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.

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.

“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.

Bomb threats reported at Shaw’s grocery stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire on Wednesday are under investigation, authorities said.

Canton police responded to the Shaw’s in Cobb Corner at 95 Washington St. after a reported bomb threat Wednesday, the department wrote in a Facebook post. The department stated that other Shaw’s locations had received threats and asked the public to avoid the area as officers investigated.

By 1:50 p.m., the scene was clear, according to the post.

Threats were also reported at three New Hampshire locations, including in Hooksett, North Hampton, and Gilford.

Hooksett police responded to a similar bomb threat just after noon Wednesday at a Shaw’s in the Hooksett Village Shops, according to a Facebook post. The Hooksett Fire Department and the New Hampshire State Police bomb squad were also on the scene.

After a sweep of the area, the threat was determined to not be credible, and the store was reopened to the public by 1 p.m., Hooksett police said.

North Hampton police investigated another bomb threat at a Shaw’s on Lafayette Road, and the store was similarly evacuated, WMUR reported. Police told WMUR they didn’t think the threat was credible, but they are still investigating.

A bomb threat was also called into a Shaw’s in Gilford, according to WMUR. That threat is also believed to be a hoax.

The reported bomb threats all remain under investigation.

A 22-year-old man was arrested Tuesday evening in connection with the death of a nearly 2-year-old child in January 2024, according to officials in New Hampshire.

Annthoni Bliss is charged with one count of second-degree murder in the death of 23-month-old Luca Hudson, who died on Jan. 17, 2024, said New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella and Keene Police Chief Steven M. Stewart in a joint statement.

“It is alleged that Annthoni Bliss caused the death of Luca Hudson recklessly under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life, by subjecting Luca to abusive violence and not obtaining timely medical assistance for his injuries,” the statement reads.

Officials did not say what, if any, relationship Bliss had to Hudson.

Police and medical personnel went to an apartment in Keene, New Hampshire on the morning of Jan. 14, 2024 for a call reporting an infant experiencing medical distress. When first responders arrived, Hudson was unconscious and not breathing. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died on Jan. 17, 2024, according to the statement.

An autopsy determined Hudson’s cause of death was homicide resulting from blunt head trauma, officials said.

Bliss is expected to be arraigned on the murder charge Wednesday.