Not long after launching his general election campaign in Manchester, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney hit the Seacoast
Both the Obama and Romney camps campaigned in New Hampshire today. Governor Romney made a stop along the waterfront in Portsmouth with fellow Republican–and US Senator–Kelly Ayotte. Meanwhile, Lilly Ledbetter (of Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act fame–more on that in a minute) campaigned for Obama in Hanover. And both, in their own ways, focused on issues tied to jobs and the economy.
How–And Why–NH Resurrected A Help Center For Women Entrepreneurs: The return of a women entrepreneur-oriented help center has been a cause for celebration in the state’s business community. We explain how the new Center for Women’s Business Advancement hopes to avoid some of the pitfalls its predecessor faced.
President Obama's adopted student debt as one of his big campaign issues
One of the stories we try to check-up on regularly at StateImpact is New Hampshire’s student debt situation. The average Granite Stater carries $31,000 in student debt–more than anyone else in the country. The US House is set to vote today on whether cuts to student loan interest rates will expire this summer. If so, the interest rate will double, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.
And, as a number of media outlets have noted, President Obama’s latched onto the student debt debate as a campaign issue.
Opposition is swirling around a new type of genetically modified corn
One of our most popular posts has been our Q&A with former Stonyfield CEO and organic food crusader Gary Hirshberg. A substantial part of our interview revolved around a new kind of genetically modified corn designed to withstand harsher chemical treatment. Opponents (like Hirshberg) have taken to calling it “Agent Orange corn.” At the time we talked with Hirshberg, it was a well-known issue among natural food activists and environmentalist-types, but mainstream coverage was a bit sparse. Now, Lucia Graves of the HuffingtonPost writes that opposition to this new breed of corn has intensified:
“A new kind of genetically modified crop under the brand name of ‘Enlist’ — known by its critics as ‘Agent Orange corn’ — has opponents pushing U.S. regulators to scrutinize the product more closely and reject an application by Dow AgroSciences to roll out its herbicide-resistant seeds.
The corn has been genetically engineered to be immune to 2,4-D, an ingredient used in Agent Orange that some say could pose a serious threat to the environment and to human health. Approval by the United States Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency would allow farmers to spray it far and wide without damaging their crops, boosting productivity for the agribusiness giant…
More than 140 advocacygroups have participated in a letter writing campaign calling on U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reject Dow’s regulatory application for the herbicide and herbicide-resistant crops, submitting more than 365,000 missives ahead of a public comment period that ends April 27.”
Graves’ piece is well worth the read. It digs into the back-and-forth between DowAgrosciences and activists about the economic, environmental, and health implications of planting this corn, and the very nickname “Agent Orange corn.”
Flood control, town tax reimbursements, and tight state budgets have NH and Mass wrestling over back payments
Since the economy tanked and the legislature started slashing the budget, there’s been talk at the town level about so-called “down-shifting.” That’s when the state stops supporting local programs or making certain payments to towns, forcing localities to pick up the slack. Now, the legislature’s considering what to do when not only New Hampshire, but Massachusetts, has shifted costs.
At issue is the drily titled 1953 Merrimack River Valley Flood Control Compact. As Tricia Nadolny reports in the Concord Monitor, 18 New Hampshire communities agreed to give up a set amount of land for flood control. In exchange, Massachusetts would reimburse the state for 70 percent of the towns’ lost tax revenue each year. New Hampshire would pony-up the other 30 percent, and between the two states, the towns would get their lost tax funds.
But, Nadolny writes:
“About seven years ago, Massachusetts stopped covering its part, leading New Hampshire to pay the reimbursement in full. But in 2011 the state paid only its 30 percent share, and this year New Hampshire hasn’t covered even that much.” Continue Reading →
These are the posts you decided were most worth your time
Before you prepare to pack up and check out for the weekend, we’ve rounded up the top five posts that caught your collective eye. From obscure urbanization studies to electricity deregulation and women entrepreneurs, our Essential StateImpact posts make for a particularly motley crew this week.
Why Urban States Are More Productive Than Rural Ones (And New England’s A Case In Point): Credit Suisse put out a niche report looking at the effect of urbanization on emerging markets. What got it buzz in the American business press, though, was a graph linking US states’ productivity to urbanization. Besides just being a cool graph, it’s a great illustration of the northern/southern New England divide. We delve into the data and explain the Credit Suisse findings.
WiValley Battles Topography And Budgets To Connect Monadnocks: Swaths of New Hampshire are struggling with slow internet speeds in a high-speed innovation economy. For one guy, a frustrating telecommute morphed into an enterprise to bring broadband to the Monadnock Region. And he’s just one of several small operations hoping to bridge the so-called “last mile” of service. Continue Reading →
Using data from the federal stimulus-tracking website, Bosse ran some figures and determined that with $985.7 million in New Hampshire funding, only 845 full-time jobs have been created. That’s a cost of more than $1.1 million for each job. Bosse notes this is a sharp contrast to the Obama Administration’s original promise to “create or save” 16,000 jobs in the Granite State: Continue Reading →
“New Hampshire appears well on its way toward deregulating the price of retail telephone service and loosening most other aspects of a century of government oversight, although details about Internet-based voice communication remain to be worked out…
The bill will be discussed in a working session by the Science, Technology and Energy Committee, partly in response to some concerns from the Public Utilities Commission. But it appears headed to the floor of the House soon, where it has bipartisan support. It has already passed the state Senate.” Continue Reading →
Years after NH partially deregulated its electricity market, a company is challenging PSNH
More than a decade ago, the New Hampshire legislature partially deregulated its electricity market. The move was supposed to allow residential customers the chance to buy power from companies other than Public Service of New Hampshire, which dominates the state’s electricity market. But for a long time, nothing really happened.
Internet connectivity using a blend of WiFi and fiber optics is the 'only way that makes sense going forward' for rural communities, says Brian Foucher, founder of Keene-based WiValley.
Brian Foucher traveled some 300 days a year for business. When the Harrisville, N.H., resident was home, he telecommuted to meetings around the globe, but found his Internet connection so poor his employer became frustrated. With a wife and young family at home, that kind of work life was quickly growing old.
Foucher’s initiative to solve his own Internet problems eventually evolved into a business, WiValley, Inc. of Keene, which solved connectivity issues not only for Foucher, but for other Monadnock residents as well.
Going The ‘Last Mile’
After successful pilots connecting several dozen rural customers, Foucher launched WiValley in 2008 with seed money from investors, some of whom were the recipients of connectivity from those pilot projects.
Today, WiValley has installations in some 40 towns in southwestern New Hampshire, as well as six communities in eastern Vermont and five in northwestern Massachusetts. Continue Reading →
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