CONCORD: An auction has been set for 10 a.m. Dec. 16 for the assets of LRGHealthcare, including Lakes Region General Hospital and Franklin Regional Hospital, under a schedule agreed to in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Concord as part of bankruptcy proceedings. Concord Hospital has offered to acquire the bankrupt LRGH’s assets for $30 million and run the facilities. But other bidders might join in the auction. The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court came after two years of efforts by LRGHealthcare to solve its financial problems through a merger or acquisition.
CONCORD: As Covid-19 cases rise, Gov. Chris Sununu has reactivated the $300-per-week extra stipend for frontline health care workers in long-term settings who care for residents on Medicaid. The payments, coming through the state’s Long Term Care Stabilization Program, will run through the end of 2020. Sununu did not rule out extending the payments, but the Dec. 31 deadline coincides with spending under the federal CARES Act, which says that all money not spent by Dec. 30 must be returned to the federal government.
KEENE: The Greater Keene and Greater Peterborough Chambers of Commerce are the latest in the state to announce a merger of operations. The two Monadnock Region chambers say the merger will likely be completed next year. In a message to members, the chambers attributed the merger to financial difficulties plaguing many small chambers in light of the pandemic. Similar mergers have already taken place over the last year in New Hampshire, including a February merger of the Souhegan Valley and Merrimack chambers of commerce and the creation of the Upper Valley Business Alliance in November 2019, formed by the Lebanon Area and Hanover Area chambers.
MANCHESTER: Delta Air Lines will not resume operations at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport next spring, as previously reported, airport officials confirmed.
Delta announced last spring it was temporarily suspending service out of Manchester because of Covid-19 and set a tentative return date of late 2020. That return date was pushed to March 2021 when a second wave of
coronavirus infections began appearing in southern states in July.
Airport Director Ted Kitchens told aldermen that in the third quarter
alone, Delta reported a loss of $5.8 billion, and the carrier continues
to burn $18 million a day in cash, the Union Leader reported.
LONDONDERRY:
Liberty Utilities, which serves customers in the southeastern and
western parts of New Hampshire, has rebranded itself as simply
“Liberty.”
The
company also has unveiled a new logo it describes as being a “radiant
heart,” which it says represents putting its heart where it matters and
emphasizes “greener, cleaner and more sustainable systems for the
future,” Liberty said in a letter to ratepayers. Londonderry will remain
the company’s East Region headquarters for the utility side of the
company, which also serves customers in Massachusetts, New York and
Georgia.
PITTSFIELD:
The owner of Moonlight Meadery in Londonderry is buying the 98.3-acre
Early Bird Farm in Pittsfield, where he plans to set up tasting rooms, a
nanobrewery, wedding venue and expanded orchards. The Union Leader
reported that Michael Fairbrother reached a deal with the landowners on
Oct. 31. He plans to purchase the land through an LLC called Over the
Moon Farmstead, which is what he will rename the farm. Fairbrother
agreed to buy the property for $840,000 and expects to spend another
$50,000 on renovations.
GORHAM:
Retired New England Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich is teaming up
with Manchester-based powersports dealership chain MOMS in purchasing
Absolute PowerSports in Gorham. The deal comes three years after MOMS
opened its first North Country location in Lancaster, which was later
moved to Groveton. The new location will be called MOMS Jericho, named
after nearby Jericho State Park, and Ninkovich will be a full partner.
MOMS, founded in 1973 in Manchester, has since opened locations in
Foxborough and Revere in Massachusetts.