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A house committee heard public testimony on a bill that would withdraw the state from the federal education requirements under No Child Left Behind.

But pulling out would mean the state would forfeit more than $60 million in federal money.

The sponsor of the bill, twenty-year-old representative Weeden from Dover,  says that No-Child-Left-Behind, or NCLB, has created a culture of teaching to the test that has reduced the quality of education overall.

The House judiciary committee heard testimony today about three bills that would make it more difficult for a private utility to use eminent domain to acquire land. 

Opponents of the Northern Pass project sponsor the bills, saying the planned electric transmission lines would not benefit to the state.

Republican representative Baldasaro from Londonderry gave testimony in favor of tightening up eminent domain rules.

In the world of weight loss programs, Weight Watchers rules, with more than a million members worldwide. New CEO David Kirchoff is credited with increasing meeting attendance in North America by fourteen percent, and upping online membership by 64%. Those numbers mean money, of course. Weigh Watchers is valued at an estimated at five billion dollars…double that of a year ago.

 A warning to vegetarians and vegans, this segment is about meat. And fish. And foul. Take coffee-crusted elkstrap, pheasant marsala, or country-fried antelope...yup, gourmet game.

Colin Kearns is deputy editor of Field and Stream Magazine, and editor of the Wild Chef column and blog, where such recipes are shared with hunters and consumers of all things hunted. 

A new law allows parents who object to certain classroom materials to request alternative coursework for their child.  Governor Lynch vetoed the bill last year, but the legislature recently overrode that veto.  We’ll look at arguments for and against this law, and how school districts may adapt.   

Guests:

• J. Scott Moody, Vice President of Policy at Cornerstone Policy Research and Cornerstone Action
• Rhonda Wesolowski, President of NEA-NH.

We'll also hear from:

The hope for hundreds of new jobs in Berlin making aircraft parts has apparently evaporated. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

Last year a new start-up company called Kestrel Aircraft said it was considering building parts in Berlin.

CEO Alan Klapmeier said the plant might be located next to the new biomass plant.

It would use heat from that facility to produce high-tech, composite bodies for the new plane.

That would mean at least 150 to 200 jobs, Klapmeier said.

The six-to-eight passenger plane would be assembled nearby in Maine.

The Forest Society says it has raised the $850,000 needed for a conservation easement at the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch. It blocks a right-of-way for the proposed Northern Pass hydro-electric project. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

The Forest Society’s deadline for raising $850,000 for a 5,800-acre conservation easement at the Balsams resort was January 15th.

It raised the money with a record 1,500 contributions.

And, The Forest Society says Northern Pass’ hope to use the land for its electric towers deserves some of the credit.

Part 1: Political Red Herrings

Absent tight races or sex scandals, pundits, op-eds and media-makers occasionally flirt with tantalizing uncertainties to liven things up. Salon news editor Steve Kornacki wrote about five of the biggest non-stories you’ll hear far too much of during campaign 2012 - none of which (he says) will amount to a hill of beans.

Part 2: Ten Revolutionary Tea-Parties you weren’t invited to

In Nashua, engineers, gadget lovers, tech enthusiasts and other so-called “makers” are working to reopen MakeIt Labs; Nashua city inspectors shut the space down late last year over safety and permitting issues.

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.  He talked with NHPR's Rick Ganley about playing music, his new show and the New Hampshire music scene. 

Once again, Friday the 13th is at hand, one of the most abiding superstitions despite little agreement about its origins. Superstitions date from a time when the workings of the physical world were unknown. Calamitous events such as earthquakes, solar eclipses, plagues and death seemingly came out of nowhere.

Many superstitions centered on birds, most likely because they fly high to the heavens where the gods were thought to hang out. Birds were seen as carrying messages from the gods, and because the gods wielded power capriciously the messages seldom were glad tidings.

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.

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.