Legislature passes bipartisan budget
Pay attention, Washington. Here in New Hampshire, compromise is not a dirty word. On September 16, the Senate and the House went into session and came out with an agreement on the 2016/2017 budget. The $11.3 billion budget had passed the House and Senate on a partisan basis. It was vetoed by Governor Hassan and […]
Political posturing by both parties creates an impasse
In the spring of 2013 there were major disagreements between the New Hampshire Republican-led State Senate and the Democrat-led State House of Representatives. Both houses, however, were able to come together at the last hour at the end of June 2013 to agree on a bi-partisan compromise budget. Things are different in 2015. As most […]
Flurry of letters doesn't end budget impasse
The State Legislature in Concord is on vacation. The state budget battle has been put on hold, at least for July. There are no plans, as of yet, to have the Governor, House, and Senate Republicans meet to hash out their differences. Speaker Jasper did send out a letter to all Democratic members of both […]
Battle over State budget continues in Concord
On June 23, the House passed the Senate/House reconciled budget, a budget Governor Hassan has now vetoed. HB 1, the numbers budget (appropriations) passed with a 196 to 161 vote, with 148 Democrats and 13 Republicans in opposition. HB 2, the legislation in support of HB 1, passed on a vote of 196 to 164, […]
Surprised not to hear a lot of noise
My husband and I and two friends from East Andover recently went to visit the wind farm in Lempster. Sincere thanks to the director, Ed Cherian, who gave up his Saturday afternoon to show us around and answer our questions. It was my first visit to a wind farm, and I did not know what […]
Renewable energy progress at risk
At their regular monthly meeting on May 7, members of the Andover Energy Group in attendance signed and sent the following letter to State Senator Andrew Hosmer. Dear Senator Hosmer: We are concerned about the budget proposed by the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Specifically, we are appalled by the attempt to divert $51 million […]
Ratzki forms coalition against shifting costs to towns
The best news coming out of Concord was the Governor’s recognition of Ms. Grace Anderson of Salisbury for her 37 years of volunteer work with the elderly. Ms Anderson was the Merrimack County recipient for the Vaughan Award. While I, as State Representative, nominated her, credit should go to Larry Chase for his interviews with […]
Andover Lions among many volunteers
Thanks a million to all those who helped make Wilmot look great in time for summer! For the ninth consecutive year, volunteers picked up trash along roads in Wilmot during the first week of May. The annual event is sponsored by the Wilmot Community Association, the Wilmot Garden Club, and the Town of Wilmot. More […]
Your efforts are appreciated
Thank you for the continued good work at the Beacon – the quality of the newspaper is a constant reminder of so many things that make me happy with my decision to call Andover home. I wanted to share a recent experience. Yearly, I try to participate in clean-up day at the Andover Historical Society […]
Voted against the budget, but it passed
My mother was born on April 1, 1920. She is 95 years old. On this day in 2015, I was in session along with 372 members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. A good showing for the battle of the budget. Speaker Shawn Jasper had scheduled the vote on HB 2, before HB 1. […]