"President Lyndon Johnson shakes hands with the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., after handing him one of the pens used in signing the Civil Rights Act of July 2, 1964 at the White House in Washington."
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It’s also a holiday for StateImpact. And Although we won’t be turning out the usual morning Latest Links, we will be providing you with some of our best work since we launched over the summer. As sometimes happens when you soft-launch a blog, a lot of good reporting falls between the cracks as the audience grows. So we hope you enjoy our blog contributions today, and we’ll be back tomorrow with what you need to know about business and the economy in New Hampshire.
For years, Gary Hirshberg has been a prominent public face of the organic food movement
Gary Hirshberg has spent half his life at the helm of Londonderry-based Stonyfield, growing the brand from a small dairy farm to the world’s top organic yogurt manufacturer, employing 470 people.*
Now, after 28 years, Hirshberg’s stepping down from his position as CEO (or “CE-Yo,” as the position’s been dubbed at Stonyfield).
StateImpact took the opportunity to talk with the well-known organic foods crusader about how the growing organic food market has changed, the challenges it faces, and his plans once he leaves his long-time post later this month. Continue Reading →
We've got this week's roundup of the five posts you thought were the top of our game
It’s been a busy news week here in New Hampshire mainly thanks to the Republican primary. So we wouldn’t blame you if you missed a post here and there. And as we do every Friday afternoon, we offer you an assist. Here’s a roundup of the top five StateImpact posts of the week.
1. The Ultimate NH Primary Cheat Sheet: Where The Candidates Stand on Economic Policy: Not surprisingly, this post has continued to dominate our traffic (and comments threads). And no wonder. With so many voters worried about the economy–and remaining undecided until the last minute–we imagine some of you had some policy cramming to do.
2. Days Before The Primary, Restaurant Bans Politicians: This was our take on a story reported by SeacoastOnline.com. Following a number of customer complaints about glad-handing candidates disrupting their dining experience, Colby’s Breakfast & Lunch staff issued a blanket ban on politicians. And the restaurant owner spiced-up the piece with a few choice words of his own. Continue Reading →
It seems Citizens Bank employees will be spared mass layoffs as parent company RBS contracts
The Boston Globe reports the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plans to cut 4,800 jobs in response to “volatile markets and new regulations in the United Kingdom.” RBS is the parent company of Citizens Bank. While the report doesn’t mention New Hampshire specifically, it appears the layoffs will largely be concentrated in Europe:
“RBS spokesman Michael Strachan said the restructing won’t have any direct impact on Citizens, the second largest retail bank in Massachusetts. And since RBS has only limited other operations in the state, the layoffs would likely affect few, if any, local workers. Continue Reading →
Hirshberg is stepping down as CE-Yo, but not stepping out of Stonyfield's orbit
Stonyfield co-founder and outspoken organic food crusader Gary Hirshberg announced today he’s stepping down as CEO (or “CE-Yo”). In his blog, Hirshberg wrote he personally hand-picked Walt Freese to replace him as head of “the world’s leading organic yogurt company” beginning January 23. Hirshberg wrote he will, however, continue as the Chairman of the Londonderry-based company he helped found nearly 30 years ago:
“As Stonyfield’s Chairman, I will continue contributing to Stonyfield’s growth and mission for years to come. I will be highly involved with the company, speaking on Stonyfield’s behalf, maintaining oversight of our European organic sister companies, our new Stonyfield Cafés and our Profits-for-the-Planet program among other roles.
I will also focus a significant amount of attention on advancing Stonyfield’s broader mission and specifically advocating for change in national food and agricultural policies, especially seeking the labeling of GE [genetically engineered] foods.” Continue Reading →
There's more to NH's primary economy than campaign spending on marketing
It seems StateImpact’s coverage of the New Hampshire primary got the attention of NHPR’s All Things Considered host Brady Carlson. So we sat down with him in the studio and dished on some of the highlights of our economics-based primary reporting.
But we’re less interested in the flavor of Romney’s speech than we are in the text and the overarching themes. As we’ve noted in previous posts, the number one issue for more than 60 percent of New Hampshire voters is jobs and the economy.
So how did Romney respond to those concerns during his victory speech? Continue Reading →
Romney won the NH primary by a healthy margin. We break down the county vote by economic drivers
This year, NHPR’s GOP primary coverage took on a strong national flavor, broadcasting to listeners all over the country. Among the network’s expanded audience were WNYC listeners in, well…NYC. And in the spirit of inter-station cooperation, the good folks at WNYC and Patchwork Nation used AP polling data to put together a county-by-county map of election results.
What interested StateImpact about this map is that it also classified each county according to its main economic drivers.
Before we get rolling, though, just one brief note about the map. To see statewide totals, move your cursor outside of New Hampshire. To get more details on how WNYC/Patchwork Nation determined the main economic driver of a county, just click on the colored icon in the map key. You’ll see a nifty pop-up including census data, poll numbers, and other info.
The economy dominated concerns among primary voters
Before the primary, StateImpact broke down voter psychology with University of New Hampshire Survey Center Director Andy Smith. (You can read the full post here.) One of the things his WMUR Granite State Poll found back in November was that 63 percent of voters said the combined issue of the economy and jobs was their top concern. The budget deficit was a distant second at 10 percent, and taxes were practically an afterthought, with three percent of voters noting they were their major concern.
Looking back on primary night, it looks like Smith’s numbers were right on the money.
Like most reporters in the general vicinity of NH, we were scouring Twitter during primary night
One of our most popular New Hampshire primary posts looked at how much the months-long political circus affects Granite State tourism. (You can read that post here.)
Political tourism is definitely a niche hobby.
Given that context, we were rather entertained by this tweet from Union-Leader Editorial Page Editor Drew Cline: Continue Reading →
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