last few years. Another letter for another time.
— John Sellers, Bristol
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