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.

The nation's obesity epidemic appears to have hit a plateau, according to the latest federal data released Tuesday.

Obesity soared in the U.S. during the 1980s and 1990s, doubling among adults and tripling among children. That raised widespread alarm and debate about the causes and possible solutions. Obesity can increase the risk for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other serious health problems.

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 roundup of the top-ten most-read stories on nhpr.org and the StateImpact - NH website.

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:

All of the Republican presidential hopefuls take on President Obama in their stump speeches, attacking his health care plan, his jobs record and more.

But the shorthand former House Speaker Newt Gingrich uses, calling the nation's first black president the "food stamp president," is raising questions.

It's a theme Gingrich has used since Iowa, and he returned to it during a forum in Charleston, S.C., over the weekend.

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.

One of our most popular on-going series has been "Losing The Lotto," our continued look at the facts, figures, and people behind the New Hampshire Lottery.

Losing The Lotto: What The New Hampshire Lottery Pays For: Our first installment of the series tackles the basics of what you need to know about how the state lotto works and maps its steady revenue decline over the years.