A big piece of news broke over Labor Day weekend: President Obama has approved FEMA aid for four New Hampshire counties. As NHPR’s Chris Jensen reported, Merrimack, Carroll, Grafton and Coos Counties were damaged enough by Tropical Storm Irene to qualify for federal help,
“’The state and communities in those four counties are now eligible for assistance to cover
Jonathan Lynch / NHPR
Following President Obama's disaster declaration, a large swath of New Hampshire now qualifies for FEMA aid.
emergency response operations and repair costs, and funds for mitigation to help prevent future flooding,’ according to a news release from Gov. John Lynch’s office..
A request that help for individuals is still under review by Federal Emergency Management Agency teams.”
As StateImpact reported last week, we’ll probably get final aid numbers in a couple of months. You can learn more about how states apply for, and ultimately get, FEMA aid here.
As New Hampshire gears up for one of its biggest tourism weekends of the year, the state’s Division of Travel and Tourism is pushing one simple, post-Irene slogan: “New Hampshire is Open for Business.”
Here’s a new map from the Tax Foundation showing growth of high-income taxpayers from 1999-2009. What’s particularly interesting about these numbers is that they straddle pre- and post-recession years. So StateImpact naturally wondered, did the recession dramatically change where the high income bracket grew? Continue Reading →
If you were in the Northeast last week, you probably saw the retail aftermath of a freak hurricane scare: Big box store shelves denuded of cheap flashlights and, more importantly, their constant companions, those hulking, hard-to-store, near-obsolete D batteries. People who didn’t even remember where their flashlights were suddenly started scouring New England for the heaviest, most inconvenient battery variety of them all. Continue Reading →
In the wake of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, there’s been a lot of chatter about another big battle brewing in Congress: FEMA disaster relief funding. The agency’s been underfunded for years, to the point that it hasn’t been able to keep some promises dating back to 2008. Some long-term rebuilding projects have been put on hold as FEMA mobilizes to deal with damage from Irene. As New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts continue to examine the aftermath of the storm, they, along with other states, will likely have their hands out for federal money.
And all of this got StateImpact wondering…how do states go about getting FEMA funding, anyway? Continue Reading →
“The state’s largest utility, PSNH still has tens of thousands without any service.
…Company spokesperson Mike Skelton says thankfully more help is on the way.
“We have crews joining us from Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan, New Jersey and we’ll continue to make those requests as we need more help, wherever we can get it.”
Skelton says New Hampshire’s Nashua and Manchester should have power fully restored by daybreak tomorrow.”
Recently, the New Hampshire Business Review published an interesting update on a federal issue that’s not getting a lot of press right now. In her story lead, Kathleen Callahan writes,
“A looming federal deadline coupled [with] the usual Washington deadlock could stall the state highway program, which is already low on gas.
Two key transportation-related statutes are set to expire at the end of September – one that allows the federal government to levy a gas tax and another that authorizes giving aid to states for infrastructure projects, according to the state Department of Transportation.” Continue Reading →
If you've got five minutes to burn, check out StateImpact's town-by-town interactive map. Just find your town, click on it, and see how many vacation homes are there, and what percentage of the housing stock they make up. If you've got 10 minutes, you can get the context behind the numbers with our written analysis. And if you've got an hour or more, the map will keep you very, very entertained. Trust us. Continue reading →
This month, State Impact is digging into New Hampshire’s tourism economy, and this piece by Charles Pierce of the Boston Globecaught our eye. Back in 2003, New Hampshire’s leading symbol–the Old Man of the Mountain, finally collapsed.
“Now, though, through…[the] Old Man of the Mountain Legacy Fund, and through the work of a sculptor and an inventor of toys from Essex, Massachusetts, the now blank side of the mountain is getting a slow-motion face lift of sorts. The Old Man is being put back up there, at least as a visual image, if not in actual fact.” Continue Reading →
It’s the tax break you might not have heard of. If you use an ATV, boat, or snowmobile, and you actually used them off the roads, and you save your receipts and you fill out a special state form…you’re eligible for a small refund on your gas tax. Specifically, it’s a refund on the sliver of the tax that falls under “road tolls” and pays for highway maintenance. Continue Reading →
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