1. Environment: The White Mountains: Training Ground For The Greats
Conditions in New Hampshire’s White Mountains are notoriously harsher than their altitude suggests. But for World Class mountaineers this makes the Whites a perfect training ground.
2. Environment: Innovation Comes To Ice Fishing
This week the Granite state is playing host to an ice-fishing legend. Dave Genz is the only ice-angler to make the freshwater fishing hall of fame and many credit him with sparking a revolution in the niche sport. And According to the so-called “godfather of modern ice fishing” and learned that the emblematic bob-house may be becoming an anachronism.
3. The Exchange: Getting Ready For Health Exchanges
The Granite State gets ready for what are called “health exchanges” under the Affordable Care Act. These are new marketplaces where consumers and small businesses can shop for health coverage, advocates say these will encourage competition and lower costs, but there are many unknowns, including who will regulate the insurance companies that participate.
4. The Exchange: An Alzheimer’s Update
Research now shows that Alzheimer’s can be diagnosed years before signs of dementia. Science has not, however, produced any new treatments and evidence of prevention is still being studied. We’ll look at recent developments and at concern over stress on families and the impact of this disease on the healthcare system.
5. Health: Impasse In Washington Has N.H. Domestic Violence Advocates Worried
Supporters of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) like to point out that since its passage in 1994, incidents of domestic violence are down by more than 50% nationwide. But they also say this isn’t about stats.
6. Word Of Mouth: One Man’s Quest To Save Pinball
The steadfast fixture of arcades and bars has dwindled as the gaming industry has moved towards handheld devices and home consoles. Only one pinball production company remains. However, Jack Guarnieri is looking to revive the once uber-popular gaming machine.
7. StateImpact NH: How New Hampshire Is Helping Nanobreweries Revolutionize Craft Beer
While beer sales have been down, nationally, since the great recession, the craft beer industry has been going strong – growing 15 percent in 2011, according to the American Brewers’ Association. The newest kid on the block in craft beer is the “nanobrewery” – a very small scale commercial brewery that produces fewer than 2,000 barrels a year.
8. StateImpact NH: The States With The Best And Worst Wage Laws For Home HealthWorkers
President Obama is pushing the U.S. Department of Labor to move forward on a rule change that would raise wages and require overtime pay for home health workers. According to a White House media release, 1.79 million Americans fall into this labor category. More than 90 percent of these workers are women, and roughly one-third are black. The vast majority of home health professionals are employed by “staffing agencies.” And “close to 40 percent rely on public benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps.”
9. The Exchange: Flu Fever Hits The Granite State
The influenza season started much earlier this year and the strain is considered more severe. Many worry how much of a toll this will take. In New Hampshire, at least twenty people have died from the flu already. We’ll talk with health experts about how this season compares to others and how health providers, schools, and individuals are coping.
10. Writers On A New England Stage: Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel, takes the stage to discuss his latest foray into a field he has made his own -- a biological analysis of human history.