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Agencies were reluctant to redesign websites, New Hampshire CIO says | StateScoop

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Agencies were reluctant to redesign websites, New Hampshire CIO says | StateScoop


In an interview with StateScoop last week, New Hampshire Chief Information Officer Denis Goulet said the state’s multiyear effort to retool its online citizens services, which include website redesigns and new accessibility features, started with evangelizing state agencies that were initially reluctant to participate.

“I was going to every agency and talking to them about how you flip around the perspective” Goulet said. “I told them straight up their opinion on whether their website is good or not doesn’t matter. It’s their constituents opinion that matters.”

Goulet said the New Hampshire Department of Technology has moved about 70% of the executive branch agency websites to a cloud platform and that they now share a common design. He said the standardized online appearance of the state government has garnered good feedback.

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Goulet said the new website platform has expanded traffic-monitoring capabilities, which were put to the test during the COVID-19 pandemic when many state websites saw high traffic. He said that stress test eliminated worry of future crashes.

Goulet said the platform was also built to be “accessible by default,” but that adding new documents or applications to the platform and making them accessible requires additional work, so his office is training agency leaders how to do that. He said the Department of Justice’s release last month of final accessibility rules regarding state and local web and application content has been helpful.

“I’m getting [state agencies] calling me saying, ‘Alright, what are we going to do?’ That’s perfect. So I think we’re really going to up our game in New Hampshire based on just using that as a lever to help us make it important,” Goulet said.

Goulet said he hopes that within six months the state will have a new business services portal running. He called it a “transformational event” for New Hampshire.

“I really do think that for anybody that’s working on citizen experience or user experience, flip the perspective, go to the people who you’re serving to determine if you’re doing it right,” he said.

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New Hampshire Gov. signs law requiring schools to out trans kids

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New Hampshire Gov. signs law requiring schools to out trans kids


New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte has signed legislation requiring public school employees to disclose information about transgender students to their parents or legal guardians, reversing a 2024 state Supreme Court ruling that upheld students’ privacy rights in certain circumstances.

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Ayotte’s office announced on 2 July that the legislation had been signed into law. Under SB 430, educators must respond to written requests from parents for “material information” about their child, even if a student has asked that the information be kept confidential or fears negative consequences at home.

Supporters of the legislation, such as Republican state Senator Tim Lang, argue the measure strengthens parental rights and enables families to better support children who may be struggling. “If you don’t tell the parent, the parent can’t watch for the signs of self-harm,” Lang told New Hampshire Public Radio.

Educators and LGBTQ+ advocates, however, say the law places teachers in an impossible position by forcing them to choose between complying with the law and protecting vulnerable students. Megan Tuttle, president of NEA-New Hampshire, the state’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement that the legislation is “vaguely written and risks putting educators in a position of outing a student.” She added that schools should remain places where every student feels “safe, seen, and free to be themselves.”

Aimee Terravechia, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group 603 Equality, warned the law could erode trust between students and educators while speaking with New Hampshire Public Radio. “Schools should be a place of learning… and a place of critical self-examination,” she said. “Placing educators into a role of monitoring and reporting removes the trust necessary for a thriving academic environment.”

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The legislation also effectively overturns a 2024 New Hampshire Supreme Court decision, in which justices ruled that keeping a student’s gender identity confidential did not unlawfully interfere with parents’ rights, noting that parents still retained numerous ways to support and communicate with their children outside the classroom.

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New Hampshire’s boutique Centennial Hotel sold to Lord Hotels

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New Hampshire’s boutique Centennial Hotel sold to Lord Hotels


The Centennial Hotel—a 32-room boutique hotel in downtown Concord, N.H.—has been acquired by Lord Hotels in a deal brokered by JLL. | Hotel owner Sparta Properties—which sold the asset to Lord Hotels—completed a series of capital improvements between 2023 and 2024.



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New hampshire set to approve world’s first $100 million bitcoin-backed municipal bond

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New hampshire set to approve world’s first 0 million bitcoin-backed municipal bond


New Hampshire is poised to approve the world’s first Bitcoin-backed municipal bond, valued at $100 million, according to social media reports. The bond is designed as a conduit bond with no taxpayer funds at risk, using over-collateralized Bitcoin held by BitGo Trust to secure the repayment. The bond’s innovative structure and potential implications for crypto-backed public debt have attracted attention, with Moody’s assigning it a provisional Ba2 rating. The bond, conceptualized by Wave Digital Assets in collaboration with Rosemawr Management, awaits final approval from the Governor and Executive Council. The market’s response to this development could influence Bitcoin’s future price expectations.

Key Takeaways

  • The announcement suggests a significant step in integrating Bitcoin into traditional financial structures.
  • Market participants appear to interpret this development as potentially increasing institutional confidence in Bitcoin.
  • The bond’s approval could lead to a moderate increase in the odds of Bitcoin reaching higher price targets.

What to Watch

The final decision from the Governor and Executive Council in New Hampshire will be a key indicator of the bond’s impact. Observers may look for potential shifts in institutional adoption of Bitcoin as a collateral asset. Any further developments or official announcements regarding the bond’s pricing date could influence market expectations related to Bitcoin’s future valuation.

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