Author: NH Business Review Staff

Safety plan law survives, but awaits amendment in House

It looks as if the New Hampshire Legislature won't repeal the law requiring that businesses file safety plans, although they might loosen the measure up a bit.The House Labor Committee recommended killing a repeal bill (House Bill 1661), but committee…

House rejects plan to kill telephone pole tax

In a surprise move, the New Hampshire House overruled a committee report and voted to allow towns to continue taxing telephone poles, rejecting the argument that the tax amounts to double taxation and that it's inequitable to boot."It's like the…

Wood pellets added to state’s fuel list

With growing numbers of New Hampshire homes, businesses, schools and municipalities using wood pellets for heat, the state Office of Energy and Planning has added the price of pellets to the list of heating fuels whose price it tracks.The price…

N.H. home sales rise, median price falls

The first month of 2012 brought a mix of good and bad news for New Hampshire's housing market.That's according to RE/MAX of New England, which releases a regional housing report each month.According to the report, in January 2012, more housing…

Standex to shed air products group

Standex International Corp. has decided to sell its Air Distribution Products Group, the Salem-based conglomerate announced Monday.The stand-alone division, which sells metal ducts for air conditioning in new and remodeled homes, has been profitable for Standex for nearly 35 years,…

NHBR honored for general excellence

New Hampshire Business Review took first place for general excellence at the annual New England Newspaper and Press Association convention held over the weekend in Boston.The newspaper was honored in the Bi-weekly/Monthly category. It was the second time NHBR has…

Berlin credit union in class action suit deal

Guardian Angel Credit Union, the Berlin-based lead plaintiff in a three-year-old class action suit against a larger Iowa bank, has reached a confidential settlement, according to recent filing in federal district court in Concord.The settlement came after U.S. District Court…

Clement: Infrastructure investment an ‘urgent’ need

Editor's note: The following are excerpts of an interview with the state's new transportation commissioner, Christopher D. Clement, Durham resident Chris Clement, an engineer by training, oversees a $600 million transportation agency of over 1,600 employees.He served as deputy commissioner…

Building in 2012: a look at the trends

Predictions, always difficult, are probably harder than ever these days. Nevertheless, there are a few trends in the building industry that seem to be persisting through the various economic twists and turns of the recent past.One of these trends is…

Three manufacturers win Green Launching Pad funds

Three New Hampshire companies have been chosen to participate in the latest round of funding through the Green Launching Pad.This year, judges for the program -- a partnership of the University of New Hampshire and the state -- chose firms…

N.H. must reject health exchanges

The New Hampshire House will take up legislation soon that would prohibit a state health insurance exchange and force Washington to repeal, replace or amend Obamacare.A health insurance exchange is a bureaucratic set of state-regulated and standardized health care plans…

Strategies for economic growth in 2012

Over the past several years, our region and our nation have faced great economic challenges. We are fortunate in New England to have weathered this period with less collateral damage than other parts of the country.Our overall regional unemployment rate…

The case for targeted education aid

For more than 10 years, New Hampshire has been paying for an "adequate" education for primary and secondary public school students across the state. State spending on public education is in addition to what local communities raise and spend.State spending…

The dark side of low interest rates

What do the Federal Reserve and a Ouija board have in common? Both are equally adept at predicting the economic state three months from now. So when the Fed recently announced its intent to keep interest rates near zero for…

The importance of the PSNH divestiture debate

The latest attempt to control New Hampshire's high energy costs appears in House Bill 1238, which requires Public Service of New Hampshire to divest itself of it its power plants.With the fourth-highest energy costs in the nation, New Hampshire businesses…

Ben Franklin must be spinning in his grave

And then there's the venerable Postal Service. Started by Benjamin Franklin, one of our founding fathers, it still uses some of his techniques for sorting mail."Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the…

Is it time for you draw up a cloud road map?

Every emerging information technology has a coming of age when it is presented in the phrase, "The Year of ...". Having lived through a number of these, I'm a bit skeptical whenever this phrase is applied to a technology change…

NHBR About Town: Presby Steel LLC

North Country businessman Dave Presby, right, shakes hands with Jim McMahon, following Presby's purchase of the assets of Isaacson Steel Inc. on Jan. 31. McMahon is general manager of the new business, Presby Steel LLC, which will continue to operate…

NHBR About Town: Frisbie Memorial Hospital

Al Felgar, right, president of Frisbie Memorial Hospital, stands with Dr. Matthew Kamil, left, endocrinologist at the hospital's Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate, and his wife, Robin, who donated to the hospital's legacy society to commemorate a birthing room in honor…

NHBR About Town: TD Charitable Foundation

Steve Webb, market president for TD Bank, stands with Maureen Beauregard, president of Families in Transition, after presenting a $20,000 check to the nonprofit on behalf of the TD Charitable Foundation. The grant will provide services to those living in…

NHBR About Town: RiverMead and JSA Architects

Representatives from RiverMead and JSA Architects break ground on the construction of the Village at RiverMead. Designed by JSA, the $30 million expansion of RiverMead -- a continuing care retirement community in Peterborough -- will include independent living housing and…

Q&A with N.H. AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie

The agenda of the leadership of the New Hampshire Legislature has been called pro-business. But critics, such as New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie, view much of that agenda as anti-worker. MacKenzie recently discussed his concerns and his own organization's…

NHBR About Town: New Hampshire Grand

Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce members Mark Belanger and JoAnn Roy present the 3-D model they built of proposed New Hampshire Grand kiosks to be located throughout Coos County, the first of which will be constructed in Berlin in March.…

NHBR About Town: FairPoint Communications

Enfield residents Robin and Mark Kloos and their children, Lydia and Quinn, won a complete digital home makeover valued at $2,100 from FairPoint Communications through its 'Connect Your Home' sweepstakes, which included a 47-inch TV, surround-sound speakers, an Xbox 360…

NHBR About Town: RiverStone Resources of Manchester

Nancy Mellitt, annual campaign manager for the New Hampshire Food Bank, accepts a check from Bob Sampson, vice president of claims at RiverStone Resources of Manchester, for $31,759, which represents donations from RiverStone's employees with a company match. The check…

Housing study lists benefits of tax credit program to N.H.

When 149 units of affordable family housing are built in New Hampshire through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, residents in the state reap more than $22 million a year and local and state governments get nearly $3 million.That's…

Two more N.H. firms see earnings jump

Everything still seems to be coming up roses, at least when it comes to the earnings of two more New Hampshire-based public companies.White Mountains InsuranceWhite Mountains finished the year with a bang, despite near record catastrophic losses around the world,…

Politics and religion, the 2012 version

Earlier this year, evangelical Protestant leaders met in Texas to strategize about what candidate to support in the Republican primary (it apparently being their opinion that God favors Republicans).That meeting reminded folks of 1960, when Democratic candidate John Fitzgerald Kennedy,…

N.H. foreclosures soared to close out 2011

The number of foreclosure deeds filed in New Hampshire spiked in December 2011, bringing the total number of foreclosures for the year to just below the record set in 2010.Some 3,863 foreclosures were recorded in New Hampshire in 2011, down…

Out-of-state health insurance bill clears Senate hurdle

A bill that would allow New Hampshire businesses and individuals to shop around the country for health insurance - a measure that barely squeaked through the Senate Commerce Committee - easily passed the full Senate Tuesday.But that is probably because…

House panel weighs allowing liquor sales at groceries

All three state liquor commissioners, and one former commissioner, showed up at a packed three-plus-hour House Commerce Committee hearing to oppose a bill that would allow some 1,400 grocery stores in New Hampshire to sell liquor.Under House Bull 1251, grocery…

Health providers, insurers fight over patients’ check

After someone has an auto accident and receives a payment from his or her insurer to pay medical bills not covered by health insurance, who should get the check, the patient or the doctor?Currently, the check goes to the patient,…

GT, Bottomline, PC Connection report higher earnings

Earning reports released last week by New Hampshire-based public companies show that most had a pretty good quarter and year.NHBR previously reported that Unitil had its best year ever. This is how three more companies say they fared.GT Advanced TechnologiesOne…

N.H. bankruptcies fall again at start of 2012

When it comes to New Hampshire bankruptcies, the first month of 2012 continued where 2011 left off, with another decrease in the number of filings compared to last year -- the 14th monthly decline in a row.Some 316 households and…

House panel weighs health exchange ban

The insurance subdivision of the House Commerce Committee appeared split Wednesday over whether to prohibit state employees from even considering setting up a state health exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act, even after a national expert from the Cato…

For Unitil, ’11 was a gas

Unitil Corp.'s move into natural gas paid off big last year, the company reported.The Hampton-based firm said it had a net annual income of $16.3 million, or $1.50 per share -- the largest profit in company history.About $10 million of…

‘Stalking horse’ emerges in Isaacson bankruptcy

Isaacson Structural Steel Inc. has a "stalking horse" that it's hoped can lead it out of bankruptcy with most of the firm's production and construction jobs intact, according to Bill Gannon, attorney for the Berlin-based company.While Isaacson has talked to…

N.Y. firm buys Kingsbury for $3.1m

The last-minute $3.1 million sale of Kingsbury Corp.'s assets to Optimation Technology could not have been any better and it could have been worse, all parties agreed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manchester.The good news is that some 60…

Economy, competition fueled Wiggin & Nourie’s demise

The confluence of an unstable economy, a tightly competitive legal market and an ongoing exodus of more than half its lawyers since 2010 all contributed to the decision to close down Wiggin & Nourie, one of New Hampshire's oldest law…

Mid-life career changes: the rule, not the exception

Robert Barmore hadn't planned on a second career after decades as a designer, developer and builder of vacation homes in Colorado."This was a niche market and we thought it was mostly recession-proof," Barmore said. But his assumptions were tested when…

Excellence in N.H. architecture honored

The creation of a new performance space at the historic Music Hall of Portsmouth and the renovation of another historic building -- the Newbury Center Meeting House in Newbury -- have won the highest accolades in the American Institute of…

Training mandate proposal riles N.H. nonprofits

Does the live free or die philosophy of the New Hampshire Legislature pertain only to organizations making a profit? That's what officials at many of the state's nonprofit organizations are beginning to wonder after the Senate passed a bill mandating…

Bad hiring practices can hurt your business

In business times like these, most employers are just trying to make ends meet, keep the employees they have, keep their customers happy and keep their doors open. When the opportunity to hire a new employee comes along, they question…

Narrowing the generational divide at work

I was listening to a network talk show and heard the pundits denounce a certain group as lazy and caring about nothing more than video games and pop culture. I've heard the presidential candidates talk about them using the words…

Reflections on the primary that was

They came, we voted, they left - all in a flash! About a week after the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary on Jan. 10, what lessons should we take from it and what impressions are there?Because there was such a…