Amy Quinton

The demolition of the Memorial Bridge begins Tuesday. The 90-year-old lift bridge, which crosses the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth and Kittery Maine, has long been in a state of disrepair.

The bridge closed permanently to vehicle traffic in July of last year.

Weather and barge setup permitting, the removal and “float out” of the lift span of the Memorial Bridge is expected to begin Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m.

“A barge is going to be floated in placed underneath the lift span section,” New Hampshire Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Boynton explained.

He said the span will be lifted off the plates that it sits on and cables will be cut.

Highlights from Gov. Lynch's state of the state address.

Governor John Lynch announced Wednesday that three manufacturing companies will participate in the latest round of the Green Launching Pad.

The stimulus-funded Green Launching Pad is a partnership between UNH and the state designed to develop businesses, bring new products to market, and create jobs.

It’s unclear how many jobs have been created from the partnership, but Governor Lynch said it takes "a number of  years" before the companies grow. "And I am convinced that out of the numbers of companies which have been acknowledged as Green Launching Pad companies and given awards, that a number of them will in fact take off," Lynch said.

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

Power plants are at the top of the list.

The EPA collected data from nine different industries that emit greenhouse gases including power plants, pulp and paper mills, landfills and other industrial sources.

All told, they produced five-point nine million metric tons of greenhouse gases in New Hampshire.

About 40-percent of that comes from just one power plant, Merrimack Station in Bow.

It burns coal.

The number two emitter is Granite Ridge Energy in Londonderry,

It uses more efficient natural gas.

N-A-E-A Newington Energy, which burns both oil and natural gas, came in third.

Neither of them finished in the top three in New Hampshire, but Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum both say their campaigns will continue.

The two of them battled for fourth place behind Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman.

Gingrich says he’ll campaign tomorrow in South Carolina.

“I’m asking each of you not to slow down, in the next couple of days, make a list of every person you know in South Carolina and every person you know in Florida cause those are the next two great contests.”

The former House speaker said the party needs someone who can debate and defeat President Barack Obama.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum said he’s not concerned by what he called temporary setbacks.

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.

“it’s not bad, its good enough and good enough means you go on and you’re competitive in South Carolina, and I think we remain extremely competitive in South Carolina.”

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.

“I know free enterprise is on trial and we have a president who really doesn’t believe in the rights of people to do that but I believe in the rights of people to get rid of an insurance company that they don’t want.”

Before last night’s debate, a crowd of several hundred gathered in Hollis for a town hall meeting with former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

So many people squeezed inside a barn in Hollis to hear Rick Santorum that it prompted one campaign staffer to exclaim “this is nuts.”

Most of the several hundred people inside were political tourists from out of state.

At one point Santorum told the crowd that he’d only take questions from New Hampshire residents.

He urged voters to stick to their values.

“Do we want someone who is going to go and say vote for me I can win, vote for me I appeal to voters who we need to win, or do we need someone who says America stands for something, here’s my vision of this country.”

More families in New Hampshire can now get help with their fuel bill this winter.

Congress increased funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, this week.

New Hampshire will receive a total of $26 million, rather than the $14.7 million dollars originally allotted.

That original appropriation forced Community Action Agencies to target the money to families of four earning less than $28,000.

Other low-income households were placed on a waiting list.

Joanne Morin, Director of the Office of Energy and Planning, says this should remove those families from the waiting list. “We’re very relieved that some additional money was authorized," said Morin. 

New Hampshire is denying claims made by the U-S Department of Justice that the state is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Attorney General’s Office issued a formal response to the findings Tuesday.

The U-S Department of Justice concluded in April that the state was violating federal law in the way it treats the mentally ill.

It criticized the state for failing to provide adequate community-based services, leading to prolonged stays at the state hospital.

But in a response letter, Attorney General Michael Delaney and Health and Human Services Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas objected to those allegations.

A new report shows New Hampshire is again among the healthiest states in the nation.

But health officials say there is still room for improvement.

The United Health Foundation’s report looked at a variety of health issues, including heart disease deaths, cancer rates, premature births and access to health insurance.

New Hampshire was ranked second healthiest, an improvement from third last year.

The state scored well because of its low percentage of children in poverty, low crime rate, and high use of prenatal care and immunizations.

But New Hampshire Public Health Director Doctor Jose Montero says the state is not doing well when it comes to chronic diseases.

An Epic Angling Adventure. Two New Hampshire men are on an unusual quest… to catch and eat every kind of freshwater fish in the state.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative faces an uncertain future in some states. New Jersey plans to end its participation and New Hampshire has considered legislation that would do the same.

But a new analysis shows the carbon dioxide cap and trade program has saved consumers money and created jobs. Under the program, power producers buy pollution allowances at auction for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit.

The money raised in those auctions is spent in different ways among the states – from energy efficiency projects to balancing state budgets.

The Executive Council refused to give New Hampshire Consumer Advocate Meredith Hatfield another term.

Some on the all Republican council feel she’s been too political in her opinions.

The Executive Council voted three to two against re-appointing Meredith Hatfield to represent the interest of consumers against the state’s public utilities.

Councilor Chris Sununu, of Newfields, says he was concerned about her stance on the Laidlaw Biomass Plant in Berlin as well as some of her opinions on the PSNH power plant in Bow.

Sununu says it’s time for someone else to be consumer advocate.

The Public Utilities Commission has awarded grants to fund renewable energy projects in the state.

Four companies and one elementary school will receive part of a one million dollar grant for projects that reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Carbon Harvest Energy will receive the largest portion of the grant -$500,000- for a landfill gas-to-energy combined heat and power plant in Lebanon.

Greenville Elementary School will receive a grant to replace its oil-fired boiler with a wood pellet one.

Revolution Energy will install and operate a solar panel system for Favorite Foods in Somersworth.

Monadnock Paper Mills and Spaulding Ave. Industrial Complex will each receive grants for hydroelectric projects.