North Country

About 30 crafters and artisans from the North Country will be showing their work at the 11thAnnual Craft Fair this Saturday at the Great Glen Trails Lodge in Pinkham Notch.

The displays will include wood workers, jewelry, a spinning demonstration, fused glass, photography and holiday decorations, said Mary Power, the event director at Great Glen.

In addition there will be a bake sale and raffle to benefit the Great Glen Bill Koch Youth Ski League.

The fair (which is free) is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The lodge is located on Route 16. 

Funding was approved today for the new federal prison in Berlin and soon it will be open season on several hundred new jobs. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

With President Obama signing a bill that includes funding for the new federal prison in Berlin hiring can finally begin.

The prison will have about 300 employees. That will include about 200 new hires.

The jobs have good pay and benefits.

But the application process is complicated.

The Boston Globe is reporting there was a small earthquake Wednesday morning near Conway.

The Globe said it was "A tiny, 1.6-magnitude earthquake" that was "small enough that it may have gone unnoticed."

The newspaper said: "The earthquake, with a depth of 15 miles, was recorded just before 11 a.m. by the Weston Observatory at Boston College. The epicenter was 8 miles southeast of Conway, N.H., at the coordinates 43.885 degrees north, 71.040 degrees west. "

The new federal prison in Berlin – which has been sitting empty – could finally be funded this week, providing a huge economic boost to the North Country.  NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

Funding for the federal prison in Berlin is likely to be approved this week, according to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

“We’re very excited because there has been an agreement reached between the House and Senate on the bill that includes funding for the Berlin prison.”

Shaheen sees it as a done deal.

The Northern Pass hydro-electric project is interested in buying a section of land associated with The Balsams Resort. If such a sale went through it’s likely to create a furor in the North Country. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.

One of the companies interested in purchasing a slice of the Balsams resort in Dixville Notch is Northern Pass.

“They have identified land that they would like.”

That’s Tom Deans.

He’s the president of the Tillotson Corporation. It has been hoping to stem financial losses by selling the resort.

On Saturday, December 3rdat 3 p.m. there will be a performance of the Nutcracker Ballet at the Berlin Junior High Auditorium.

The classic holiday tale will be performed by the Robinson Ballet Company (http://www.robinsonballet.org/index.html) of Bangor, Maine, according to a news release from the St. Kieran Community Center for the Arts (http://www.stkieranarts.org/).

The tickets are $12 for adults and $6 and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Executive Councilor Ray Burton of Bath says he tried unsuccessfully to keep Meredith Hatfield as the state’s consumer advocate on public utility matters because she has been “independent minded” and helped consumers.

But last week the Republican controlled Executive Council voted 3 – 2 against re-appointing Hatfield who represents consumer interests before the Public Utilities Commission.

The Union Leader says Coos County Administrator Suzanne Collins has the 35thhighest pension benefit in the state and her $93,281 represents “the highest benefit for a state, county or local public employee who is not an educator. “

For the full article and list go here: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20111109/NEWS06/711099991