Tricia LaBelle has worked in school kitchens near Portsmouth for years. She’s seen the struggles that accompany families applying for free or reduced-price lunch meals. But it wasn’t until her son entered kindergarten that she fully grasped the challenge.
“I remember getting my first meal application and looking at it, as a person who would have qualified, and thinking, ‘No way – how embarrassing,’” she told lawmakers last month. “I’d have to fill out this packet and send it back in with him to give to his teacher.” Tricia LaBelle, an advocate for New Hampshire Hunger Solutions, speaks in favor of Senate Bill 499, an omnibus bill to expand school meals, on Jan 3, 2024. (Screenshot)
LaBelle knew the value the application would provide. Depending on their income level, kids on free or reduced-price meal plans pay 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast – or nothing at all. The full price for lunches in New Hampshire schools can hover around $3 to $4 a day.
But LaBelle faced a bigger force: shame. “I was way too concerned that his teacher would then label him as a ‘free and reduced’ child,” she said. “That was a risk that I wasn’t willing to take.”
Advertisement
In most public schools, this is the only option for eligible families for the meal discounts – those making up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level. If they want to save money, they must fill out a physical application and return it to school, often in the hands of an embarrassed child. And LaBelle, who is now an advocate for New Hampshire Hunger Solutions, has seen other challenges. The schools provide breakfasts, but only if the students can get them in time to make their first class. If their bus is late, some kids don’t eat until noon.
Advocates say there are a number of fixes the state could make to improve the picture. And this year, lawmakers are showing interest. This month, the New Hampshire Senate gave support to a wide-ranging bill to expand public school meals in New Hampshire. Senate Bill 499 would increase the number of schools offering breakfast, help subsidize an approach to deliver breakfast between classes, incentivize healthier meals, and allow parents to more easily apply for free and reduced-price meals.
The Senate voted unanimously to approve it Thursday. The legislation moves next to the Senate Finance Committee, and will need final approval by the full Senate before heading on to the House.
Anti-hunger advocates say action is necessary. The U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey has found that as of October 2023, 44 percent of New Hampshire homes reported having “insufficient food,” a label that includes those who did not have enough food and those who had enough but not always the kind they wanted. That includes 50 percent of homes with children.
Sponsored by Hopkinton Democratic Sen. Becky Whitley and Bedford Republican Sen. Denise Ricciardi, SB 499 requires all school districts to make both breakfast and lunch available at school. Currently, state statute only requires at least one meal to be served.
Advertisement
“A child’s brain is built from the bottom up, with strong foundations essential to later physical, cognitive. and emotional well-being,” said Ricciardi. “We must ensure that early environments are working to support strong foundations. That’s why school meals are critical to young children.”
The bill would also help school districts implement an approach to nutrition known as “breakfast after the bell.” That approach allows students to get breakfast between their first class and lunch, eliminating the need to arrive at school earlier and eat it then. Under the bill, schools that want to launch that program would get reimbursement for any necessary equipment from the state’s Department of Education – provided that at least 40 percent of their students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
SB 499 requires that all school districts participate in the National School Breakfast Program unless the district has its own breakfast program or has fewer than 10 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The bill also requires those districts that do participate in the program to collect statistics on how many students eat them.
The bill gives incentives to schools that improve the nutritional quality of their meals. Those schools that have adopted a school wellness policy, a document outlining how to promote student health, and who have met the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s child nutrition requirements for their meals could get reimbursement for the meals they serve from the Department of Education.
The legislation also seeks to make the process of applying for free or reduced-price meals easier for parents: It would require school districts to offer both online and physical applications in an effort to give parents more flexibility.
Advertisement
That application process has been politically contentious. During the COVID-19 pandemic, New Hampshire schools used federal funds to provide universal school meals, and lower-income parents did not need to apply. Now, families eligible for the subsidized meals once again need to apply. Republican lawmakers have opposed allowing New Hampshire to participate in “Medicaid Direct Certification,” a program that would let schools automatically enroll children into the program by determining their income from state Medicaid data.
And the bill requires the state Department of Education to participate in the Summer EBT program, which lets families eligible for free or reduced-price meals to continue receiving benefits on an EBT card through the summer.
The costs of the bill are still being worked out, Whitley said at a hearing. As currently written, the bill funds several of the initiatives with $1 – a placeholder amount that allows the governor to request to draw on more funds in the future.
To New Hampshire Hunger Solutions Director Laura Milliken, the state’s school meal supply acts like a power grid. Every school in the state provides meals, she told lawmakers last month. But not all have the best infrastructure to do it.
And while the federal government has made funding available for meals for lower-income families, the actual participation in those programs in the Granite State can be low.
Advertisement
“The federal nutrition programs that exist to help people in need are poorly connected within New Hampshire,” Milliken said.
Other advocacy organizations have rallied behind the bill, arguing in testimony that its benefits could extend beyond the state’s schools.
Nancy Vaughan, government relations director for the American Heart Association in New Hampshire, praised the incentives for nutritious food and said healthy eating habits benefit kids into adulthood. Dawn McKinney, policy director at New Hampshire Legal Assistance, said the organization supports any easing in applications for food benefit programs, noting that students in families who are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) automatically receive free and reduced-price lunches.
When Renee Berkley moved to Alstead from Utah and began volunteering in the school system, she was surprised at the amount of hardship she saw.
“All I kept thinking was the Aerosmith song ‘Livin’ on the Edge,’ ” she told lawmakers. “There’s so many families living on the edge that are barely making ends meet.”
Advertisement
Berkley pointed to other New England states, such as Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont, that surround New Hampshire and currently provide free meals to all public school students.
“So what message are you sending people who moved to New Hampshire like myself?” she said. “What is your priority? Is it ‘live free and die’? Is it ‘live free and be poor and hungry’? Or can we turn this around?”
Eight New Hampshire municipalities have moved to block the opening of casinos within their borders, taking advantage of a new state law that gives communities the power to opt out of hosting gambling establishments.
Amy Manzelli, president of the board of Granite Staters for Responsible Gaming, said the law, which took effect last year, has been widely welcomed by residents who value the ability to have a direct say in which establishments shape the character of their town or city.
“In New Hampshire, there’s a pretty deep and passionate vein of local control,” she said.
Advertisement
Henniker, N.H., Candia, N.H., Bedford, N.H., Barrington, N.H., Hancock, N.H., New London and Littleton, N.H., voted to bar casinos within their municipal boundaries. The city of Portsmouth, N.H., moved to block gambling establishments within its city limits within three months of House Bill 737 being signed into law by the governor.
Conway, N.H., is expected to hold a similar vote on April 14.
This is separate from the option towns and cities have to opt out of Keno, a state-run lottery game.
State Rep. Bill Boyd, R-Merrimack, who sponsored both the casino opt-out bill and the legislation allowing social districts in municipalities last year, said the two laws share the same philosophy: giving towns more control over what is allowed within their boundaries.
“I’m not surprised, but I’m very happy with the immediate engagement because it tells me that people are paying attention to local control and how they want their communities to look,” Boyd said of the number of towns that have already acted under the new law.
Advertisement
When gaming establishments were first legalized in New Hampshire, they were envisioned as small, locally-owned operations. The industry has since grown dramatically, with gaming halls now functioning as large-scale entertainment venues complete with restaurants and live shows. New Hampshire’s gaming industry is on track to become a $1.1 billion market within three years, according to experts.
That rapid growth has left many communities uneasy about the demands large gambling venues could place on local infrastructure, including emergency services and traffic management, Manzelli said.
“New Hampshire doesn’t really have a great mechanism for making sure municipalities have a way of dealing with those impacts,” she said. “As the gaming industry evolved, the laws were written for your classic ‘Mom and Pop’ type bingo night, very small-scale establishments.”
The law includes a grandfather clause protecting casinos that are already operating or were in the pipeline at the time a community votes to opt out.
In Littleton, plans for a casino proposed by an out-of-state operator have been in development for at least three years. In February, a casino developer, GSG Littleton Propco LLC, purchased a property in town for a gaming establishment, according to state and town records.
Advertisement
Since those plans predate the town’s opt-out vote, they would not be affected by it, Boyd said.
Under the law as written, it only prevents new casinos from being sited in communities that have passed such a vote.
“Even if towns like Littleton don’t want you, you’ve got 260-some odd cities and towns that exist in the state of New Hampshire. “I would think they (casinos) could find a community that would say, ‘we really want you to come to our community,’ and they will welcome them with open arms and work with their local system to make the facility happen,” Boyd said.
General John Stark Day celebrated in New Hampshire
Advertisement
TRAFFIC AND INTERDICT ILLEGAL ACTIVITY MORE EFFICIENTLY. TODAY, THE GRANITE STATE CELEBRATES THE LEGACY OF GENERAL JOHN STARK. THE SECOND MONDAY OF APRIL IS OBSERVED AS GENERAL JOHN STARK DAY. HE WAS A HERO OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND IS CREDITED WITH WRITING THE WORDS THAT BECAME NEW HAMPSHIRE’S MOTTO. HE WROTE, QUOTE, LIVE FREE OR DIE. DEATH IS NOT THE WORST OF EVILS, WHICH WAS LATER SHORTENED TO LIVE FREE OR DIE. A LOT OF PEOPLE IN OUR COUNTRY, EVERY GENERATION, MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE SERVED, ARE WHY WE ARE FREE. IT’S NOT JUST GENERAL STARK. HE SHOWED US THE WAY AND GENERAL WASHINGTON, BUT EVERY GENERATION OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE SERVED OUR COUNTRY HAVE ENSURED THAT FREEDOM. STARK IS MOST WELL KNOWN FOR SERVICE AT THE BATTLE OF BENNINGT
The Granite State honored the legacy of Gen. John Stark on Monday. Gen. John Stark Day is observed on the second Monday in April. Stark was a hero of the American Revolution and is credited with writing the words that became New Hampshire’s state motto. He wrote “Live Free or Die: Death is not the worst of evils,” later shortened to “Live Free or Die.”>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go
MANCHESTER, N.H. —
The Granite State honored the legacy of Gen. John Stark on Monday.
Advertisement
Gen. John Stark Day is observed on the second Monday in April.
Stark was a hero of the American Revolution and is credited with writing the words that became New Hampshire’s state motto. He wrote “Live Free or Die: Death is not the worst of evils,” later shortened to “Live Free or Die.”
>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go
Advertisement
“A lot of people in our country, every generation, men and women who have served, are why we are free,” said Gov. Kelly Ayotte. “It’s not just General John Stark. He showed us the way, and General Washington, but every generation of men and women who have served our country have ensured that freedom.”
Stark is known for his service at the Battle of Bennington in Vermont.
He retired in 1810 and died in Manchester in 1822.
Advertisement
`;
}
function refreshWeatherIframe(containerId) {
var iframeId = ‘weather-iframe-‘ + containerId;
var iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId);
if (iframe && iframe.src) {
var originalSrc = iframe.src;
iframe.src = originalSrc + (originalSrc.indexOf(‘?’) > -1 ? ‘&’ : ‘?’) + ‘t=” + Date.now();
}
}
Advertisement
function initializeWeatherBox(container) {
var containerId = container.getAttribute(“data-container-id’);
var isWeatherBoxV2 = containerId === ‘home-weather-v2’;
function switchWeatherTab(tabName, clickedElement) {
container.querySelectorAll(‘[data-tab-id]’).forEach(function(tab) {
tab.classList.remove(‘open’);
tab.setAttribute(‘aria-selected’, ‘false’);
});
var targetContent = container.querySelector(‘[data-content-id=”‘ + tabName + ‘”]’);
if (targetContent) {
targetContent.style.display = ‘block’;
targetContent.removeAttribute(‘hidden’);
}
}
Advertisement
function loadWeatherData() {
// If weather data is already being loaded, wait for it
if (window.weatherDataPromise) {
window.weatherDataPromise.then(function(data) {
if (data && data.data) {
var weatherContainer = container.closest(‘.weather-box-container’);
if (weatherContainer) {
weatherContainer.style.display = ‘flex’;
updateCurrentWeather(data.data);
updateForecastTabs(data.data);
updateWeatherAlertsBar(data.data);
}
}
});
return;
}
var location = { zip: window.DEFAULT_ZIPCODE };
try {
var storedLocations = localStorage.getItem(‘hrst.zip.history’);
if (storedLocations) {
var locations = JSON.parse(storedLocations);
if (locations && locations.length > 0) {
location = locations[0];
}
}
} catch (e) {}
var apiUrl = (window.DEWY_HOSTNAME || ”) + ‘/api/v1/weather/full/’ + location.zip;
if (window.fetch) {
window.weatherDataPromise = fetch(apiUrl)
.then(function(response) { return response.json(); })
.then(function(data) {
if (data && data.data) {
var article = container.closest(‘.article–wrapper’);
var weatherContainer = container.closest(‘.weather-box-container’);
if (weatherContainer) {
weatherContainer.style.display = ‘flex’;
updateCurrentWeather(data.data);
updateForecastTabs(data.data);
updateWeatherAlertsBar(data.data);
}
return data;
}
})
.catch(function(error) {
console.error(‘Error loading weather:’, error);
// Reset to unknown background on error
updateWeatherBackground(‘unknown’);
});
}
}
Advertisement
function updateWeatherAlertsBar(weatherData) {
var weatherWatchHeader = container.querySelector(‘.weather-watch-header’);
if (!weatherWatchHeader) return;
var weatherWatchText = weatherWatchHeader.querySelector(‘.weather-watch-text’);
var weatherWatchLink = weatherWatchHeader.querySelector(‘.weather-watch-link’);
if (weatherData.alerts_count > 0) {
weatherWatchHeader.className=”weather-watch-header has-alerts”;
if (weatherWatchText) {
weatherWatchText.textContent = `Weather Alerts (${weatherData.alerts_count})`;
}
if (weatherWatchLink) {
if (!weatherWatchLink.getAttribute(‘data-initial-href’)) {
weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘data-initial-href’, weatherWatchLink.getAttribute(‘href’));
weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘data-initial-onclick’, weatherWatchLink.getAttribute(‘onclick’) || ”);
}
weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘href’, “https://www.wmur.com/alerts”);
weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘onclick’, “return handleWeatherLinkClick(event, ‘click_alerts’, ‘click’, ‘mobile-weather’, “https://www.wmur.com/alerts”);”);
}
} else {
weatherWatchHeader.className=”weather-watch-header”;
if (weatherWatchText) {
weatherWatchText.textContent = containerId === ‘home-weather-v2’ ? ‘Watch Latest Forecast’ : ‘Latest Forecast’;
}
if (weatherWatchLink) {
var initialHref = weatherWatchLink.getAttribute(‘data-initial-href’);
var initialOnclick = weatherWatchLink.getAttribute(‘data-initial-onclick’);
if (initialHref) {
weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘href’, initialHref);
}
if (initialOnclick) {
weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘onclick’, initialOnclick);
}
}
}
}
function updateCurrentWeather(weatherData) {
if (weatherData.current) {
var tempValue = weatherData.current.temp_f || ”;
var skyValue = weatherData.current.sky || ”;
var feelsLikeValue = weatherData.current.feels_like_f || weatherData.current.temp_f || ”;
var tempEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–current-temp-value’);
if (tempEl) {
tempEl.textContent = tempValue;
tempEl.setAttribute(‘aria-label’, tempValue + ‘ degrees Fahrenheit’);
}
Advertisement
var iconEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–current-icon’);
if (iconEl && weatherData.current.icon_name) {
iconEl.className=”weather-grid–current-icon weather-current-icon icon icon-weather-” + weatherData.current.icon_name;
}
var skyEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–sky’);
if (skyEl) {
skyEl.textContent = skyValue;
skyEl.setAttribute(‘aria-label’, ‘Current condition: ‘ + skyValue);
}
var feelsEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–feels’);
if (feelsEl) {
feelsEl.textContent = feelsLikeValue + ‘°F’;
feelsEl.setAttribute(‘aria-label’, feelsLikeValue + ‘ degrees Fahrenheit’);
}
var weatherContainer = container.querySelector(‘.weather-temp-container’);
if (weatherContainer) {
var summary = ‘Current temperature ‘ + tempValue + ‘ degrees Fahrenheit, ‘ +
skyValue + ‘, feels like ‘ + feelsLikeValue + ‘ degrees’;
weatherContainer.setAttribute(‘aria-label’, summary);
}
function updateForecastTabs(weatherData) {
var visibleItems = isWeatherBoxV2 ? 6 : 5;
if (weatherData.hourly) {
var hourlyContainer = container.querySelector(‘.weather-hourly-forecast’);
if (hourlyContainer) {
var html=””;
var maxHours = Math.min(visibleItems, weatherData.hourly.length);
for (var i = 0; i 0 ? currentIndex – 1 : tabs.length – 1;
tabs[prevIndex].focus();
break;
case ‘ArrowRight’:
e.preventDefault();
var nextIndex = currentIndex
The New Hampshire Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources heard two ideas to address shrinking insect populations in New Hampshire during a Tuesday hearing.
One measure, House Bill 1431, would direct the state Pesticide Control Board to reclassify a group of pesticides that is particularly harmful to pollinators and wildlife as restricted use, meaning their use would be limited to professional pesticide applicators. The group of pesticides, called neonicotinoids, has been linked to ecosystem-wide effects from insect and bird population declines to cyanobacteria blooms.
Another bill, House Bill 1086, would establish a committee to study the feasibility and possible outcomes of a ban on seeds treated with neonicotinoid pesticides. Seed treatments are common in grain crops, including corn.
Advertisement
Both bills were sponsored by Rep. John MacDonald, R-Wolfeboro.
“We have to do something,” MacDonald said Tuesday. “I’m not trying to take away any powers of the Pesticide Control Board, but nobody’s doing anything. And I don’t know, I can’t figure out why.”
The windshield effect and beyond
Rosemary Malfi, director of conservation policy for the insect conservation nonprofit Xerces Society, said the decline of insects in New Hampshire is evident in the “windshield effect.”
“Do you remember, anyone who drove a car in the ’90s or early 2000s, you actually got bugs on your windshield? I think everyone here probably knows that that doesn’t happen so much anymore. Neonicotinoid insecticides, or ‘neonics,’ are a major contributor to these declines,” she said.
Forty percent of the bumblebee species historically found in New Hampshire are locally extinct or in severe decline, while about 70% of butterfly species are losing numbers, too, Malfi said. Other classes of insects, including aquatic insects, are affected as well.
Advertisement
This ripples out to affect animals higher up the food chain, including fish and birds. Beneath insects on the ecosystem ladder, meanwhile, are the microorganisms that contribute to harmful cyanobacteria blooms; this means that insect decline can allow cyanobacteria to proliferate, potentially worsening those costly problems, said Rep. Peter Bixby, D-Dover.
Learning from neighbors
As proposed, HB 1086 calls for a committee of three representatives and one senator to assess data from Quebec and New York, where bans on neonicotinoid treated seeds are in place already. They could also assess information from other areas with bans, MacDonald said.
The committee would assess whether bans in other regions have affected crop yields. Some speakers on Tuesday said studies show neonicotinoid seeds to be ineffective at increasing yields.
“We’re concerned that our agricultural community is being asked to pay for a product on seeds that isn’t necessarily helping productivity, but is having serious consequences, both to soil ecology and to water ecology,” said Carol Foss, senior adviser for science and policy with NH Audubon.
Nisa Marks, a wildlife biologist and organic farmer from Henniker, N.H., said neonicotinoids were not necessary for successful crops. But some farmers who attended said restrictions could harm them. Sarah Wrocklage, of Tecce Farm in Durham, N.H., said pests would cause losses on her farm if she could not treat them with chemicals.
Advertisement
In her testimony, Wrocklage also touched on another area that the committee would be directed to consider: Whether it would be possible for farmers to switch to untreated seeds at all. Some of the sweetcorn that Tecce Farm plants is only available in treated form, Wrocklage said.
She and another farmer, Chuck Souther of Concord’s Apple Hill Farm, called for more involvement of local farmers and New Hampshire experts, including those from the University of New Hampshire. As proposed, they said, they did not support the bill, feeling it did not adequately take into account the unique circumstances on New Hampshire farms.
“We do need to look at this, but we need to look at it under New Hampshire conditions,” Souther said.
Requiring action
Though conservationists and farmers agreed insect decline was a problem, at the Tuesday hearings, some senators and speakers questioned the necessity of the bills.
Sen. Howard Pearl, R-Loudon, who is vice chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asked if a study committee was necessary given the associated costs.
Advertisement
MacDonald said it was. The committee called for in HB 1086 would be “targeted, efficient, and time-bound,” he said. It is designed to last through the summer of 2026 and deliver a report in November.
On HB 1431, speakers, including Robert Johnson of the New Hampshire Farm Bureau Association, suggested the task of restricting neonicotinoid use should be left up to the Pesticide Control Board. Johnson said he disagreed with directing the board’s actions through legislation.
But MacDonald said he had been part of conversations and a subcommittee with the Pesticide Control Board regarding neonicotinoids and had seen no action resulting from those meetings.
“This bill provides clarity on whether action is optional or whether it’s required,” he said.
Both bills have been amended from their original form. As introduced, HB 1086 proposed a ban on seed coatings rather than a study committee, while HB 1431 originally proposed more restrictions, including prohibitions on the use of chemicals on state property and on flowering plants. It also originally sought to make the violation of these rules a misdemeanor for individuals and a felony for organizations or companies. But as amended, the bill leaves more elements of the ban in the hands of the Pesticide Control Board.
Advertisement
Rep. Jonah Wheeler, D-Peterborough, said he had favored a stricter version of both bills in committee discussions, but believed the amended legislation would be a step forward nonetheless. The legislation “deals with a really urgent issue that our constituents are begging us to tackle,” he said.
“The more that we as a society find ourselves away from … symbiosis with the environment in which we live, the natural harmony that exists on this planet, then the more we will find ourselves with problems like pest infestations,” he said.
