Amanda Loder

As the New Hampshire House prepares to vote on a casino bill this week, NHPR is bringing you a series of stories that look at the implications of opening a casino in the Granite State.  Today we turn our focus to the potential social costs related to gambling addiction: how the state is handling problem gambling now, and how it could in the future.

After first proposing a $450 million dollar casino at Rockingham Park, Millennium Gaming is now proposing a complex costing, in their words, “north of $600 million.”  The redesigned project was unveiled at a Town Hall meeting last night in Salem.

Millennium Gaming brought leaders from Washington County, Pennsylvania to Concord to tout the benefits of a casino to lawmakers at a lunch meeting today.  Millennium runs The Meadows casino and racetrack in Washington.  If New Hampshire allows a casino at Rockingham Park, Millennium would develop it. 

It’s been a busy few years for Sturm, Ruger…so much so, the company is looking to start another factory out-of-state. 

Testimony turned emotional today as a House subcommittee considered the social costs of allowing a casino in New Hampshire.   Most of the comments focused on studies of gambling behavior and public policy.  The exception was Mell Brooks, of Littleton.  He discussed his five years as a restaurant owner in Oregon, where he was allowed to have five video slot machines. 

Nine UNH-Manchester students are graduating this year with degrees in American Sign Language Interpretation.  The college hosts one of just 13 accredited programs in the country.  And given the high demand for interpreters, these newly-minted grads will likely find secure employment. 

But they probably won’t be jumping in right after graduation.

The automatic federal budget cuts known as “Sequestration” will soon hit the long-term unemployed in New Hampshire.  People who remain jobless for more than 26 weeks are eligible for federally-funded emergency unemployment benefits. 

And those benefits will soon be cut.

One year ago today, Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney was killed in the line of duty as he tried to execute a search warrant.  Not long after his death, friends and family established a memorial fund to serve the Seacoast in his name. 

Billions of Christians around the world are in the midst of Holy Week observances in the run-up to Easter.  Many of these rituals have been in place for centuries. 

But how does an ancient faith adapt to the age of the internet, social networks, and smartphones? 

So far, the answer is “slowly.” 

But a pair of New Hampshire entrepreneurs hope they can speed up the process. 

It’s fitting that the idea for a prayer-based social network came to Jamie Coughlin and his brother Adam while they were parked on a pew at Mass.

After Maura Carroll's sudden departure from the Local Government Center last month, former Department of Resources and Economic Development Commissioner George Bald took over.  By shifting the LGC toward greater transparency, refocusing on customer service, and repairing the bitter relationship with its regulator, Bald hopes to overhaul the culture of the embattled organization.  And put its years-long legal troubles to rest.

Rockingham County is officially the healthiest place in New Hampshire, while Coos County is struggling in terms of public health.  That’s according to a report released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin.

Today the US Supreme Court heard arguments related to the case of a New Hampshire woman seriously injured after taking a generic drug. 

With mass layoffs at BAE Systems and the future of the Portsmouth Naval Sh

Until about two weeks ago, active duty armed service members could count on $4,500 a year to help pay for college tuition.  But with the military suspending the benefit because of sequestration, Southern New Hampshire University is trying to bridge that gap.