NH News

Thanks to growing awareness of a national obesity epidemic, and the lowering of complication rates since its introduction in the 1960s, gastric bypass procedures have become an increasingly popular treatment option for the morbidly obese.  At least 200,000 people signed up last year in the U.S. alone. 

Legislative leaders and the governor have reached a deal on language for an education funding constitutional amendment.

Lawmakers have reached agreement on a bill to address social service fraud.

Earlier this session, House members raised concerns about people scamming the Medicaid, Food Stamp and welfare programs.

State officials say their system to catch cases of fraud is effective.

Under the compromise hammered out yesterday, the state Department of Health and Human Services would take additional steps if savings are guaranteed.

Republican Representative Thomas Keane believes there are ways to improve the HHS’s detection system.

It looks like tax policy will be front and center on ballots later this fall.

Lawmakers have agreed on two constitutional amendments that limit New Hampshire’s ability to tax its citizens.

When Republicans swept into the Legislature after the 2010 elections, they promised to focus on jobs and the economy.

Leadership in both chambers believe they’ve helped deliver on that promise by reaching agreement on constitutional amendments to install a tax cap, and another banning an income tax.

The House and Senate reached agreement today on a medical marijuana bill. 

This final version would allow patients with a doctor’s prescription to possess up to six ounces of marijuana. Medicinal use would only be granted to people with debilitating conditions or terminal diseases.

Senator James Forsythe, a Republican from Strafford, believes the bill is designed to ensure public safety.

The State is fining Concord Hospital over two hundred thousand dollars. The hospital was nabbed for not disposing its pharmaceutical waste properly.

During an inspection the Department of Environmental Services found that Concord Hospital was throwing pills and other non-infectious medical waste straight into the garbage. According to the DES this is the first time in New Hampshire that a civil suit has been filed for improper disposal of pharmaceuticals.

Selectmen in the Seacoast town of Rye have voted to require cyclists to ride single file on all roads in the town. The ordinance passed despite opposition from the community, and it also requires pedestrians to walk single file on Rye roads.

Similar rules are in place in Newington and Newcastle. Supporters of single file ordinances say that the narrow, winding roads on the seacoast don’t have space for two cyclists abreast.

The rule became a flashpoint after Rye’s chief of police put up a traffic sign that read, “Roads are for riding not chatting. Ride single file.”

SUGAR HILL, N.H. (AP) — A rural post office in northern New Hampshire is now open just a half-hour a day for customers to buy stamps.

No other services are available at the Sugar Hill post office across from Town Hall. A rural carrier from Lisbon is running it from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Customers found out Friday when they saw a notice posted on the door.