CONCORD: The House Ways and Means Committee voted unanimously to recommend killing Senate Bill 104, which would legalize online casino games such as poker, blackjack and roulette under the supervision of the state lottery commission, and use the proceeds toward scholarships for community college students.
Proponents said it would be an innovative way to raise revenue to train more workers in the state. But the state’s charitable gaming operations argued legalizing online casino gaming would hurt the revenue generated by the charity games.
CLAREMONT: The NH Charitable Trusts Unit is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed affiliation between Dartmouth Health and Valley Regional Hospital next month. The Lebanon-based Dartmouth Health, the Claremont hospital and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, Vt., last August announced last that they had signed a letter of intent to affiliate. In September, they held a public listening session on the subject. The hearing will take place at 4 p.m., May 18, at the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center, 152 South St. in Claremont.
PORTSMOUTH: Baywood Hotels, a hotel management company based in Columbia, Md., that operates hotels around the country, has paid $4.25 million for a site in Portsmouth’s North End, where it plans to build a five-story hotel. Baywood said it plans to build a new 117-room Hyatt Place hotel at the site along with a garage and café.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has joined with two representatives in the U.S. House to reintroduce the Fair Housing for Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence Survivors Act, which would provide legal protections for victims of domestic violence, sexual violence and sex trafficking who are seeking housing. Sponsored along with Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Nicole Malliotakis of New York, the measure seeks to build on protections in the Violence Against Women Act by adding “survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and sex trafficking” to the list of protected classes under the Fair Housing Act, establishing a standard across the country that victims of domestic violence, sexual violence or sex trafficking cannot be evicted or otherwise penalized for being victims of those crimes.
DURHAM: The Federal Aviation Administration has selected the University of New Hampshire’s Drone Academy for inclusion in its Unmanned Aircraft Systems-Collegiate Training Initiative program, or the UAS-CTI. The program recognizes institutions that prepare students for careers in unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, commonly referred to as drones. The designation means that the UNH Drone Academy’s non-credit workshops and certificate will be nationally recognized for accelerated and proficient training, education and safety.
CONCORD: The Executive Council has approved a $9 million plan to address budget shortfalls at the Department of Corrections, which is dealing with severe staffing shortages. The shortage has been so acute that the National Guard was deployed in March to help with staffing, but officials said the DOC still can’t fill open positions. Officials said staffing shortages are plaguing correctional facilities nationwide. In New Hampshire, the DOC has less than half the corrections officers it needs to be fully staffed, officials said.
UNION, N.J.: After months of teetering on the brink, the New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond home goods retail chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday after it was unable to secure funds to stay afloat. The company began a liquidation sale, shuttering all of its stores, including the five remaining in New Hampshire, in Nashua, Bedford, Portsmouth, Concord and Salem. The home goods retailer, which expanded rapidly in the 1990s, has seen demand drop off in recent years amid the pandemic and as its merchandising strategy to sell more store-branded products failed.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The U.S. Department of Labor has given $44.2 million in grants to the Northern Border Regional Commission and two similar organizations with the aim of helping workers in three economically distressed rural areas gain access to new career opportunities in rural communities. The funding is being provided through the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities initiative, which seeks to provide career training and supportive services to people in the three economically distressed regions: the Northern Border, Appalachian and Lower Mississippi Delta.
