In his “state of the state” address in Nashua yesterday, Gov. John Lynch announced a renewed push for commuter rail service and education funding. The Nashua Telegraph has the story, but New Hampshire Public Radio intern Tina Forbes has pulled these points to whet your palate:
Lynch criticized the state Executive Council for turning down $3.6 million of federal aid to complete studies on a commuter rail service from Boston to Nashua.
The governor emphasized the $50 million in cuts to state universities and colleges, passed last year, force schools to accept more out-of-state students to balance their budgets.
The effects of the cuts are evident, as Lynch noted 61 percent of the incoming freshmen class at the University of New Hampshire are out-of-state students.
Tonight, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation celebrates its 50th year in operation. NHCF has staff in each region of the state, and raises funds from individuals, organizations and corporations, making approximately $30 million in nonprofit grants and scholarships annually.
But the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation may have to work a little harder than other state-wide foundations across the country. New Hampshire has been ranked least-charitable state in the country for many years. That’s according to the Catalogue for Philanthropy’s “generosity index” which uses IRS data summarizing personal income tax returns. Continue Reading →
Correction: In the last paragraph, the author initially referred to Alabama, rather than Louisiana, as a state that has not created a state-run health insurance exchange.
Remember back in 2009 and 2010 when President Obama would talk about that “one-stop shop” piece of his health care bill, in which health insurance customers could go to a single place to view a comparison of health insurance plans’ costs and benefits? Should that piece of the Affordable Care Act remain intact after the Supreme Court hands down its decision on the ACA’s constitutionality this month, New Hampshire will be forced to implement a federally-run health insurance exchange, in accordance with the federal legislation. That’s as of this morning, when Governor Lynch signed HB 1297 into law.
HB 1297 prohibits the state of New Hampshire from setting up a state-run health insurance exchange. New Hampshire is one of only three states to pass such legislation — already 16 other states have established or plan to establish state-run health insurance exchanges.
According to an article by New Hampshire Watchdog’s Grant Bosse, “Rep. Andrew Manuse (R-Derry), the lead sponsor of HB 1297, says the bill would make it more likely ObamaCare would be repealed or replaced, because Congress will be forced to reevaluate the law if enough states opt against setting up their own exchanges.”
Some opponents of HB 1297 wished to create a state-run health insurance exchange in order to attain a more transparent and affordable insurance market for New Hampshire businesses and individuals. Others found the alternative — a New Hampshire health insurance exchange run by the federal government — a greater threat to the state’s autonomy than a federally mandated but state-run exchange.
The Kaiser Family Foundation created the following map of the each state’s health exchange status. Only two other states, Arkansas and Louisiana, have decided not to create a state-run exchange.
On Monday the Nashua Telegraph published an article with some scary numbers: 78% of freshmen at Nashua Community College coming from Nashua public high schools require remedial coursework. This is higher than the national community college remediation rate, which is close to 60% — and it doesn’t include those students who frequently require remediation because they’ve been out of school for a long time. The Telegraph describes efforts of district and college administrators to address the problem of college unpreparedness, mostly focusing on the quality of high school instruction.
While college unpreparedness is surely a legitimate concern, studies from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) show that high rates of remediation may have more to do with poor placement testing than poorly prepared students. CCRC studies show that high school grades and GPAs more accurately predict college readiness than placement tests alone. Large-scale simulations of placement testing revealed that “a quarter to a third of students assigned to remedial classes based on standardized test scores could have passed college-level classes with a grade of B or better.”
Studies also suggest that remedial classes aren’t getting anyone ahead – even those students who aren’t prepared for college level coursework. Perhaps because re-taking middle and high school level classes is so discouraging for a student’s morale, only 10% of remedial students graduate from community college within three years. Additionally, remedial classes increase the cost and length of college education, because remediation credits don’t count toward graduation. The cost of remediation to schools is estimated at around $2.5 billion dollars annually, nationwide.
One study showed that supplementing college-level courses with concurrent supporting classes was a less expensive and more effective way to assist underprepared students than remediation, allowing students to earn credits toward graduation upon registration. Just this month, Connecticut’s governor Dannell Malloy signed into a law a bill that would do away with remedial coursework altogether in that state, instead implementing the concurrent classes supported by research from the CCRC.
Do New Hampshire politicians only put on their New Hampshire Advantage glasses when it’s convenient?
The Nashua Telegraph has an editorial today urging Granite Staters to “resist distortion” of New Hampshire’s business image by candidates during election season. “Let’s guard against those candidates who would distort the state’s business-friendly reputation for sheer political expediency,” the Telegraph states, which is “pretty much what happened two years ago, when Republican nominee John Stephen spent a good part of the campaign lambasting Gov. John Lynch for presiding over a state that sports ‘the highest business tax rate in the nation.'”
The Telegraph refers to a much-reported survey from the Kauffman Foundation and Thumbtack.com — published May 8th — to suggest that New Hampshire is already one of the nation’s most business-friendly states. Continue Reading →
“This is one of few financial incentives we’re allowed to give in New Hampshire,” Community Development Director Tim Thompson told Dube.
It works like this. First, a town applies for Economic Revitalization Zone designation from the state. Once the zone is designated as such, businesses who qualify can apply for the tax credit. According to Merrimack Patch’s Carolyn Dube, a qualifying business must “create new jobs in the community and, either make significant repairs or alterations to the property, or to the equipment on the property.”
Concord, N.H. Super-Strong Economy?
Last week Concord, N.H. was listed as the nation’s strongest “micropolitan” economy — but don’t look too close at those numbers.
Like a lot of Americans, Michael Dingman stores his cars in his garage — only his garage holds 50 cars, in addition to a whole lot of other items he’s been collecting over the years. This weekend, nearly 50 of his classic Fords, including V-8 Fords, Mercurys, Lincolns and woodies go up for auction in Dingman’s 50-car garage in Hampton, New Hampshire, not far from his farm in Kensington.
It’s hard not to be inspired by the former director of Ford Motor Company’s love of all things Ford, or his affection for the more than 1,000 neon, porcelain and tin signs spanning the 1930s through the 1960s — also up for auction this weekend. The video below, produced by RM Auctions — the Ontario-based auction company hosting this weekend’s event — features Michael Dingman as he nostalgically reviews the items he’ll be parting with.
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