CONCORD: New Hampshire’s preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2023 was 2.8 percent, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the revised December rate, the Department of Employment Security reported. The January 2022 seasonally adjusted rate was 2.3 percent. From December 2022 to January 2023, New Hampshire’s total labor force increased by 1,100 to 770,330, an increase of 11,870 from January 2022, the state said.
CONCORD: Some 52 individuals and businesses filed for bankruptcy in February, nine more than the 43 that filed in both January and February 2022, a 17 percent increase. Still, the number of filings this January and February each were two above record lows for those months, and bankruptcies are still just about a tenth of the 506 that filed for protection in February 2010. But February is now the third consecutive month with an increase in bankruptcy filings over the previous year.
MANCHESTER: State officials are charging that Boston-based Jones Street Investment Partners improperly tore down brick industrial buildings on Depot and West Auburn streets in Manchester before a review could be conducted to determine whether they belonged on the National Register of Historic Places, the Union Leader reported. Although the Manchester Heritage Commission reviewed the project, additional reviews were required under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which applied because the developer had to go to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a storm water permit, Nadine Miller, deputy state historic preservation officer, told the newspaper. The buildings were torn down to make way for a new apartment complex in the Gaslight District.
CONCORD: The House Municipal and County Government Committee has voted to kill a bill that would have to enable municipalities to give property tax relief to lodging establishments seeking to add sprinkler systems. The bill was filed in the wake of the fire last April at the Red Jacket Mountain View Resort in North Conway. The fire wound up destroying the entire south wing of the hotel, and a subsequent investigation found that there were no sprinklers in the wing because it had been built in 1971, before the fire suppression systems were required. Under the proposed bill, the owner of a qualifying structure that installed the systems would be able to apply for property tax relief for up to a five-year period.
PORTSMOUTH: The Portsmouth International Airport at Pease has received a $7 million federal grant to help pay for the expansion and upgrade of its Arrivals Hall and baggage claims area. The project will add about 5,200 square feet to the arrivals and baggage area as the Pease Development Authority continues to work to expand and upgrade its terminal at the former Pease Air Force Base.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, has joined a group of lawmakers to introduce the Supply Chain Disruptions Relief Act, which they say would provide tax relief to auto dealers experiencing inventory shortages due to global supply chain issues. Auto dealerships often use the last-in-first-out (LIFO) inventory method, which can result in a large tax bill for dealerships that don’t maintain a minimum level of inventory at the close of the year, Shaheen said. The bill would allow new vehicle dealers to delay the recognition of income triggered by the LIFO recapture for tax years 2020 and 2021, when dealers faced uncontrollable, pandemic-driven inventory shortfalls of new vehicles.
CONCORD: A network of 10 nonprofit community mental health centers from Colebrook to Salem that provide ongoing and emergency behavioral health services is getting a $500,000 boost in funding to help children, youth and families who are struggling in the wake of the pandemic. The funding comes through the New Hampshire Tomorrow initiative of the NH Charitable Foundation, which will be providing the support over two years to the 10 mental health centers.
