Author: NH Business Review Staff

Surgery gives Milford horse a second chance

Kate Flanagan has endured some teasing lately from folks who can’t resist comparing the 19-year-old redhead and the horse she loves to Seabiscuit and his accident-prone, carrot-top jockey. Like the famous pair, Flanagan and Sadie are recovering from injuries at…

Lines drawn for three voting precincts

Merrimack Polling Precinct Boundaries MERRIMACK - If you live in the northwest part of town and are accustomed to voting at Mastricola Middle School, here’s some news: You can no longer vote there. Last April, voters at the annual Town…

ATV ordinance will go to March vote

LYNDEBOROUGH - The Planning Board has approved final wording for a new off-highway recreational vehicle facilities ordinance that provides some controls over parking and picnic areas, noise, number of vehicles at one time, and traffic. The proposal will be on…

Crash rips tires off bus; no children hurt

AMHERST - A school bus carrying a half-dozen elementary school children had its left rear tires torn off by a passing car in a Friday afternoon accident that sent the driver of the car to the hospital for examination, but…

Hearing set on pared-down school budget

AMHERST - In an effort to keep taxpayers happy, Superintendent of Schools Mike Ananis has been steadily chipping away at the Amherst School District’s budget. The proposed budget now meets the School Board and the Ways and Means Committee’s goal…

Lasky re-elected chair of city Planning Board

NASHUA - After five years of heading the Planning Board, Bette Lasky has survived a challenge to her position as chairwoman. Whether she will be able to stay on the board after her term expires at the end of March…

AT&T will work to make cell towers less obvious

LYNDEBOROUGH - AT&T has agreed to make its cell towers, both the one in place and the one proposed, less obvious to viewers. Acquisitions expert Chris Dwight said the tower on Woodward Hill will be painted in the spring, the…

Family of dead man loses suit against Pepsi

CONCORD - A federal judge has thrown out the bulk of a lawsuit brought by the parents of a young man who died after swallowing a pushpin while copying a Pepsi commercial that showed a college student “shotgunning” the soda.…

2 guilty of forced labor get 5 years

CONCORD - A Litchfield couple convicted under federal forced-labor statutes was sentenced Friday to more than five years in prison. Kate O’Dell and Timothy Bradley were both found of guilty in August of 18 counts related to forced labor and…

Cold sets records for electricity use, packs shelters

It did not set an all-time low for New Hampshire, but the frigid cold and blustery winds closed and delayed schools, set records for winter electricity demand, and has at least a couple of hospitals speculating about a baby boom…

Spring Dreamin’

With temperatures climbing close to 30 degrees this weekend, it’s going to feel a lot like spring. After this week’s cold snap, the relatively balmy weather is sure to make life easier. It will be easier, for example, to drive…

Medicaid decision hurts city drugstore

NASHUA - Rice’s Pharmacy has served Medicaid clients ever since the state health insurance program for the poor became law in 1965. But this week, owner and pharmacist Roger Hebert posted a sign in the window of the 136-year-old Main…

Panel takes issue with ambulance service direction

WILTON - Everyone agreed that the dedicated volunteers who staff the Wilton-Lyndeborough-Temple Ambulance Service are great people who do a wonderful job, but on Tuesday, the combined budget committees of Wilton and Lyndeborough found little good to say about the…

New start times considered for Nashua schools

NASHUA - A busing system that would allow students to start school between 8 and 8:30 a.m. was presented as the option of choice at a public meeting held Thursday evening by the School Times Committee. Currently, Nashua students are…

Committee OKs $23.6m budget

HUDSON - Voters at the annual Town Meeting will be asked to approve a $23.6 million operating budget for next year, after the Budget Committee approved the proposal Thursday night following a public hearing. The town’s proposed tax rate would…

Residents weigh in on new budgets

LITCHFIELD - Voters will have several large projects to consider at Town Meeting, including a new fire station and a new elementary school. Residents were able to learn more about the town and school budgets and warrants at a public…

Local schools out cold

With record cold temperatures forecasted for this morning, a slew of school superintendents in the state took the rare step of calling off school a day in advance. By Thursday night, more than 100 school districts in the state had…

King Day celebrations diverse

Music, prayer, lecture and dining will all be included in local celebrations of Martin Luther King Jr. Day Civil Rights next week. - Rivier College will celebrate the life and accomplishments of King on Monday, Jan. 19, with the 20th…

Fire forces family into the cold

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) - A fire caused by a child playing with a lighter burned a family out of its home early Thursday. The fire department said the two-alarm fire broke out just before 1:30 a.m. at 71¾ Vine St.,…

Middle school options mulled

HOLLIS - Members of School Administrative Unit 41 boards and committees met Wednesday night to share their recommendations on possible middle school warrant articles for the upcoming annual cooperative district meeting. Of the committees that spoke at the meeting, only…

Adult ed class to focus on canoeing

MERRIMACK - An opportunity to learn how to plan, prepare for and lead a wilderness canoe trip is being offered to adults in town and the surrounding area through Merrimack’s Adult Education program. The class is called “How to plan…

Planning Board mulls Exit 11 proposal

MERRIMACK - The area near Exit 11 of the F.E. Everett Turnpike will soon get a multiplex cinema and perhaps retail stores. And maybe, just maybe, drive-through doughnuts and coffee. The Planning Board on Tuesday received an application for a…

County attorney chosen

MANCHESTER - Assistant Attorney General Marguerite Wageling became Hillsborough County’s new top prosecutor, taking the oath of office just minutes after winning a special election. After swearing in Wageling, Judge James Barry welcomed her to the post of county attorney:…

If you don’t have plans for Dec. 31, try downtown Nashua

Do you have plans for Dec. 31 yet? Aldermanic president-turned-party-planner Brian McCarthy does. He wants people to party at the Main Street Bridge, like thousands of city residents did less than two weeks ago to ring in 2004. McCarthy made…

On the road

Doreen Dufresne is hopeful that she will encounter fewer bumps along her road of life. Dufresne, a Milford resident who has had a string of difficulties worsened by being without reliable transportation, is now the owner of a late-model Buick,…

Town asks Adelphia for cable credit

MERRIMACK - After a two-hour public hearing Thursday, during which town officials held several Adelphia cable company officials to the fire, selectmen asked the company for a simple show of good faith. “I’m asking them to reach out to the…

Loving Arms

There are any number of ways a couple can fill an empty nest. Some move into smaller quarters. Some travel. Some start new hobbies. Marge and Gerry Himmelman had 74 more babies. The Nashua couple didn’t produce this large family.…

New Hampshire’s loggers try to cope with hard times

Independent logger Bud Foster remembers best the lessons learned in the woods. Take one taught him by the late Lawrence Bean about yellow birch. Bean, a local mill owner, had bid a minimal amount for what looked like junk wood…

Business groups keep a wary eye on 2004 Legislature

It’s a non-budget year, and the state Legislature hopes to adjourn in May. There’s a presidential primary and war going on. So why should businesses pay attention to what is going on in the State House? It turns out no…

Bills seek to further gut Consumer Protection Act

To be or not to be exempt from the Consumer Protection Act -- that is the question affecting a number of industries this legislative session. The state’s Consumer Protection Act was once a mighty sword wielded by trial lawyers, but…

UNH prof’s research could lead to better roads

A University of New Hampshire engineering professor has won a National Science Foundation research grant that could one day result in more durable roads and less highway construction. Jo Daniel, assistant professor of civil engineering in the College of Engineering…

Tax incentive doing its job by saving barns

A tax incentive in effect since spring that’s aimed at preserving barns around the state has been twice as successful as advocates had hoped. According to data from the state Department of Revenue Administration, coupled with anecdotal evidence, barn preservationists…

Resident makes it his business to revive downtown Bristol

You could almost say Steve Favorite inherited Bristol’s revitalization effort from his father. “My dad helped develop the town’s first master plan back in the ‘60s,” said Favorite, a telecommunications consultant and Bristol resident for 38 years. “This is the…

New Hampshire’s loggers try to cope with hard times

Independent logger Bud Foster remembers best the lessons learned in the woods. Take one taught him by the late Lawrence Bean about yellow birch. Bean, a local mill owner, had bid a minimal amount for what looked like junk wood…

Tax incentive doing its job by saving barns

A tax incentive in effect since spring that’s aimed at preserving barns around the state has been twice as successful as advocates had hoped. According to data from the state Department of Revenue Administration, coupled with anecdotal evidence, barn preservationists…

Resident makes it his business to revive downtown Bristol

You could almost say Steve Favorite inherited Bristol’s revitalization effort from his father. “My dad helped develop the town’s first master plan back in the ‘60s,” said Favorite, a telecommunications consultant and Bristol resident for 38 years. “This is the…

UNH prof’s research could lead to better roads

A University of New Hampshire engineering professor has won a National Science Foundation research grant that could one day result in more durable roads and less highway construction. Jo Daniel, assistant professor of civil engineering in the College of Engineering…

Bills seek to further gut Consumer Protection Act

To be or not to be exempt from the Consumer Protection Act -- that is the question affecting a number of industries this legislative session. The state’s Consumer Protection Act was once a mighty sword wielded by trial lawyers, but…

Business groups keep a wary eye on 2004 Legislature

It’s a non-budget year, and the state Legislature hopes to adjourn in May. There’s a presidential primary and war going on. So why should businesses pay attention to what is going on in the State House? It turns out no…

First-time voters to get a crash course

Voter information night NASHUA - Hoping that familiarity will draw more people to the polls, the Ethnic Awareness Committee wants to give first-time voters a how-to on elections. “We’re just trying to get the information out. The process isn’t a…

District asks for input on school needs

LYNDEBOROUGH - Copies of an extensive questionnaire concerning the direction the School Board should take in regard to expansion and/or renovation of the Central School should arrive at all homes in town early next week. The questionnaire is the result…

Taxpayers asked to help center’s expansion

AMHERST - The Board of Selectmen has decided the town’s environmental center could use some assistance from taxpayers to help meet its expansion goals. An article asking voters to approve $20,000 for renovations at the Peabody Mill Environmental Center will…

Many need help with fuel this year

For Assistance So far, winter has been more tease than tormentor. But the administrator of fuel and electric assistance programs for Southern New Hampshire Services expects colder weather and a growing demand for help. “There are three factors that influence…

Sen. Kerry visiting area today

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry will host two “Chili Feeds” in the area today. The Massachusetts senator will be at the Milford VFW Post 4368, 14 Perkins Road, at noon. He will be at Alvirne High School, 200 Derry Road,…

First N.H. baby of 2004 from Nashua

NASHUA - Erien Jasiel Cintron-Arizmendi has plenty of initiative. The little fellow arrived into this world 22 days early, surprising his parents but earning the neat distinction as the first baby born in New Hampshire this year. “It’s a new…

Doctor joins city’s health emergency team

NASHUA - Dr. Paul Etkind’s job can be compared to being a medical detective: chase and catch bad, icky things. These bad guys are germs. Etkind, a former assistant state epidemiologist for Massachusetts, is the latest addition to the Division…

Town, AT&T working on look of tower

LYNDEBOROUGH - After a meeting earlier this month during which Planning Board members heard numerous complaints about the look of a new AT&T cellular communications tower, the board chairman indicated this week that the company is willing to work toward…

Family escapes burning house

HUDSON - A night of interrupted sleep helped alert a Kestral Lane resident to a fire in her home. According to fire officials, Adele Lichtenberg was up around 2:30 a.m. when she noticed a light coming from a hole in…

N.H. Republican Bosa sizes up Bush

NASHUA - Dick Bosa keeps a torn, state map in his jacket pocket, marked up in fluorescent yellow with the communities he intends to visit to unseat the president. In his well-worn loafers, by his count, Bosa intends to visit…