A House budget panel is recommending that lawmakers eliminate funding for a family planning program for low-income Granite Staters.
That funding allows certain health centers to provide contraception, STI testing and other reproductive and sexual health care at no cost.
The program – known as Title X – has been at the center of political fights over reproductive rights in recent years, as Republicans on the Executive Council have withheld funding from Planned Parenthood and a handful of other health centers because they also provide abortions.
State audits have confirmed that no Title X funds are being used for abortions, but Republican councilors have portrayed them as an indirect subsidy.
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The latest proposal would cut $840,000 per year in state funding for the four health centers remaining in the program, which are based in Manchester, Nashua, Coos County and the Lakes Region. (The program receives both state and federal funds.)
Cutting those services would affect around 2,300 patients, some of whom live in areas with limited health care options, Associate Health and Human Services Commissioner Patricia Tilley told lawmakers Tuesday.
She said that could impede efforts to prevent sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies.
“Without these funds, we will not have an opportunity for no cost contraception for a full range of contraceptive services for women,” she said.
But Rep. Maureen Mooney, a Merrimack Republican, said it’s a necessary “cost-saving measure” in a difficult budget year.
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“Yes, I understand there are those that feel it shouldn’t be cut,” she said, speaking during a meeting of a House Finance subcommittee Tuesday. “All of these are difficult decisions considering the situation.”
The subcommittee voted 5-4 in favor of the cut, which still has to go before the full House Finance Committee.
WILTON, N.H. (WHDH) – A woman died in a Wilton, New Hampshire, house fire Wednesday morning, according to the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office.
At 9:08 a.m., Wilton firefighters responded to Burns Hill Road after a caller said their home was filling up with smoke. When they arrived, a single-family home was on fire and they found out two people were still inside on the second floor.
A man and a woman were both taken out of the house by firefighters and taken to Elliott Hospital. The woman was pronounced dead and the man is in serious condition.
Officials have not released the name of the victim at this time.
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At this time, investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and are trying to determine if a power outage in the area played a factor. The fire is not currently considered suspicious.
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Diane Durgin, 67, is accused of shooting at a Black man who inadvertently drove to her property after a prearranged truck part sale, prosecutors said.
A New Hampshire woman is accused of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act four times after she allegedly shot at a man because he was Black, prosecutors said.
Diane Durgin, 67, of Weare, N.H. could face up to a $5,000 fine for each violation she is found to have committed, the office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release Tuesday.
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Durgin is also charged with criminal threatening against a person with a deadly weapon and attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon, Michael Garrity, a media representative for the New Hampshire Attorney General, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.
Durgin had a final pre-trial conference last week, Garrity said.
In a civil complaint filed Tuesday, Durgin is accused of threatening physical force against the victim, the AG said. Prosecutors asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring Durgin from repeating her alleged behavior and from contacting the victim and his family.
During the morning hours of Oct. 20, 2024, the victim claims, he “mistakenly” drove to Durgin’s home after a prearranged purchase of a truck part with a seller online, prosecutors wrote as part of their request for an injunction.
When the man — whom prosecutors identified in court documents as X.G. — arrived, Durgin allegedly stepped out of her home and approached his car with a gun “holstered by her waist,” prosecutors wrote.
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Upon noticing that X.G. was Black, Durgin allegedly “removed her gun and pointed it at X.G.,” prosecutors said in the injunction request.
While X.G. explained that he was lost, Durgin called the victim a “Black mother[expletive],” and threatened to “kill him,” prosecutors allege.
As the victim attempted to drive away, Durgin allegedly took her gun and fired two shots at the fleeing man’s car, missing both times, the AG’s office said.
While on the phone with a dispatcher, Durgin allegedly said she shot the man’s car because the victim is Black, the AG said.
“The guy is Black. And he, he…he says he’s meeting someone here and I think he’s coming here to steal,” Durgin allegedly said.
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Police located X.G. and brought him to the Weare Police Department, stopping along the way at the correct seller’s home to complete the truck part purchase, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
To prove a violation of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, the AG must show that Durgin “interfered or attempted to interfere with the rights of the victim to engage in lawful activities by threatening to engage in or actually engage in physical force or violence, when such actual or threatening conduct was motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability,” prosecutors said.
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