When is a benefit concert more than just a concert? When it’s a show put on by Concord native and Grammy-winning Dan Zanes. We talked with Dan this past March when his old rock band the Del Fuegos reunited for a series of shows. His current band, Dan Zanes and Friends, tours the world playing what he calls “exuberant, handmade 21st century social music for enthusiastic crowds of kids and kid sympathizers”. This Saturday he’ll be back on stage in Concord along with several local musicians for a benefit for the Friendly Kitchen.

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House and Senate negotiators say a team of constitutional lawyers are reviewing a proposed amendment.

Earlier this session, the House and Senate both passed plans.

But the two bodies differed on the appropriate level of court oversight and the role local school districts have in establishing standards.

A high-ranking House member says those disagreements have been addressed.

Senate Majority leader Jeb Bradley says there’s a historic quality to the moment.

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 World War One was great for New Hampshire’s immigrant workforce, the mills were booming and jobs were plentiful.  But as thousands of American returned home from war, there was a growing distrust of the immigrant in general and of Russians in particular.

unemployment is high In 1919, there was something like 3600 strikes in America. So we’re looking for a scapegoat. 

New Hampshire Historian, Stu Wallace

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The Senate has agreed with a House bill that critics say will make it harder to improve access for people with disabilities.

Under current state law, if someone successfully sues a building owner over ADA violations, they are awarded legal fees.

The new bill would leave the matter of fee reimbursement to court discretion.

Proponents of the measure say the move is an attempt to align state and federal law.

But Michael Skibbie with the New Hampshire Disabilities Rights Center see it as a move to limit ADA compliance lawsuits.

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Lawmakers will look to come to terms on how to regulate groups that sell insurance to New Hampshire cities and towns.

Some are concerned the House-passed plan could be hard on taxpayers.

This legislation comes on the heels of a Secretary of State investigation into the practices of New Hampshire’s largest public risk pool the Local Government Center.

State regulators charge LGC has violated the law and owes its customers – cities and towns – some $60 million.

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The New Hampshire Senate has killed half a dozen controversial measures supported by the House.

With little debate, Senators dispatched several hot-button issues that came up this session.

The measures were tied to completely unrelated bills.

Senators shot down a bill to require a 24 hour wait before an abortion could be performed, a 1 year moratorium on refugee resettlement in the state and a plan to weaken collective bargaining rights.

Senate President Peter Bragdon says on each of those measures the Senate had made its voice clear.

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Jim Bassett is well-known and well-liked in the New Hampshire Bar. But his nomination drew criticism from some conservatives. They didn’t like that Bassett supported the Brady gun law on as a GOP congressional candidate in 1994. They also don’t like that Bassett said he accepted the Claremont education funding rulings as precedent during his confirmation hearing. Most councilors dismissed these concerns, and prior to the confirmation vote, District 2’s Dan St. Hillare predicted  Bassett would be a great addition to the court.

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By the early 1900's, the Amoskeag mill was earning its reputation as the textile capital of the world. There may have been other cities that produced more cloth, but none had a mill that compared to Manchester’s.

No other single textile factory in the world had 17,000 workers, and it had around 30 buildings at one time and it was turning out cloth 50 miles per hour.

Robert Perrault is a Manchester based historian and author of the book "Vivre la Difference: Franco-American Life and Culture in Manchester, New Hampshire”

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As a farmer in Bhutan, Laxmi Narayan Mishre provided food and stability for his family.

But when ethnic tensions flared in the small Himalayan country, his land was seized.

With his wife and ten children, Mishre would spend the next two decades living in a cramped refugee camp in neighboring Nepal. Rumors swirled about a possible resettlement to America, and what life would be like here.

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The Health and Human Services Commissioner expects the state’s new Medicaid program to begin in December.

That’s 5 months later than planned.

The state had planned on launching its new Medicaid program on July 1^st.

It will cost the Department a little more than $1 million dollars a month until the new system is in place.

But Health and Human Services Commissioner Nick Toumpas says he’s optimistic the new program will lead to long-term improvements, like changing the way health providers are paid.

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Lawmakers are hopeful they can reach common ground on a education funding constitutional amendment.

Senators and House members want to limit the court's involvement in future funding plans.

Over the past year and a half the Senate and House have had differences when it comes to education funding amendments.

Both have passed proposals by the necessary 3/5ths majorities.

The House’s aims to all but eliminate court oversight and give local school districts greater authority to set standards.

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(Robert Perreault talking to his granddaughter)

As first generation French Canadian mill workers turned to second and third generation, Franco Americans outnumbered all immigrant groups in New Hampshire. And their presence is felt today.  Even though it was Robert Perreault’s grandfather that emigrated from French Canada, he still carry’s on many of his culture’s traditions. He speaks fluent French and so does his son. Now, they’re passing that tradition to his granddaughter.

(Sound of playing)

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In some good news for the North Country an old family business is coming back to life.  NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

Starting in 1931 Neil Tillotson made his fortune manufacturing natural latex products including balloons and later gloves.

That allowed him to purchase the Balsams Grand Resort.

Tillotson died in 2001 and a  latex plant located near the resort closed in 2010.

But Tillotson’s son, Rick, purchased the equipment and recently bought a 103,000 square foot building in Colebrook.

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Irish men and women started trickling over to New Hampshire in the 1820 and 30s, and by the 1840s, they become the Granite State’s first major population of immigrants. By 1850 there was over thirteen hundred Irish in Manchester alone and by 1860 that number triples. More than one quarter of the city’s residents are now foreign born and of that, the Irish made up seventy three percent of them.  But as New Hampshire’s first major immigrant group settled, the first major anti-immigrant feelings started brewing in our state as well.

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Republican are working at finding common language on a bill that would weaken or repeal the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI. They will have to agree on a version that will get enough votes to overcome a governor’s veto.

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Episcopalians in New Hampshire have elected Reverend Robert Hirschfeld as their next Bishop. He will replace Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the history of the church.

Robert Hirschfeld – currently the rector of Grace Church in Amherst Massachusetts – was elected on the first ballot, which is a rarity in Episcopalian elections.

The chair of the Bishop Search and Nomination Committee, Kevin Nichols, says that reflects a consensus in the New Hampshire dioceses that Hirschfeld is the right man for the job.

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Today members of the New Hampshire Episcopalian dioceses are gathering to elect a successor to Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Bishop in the history of the church. 

The election of Robinson in 2003 tore a rift in the global Anglican community. In 2010, Robinson announced that he would retire next January, saying years of death threats and controversy had taken their toll.

The vice-chair of New Hampshire’s bishop search committee, Margaret Porter, says that sexual orientation did not figure in to the selection of candidates.

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This weekend, the Canterbury Shaker Village opens its doors for the season.

It’s 600 acres of stillness, of restored buildings and manicured fields. But there’s one thing missing.

“Visitors come here expecting to see Shakers,” says Funi Burdick, Executive Director of the Village.

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Nationally, there are about 600,000 unfilled factory jobs.  But despite high unemployment, these jobs are proving all-but-impossible to fill, even in New Hampshire.  For one thing, most people don’t have the skills.  And many companies are handing over the training, and cost, of potential new workers to community colleges.  But that still doesn’t guarantee it will lead to new hires.

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It is going to take a little longer than expected for the state of New Hampshire to decide whether it can save money by having its prisons run by a private firm.

NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

By July the state’s department of administrative services had hoped to finish its report evaluating proposals from four companies interested in running a private prison.

But Linda Hodgdon, the commissioner for administrative services, says there is so much information the department is looking for a consultant to help sort through it.

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New Hampshire House lawmakers try and fail to revive a bill to ban late-term abortions.

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The New Hampshire House has passed a new version of the rules that govern what counts as renewable energy. The bill would expand the definition of renewable to include thermal energy.

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(Jensen) A 29-year-old Manchester man used his cell phone late Saturday to call for help after it got dark before he could finish hiking down from Little Haystack Mountain.

And he lacked a flashlight.

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The walls and the hallways are largely empty today in one of New Hampshire’s oldest and grandest hotels.  As part of the plan to rebuild and renovate the Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville Notch, the hotel’s new owners auctioned off many items this past Saturday.  The goal was to sell everything but photos and items of historical significance. 

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A North Country  town could be the site of a privately run prison, should state officials decide to outsource its prison operations.  NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

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A string of high profile hazing scandals had made the news recently.

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The new owners of the Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville Notch are planning a huge renovation.

But before that can happen there is a lot of stuff they need to get rid of from a ski lift to pots and pans and that means an auction.

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A North Country firm has been fined $192,000 over concerns about the potential for oil polluting the Androscoggin River.

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A new exhibit at the Edwards Art Gallery at the Holderness School features 19th Century landscapes of the Lakes Region, Pemigewasset Valley, Franconia Notch, and the North Country.

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Tourism is seen as one of the economic underpinnings of the North Country.

But a highly touted program designed to boost tourism is running low on funds while facing a tricky question: After spending about $1 million was it successful?

NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

In 2008  - with the paper industry pretty much dead -  some in the North Country gloomily wondered about its economic prospects.

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It’s been said that poetry is all that is worth remembering in life. We asked folks to tell us about their memories of how a poem had affected their life. Rodger Martin from Harrisville, New Hampshire remembered hearing a poem that helped him return to civilian life after a tour of duty in Vietnam.

RODGER: The state of the country was in a far different place in 1970.

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Amid the immigrants who have come to New Hampshire are two French citizens – a doctor and a nurse - who saw America as a place for a radically new life focused not on patients but on making baguettes and Madeleines in the North Country.

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D.S. Cole story

D. S. Cole Growers in Loudon, New Hampshire bills itself as a ‘wholesale greenhouse facility’. That means, they grow a lot of the potted plants that are then shipped to garden centers and landscapers across New England.  Looking across the facility you see greenhouses filled up with row upon rows of annuals, while flower baskets hang in long lines above your head

(sound).

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State and local police are on the scene of a shooting in Dalton which two people died but officials say there is no danger to the public.

NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

Audio of fire being dispatched….

Police and rescue units rushed to a house on Whitefield Road in Dalton just after 1 p.m.

They found two men dead and a third man seriously wounded.

The wounded man was airlifted to Dartmouth Hitchcock.

The identities of the men were not released.

For NHPR News this is Chris Jensen

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The cold, dark New Hampshire winter is tough on vegetables, and vegetable growers. Farmers race the frost in the fall and chomp at the bit in the spring waiting for snow to melt. But  a federal grant program has been changing the way that some Yankee farmers grow food.

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New Hampshire lawmakers have reached agreement on a Congressional redistricting plan. With two incumbent Republicans in Congress, both wanted to keep their districts as GOP-leaning as possible.

Under the final plan, six towns will switch districts. Sanborton, Tilton and Campton move east from District 2 to District 1; while Deerfield, Northwood and Center Harbor will shift west to District 2.

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The new owners of the closed Balsams resort in Dixville Notch are moving ahead with plans to renovate the North Country resort.

NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

Improvements at the Balsams resort will include a new conference center, spa, pool house and suites near the Hampshire House.

That’s according to the web site of Summit Engineering of Portsmouth which says the firm has been chosen to handle the structural engineering.

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An Intervale firm is in trouble with the Environmental Protection Agency over allegations of water pollution in the North Country.

 NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

CSG Holdings – also known as Columbia Sand & Gravel - is accused of allowing polluted water to get into the Connecticut River.

“The nature of the discharge from the site contained large amounts of suspended solids basically.  Sand.  Silt.”

That’s David Deegan, an EPA spokesman.

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The American Presidency remains the most powerful office in the world…and one that any American-born child can aspire to. One of our listeners recently shared an interesting item on our Facebook page…an essay her daughter wrote for her third grade class at the Rumford School in Concord, New Hampshire. The subject: “If I were president, I would...”

We're pretty sure that Emma's answer betrays a realpolitik far beyond her nine years of age.

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Triple M Tool and Die has been a sometimes-working, unassuming, hard- to- find machine shop in Alstead for more than 50 years. At least that’s what it is during the day.

But at night, this building transforms into a community theater, concert venue, event hall and soon-- non-profit.

Nothing on the outside of the building at 789 Gilsum Mine Road says theater.

Nothing on the outside even says machine shop. But the building at 789 Gilsum Mine Road, is both.

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Thursday, members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee considered a bill that would ban public funding of facilities that provide abortion. Opponents of the bill, which has already been approved by the house, say it could jeopardize $700 in federal Medicaid funds. The bill's sponsor Republican of Rochester Warren Groen says preventing the state from funding abortion is a smarter way to use scare with public dollars.

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Congressman Charlie Bass's is denying the allegation by the  New Hampshire attorney general's that his campaign violated the state's push polling law.

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Much of the battle over the Northern Pass hydro-electric project has focused on cutting a new route through the forests of the North Country.

Northern Pass intends to use 140 miles of existing right of way for much of the remainder of the project.

That may not be as easy as it sounds.

It takes maybe five minutes – including crossing a large brook on a narrow board – for Kris Pastoriza to reach the right-of-way that cuts through her wooded land in Easton.

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Since 2005, the number of foreclosures in New Hampshire has increased 700 percent. Last year, more than 3,800 families were forced out of their homes due to foreclosure.

New Hampshire is one of 49 states that signed on to a settlement between the federal government and the country's five largest lenders -- Bank of America, Citi, Wellsfargo, Ally/GMAC, and JP Morgan Chase -- brought for misconduct in lending practices.

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Environmental groups in New Hampshire and Maine want the EPA to investigate sulfur dioxide emissions at a power plant in Portsmouth.

Sierra Club chapters in the two states are mounting a petition drive.

It asks the EPA to look into the possible effect of the emissions on asthma cases in the Seacoast regions of the two states.

The groups contend that sulfur dioxide emitted by the Schiller Plant could be adding to respiratory illnesses, especially in Maine.

But Martin Murray, spokesman for PSNH says that an examination of the plant isn't necessary.

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A new nationwide study released today/Tuesday ranks Coos County as the least healthy county in the state. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced cuts to the catch limits on Atlantic Cod for the 2012 fishing year. But New Hampshire fishermen got a reprieve, since the cuts could have been much worse.

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While the state’s unemployment rate is well below the national average, thousands of people are still searching for a job.

Friday, many of the state’s unemployed showed up for a job fair for a new $100 million shopping center in Merrimack. The retail outlet is expected to create more than 800 positions.

By 7 a.m. Friday morning, hundreds of people lined up outside Nashua Community College for the Merrimack Premium Outlet job fair.

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It's been a busy week at the statehouse, with high profile votes on issues ranging from redistricting and abortion, to medical marijuana, gambling and school building aid.

NHPR's Josh Rogers has been following the action. He recaps the latest with All Things Considered host Brady Carlson.

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The New Hampshire legislature is considering a bill that would expand the state’s renewable portfolio standards. That means more money to subsidize renewable energy.

Supporters say the measure is a real boost to the state’s wood industries, but critics doubt whether the new subsidies are worth the price.

There’s a little something for everyone in the new Renewable Portfolio Standards.

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The NH house has voted to require women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion. 

The so-called women’s right to know bill had to be pared back to win final house passage. Penalties for doctors were stripped, as was the  requirements that abortion providers give women seeking an abortion specific information about abortion risks, including a contested claim linking aborts to breast cancer.  According to the final amendments lead author Republican Tammy Simmons of Manchester, limiting the proposal to a simple 24 waiting period is a common sense compromise.

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The NH house has voted to require women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion. 

The so-called women’s right to know bill had to be pared back to win final house passage. Penalties for doctors were stripped, as was the  requirements that abortion providers give women seeking an abortion specific information about abortion risks, including a contested claim linking aborts to breast cancer.  According to the final amendments lead author Republican Tammy Simmons of Manchester, limiting the proposal to a simple 24 waiting period is a common sense compromise.

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A live World War II era hand grenade was found at the Moore Reservoir in Littleton Sunday.  NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

The grenade was found by two men using a metal detector in an area that would normally have been under water.

“They were very surprised. They were hoping to find, I think, a little bit more valuable item.”

That’s Littleton police officer James Gardiner.

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A coalition of Great Bay area communities is suing the state and the Department of Environmental Services, claiming DES failed to follow proper rules when determining water quality standards in the Great Bay.

Dover, Portsmouth, Rochester, Exeter and Newmarket claim DES violated state and federal law by not conducting a formal public process when determining water quality standards in the Great Bay.

As a result, the communities say they face unnecessary multi-million dollar wastewater treatment upgrades.

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Public health officials have confirmed a case of tuberculosis at Dane Elementary School.

Director of Public Health, Dr. Jose Montero, says the infected child, a kindergarten student, likely contracted the illness from an adult who was exposed to the dangerous bacteria abroad. Most TB is treatable and is spread through the air. Montero says the adult was treated effectively.

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According to the Federal Trade Commission, the number of complaints about consumer fraud against seniors has more than doubled since 2009. So called imposter scams, when someone poses as a relative or friend to extort money from someone they don't know increased by 22 percent last year.

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In a 198 to 161 vote, house members passed a bill that would allow for-profit specialty hospitals to avoid going through the certificate of need regulatory process. The bill also exempts these hospitals, most of which do not take Medicaid patients, from paying the state's Medicaid Enhancement Tax.

Opponents say the bill gives an unfair advantage to these for-profit specialty hospitals. Cancer Treatment Centers of America is eyeing New Hampshire as a location for a facility in the Northeast.

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The House is expected to vote this afternoon on a measure that would repeal the State’s 2009 law that legalized same-sex marriage. 

There is a decidedly quiet mood outside the Statehouse today, as both opponents and supporters of gay marriage await an anticipated vote on a repeal.  The Republican-sponsored measure attempts to re-define marriage as between a man and a woman. The bill would allow for civil unions.

Statehouse observers expect a close vote, in part because of a strong libertarian streak that runs through many House Republicans.

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Second District Congressman Frank Guinta is helping champion House Republican’s new budget blueprint that Democrats say is dangerous for the nation’s poor and vulnerable. 
Both sides agree the new G-O-P budget paints a stark ideological contrast ahead of November’s elections. Inside Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s new spending blueprint are cuts to Pell Grants, Medicaid, food stamps and an overhaul of welfare. The legislation also continues the G-O-P push to turn Medicare into what amounts to a voucher program, which is unpopular with many voters.

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Among this year’s signs of spring – the return of Occupy protesters.  Of course, the movement didn’t actually go away over the winter so much as mutate.

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In his 2010 Comedy Central stand-up special, comedian Louis C.K. pondered a sometimes-epithet and the fine line between desciptor, and slur. Joking aside, C.K.’s take hits very close to home for the townspeople of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, who, for the past several months, have been engaged in a fierce debate about whether or not a small local pond’s name on federal maps,  “Jew Pond”

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Greed...avarice...a thirst for power. Sure, these things all describe our modern corporate and political landscape, but they're also just a few of the themes at play in Macbeth. This weekend, The Acting Loft in Manchester is staging a new version of the play, one that doesn't forget the times we live in...or Shakespeare's intent.

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Mont Vernon voters approved changing the controversial name of a pond at its town meeting Tuesday night.

Whether or not to rename Jew Pond, which many consider offensive, garnered national attention in this small town.

But voters still don’t know what the new name of the pond will be.

A packed crowd of about 250 residents filled the gymnasium in the Mont Vernon Village Schoolhouse.

The turnout was impressive for a town whose population is less than 2400.

The town meeting began as it does every year with the pledge and a prayer.

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The Certificate of Need Board approves new hospitals and expansions of existing medical centers in the state. Wednesday the house voted 166-140 to get rid of the board entirely. The House rejected an amendment which would have overhauled the existing board and phase it out over five years. The idea was to reconfigure the board with non-stakeholders, such as not allowing hospital representatives to serve.

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Anti-Nuclear groups are angered by a decision of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to exclude them from the re-licensing process for the Seabrook Nuclear Plant. 

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In our series, New Hampshire’s Immigration Story, we’ve talked about how immigrants and refugees have affected New Hampshire’s economy, health care system, law enforcement, schools, now we look at art. Last year photographer Mary Catherine Jones began an ongoing photo series called “New Faces New Hampshire” featuring portraits and images of refugees and immigrants in Manchester. She joined NHPR’s Brady Carlson to talk about her photo series.

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A bill which prevents the state from creating its own exchange passed overwhelmingly in the house on Thursday

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We know he's running for President and that he's become a household name. We know he ran unsuccessfully in 2008 as well. We know that he was Governor of Massachusetts and that he was behind a major health care bill that passed in that state. We know he's Mormon, Republican, good looking and has a great smile, but who is the 'real Romney'. Who is the Mitt Romney behind the campaign promises, debates, political ads and handshakes? What drives him, what were the events in his life that motivated him and why does he want to be President so badly?

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We’re looking at yesterday’s voting in Ohio, Tennessee, Idaho, Virginia, Vermont, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Massachusetts, Alaska and Georgia in the Republican nomination contests.  We’re looking closer at the results and at where the campaigns go from here.

Guests:

Wayne Lesperance: Professor of Political Science and Director for the Center for Civic Engagement at New England College.

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Out-of-hospital births in New Hampshire are on the rise, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control.

That increase is in large part, because of a 2008 law that requires health insurers to pay for midwives who work in homes or at birthing centers.

But a new bill before lawmakers proposes repealing that mandate.

And midwives are worried what that means for their livelihoods.

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New Hampshire will be the first state in the country to receive new Medicaid grant money to help seniors and people with disabilities remain in their homes.

The state will receive $26.5 million over three years through the Affordable Care Act.

The goal is to help states shift from institutional care to home and community-based services.

In 2009, 41 percent of New Hampshire’s Medicaid money was spent on community-based services.

That will increase to 47 percent in 2013 with the new grant money. 

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Boston-based band the Del Fuegos put out three critically- acclaimed albums, and had hits with the tracks “Don’t Run Wild” and “I Still Want You” in the 1980s.  Declining commercial success and in-fighting caused the original line-up to implode by the end of the decade. Now, the four original members have reunited for a short stint of dates to rekindle the fire, despite very successful careers after their band’s heyday.

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A new study from researchers at Dartmouth Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center found that the more movies teenagers watch with images of alcohol, the more likely teens will start drinking. The study also found that an increase in movie watching was a major risk factor for teens who already drink to start binge drinking.

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The House Health and Human Services Committee has sent an amended bill allowing not just Cancer Specialty Hospitals but all specialty hospitals to bypass the Certificate of Need process. All other hospitals in the state must go in front of the CON board to gain approval for new or expanded services.

Rep. Lynn Blakenbeker, Republican of Concord, voted in favor of the bill.

"We as a state should be encouraging businesses all kinds to come into the state especially when it comes to specialty healthcare treatment we should be offering all options," she says.

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The New Hampshire Senate is considering a bill aimed at reducing the so-called  "skills gap". The bill would offer tax credits to businesses that partnered with the community college system to create workforce training programs.

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As part of the  Affordable Care Act, every state must have a health insurance exchange in place by January 2014. An exchange is a clearinghouse of sorts where people and small business can go to buy insurance and also find out which tax rebates they may use to help them buy coverage.

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New Hampshire lawmakers are proposing a law that would do away with the Certificate of Need process. This is a state requirement for hospitals and other healthcare facilities that want to expand or establish new medical facilities. The aim of CON is to keep redundant healthcare out of the system.

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Cancer Treatment Centers of America is eyeing a spot in New Hampshire. The for profit chain wants to build a hospital in the Northeast. CTCA successfully lobbied Georgia to change its regulations so a specialty hospital could be built in that state. The company is hoping lawmakers in New Hampshire will make similar changes. A proposed law would exempt specialty cancer hospitals from certain regulations and also from Medicaid taxes.

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Lawmakers are now considering whether to give exemptions to for-profit cancer centers so they can do business in the state. Under current regulations these cancer centers are likely  to be deemed redundant. But a new bill would allow them to avoid what is known as a Certificate of Need--to which all other hospitals must comply. These centers would also be exempt from Medicaid taxes.

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It's not all about sports bars and Bowl parties; Hippo Editor Amy Diaz has a few suggestions for those who want a little art this weekend, including a new exhibit at The Currier, a trio of one act plays, and some opera. 

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A little over a year ago, a Massachusetts bone marrow registry made headlines for hiring models in blue wigs and black skirts to attract prospective donors.  To make matters worse,  the registry was part of a scheme to charge insurance companies extremely high fees for lab tests.

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There’s National Pi Day...that’s P-I for the mathematicians.

There’s talk like a Pirate Day....ARRRGH... and then there’s today- January 27^th, the IRS’s Earned Income Tax Credit Day.

Who knew?

Usually infomercials sound too good to be true, right?

“The Ginsu 2000 can saw a lead pipe and still slice a tomato like this. The legend is back..” 

You expect this kind of shtick from a company peddling steak knives.

But the IRS?

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You can catch up on the Oscar-nominees this weekend, but there's also a chance to catch a rocumentary on Portsmouth's music scene in the 90's and ask the screenwriter of Ground Hog Day why he wanted Bill Murray to live forever.  Hippo Editor Amy Diaz has the popcorn.

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The White House is on the road to win public support for its economic policies.  President Obama was in Iowa and Arizona yesterday.  Today, Vice President Biden visited a manufacturing plant in Rochester.

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The state commissioner of transportation warns that if the federal government moves ahead with a plan to cut $40 million of New Hampshire’s yearly highway funds—the completion of I-93 will be placed on hold, indefinitely.  One portion that remains unfinished is exit 3 near Windham.

Many businesses there say the uncertainty of I-93’s future is hurting the local economy.

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Hippo Editor Amy Diaz tells NHPR's Rick Ganley about Concord's Dine Out and 9th annual New Hampshire Wine Week. 

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Home sales in New Hampshire remained about even with last year. About 200 more homes changed hands in 2011 than in 2010. Prices continued to slide. The median sales price was about $201,000, or about 6 percent less than the year before. The latest numbers from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors leave it unclear where the market is headed. There are some signs of improvement. Between November and December, prices held steady and at least from one month to the next, the number of homes sold rose by about 8 percent.

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NHPR's Brady Carlson is on the air with NPR Political Junkie Ken Rudin, and Dante Scala from the University of New Hampshire. 

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Making a living as a working musician has never been easy. Most work day jobs and feed their stage passions at night and on weekends, playing in the corners of smoky bars and dimly-lit restaurants. The dream for many weekend warriors is to play music full-time.  One New Hampshire musician that has made the leap is Plymouth’s Jim Tyrrell. Now he’s hoping to help other Granite State acts with a little promotion… by exposing them on a new local TV show as well as online.

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Hippo Editor Amy Diaz talks with NHPR's Rick Ganley about a new play from New Hampshire's Ernest Thompson  Political Suicide  and a new stage adaptation of the classic Frankenstein.

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The last of the U-S troops are now returning from Iraq.

Once home they’re likely to end up joining thousands of other veterans looking for work in a bleak job market.

Despite government incentives to get companies to hire vets, unemployment among vets is still higher than civilians.

The youngest veterans struggle the most.

Twenty-two year old Courtney Selig went into the military to better herself.

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Texas congressman Ron Paul’s second place finish  put his supporters into celebration mode last night. 

Coming in second typically feels like a disappointment.  Not for Heather Mellem of Manchester. 

“Romney might win this election, but Ron Paul is first in ideas.  And he’s taken his cause to a level I’ve never expected he could take it to. Amazing,” she said.

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Texas Congressman Ron Paul did three times better in the 2012 primary than in 2008.  NHPR's Jon Greeenberg sat down with the campaign's state director, Jared Chicoine. Chicoine has a dozen years of electoral work under his belt.  He was in Senator Bob Smith's primary battle with John E. Sununu.  Chicoine also worked with State Senator Bob O'Dell, and the congressional campaign of Sean Mahoney.

Sitting in a hotel lobby in Bow on the night of the primary, Chicoine told us a bit about the Ron Paul ground game.

Transcript available later.

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The Environmental Protection Agency has released its 2010 data of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the state.

Last night was vindication for Mitt Romney as the former Massachusetts governor claimed nearly 40 percent of the vote; Texas Congressman Ron Paul took second with 23 percent.

"Thank you New Hampshire. Tonight we made history," said Romney.

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Mitt Romney spent his Monday focusing vote-rich southern New Hampshire. He started at a chamber of commerce breakfast Nashua, where a comment he made about choice in health care,

“I like being able to fire people who provide services to me,”

became a late-breaking flashpoint.  Democrats and republicans rivals Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman all piled on. So much so that at Romney’s next stop in Hudson he called a press conference, his first since the Iowa caucuses, to defuse the matter.

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Supporters of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum say they weren’t surprised by his near tie for fourth place with Newt Gingrich in New Hampshire’s presidential primary.

Rick Santorum told supporters that he knew New Hampshire would be tough to win.

He focused most of his campaign in Iowa and didn’t spend a lot of money in New Hampshire.

While supporters were disappointed in his finish, Dan Tamburello, state co-chair for Santorum’s campaign, says it wasn’t unexpected.

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich wants to put New Hampshire in the rear view mirror.

His followers are already looking forward to South Carolina.

Gingrich supporter Warren Kindler from Epping isn’t surprised that Gingrich didn’t fare well in New Hampshire. 

Kindler: Mitt’s had a long time to campaign in New Hampshire he’s very well known, he’s fairly well liked he’s a neighboring ex-governor, former governor

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