Newport firm closes amid alleged embezzlement
Relax & Co., which provided an array of services to property owners in the Lake Sunapee area, had already been forced to lay off workers earlier this month.
Legal Briefs: News from Around NH
NH House committee backs bill that would add mental health records to federal gun database ... and more
A New Hampshire House committee is recommending passage of a bill that would add people who are involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities or found incompetent to stand trial to the FBI’s gun background check database.
New Hampshire is currently one of just a handful of states that does not share similar data with the FBI.
The measure, which cleared the criminal justice committee with an 18-2 recommendation on Wednesday, was prompted by the killing of security guard and former Franklin Police Chief Bradley Haas inside of New Hampshire Hospital last November. John Madore, the gunman, had previously been an inpatient at the facility.
“As all you know, I’m one of the staunchest Second Amendment defenders in the House,” Committee Chairman Rep. Terry Roy, a Republican from Deerfield, said. But he added that he couldn’t support someone with a serious mental illness purchasing a gun in the state.
“I don’t know how I could tell the family of Chief Haas or any of my constituents: I think it’s okay that they can buy guns,” he said.
Under federal law, people found incompetent to stand trial or involuntarily committed are already prohibited from purchasing or possessing a gun, but there is no enforcement.
The bill also includes a restoration process that would allow someone who is evaluated by a psychiatrist to petition the court for the removal of their name from the FBI’s database.
— NH PUBLIC RADIO
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
Paris Hilton urges NH lawmakers to approve reforms to out-of-state placements for kids in state custody
Paris Hilton, the celebrity businesswoman and hotel chain heiress, is urging New Hampshire lawmakers to approve reforms to out-of-state placements for children in state custody.
The New Hampshire Senate is set to take up a bill Thursday that outlines new criteria for how children are placed in residential treatment facilities and adds more oversight to that process. It has the support of the state’s Office of the Child Advocate, and the endorsement of the entire Senate Judiciary Committee.
The proposal follows reports filed last year by the Office of the Child Advocate that detailed abuse and neglect at Bledsoe Youth Academy, a Tennessee facility where two New Hampshire boys were placed, then removed, by the state.
Hilton has spoken out in recent years about her own harrowing experiences in youth treatment facilities, and has become a forceful advocate, in Congress and elsewhere, for changes to the industry.
— NH PUBLIC RADIO
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
