Also on today’s menu:
Water And Sewer Needs Challenge Redevelopment Plan
Officer Fires At, Injures Man Following Erratic Driving
Overturned Truck Blocks Interstate 89
House Finance Committee Chair Ken Weyler (R-Kingston) would like to reduce the amount of money going into New Hampshire’s Education Trust Fund by $222 million in fiscal year 2024 and $225 million in 2025, with the state’s obligation to assist in special education, school building aid, and other programs being paid out of the state’s general fund. The plan would reduce the amount of business tax money going toward education by more than half. Weyler said he was simply putting things back to the way they were when the legislature initially established the trust fund to address the Supreme Court decision in the Claremont II lawsuit that held the state responsible for providing an “adequate education”.
The Education Trust Fund held $1.22 billion in fiscal 2022, and $1.06 billion in 2023.
Governor Chris Sununu’s education funding plan increases extraordinary aid to property-poor school districts from $600 per pupil in the free and reduced lunch program to $3,750 per student, which increases aid from $10 million a year to about $57 million.
Both plans would replace the current “stabilization grants” — that in practice benefit wealthy communities — with “hold harmless” grants for those communities to ease a transition away from the benefit, reducing their current funding from the statewide education property tax by 20 percent per biennium.
“There is no reduction in the money spent for education; there is no harm to education,” Weyler said.
Water And Sewer Needs Challenge Redevelopment Plan
Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer and Charlie Arlinghaus, commissioner of the state’s Department of Administrative Services, said they are pleased with progress on the development of the former Laconia State School property, but the need for adequate water and sewer for as many as 1,900 units poses a challenge.
A Manchester-based development group plans to build a housing complex, hotel and conference center, and retail space on the property at the corner of Meredith Center Road and Parade Road in Laconia. Hosmer and City Manager Kirk Beattie have been working with the state and the prime developer, Robynne Alexander, as plans proceed.
Arlinghaus told Governor Chris Sununu and the Executive Council that, while the main line of the Winnipesaukee River Basin sewer system runs along Parade Road in front of the property, it is not of adequate size for such a large development.
“The city does not see it as a stumbling block,” Arlinghaus said, “but I don’t believe the city has anticipated carrying the whole cost of infrastructure upgrades.”
Officer Fires At, Injures Man Following Erratic Driving
Waleed Al Thuwayni, 18, of Manchester was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound after a Manchester police officer discharged his weapon during “an interaction” in a parking lot near 265 Maple Street on March 26.
Al Thuwayni had been driving through the city, doing “burnouts” in his black Nissan 350Z convertible around 11:30 p.m., and refused to stop for responding officers. They later found him in the driver’s seat of his car in the parking lot shortly before midnight. According to Attorney-General John Formella, Al Thuwayni had been at the Manchester Police Department earlier in the evening, “acting irate”.
Initial information indicates that a single officer discharged his weapon, and that the police officers were wearing body cameras. They took Al Thuwayni into custody and transported him to Elliott Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Overturned Truck Blocks Interstate 89
The driver of a commercial truck over-corrected after the vehicle struck a guardrail during a right turn on Interstate 89 on March 27. The truck overturned, coming to rest where it was blocking both lanes of travel.
The driver sustained minor injuries in the crash and needed help from the responding state trooper to get out of the truck. Hopkinton and Concord Fire and Rescue evaluated the driver and took him to a local hospital.
The highway was shut down for about two hours, until the truck was removed.
Café Chatter
On Blather: Oh, Brother! Reporting the truth and reporting bias are two different things and you show a lot of bias in this last message from you which greatly disappoints me. You act like Biden and other presidents never lie and only call out Trump, like you are obsessed or hate him. You called him a fascist which means;
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting. Political scientists have created many typologies describing variations of authoritarian forms of government.
You are spitting false lies of Biden and his administration. Everything Biden is doing is fascist, read the definition again, you cannot be that blind. He acts like a dictator and is authoritarian (we are a democratic republic, not a pure democracy). He and other have used the Tech companies to silence our speech because we opposed them. Again, you can't be that blind!
Don't get me started on the J6 crap that Pelosi orchestrated (insurrection? please, that is their labeling and messaging) and there are many videos coming out showing more of the truth every day, and no I am not watching Fox News or the others for that matter, I trust none of them anymore. Remember, Trump offered Pelosi extra military help to protect the capital that day and she refused, WHY? I could go on, but you know a lot about this already.
If you are going to report, then report but stop with the bias and innuendos and labeling/identifying words. This is a war, a war to keep our country, we are losing it all, from pornography in the schools, parental rights being lost, SEL/CRT in our schools and schools gathering PII on our kids to use against them in the future, killing of babies like it's no big deal, losing our currency (EO 14067 which will lead us into submission once they control our spending and know exactly every step we make along with and ESG score, carbon footprint and social scoring) and the evil corruption throughout Washington and over 100 billion spent on Ukraine which I wish I could prove are lining the pockets of many Politicians with the big arms companies (how does one go into congress/senate and come out multi-millionaires, that is not a servant to the people, that is fleecing the people by using insider information). We are being deceived in so many fronts and you are buying into those deceptions. Go back to the scriptures and see for yourself.
I don't care if Trump wins or loses but I do care about the country God placed me in and so much has changed over the last 60 years and most for the worse. I am in this world but my real home is in God's Kingdom, but in the meantime I am hoping that God will be merciful and NH can be a safe place for many.
— John Sellers
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