WASHINGTON, D.C.: While most New England states are losing population, New Hampshire has continued its trend of modest gains, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The estimates, covering July 2019 to July 2020, show that during that time, New Hampshire and Maine were the only New England states to gain population, with New Hampshire seeing the region’s largest percentage increase for the third year in a row.
MERRIMACK: Concerns about potential groundwater contamination have stalled plans to construct a three-building, 100,000-square-foot research and development facility in Merrimack that is being developed by the John J. Flatley Company. The facility is to be built on property abutting Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, where PFAS emissions from the factory contaminated hundreds of wells in the area. The property is also near the wellhead protection area for two Merrimack Village District public water wells, which is a limited aquifer area.
MANCHESTER: Major League Baseball’s plans for dealing with Covid-19 for its upcoming season could delay the New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ 2021 season.
The Union Leader reported that the delay would result if Major League Baseball players aren’t vaccinated by the time MLB spring training workouts begins in mid-February. If MLB players aren’t vaccinated by mid-February, players who would be assigned to Double-A and Single-A teams wouldn’t report to spring training until players at the major league and Triple-A levels have left spring training facilities for the start of their seasons.
Spring training is scheduled to begin in Arizona and Florida on Feb. 17.
FITZWILLIAM: NextEra Energy Resources’ plans for the largest solar project in New Hampshire have officially received the go-ahead from the state’s Site Evaluation Committee. The SEC voted in October to approve the 30-megawatt Chinook Solar Project in Fitzwilliam, after finding that it met all the criteria. At the end of December, the committee issued a written order granting the project a certificate of site and facility, which allows it to proceed. The facility will be the largest solar array in New Hampshire by far, with about 10 times the capacity of the biggest one built to date.
CONCORD: Amy K. Bassett, district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Maine office, has been named the new district director of the SBA’s New Hampshire office. She succeeds Greta Johansson, who retired earlier this year after more than 38 years with the SBA, nine of them as the state’s director. Bassett, Maine district director since January 2017, worked for several years in the New Hampshire office before that.
PETERBOROUGH: Former tenants of the Walden Eco-Village community of tiny houses are suing their landlord, alleging that the property owner breached their leases by charging them to live in homes that were not up to code. The former tenants were given less than a week to vacate their homes after a Peterborough code enforcement officer cited violations that included electrical and propane heating systems that failed to meet code, New Hampshire Public Radio reported. In a potential class-action lawsuit filed in Hillsborough Superior Court, the former tenants accuse the defendant, Akhil Garland, of putting their lives at “immediate risk.”
PORTSMOUTH: The International Association of Privacy Professionals has launched the Westin Scholar Awards, an annual program aimed at helping to meet the growing need for qualified privacy and data protection professionals. The awards, which will support students who consider a career in privacy and data protection, are a part of the IAPP’s 20th anniversary events and serves as a way to celebrate and advance the IAPP’s mission to define, promote and improve the privacy profession globally, the company said. Nearly three dozen universities around the world have so far signed up to participate and will each select one student annually for the award.
