Author: NH Business Review Staff

Cook On Concord: Educational funding, one more time

In the early 1990s, after approximately 20 years of avoiding, remanding and hoping that education-funding cases would go away, the Supreme Court issued its famous Claremont I decision, which declared that it was the state’s obligation to provide for an…

Flotsam & Jetsam

Parsing the sentence The only thing missing were the violins playing softly in the background when Allen Raymond, the former Republican consultant, was sentenced to five months in jail for his role in jamming Democratic telephone during New Hampshire’s 2002…

Voters to decide Merrimack outlet proposal

The Merrimack Planning Board has voted 5-2 to send to voters a zoning amendment that would allow the development of a controversial premium outlet center in town. Roseland, N.J.-based Chelsea Property Group Inc. has proposed building a 650,000-square-foot, 135-store premium…

‘Critical access’ label aids rural hospitals

Nearly all of New Hampshire’s rural hospitals have become certified as critical access hospitals, a designation that could save them as much as 30 percent more in Medicare payments — increased reimbursements that may well mean the difference between life…

Tax Issues: Corporate loans can be a taxing proposition

The Internal Revenue Service is increasingly scrutinizing loans between corporations and shareholders. Many of these loans are undocumented, don’t call for payments, don’t provide for interest and probably won’t ever be repaid. If this happens to be the scenario for…

Utilities Watch: Multi-state broadband system eyed for North Country

According to a recent Associated Press report on rural broadband and regional economic development efforts in northern New England, economic development officials are concerned that rural areas without broadband Internet access are being left behind as governments and companies across…

Franklin firm helps companies conquer world markets

Build a better mousetrap, the saying goes, and the world will beat a path to your door. But Larry Harper, president of Ballantrae International Ltd., will tell you the world may need a little help in hearing about your mousetrap…

Organization expert Kathleen Kendall-Tackett

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire’s Family Research Laboratory and a fellow of the American Psychological Association. But before she got inside people’s heads, she got into their trash -- literally.…

Filling the vacuum

Patience appears to be paying off for the city of Manchester, as the construction of a $40 million residential/retail development continues on what had long been its most conspicuous vacant lot. “The marketing of it, finding the right fit for…

In Washington, they spell hypocrisy ‘a-u-s-t-e-r-i-t-y’

Hypocrisy is so widely recognized as a universal trait that it’s amazing how often we are shocked—shocked!—to find other people indulging in it. Take the late Strom Thurmond, for example. The late governor and senator-for-life from South Carolina was, as…

RE/CON Briefs

Rochester Wal-Mart expansion OKd The Rochester Planning Board has approved Wal-Mart’s plans to expand its store on Route 11 in Rochester from 87,171 to 214,569 square feet. Before construction begins, the city council must approve a wetlands replacement proposal. The…

New London Hospital mulls DHMC Alliance

New London Hospital has moved one step closer to joining the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Alliance, an 11-member collaborative organization of hospitals and health-care agencies from New Hampshire, Vermont and western Massachusetts. At its Jan. 27 board meeting, a non-binding memorandum of understanding…

N.H. oncology practice teams with Dana-Farber

Cancer care has become a little more accessible for patients in the Granite State. New Hampshire Oncology-Hematology PA and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have entered an affiliation agreement. “Southern New Hampshire residents will now have enhanced access to…

Brass Tacks: A rewarding environment retains employees

Q. I own and operate a small business that depends on well-trained workers. Nowadays, I feel like I’m running a vocational training school for larger, well-heeled companies in my area. As soon as I get a worker trained and up…

Objectivity, integrity missing in gambling article

To the editor: Quoting from Walter Lippmann, “The Lost Meaning of Objectivity”: “Journalists who select sources to express what is really their own point of view, and then use their neutral voice to make it seem objective, are engaged in…

Let court rule on Governor Lynch’s targeted aid plan

Big changes are happening in New Hampshire’s education-funding debate. Gov. John Lynch and many of his fellow Democrats are now in agreement with a view held by most Republicans. Our current system of distributing a fixed amount of state aid…

The Hopkinton ‘canaries’ were right

Don’t you just hate it when someone is justified in saying “I told you so?” Last year, a group of Hopkinton citizens called REACH (Residents Environmental Action Committee for Health) tried to warn us. While some dismissed them as mere…

Why N.H. should decriminalize marijuana

To the editor: Law-abiding citizens who smoke marijuana responsibly are not part of the crime problem, and we must stop treating them like criminals. In 2003, the last year for which we have data, law enforcement arrested over 755,000 persons…

Remembering a woman of grace and good humor

Susan McLane, said the obituary, “fought to save the environment, preserving lakes and protecting wildlife.” There was, alas, one endangered species the veteran state senator from Concord could not save, despite her earnest efforts. If Susan McLane was not the…

Business Notes

Wakefield: The Pine River Steakhouse, a local restaurant, has been charged with serving drinks to two drunk men who killed themselves and four other people in a 100 mph crash a short time later. The restaurant is charged with negligence…

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Don’t fret Optek Music Systems of Windham has just made learning to play the guitar a whole lot easier. Instead of chord chart hieroglyphics, Optek Music has developed a MIDI program, Fretlight M-Player, for use with its FG-400 series Fretlight…

Electropac shows the world how manufacturing’s done

In the late 1990s, while circuit board manufacturers around the country were closing their doors as they fell victim to increasing offshore competition, one Manchester company managed not only to keep its doors open but to maintain its workforce and…

Procedures are questioned at state pari-mutuel agency

The three nephews of Lakes Region Greyhound Park track general partner Allan E. Hart, two of whom were managing the track for more than a decade, were all convicted of charges relating to illegal gambling operations in Massachusetts. All of…

Dressing for success

There probably aren’t many places in the world where the social worker wife of a minister can turn a homemade salad dressing into a classy high-end food product that now sells in some of the finest emporiums in New England.…

Auto dealers Linda and Rich Lovering

Rich and Linda Lovering, owners of Lovering Volvo of Concord, Nashua and Meredith, and Lovering Mitsubishi of Concord, met while they were both accountants at the then-Sanders Associates in Nashua. After Sanders was acquired by Lockheed in the late 1980s,…

Cell tower leasing comes with risks and rewards

Today’s wireless technology creates new ways for Americans to communicate and conduct business, including transferring data through the Internet and two-way paging. Innovations in wireless communications, however, require an expansive network of infrastructure in the form of antennas and towers,…

Gambling proposals get mixed reviews from business

No one seems to deny that expanding state gambling operations could bring significant revenue to the state and eliminate a projected biennial deficit of anywhere from $180 million to $300 million. But there appears to be no consensus among New…

Ford’s Thunderbird: Lost, found and gone again

Jay McFarland is a second-generation car dealer with two Ford dealerships, yet the first car he’s ever decided to keep is the new Thunderbird. “I’ve never kept a car before for myself personally,” McFarland said. “But this Thunderbird was different.…

New BIA chief wants to ‘push the envelope’

To get to New Hampshire from Minnesota, you don’t have to go through Utica, N.Y. But Jim Roche believes that, in his case, it certainly helped. “I knew for me to get a position like this, I would need to…

Business Notes

Concord: State budget writers say they have uncovered an additional $70 million shortfall in state revenues, adding a new and unexpected stress to New Hampshire’s already-dire financial situation. According to Gov. John Lynch’s top budget adviser and the Legislature’s budget…

Designs for winning

Six firms took home awards Jan. 14 in the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ 2005 Excellence in Architecture Awards Program. All told, four Honor Awards and two Merit Awards for Excellence in Architecture were handed out.…

Unconventional real estate firm grows in six months

Alisa Johnson went to work for Keller Williams Realty for the daily training. For Charlene Lemieux, it was the benefits. The profit-sharing program lured Valerie White. Fulton Gaylord left his job at ReMax, where he worked for nearly a decade,…

Granite State exports fell 0.8 percent in November

Overseas sales of made-in-New Hampshire products — which had been rising for much of 2004 - declined again in November, in line with the precipitous drop in national exports that caused a record U.S. trade deficit. After having fallen in…

A matter of degrees

With a program that has quietly been graduating men and women with associate’s degrees in engineering for more than 30 years, Daniel Webster College is taking a big step forward by expanding its engineering program to four-year baccalaureate degrees in…

RE/CON Briefs

Nashua mayor axes Wal-Mart foes Mayor Bernie Streeter is replacing the two leaders of the Nashua Conservation Commission, both of whom fought against construction of a Wal-Mart Superstore on Amherst Street. He has renominated a commissioner who backed the idea.…

Lawmaker seeks hate crime repeal

To state Rep. Elbert Bicknell, R-Deerfield, the whole idea of having special categories of hate crimes seems absurd. If you kill someone, he said, “You’re not killing the guy because you love him.” Bicknell, who is the prime sponsor of…

Warrantless search ruling ‘disturbing’

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on warrantless searches is “a disturbing infringement on the constitutional protection that we have enjoyed,” according to criminal defense lawyer Cathy Green of Manchester. The high court overturned a ruling of the Illinois Supreme…

Sanders named to judicial conduct panel

Jack Sanders Jr., an attorney at Pierce Atwood LLP, has been appointed by the New Hampshire Supreme Court to the state’s Judicial Conduct Committee. Sanders, who co-chaired the Task Force for the Renewal of Judicial Conduct Procedures, which modernized the…

Auction to benefit Pierce program

An auction to benefit Franklin Pierce Law Center’s Public Interest Coalition will be held March 25 at the Courtyard Marriott in Concord. Last year’s auction raised over $40,000 to fund the work of 13 law students in unpaid positions with…

Improving Performance

It was a defining moment in my career. We had been asked by the vice president of manufacturing how late he could accept orders for shipment this quarter without any degradation in quality. This guy had 34 plants and over…

The Pfundstein Report

Now that the world’s worst-kept secret is out - New York attorney General Elliot Spitzer is running for governor of that state — regulators nationwide are starting to comb through reams of documents filed in response to their request for…

PR Flashpoint

If you’re operating a business in today’s marketplace, you can feel like you’re walking through a minefield. Markets are splintering into niches, customers are foregoing brand loyalty and the Web is expanding traditional boundaries, making it easier than ever for…

Brass Tacks

Q. My firm, a distributor to small businesses of a wide range of industrial products, launched a comprehensive, well-designed — and expensive — Web site several years ago in the hopes that both customer service and sales would be improved.…

Unemployment laws are unfair to part-timers

New Hampshire public policy forbids part-time workers from collecting unemployment unless they agree to seek full-time work. For those who need to work part-time, this policy is unbalanced and unfair. Ignoring the reality of part-time workers dates back to when…

Shipyard leads the way in savings, efficiency

Once more, a Base Realignment and Closure Commission round is before us. And, the employees of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Seacoast communities, the bipartisan New Hampshire-Maine-Massachusetts congressional delegation and other friends of the yard are again educating decision-makers at the…

Is the choice Social Security or liberty?

Benjamin Franklin is reputed to have written, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” This perspective is largely absent from the debate over President Bush’s proposal to reform Social…

Growing budget deficit is a threat to business

Revelation that the state budget deficit has grown by another $70 million should put businesses around the state on red alert. The additional $70 million - “discovered” late last month due to bungled bookkeeping in the Department of Health and…

NHBR/Chartworth Stock Index

Beginning with this issue, New Hampshire Business Review will present the New Hampshire Business Review/Chartworth Stock Index, the quarterly and trailing 12 months’ stock performance of New Hampshire-based publicly traded companies. The list of companies has been sorted on the…