Chris Jensen

Compiled and written by Tova Cohen of Franconia.

The newsletter typically announces events in the next week. The calendar shows you events in the coming months.

SIXTEENTH ANNUAL GREEN MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL, ST. JOHNSBURY

Friday, Saturday & Sunday April 12 - 14, presented by Focus on Film and Catamount Arts, a series of satellite screenings in St. Johnsbury. For details about schedule and tickets go to http://www.catamountarts.org/gmff/.

Compiled and written by Tova Cohen of Franconia

The newsletter typically announces events in the next week. The calendar shows you events in the coming months.

One person was killed Wednesday afternoon in a crash in Milan, according to a news release from state police.

The accident occurred about 4:30 on Route 110 when a tractor-trailer carrying logs and a 1995 Dodge pickup collided head-on.

The pickup caught fire and was fully in flames when police arrived. When the Milan Fire Department put out the fire they found a body.

The identity of the victim was not released. The driver of the logging truck was not seriously injured. The cause of the accident is still under investigation by Troop F in Twin Mountain.

Compiled by Tova Cohen of Franconia

When the $30 million renovation of the Balsams Grand Resort is complete it will look a lot like the old grand hotel but will feature much-needed modern amenities making it far nicer for guests and a lot  cheaper to operate.

That’s how Dan Hebert, one of the two owners, described the renovation Tuesday night before the Coos County Planning Board.

Originally the complex had about 400,000 square feet.

Hebert said about 123,000 of that is being retained. About 80,000 square feet will be added.

If the Senate bill that proposes a single casino in the state becomes law it “would dedicate millions of dollars per year directly to North Country economic development,” Governor Maggie Hassan said during a speech Thursday night before the North Country Chamber of Commerce.

That would spur business and job growth “helping us attract new companies by marketing the North Country’s advantages to businesses in Canada and elsewhere,” she told about 125 people at the Log Haven Restaurant on lonely Route 26 in Millsfield, about 145 miles from Concord.

Some North Country landowners are surprised that Department of Energy contractors are gathering environmental information on the Northern Pass project even though the route isn’t complete.

But Patrick Parenteau, a lawyer professor and expert in environmental law at the Vermont Law School, is not surprised.

A New Boston man fell Saturday while ice climbing in the Crawford Notch, according to news release from New Hampshire Fish and Game.

Eric Scoville, 55, fell about 2:30 p.m. while climbing on the Frankenstein Cliffs when he fell about 70 feet. He was climbing alone without ropes, Fish and Game reported.

Nearby climbers reached him, arranged a litter and carried him to the Arethusa Falls parking area where he was met by an ambulance.

He was then flown to Dartmouth-Hitchcock where yesterday he was listed in critical but stable condition.

North Country representatives overwhelmingly favored legalizing small amounts of marijuana, although as The Associated Press reported the bill failed.

As the AP said “supporters had argued that it was time to stop the government's war on marijuana users, saying tobacco and alcohol abuse are legal but pose a greater danger to personal health.

North Country representatives were split on a bill that would raise the speed limit on parts of I-93 to 70 miles per hour.

As NHPR reported the bill - HB 146 - passed the House 292-65. It would allow 70 mph from Exit 18 north with the exception of a two-lane stretch through the Franconia Notch.

A Connecticut man was killed early Saturday morning in a snowmobile accident in Errol, according to a news release from New Hampshire Fish and Game officer Glen Lucas.

The man was identified as Louis Voegeli Jr., 56,  of Woodbury.

He was traveling with three other snowmobiles about 2 a.m. when he failed to make a turn and hit a tree on 13 Mile Woods trail approximately 2 miles north of Millsfield Pond Road in Errol.

Compiled by Tova Cohen of Franconia

The newsletter typically announces events in the next week. The calendar shows you events in the coming months.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY DINNER CELEBRATION, BERLIN

Friday March 15, 6PM, St. Kieran Center for the Arts, 155 Emery St. Berlin. Annual festive dinner & auction at Town & Country Inn. For more information: 752-1028 or www.stkieranarts.org.

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, LINCOLN

After some North Country residents complained that U.S. Department of Energy contractors working on the Northern Pass project are trespassing on their land, Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte have sent a letter to the federal Department of Energy looking into it.

Voters headed to town meetings Tuesday in the North Country will find some unusual issues including creating a community ski slope, challenging the rights of corporations as people, abolishing a police department and excluding “formula stores and fast-food restaurants.”

* In Bethlehem voters are considering two articles aimed at preventing “formula retail and formula fast food restaurants” from locating in the center of town.

There were three snowmobile crashes in the North Country Saturday, including two in which riders were injured, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game.

The first involved 32-year-old Kevin Brigham of Brookline, New Hampshire who lost control of his snowmobile and struck an oncoming snowmobile, Conservation Officer Geoffrey Younglove wrote in a news release. Brigham suffered internal injuries in the crash on Trail 18 and was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Maine.