MANCHESTER: Eight more New Hampshire communities have voted to partner with Consolidated Communications to build out fiber-to-the-premises broadband internet networks. Voters in Marlborough approved the partnership on March 16, joining Charlestown, Fitzwilliam, Gilsum, Goshen, Langdon, Troy and Unity, which also recently voted their approvals. When complete, the new networks will connect a total of more than 9,400 homes and businesses to faster broadband connectivity, including symmetrical speed up to 1 GB.

NEW YORK: Boston Scientific Corp. has agreed to pay a $188.6 million multi-state settlement — with $1.37 million going to New Hampshire — over charges that it downplayed the dangers of transvaginal surgical mesh devises. The publicly traded company, which is headquartered in Marlborough, Mass., and has an office in Manchester, also agreed to undertake a number of marketing training and clinical trial reforms aimed at disclosing risk of the complications of implanting the devices.

CONCORD: Facades Inc., a Hampstead contractor, has been ordered to pay $87,360 in back wages owed to 28 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation. The department said Facades, a commercial exterior surfaces applicator-installer, falsified pay records to “mask its failure to pay workers the required overtime wages they earned,” in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Besides the $87,260 in recovered wages, Facades must pay a penalty of $19,516 for the willful nature of the violations, the department said.

SALEM: Hampton-based Smuttynose Brewing is planning to open a beer garden at the Tuscan Village multi-use development in Salem. Smuttynose has locations in Hampton and Dover. The brewery, according to the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, is hoping to open the beer garden in May. The latest Tuscan Village master plan includes 170 acres for mixed uses, including retail, restaurants, grocery stores, offices, banks, health and fitness establishments, a hotel, residences, medical offices and more.

KEENE: Phil Suter will retire later this year as president and CEO of the Greater Keene & Peterborough Chamber of Commerce after more than seven years on the job. Suter said he will stay until the board of directors finds a successor, expected this summer. The Greater Keene & Peterborough Chamber has more than 500 members.

BERLIN: Citing the ongoing pandemic, the Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce has decided not to hold the Jericho ATV Festival this summer, the second year in a row the popular event will be canceled because of Covid-19. The annual event usually draws tens of thousands of visitors to the Berlin area. Chamber Executive Director Paula Kinney said the uncertainty around Covid-19 and what guidelines would in place by the July 30-31 date set for the festival made it impossible to plan an event that draws thousands to the Berlin-Gorham area.

DOVER: The former Strafford County Courthouse in Dover has been sold to Chinburg Management LLC, which is planning to convert it into a mix of residential and commercial units. Sale price was $700,000, according to the Strafford County Register of Deeds. Eric Chinburg, president and CEO of Chinburg Properties, said he will be taking advantage of the state’s 79-E program, which provides property tax relief for investments in town centers that involve rehabilitation of under-utilized buildings. He said that by doing so, taxes on the building will remain frozen while the building is being restored.

MANCHESTER: The Currier Museum of Art’s Art Center at 180 Pearl St. has been sold to an entity controlled by entrepreneur and inventor Dean Kamen.

The property, formerly known as Pearl Manor, housed the arts center since 1998. Robert Tuttle, an investment partner with Kamen, told the NH Union Leader the property sold for about $1.25 million.