Politics

There’s growing speculation that former Massachusetts U.S. Senator Scott Brown is set to enter the race for U.S. Senate here in New Hampshire.

On the Political Front, NHPR's Senior Political Reporter Josh Rogers talks about the special election to fill the District 1 Executive Council seat. The seat was left vacant after the death of longtime Executive Councilor Ray Burton in November.

Rogers also discusses upcoming House votes on efforts to repeal the death penalty and increase the state's minimum wage.    

Another Republican is weighing a run for governor of New Hampshire.

As NHPR’s Josh Rogers reported on the Political Front this morning, Walter Havenstein of Alton is said to be seriously considering a challenge to Democrat Maggie Hassan.

He is a former chief executive at BAE Systems with a long career working for defense companies.

As Rogers says, this would be Havenstein’s first time running for office.

This week, the legislature returns and hears new bills. Up before the Senate judiciary committee are a proposal to establish domestic violence as a separate crime and one requiring certain persons with mental illness to be barred from owning guns and placed on a federal registry. On Thursday, the House holds its first hearing on a bill to repeal the death penalty.

On the Political Front, NHPR's Josh Rogers talks with Morning Edition host Rick Ganley about how the Democratic members of New Hampshire's Congressional delegation - all facing re-election next fall - are now supporting changes to the Affordable Care Act.  

After the commission's recommendation last month, lawmakers will be debating expanding Medicaid in a special legislative session called by Governor Hassan; it remains to be seen how much bipartisan support the measure will have. We'll be watching the mayor's race in Manchester, where incumbent Mayor Ted Gatsas is being challenged by Alderman Patrick Arnold, and a special House election in Nashua, which pits former House Majority Leader Peter Silva against Democrat Latha Mangipudi.

On the Political Front, NHPR's Josh Rogers discusses the legacy of longtime Executive Councilor Ray Burton.

Burton, a Republican from Bath, announced over the weekend that he would not be seeking reelection after learning that his kidney cancer had returned. 

NHPR’s Josh Rogers talks with Morning Edition host Rick Ganley about the political impact of the shutdown resolution for New Hampshire Senators Kelly Ayotte and Jeanne Shaheen.

Rogers also talks about Shaheen’s fundraising efforts with her reelection coming up, and action at the State House in Concord.

NHPR's Senior Political Reporter Josh Rogers joins Morning Edition host Rick Ganley to talk about the state's $76 million surplus and what it means for Governor Maggie Hassan politically.  Rogers also touches on the government shutdown and the reactions among members of New Hampshire's Congressional delegation.

On the Political Front this morning, NHPR's Josh Rogers talks with Morning Edition host Rick Ganley about the state of Medicaid expansion in New Hampshire and how the race is shaping up in the 1st Congressional District.

New Hampshire's U.S. senators were split on a vote to keep government operating past Tuesday.

Republican Kelly Ayotte opposed the measure that, if approved in the House, will avoid a threatened government shutdown. Democrat Jeanne Shaheen voted in favor of the bill. It passed the Senate 54-44 Friday afternoon but faces an uncertain future in the house as the high-stakes stand-off continues into the weekend.

Ayotte says she opposed the measure because it exceeds spending caps and only lasts two months. She says that means the whole crisis will be repeated.

For many public radio listeners, the weekend begins with NPR’s oddly informative, extremely funny program Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. Comedian Paula Poundstone is a frequent panelist on Wait Wait, and she’ll be performing  at the Colonial Theatre in Bethlehem, New Hampshire this Thursday.  Paula spoke with Virginia Prescott last year about what it’s like to be in the business of comedy.

During a Senate Commerce Subcommittee meeting on Tuesday Senator Kelly Ayotte recommended changes to the Mid-Atlantic Magnuson-Stevens Fishery and Conservation Act.

The conservation act dates back to 1976 and is meant to maintain stock and habitat at sustainable levels.

In recent years that’s meant strict catch limits for Atlantic Cod and Haddock.

And many senators agree that catch limits issued under the Act have worked.

Confused after this afternoon's ruling by the Supreme Court on Hollingsworth v. Perry, the case concerning California's Proposition 8? Lost track of the back and forth over the past decade or so? No worries - here, we run it down for you, mostly free of legalese: