NH News

This week we wrap up our series, New Hampshire's Immigration Story with a week of stories on the immigration history of our state. In our installment, Keith Shields explores the story of our state’s first major immigrant group... the Irish

Episcopalians in New Hampshire have elected Reverend Robert Hirschfeld as their next Bishop. He will replace Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the history of the church.

Robert Hirschfeld – currently the rector of Grace Church in Amherst Massachusetts – was elected on the first ballot, which is a rarity in Episcopalian elections.

The chair of the Bishop Search and Nomination Committee, Kevin Nichols, says that reflects a consensus in the New Hampshire dioceses that Hirschfeld is the right man for the job.

"He touched people, he spoke to people, he spoke to where people are in their own lives, and into the future of the dioceses," Nichols says.

Reverend William Rich – an openly gay candidate – did not get the nod.

Today members of the New Hampshire Episcopalian dioceses are gathering to elect a successor to Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Bishop in the history of the church. 

The election of Robinson in 2003 tore a rift in the global Anglican community. In 2010, Robinson announced that he would retire next January, saying years of death threats and controversy had taken their toll.

The vice-chair of New Hampshire’s bishop search committee, Margaret Porter, says that sexual orientation did not figure in to the selection of candidates.

"We selected our nominees based on their fitness to be a bishop of the Church," Porter says.

One of the nominees for Robinson’s job – Reverend William Rich, who is currently a priest in Boston – is also openly gay.

New Hampshire House lawmakers try and fail to revive a bill to ban late-term abortions.

The house first passed a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in March. But that bill was quickly pushed aside by the senate. House lawmakers revived the proposal Thursday, tacking it on to bill related to health screening tests for newborns. Yet the narrowness  of the margin – it was adopted by just 4 votes -- prompted a quick change of heart. Lawmakers like Jennifer Coffey, a republican from Andover, told colleagues the abortion language put the newborn testing proposal at risk.

"The underlying issue is too important you don’t want to let that go."

The Senate has all but killed a measure that would have given landlords greater flexibility to evict tenants.

Bill opponents say the move preserves some equity between tenants and the property owners.

Originally the legislation would have allowed large-scale landlords the ability to evict a tenant when a lease expires.

Owners already can remove a tenant for any number of reasons, including rent hikes or personal business needs.

New Hampshire Legal Assistance attorney Elliott Berry says tenants are entitled to not be arbitrarily evicted.

“Eviction often means not only the loss of your particular apartment, but often you have to change your kids school district, sometimes you have to leave town. The ramifications are really, really significant.”

The state Senate has overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment to ban an income tax.

Lawmakers now must agree on the plan before it makes it to the ballot this fall.

Many Senate and House Republican leaders strongly favor prohibiting the state from collecting an income tax.

That’s why it’s likely the two sides will reach agreement on constitutional amendment language when they meet later this month.

Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley told his colleagues supporting this plan is noble and worthy.

“Our tax structure is critical to the New Hampshire that we know and love. And to the fact that as difficult as this Recession has been, has survived a very difficult economy.”

For the first time in U.S. history, more babies are being born to minority parents than to non-Hispanic white parents. 

The Senate has unanimously voted against a bill that would have prohibited the use of International Baccalaureate curriculum in New Hampshire Schools.

The state's IB program became controversial after parents in Bedford and Merrimack complained that it has political, anti-american overtones.

But even Senators who have concerns, like Republican Jim Forsythe, decided Wednesday not to supersede local schools’ decision to use IB.

Forsythe: It’s not our place to override local control, if communities choose to adopt this program, whether we like it or not, they should be free to adopt that.

The state Senate has passed a plan that would give business a tax credit for donations to private and parochial schools.

The bill has strong legislative support.

In essence, this bill gives businesses incentives to support non-public schools.

Backers say wealthy people already have the resources to send their children wherever they want.

Sponsor Republican Senator Jim Forsythe says making more scholarship money available gives more families more choices.

“And so what this will do is this will extend the ability to choose a school down to those families. And whenever you have choice and you have options, you see better outcomes.”

Leading Democrats – including the governor – oppose the measure saying it strips money from the public schools.