Author: NH Business Review Staff

Lawmakers aim to end school-funding ‘shell game’

House Education Committee members have worked nights and weekends lately, chopping and merging new plans to pay for public schools. The effort comes as taxpayers faced huge fiscal unknowns this month when they voted on town and school budgets and…

From ‘Nader’s raider’ to tobacco industry executive

How does a former “Nader’s raider” end up as a corporate lawyer in an industry responsible for spreading disease and addiction? As David Greenberg sees it, the change was not all that dramatic. “I feel like I’ve participated in more…

Belknap County suit links track to gambling operation

Convictions key in AG's probe The partnership that owns Lakes Region Greyhound Park directly funded establishment of the International Players Association, according to documents filed March 4 in Belknap County Superior Court. Federal prosecutors have tied - but not charged…

Credit unions and banks: there are still differences

Most of the public is unaware of the differences between banks and credit unions, but people who manage these financial institutions remain keenly aware of the legal intricacies that separate them. Many of the differences between modern-day credit unions and…

Stephen proposes more cuts in health programs

Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen says he could cut 10 percent from his department’s budget, but it would mean higher property taxes and less money for hospitals, family planning and other services for the state’s poor. His proposal,…

TD, Banknorth wrap up merger deal

There’ll be a new name atop Bank of New Hampshire’s branches now that the 51 percent acquisition of Banknorth by Toronto-Dominion Financial Group of Canada has been completed. The sale of Bank of New Hampshire’s parent company was completed March…

Exchange-traded funds offer flexibility, efficiency

If you regularly search for the Land of Oz in investing you may have noticed that something new and different has come to the investment vehicle neighborhood. They’re called exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. With exciting names, and even more exciting…

Brass Tacks

Q. After a lot of failure and frustration, it has become clear to me that I have got to get to know my employees better if we are to be successful as a team. Any suggestions as to how to…

Q&A: Chief Justice John Broderick

Low-key and soft-spoken, Chief Justice John Broderick has nonetheless attracted more than a little attention in his decade on the New Hampshire Supreme Court. A veteran lawyer, the prominent Queen City Democrat was appointed associate justice in 1995 by his…

Developer does his part to refurbish downtown

Ben Gamache has had one wife, four children and an indefinite number of loves in his life. Fortunately for his marriage, his other romances are in bricks and mortar. “I fell in love with the building,” the 46-year-old real estate…

Construction firms gain from new tax rules

Passed last October, the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 contains many new tax rules that have an impact on nearly all taxpayers in one form or another, but one of its most significant provisions is a new business deduction…

Not that simple

Opponents of a proposed outlet mall in Merrimack are trying a new tactic - they hope to raise the bar for passage of a zoning amendment that would pave the way for the project. A group of residents who oppose…

Play ball!

As Manchester and the rest of the southern New Hampshire baseball world await the opening of the brand new $20 million home of the Eastern League champion New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the stadium still doesn’t have a corporate sponsor, nor…

Investing in the ‘New Hampshire Advantage’

As New Hampshire continues to grow at record levels, we face many challenges in helping our economy keep pace. Now is the time to identify the tools that we can use to protect and maintain our economic growth — before…

Imprudent public policy can chill investment

A disquieting trend is developing this legislative session. A number of bills have been introduced, ostensibly to serve a broad public purpose, when in reality they are intended to circumvent existing legal procedures for economic development projects by imposing last-minute…

Leave Sarbanes-Oxley alone

Judging by the words and deeds emerging from Washington you’d never know that several high-profile corporate fraud trials are once again in the public spotlight. The trials include that of Bernard Ebbers, the former CEO and chairman of WorldCom,who on…

Letter to the Editor

To the editor: Investing in the stock market can pay a higher return, but it’s not a sure thing. That’s why people are willing to forgo the potential to score big in the stock market in return for knowing that…

Business pitch event reaches new heights

Six minutes is the amount of time it takes the high-speed chair lift at Mount Sunapee Resort in Newbury to reach the top. On March 10, entrepreneurs, idea men and women, start-ups and established business owners alike took advantage of…

Cook on Concord

Gov. John Lynch’s new style of leadership has been in evidence and often been the subject of comment in this column and elsewhere. A striking example of the governor’s style and personal involvement was his presentation of one of the…

Lynch plan fails with targeted-aid formula

To this point, most critiques of the Lynch education funding plan suggest that there are only two things wrong with it — that it fails to comply with the Claremont case and that it takes state aid away from school…

Flotsam & Jetsam

Poll rage? Christopher Doyle — a duly elected Republican state rep, by the way - earned his way into the Hall of Infamy earlier this month after he realized he was losing his bid for re-election. As the numbers came…

The Last Word

Have you ever noticed that politicians almost never come right out and tell us they’re not going to answer a question? They generally avoid one by pretending to answer it — which has, I’ll admit, a certain entertainment value, like…

Off the Clock

Most people know about the wonderful art collection at Manchester’s Currier Museum of Art, but unique to its collection is the Zimmerman House. The Manchester home — designed by world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright — is considered one of the…

Manchester fractional aircraft operator meets new FAA ruling

Alpha Flying Inc., a Manchester-based fractional aircraft operator, has met the new 91K FAA regulations that allow fractional operators to continue to do business under private, rather than commercial, charter rules. “The new Part 91 rules avoid onerous, airline-like restrictions…

Downtown dining guide a hot commodity

Downtown Manchester’s dining scene has grown tremendously over the last few years, so to help you eat your way down Elm Street and beyond, Intown Manchester has created “Downtown Dining in the Queen City,” a dining guide featuring 67 restaurants…

A new sign of redevelopment rises at Baldwin’s on Elm

Award-winning cuisine helped Baldwin’s on Elm make a name for itself, and now that name shines even more brightly above the restaurant’s entrance at 1105 Elm St. in Manchester, thanks to a new facade purchased with the aid of a…

N.H. nurse training program exceeds expectations

Results of a $3 million nurse-training program has exceeded all original expectations and created new partnerships to upgrade the skills of New Hampshire’s nurses, according to the Workforce Opportunity Council. The Nursing Workforce Partnership Project is completing its three-year program…

Debate over logging takes root in North Country

Is logging threatening the future of the Great North Woods? That’s the question two key industry groups will try to resolve with a study of recent timber-cutting patterns. The New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association and the Society for the Protection…

Q&A with: Tourism guru Dick Hamilton

The White Mountains of New Hampshire have more visitors each year than Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks combined, Dick Hamilton notes proudly. Both the numbers and the natural beauty of the region are impressive to the 69-year-old North Conway native,…

Is a severe labor shortage in the cards?

By 2010 the number of U.S. jobs will outstrip the number of workers by 10 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And by 2030, the agency reports, that number may jump to 35 million. But some economists…

Trademark owner should be master of his domain name

More than 15 years ago, Magic Johnson, the Hall of Fame basketball player, assigned his trademark rights to the “Magic Johnson” name to June Bug Enterprises Inc. At the time, JBE registered the mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark…

VC funding pace in N.H. continues to slow

Editor’s note: Beginning with this issue, New Hampshire Business Review will present a review of quarterly venture investing trends for companies located in the state. The research and analysis for this information has been provided by Howard Smith of Chartworth,…

N.H. exporters set a global pace in 2004

With solid gains in foreign demand for locally made goods at the tail end of the year, state exports were much stronger overall during 2004 than in recent years. Foreign sales of goods from New Hampshire’s companies, adjusted for seasonal…

Farm stand’s competition: Grafton County inmates

Daryl Grasso has enjoyed her surroundings in rural New Hampshire since she and her partner Harold Brown bought a 35-acre former dairy farm in the Woodsville section of Haverhill a few years ago and began growing vegetables for sale at…

I-93 widening project picks up speed

The New Hampshire House last month approved borrowing the money to widen Interstate 93 from Manchester to Salem in six years. Senate approval is likely, and Gov. John Lynch favors the legislation. Meanwhile, the feds may issue a favorable record…

Norton on Real Estate

Last month this column was titled “An upbeat outlook for 2005, with some key caveats.” It concluded that office job formation, jobs which will fill up vacant office buildings, would be the keystone for successful investment in the office sector.…

Commericial Notes

Q. I am a successful single-family homebuilder and have an opportunity to acquire a parcel of land that can be approved for a 20,000-square-foot office/warehouse building that I would like to build, lease out and retain for long-term investment. What…

Legal issues unclear in gambling case

Technology and the growing pari-mutual pool The January indictment of two officials of the Lakes Region Greyhound Park in Belmont on federal charges relating to participation in an allegedly illegal offshore Internet and phone gambling operation raises several questions about…

Top Shelf

You’ve got a little place on the Cape, but the inconvenience of all the airport hoopla leaves you spent before you even touch down on the tarmac. Try a timeshare. No, not as in a condo — as in a…

UNH students get a real-life look at marketing

There’s a reason an upper-level course at the University of New Hampshire - formally known as Marketing 762 - has been nicknamed by students who take it “Marketing Boot camp.” The course has been part of the school’s curriculum for…

Know your child in choosing a ‘good’ college

Parents often ask me what they can do to get their child into a good college. They ask the question as if it was a secret pass code, and as an insider I have the answer. When I’m asked this…

Improving Performance

The Patriots and the Red Sox are at the top of their respective sports. How did they get there? Practice, practice, practice makes champions and championship teams. Do you ever practice or are you so good at what you do,…

PR Flashpoint

Getting publicity for your business, product or services doesn’t have to be hard — and it can actually be fun. I know that many editors will tell you that most news releases end up in the round file, but if…

Brass Tacks

Q. I’ve got a great idea for a new business and I can’t wait to get started. What’s my first step? A. The fortunes of any firm are determined by its lead entrepreneur’s ability to focus his or her proprietary…

Why are some pols afraid of teaching civics?

Patriotism. We’re all for it, aren’t we? Some New Hampshire legislators think if the state forces all students to just recite the Pledge of Allegiance (with its not uncommon recitations of “for Richard Stands, invisible...”) an obedient army of patriots…

New deferred compensation rules have immediate effect

The American Jobs Creation Act - signed into law last October by President Bush — imposes new restrictions on a wide range of compensation arrangements. The act adds a new Section 409A to the Internal Revenue Code that applies to…

The Lynch plan falls far short of the hype

Amidst great bipartisan fanfare, the Lynch education funding plan was rolled out last month. Among the accolades that have been showered upon it are that it is a “new paradigm,” that it is a “permanent solution” to the Claremont case,…

Independent voters are not second-class citizens

In passing a bill last month to make it more cumbersome for independent voters to vote in a primary, the leadership of both political parties in the New Hampshire House of Representatives have declared that nearly 40 percent of New…

Thanks for your support

To the editor: On behalf of the Bow School to Career Partnership, our sincere appreciation is extended to the many business leaders who partnered with the Bow School District to offer Junior Achievement programs to our students. These business leaders…

Utilities Watch

Efforts to place liquefied natural gas terminals along the East Coast have run into opposition, but that has not stopped companies from continuing to seek approval to build the facilities. LNG is expected to fill an anticipated U.S. shortfall by…