EXETER: Beth Israel Lahey Health and Exeter Health Resources Inc. have signed an agreement that will make the local healthcare system part of the Massachusetts-based hospital group. The Beth Israel Lahey Health group includes several hospitals in the Greater Boston area and on the north shore of Massachusetts. Exeter Health includes Exeter Hospital, Core Physicians and Rockingham Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice. Earlier this year, the two organizations signed a letter of intent to explore a merger earlier. The deal they reached is now subject to state and federal regulatory review, a process expected to take a number of months.
NORTHWOOD: Pierre Rogers of Northwood has been charged with bilking the federal government out of more than $680,000 in Paycheck Protection Program and other pandemic-related federal assistance loans, federal prosecutors announced. A federal grand jury returned charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and attempted wire fraud against Joshua Leavitt, 40, as well as Pierre Rogers, 43, of Irvine, Calif. According to the indictments, Leavitt and Rogers applied for approximately $2 million in PPP loans and another $3 million through the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program using false and fabricated tax documents. 
LITTLETON: Harrison Kanzler, executive director of the nonprofit Mount Washington Housing Coalition in North Conway for the past two years, has been hired as the new executive director of Littletonbased AHEAD (Affordable Housing Education and Development). Kanzler, a North Conway resident, is to start his new job on Aug. 1. He succeeds longtime director Michael Claflin, who announced his plans to retire earlier this year.
HAMPTON: The Shirt Factory in Hampton has been fined over $18,000 and ordered to pay nearly $124,000 in back wages to compensate 40 workers after the U.S. Department of Labor found two major wage law violations. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division said that some of the 40 employees of the company were paid in cash off the books and paid straight time for overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek. The Department said the company also failed to pay one worker wages for nearly a month.
HANOVER: An anonymous $52.1 million donation has been made to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth to establish a new annual summit to solve “Wicked Problems” facing the world. The donation, which is the largest in Tuck’s history, creates an endowment for a Health, Wealth and Sustainability Summit. The Valley News reported that the details are still being worked out, but the event will likely be held annually over the course of a few days. The goal is to attract scholars, students, business and civic leaders, and government officials from around the world to share ideas to come up with practical solutions to big issues that can be applied at local levels.
DURHAM: The Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire is seeking businesses within an hour’s drive of the Durham campus to host interns during the fall semester. The internships are part of an entrepreneurship internship course, offered to students in their senior year who have an interest in gaining experience in a variety of areas, including finance, business analytics, marketing, sales, business development and real estate. Students are required to work eight to 10 hours per week for 13 weeks, starting the week of Aug. 29 and ending the week of Dec. 5. Remote internships will be considered. Deadline to apply is Aug. 12. For more information, email Laura Hill (laura.hill@unh.edu) or call her at 603-862-3341.
RINDGE: The Savings Bank of Walpole is opening a new branch in Rindge as it seeks to grow its local footprint. The bank said it plans to open its seventh branch along Route 202 early next year with work slated to begin on the new location in July. The bank will renovate a former GFA Federal Credit Union location at 31 Sonja Drive, making use of a drive-thru that already exists on the side of the building. The branch is expected to open in early 2023, according to a news release from Savings Bank of Walpole.
