Amanda Loder was StateImpact’s multimedia reporter until the project merged with the New Hampshire Public Radio site in July 2013. She now serves as a reporter and Weekend Edition Host for NHPR. You can continue to follow her work at @AmandaLoderNHPR, at nhpr.org, and on New Hampshire Public Radio.
Vacant and underused malls are a continuing problem for communities
Since the economic collapse, the commercial real estate market has been faced with a glut of vacant buildings. And that chief icon of American consumerism–the shopping mall–hasn’t been spared. But that’s not to say these massive markets can’t be reclaimed. Recently, NHPR’s Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott dished with a New York Times reporter about the rising trend of “repurposing” the American mall. Continue Reading →
President Obama is pushing for a Labor Department rules change that would require home care agencies to pay aides minimum wage and overtime.
By far, our most popular post to date is a map we created using federal data on which states offer minimum wage and overtime guarantees to home health workers, and which don’t. Right now, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), certain classes of workers, ranging from babysitters to home care workers–personal care aides and home health aides–don’t have to be paid minimum wage.* So states are left to decide if they want to cover home care workers under their own wage laws.
And whether it’s politicians, families struggling to pay for in-home care, or the agencies that employ these workers, the rules change has been highly controversial. Continue Reading →
The discussion over whether to expand gaming in New Hampshire could last well beyond this legislative session.
The debate over the economic impacts of HB 593 (or “The Casino Bill,” if you will) continues. As Kevin Landrigan of the Nashua Telegraph reports, discussion of the bill continued Monday, when the House Ways and Means committee listened to about three hours of public testimony:
“The state stands to lose $150 million of existing tax receipts to Massachusetts casinos if efforts to expand gambling in New Hampshire sit idle.
That was the warning from the state Senate’s chief budget writer Monday, a message that was countered by the leader of the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, who argued new casinos would decimate gaming profit for local charities… Continue Reading →
“Total municipal appropriations per person have leveled off considerably over the past three years compared with pre-recession trends. At the same time, we see that two main sources of municipal revenue–state aid and property taxes–have been under strain, with per capita state aid to cities and towns down roughly 14 percent from 2007 to 2010. Total property valuation per capita remains essentially flat over that same period, after several years of annual increases.” Continue Reading →
One of the issues we’re focusing on at StateImpact is the manufacturing sector in New Hampshire: What it looks like, its successes, and its challenges. Recently, we tagged along while US Senator Jeanne Shaheen toured a factory in Merrimack. Elbit Systems of America represents the new line of advanced manufacturing taking root in the Granite State and across the country: laser and enhanced vision technology, aerospace navigation, and high-tech medical equipment.
If you’ve ever seen an old school, Rustbelt-style factory, you’d likely be very surprised at what the inside of Elbit Systems of America looks like. So with that in mind, we’ve designed this slideshow to take you along with us on our tour of this advanced factory. Continue Reading →
Despite vocal support among some conservatives--most notably Tea Party members--for cutting
Perhaps unsurprisingly, small government–at all levels–is something of a signature issue in the “Live Free or Die” state. But amid the push among state GOP lawmakers to to keep the federal government out of issues ranging from health care to education, the New York Times reports, individual dependence on government aid has increased dramatically across the country. Binyamin Appelbaum and Robert Gebeloff write:
“Dozens of benefits programs provided an average of $6,583 for each man, woman and child in the county in 2009, a 69 percent increase from 2000 after adjusting for inflation. In Chisago, and across the nation, the government now provides almost $1 in benefits for every $4 in other income. Continue Reading →
We now present your weekly roundup of the five posts that captured your attention and your clicks
It’s been a busy week here at StateImpact New Hampshire. Whether it’s looking at utility deregulation, the Dodd-Frank Act, specialty cancer centers or manufacturing in the Granite State, our economic coverage has been rather broad. Here’s our official roundup of the posts you found most click-worthy.
Some Key Arguments For–And Against–Making PSNH Sell Its Generating Facilities: Prior to a recent committee hearing on whether PSNH should be forced to give up its generating capacity, we outlined the major arguments presented by the utility and one of its chief opponents on this issue, the Conservation Law Foundation. We also threw in some documents the CLF cited in its argument that PSNH should be forced to sell its generating facilities.
How Dodd-Frank Regulations Affect You (Trust Us, They Will): In response to the economic collapse, Representative Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd crafted a massive (and massively complicated) piece of legislation designed to regulate the financial system to prevent another meltdown. The legislation’s been hugely controversial…and only about half the regulations have even been written so far. Be that as it may, the good people at Bloomberg Business Week broke down how Dodd-Frank affects everyone from credit card holders to commodities traders into an easy-to-read flow chart. And it was too cool for us not to share. Continue Reading →
We’ll be liveblogging the event from the House Chamber when it starts at 1:30 this afternoon.
But before we go, we checked in with NHPR’s Political Reporter Josh Rogers about what you can expect from the hearing this time around. Continue Reading →
Check back here at 1:30 today for our liveblog of the Right To Work hearing
Today at 1:30, the resurrected Right To Work bill comes up for public hearing at the Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee. Given union reaction to the legislation last year, and to other bills targeting collective bargaining this session, it promises to be an eventful hearing.
And we’ll be liveblogging it at Representatives hall, shortly before the hearing begins.
So please feel free to follow our liveblog or just check in periodically right here on our homepage.
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