Monday, May 20, 2013
Legislative Week: House votes on casino gambling bill. Senate to vote on medical marijuana, proposed gas tax increase, and repeal of the 'stand your ground' law.
Medical marijuana, casino gambling, "stand your ground" and the gas tax face critical votes in the New Hampshire House and Senate this week. The House convenes in regular session at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 22. The Senate meets in session at 10 a.m. Thursday. Casino vote looms. Will the House reject the bill to legalize casino gambling in New Hampshire? Or will its independent-minded members overturn a committee report recommending the bill be killed? We'll know come Wednesday, but you can be sure the vote wrangling is on high. Mary Jane Wallner (D-Concord), the chairwoman of the House "special committee" that voted 23-22 last week to recommend the House kill the bill, writes in the committee report that the bill "short circuits the …
43.20725
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107 N Main St, Concord, NH
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
Saturday is the next drawing. Are you going to be a player?
No golden ticket was purchased for Wednesday's Powerball. So if you're feeling lucky, Saturday is your next chance to win the estimated $475 million jackpot. About Powerball from powerball.com: Powerball is a combined large jackpot game and a cash game. Every Wednesday and Saturday night at 10:59 p.m. Eastern five white balls are drawn out of a drum with 59 balls and one red ball out of a drum with 35 red balls. Draw sales cut off at least 59 minutes before the draw. Players win by matching one of the 9 Ways to Win. The jackpot (won by matching all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball) is either an annuitized prize paid out over 29 years (30 payments) or a lump sum payment. Each ticket costs $2. If the winner chooses the…
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The cost of colonoscopies, MRIs, CT scans and mammograms can shift a lot from county to county.
It costs $1,500 for the average CT scan in Hillsborough County—about $1,260 cheaper than the state average. The average prices of colonoscopies, mammograms, and MRIs in Hillsborough are also all lower than the state average. That's according to data from New Choice Health, a private company that encourages people to become smarter healthcare consumers. The four medical procedures mentioned above, however, are all more expensive in Rockingham County than in Hillsborough County, according to the data. These big regional differences have been in the news lately: As the Washington Post wrote, "One hospital charges $8,000 - another $38,000." Using the same data as the Post, The New York Times listed out the prices of a series of procedures in…
Monday, May 13, 2013
Legislative week: A House 'super committee' votes Wednesday on the casino gambling bill.
Could New Hampshire be a step closer to legalizing casino gambling? Will the traditional anti-casino constituency in the House regroup and rise again and begin to dismantle Senate Bill 152? The House "super committee" reviewing the bill is eyeing numerous changes, and the big committee vote comes Wednesday. Do you like its chances? _______ The House and Senate are not in session this week as policy committees shovel away at outstanding bills. The Governor and Executive Council meet Wednesday, May 15, at 10 a.m. in council chambers at the Statehouse. Casino: Yes or No? The Joint House Committee of Finance and Ways and Means aims to wrap up its work today and Tuesday before discussion and a vote Wednesday on Senate Bill 152, the bill to …
43.20725
-71.53661
107 N Main St, Concord, NH
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Saturday, May 11, 2013
The national press whipped itself into a frenzy over her vote. Ayotte's also getting plenty of criticism in NH, but supporters demand to be heard. Does this rising GOP star still shine?
U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) continues to make headlines over her vote against expanded background checks for gun buys, and her op-ed framing the debate was like, to some people, gasoline on a fire. What does the gun vote mean for Ayotte? Does it have any long-term effects for a first-term senator who's not up for re-election until 2016? The National Rifle Association came to her defense with a $25,000 television buy in New Hampshire, which New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesman Harrell Kirstein criticized as "deceitful and dishonest." The NHDP challenged the accuracy of Ayotte's op-ed, and cited polls that show strong support among Granite Staters for expanded background checks. And the ad wars continue: American Future Fund is to …
38.895206
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1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC
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Friday, May 10, 2013
The Republican governor of Louisiana appeared at a PAC fundraiser in Manchester Friday.
MANCHESTER, NH – A crowd of about 50 Republicans trickled into the Radisson Hotel Ballroom here Friday night to hear what Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal had to say about the future of the GOP. "We lost an election, it's time to get over it," he said. "The reality is I'm tired of the navel-gazing. I'm tired of all the public confessions. The reality is we already have one liberal party in America. We don't need two liberal parties." As the head of the Republican Governors Association, Jindal has been making regular appearances for various groups across the country. The governor has been kicked around as a possible presidential hopeful in 2016. Jindal's New Hampshire visit, the first this year for a potential 2016 candidate, was for a …
House panel eyeing changes in regulation, licensing and revenue distribution. Vote set for May 15.
A slew of casino bill amendments may soon be floated after House subcommittees delivered reports Thursday that raised questions and new ideas about regulation, licensing and oversight. Suggestions included expanding those requiring background checks, additional criteria for licensure, enhancing authority for the New Hampshire Attorney General, tightening limits on political contributions, and reworking the revenue distribution formula. Revenue subcommittee Chairman Neal Kurk (R-Weare) reported the timeline for a casino licensing review could be pushed back by another 11 months. That includes nine months for regulatory review and submissions of requests for proposals, and two months for background checks. "We believe that if everything …
43.20725
-71.53661
107 N Main St, Concord, NH
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Wednesday, May 8, 2013
NH House honors Jeff Bauman as a hero and, without mentioning Stella Tremblay by name, "disavows any unfounded speculation or accusation' about victims and responders.
CONCORD, NH – The New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a resolution Wednesday honoring the victims and heroes of the Boston Marathon bombings and disavowing any "unfounded speculation or accusation" by one of its members. The resolution doesn't mention her by name, but it targets state Rep. Stella Tremblay, who last month commented on Facebook that the bombings were a "black ops" attack involving the U.S. government. Tremblay (R-Auburn) doubled down on her conspiracy theories last week and questioned injuries suffered by Jeff Bauman Jr. The resolution was offered by House Republican Leader Gene Chandler (R-Bartlett), House Majority Leader Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook), and House Speaker Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth). It was adopted …
With a month or two to live, Hardy Macia takes to YouTube urging governor to allow patients to grow their own.
The battle of medicinal marijuana has taken a turn in New Hampshire and at least one cancer patient is not bowled over by the changes. According to a report on New Hampshire Public Radio, the state Senate has altered the medical marijuana bill to remove a provision that would have allowed home grown plants for medical use. The provision was removed from the bill in order to gain approval from Gov. Maggie Hassan. But as NHPR and marijuana advocates noted, Hassan was a previous supporter of the provision as a state Senator four years ago. The changes could keep marijuana from patients for another two years, according to the report. After hearing of the change, Hardy Macia, a former Libertarian Party candidate for Congress in the 2nd …
Monday, May 6, 2013
A new federal database shows how hospitals compare for care.
If you go to the emergency room at the Elliot Hospital, how long will it take before you see a healthcare professional? The federal government says 53 minutes on average. That's worse than the state average of 35 minutes. Key measures of ER efficiency have been posted from hospitals across the country, according to a report by Cheryl Clark, of HealthLeaders Media. “With precious little fanfare, Uncle Sam...rolled out a big, fat database with seven measures comparing a service that many people—healthcare providers and patients alike—consider the most critical any hospital can provide,” Clark wrote. Data collected in 2011 and early 2012 also tracked things like how long it took for an ER patient with a broken bone to get pain medication, or …
One Man Wolf Pack
11:50 am on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
@Atlant, your kidding right? lol, who wants to switch plates like that? Eventually we are going to have to change this pay structure if we want self-indulged partisans out of our state government who are qualified for the job. Right now personal interest is about the only real driver; but, of course, every one of them up there will tell you they are in it for the public good. more ›