News

Fitch Ratings has lowered the insurer financial strength rating of Merchants Insurance Company of New Hampshire from “BB+” to “BBB-” after the acquisition of the insurer’s parent corporation by American European Group. In a release, Fitch officials said AEG's operating…

Despite increases in revenue and bright prospects for this year, the cash crunch at StockerYale continues, according to the company’s annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Salem-based fiberoptics firm had $1.4 million in cash or cash equivalents…

Circuit City, the nation's second-largest home electronics retailer, is laying off 11 employees in New Hampshire as part of its recently announced decision to give the ax to 3,400 of its higher-paid workers in favor of rehiring new staff at…

Most contractors performing projects throughout northern New England continue to provide their employees with medical coverage despite rising insurance costs, according to the 2006-2007 ABC Wage and Benefit Survey conducted by the NH/VT chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors. The…

The Colebrook House Inn may have survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, the drop of tourism after the 2001 terrorist attacks and every blizzard the North Country weather could hurl at it, but it couldn’t get through the few…

When the House Commerce Committee held its public hearings on a bill that would cap high-interest loans made by short-term lenders like payday loan companies, Chairwoman Tara Reardon’s seat was empty. Reardon, whose father-in-law, Richard Bouley, was there quietly lobbying…

The state House of Representatives will not be able to debate a bill imposing an interest rate cap on short-term loans this session, thanks to a March 20 vote in the House Commerce Committee. The committee voted to retain the…

As this column has noted many times in the past, the 424 people in the Legislature are activists or they would not run. If each of them has one “good idea” that he or she wants to advance, there will…

‘Stop loss’ abuses those who serve To the editor: I think that it is about time that we as Americans who have served and/or who have children in the military speak out as to the way the military thinks that…

Most employers are familiar with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act’s requirement that an “eligible employee” is entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave per year if the leave is taken for a qualifying reason. But just who…