New Hampshire
Dartmouth Health could take charge of Hampstead Hospital, N.H.’s mental health facility for children – The Boston Globe
The state bought the hospital in 2022 from a for-profit provider as an investment in the state’s continuum of care for mental and behavioral health. In 2023, the state decided it would also build a new youth detention facility alongside the hospital on the same campus. After facing criticism and safety concerns with a prior contractor, the state inked a deal this year with Dartmouth Health to provide clinical services at the hospital.
Current employees at Hampstead Hospital are working in temporary positions set to expire at the end of June, unless extended. Some councilors told WMUR last month they worry the temporary status could contribute to high turnover.
Under the proposed deal with Dartmouth Health’s Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, however, current non-union employees of Hampstead Hospital would be offered jobs with the nonprofit. Employees who are currently covered by a union contract or collective bargaining agreement would continue to be employed by the state.
In explaining the proposal to the executive councilors, New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori A. Weaver wrote that the transaction is expected “to strengthen the facility’s ability to attract, retain, and train a robust workforce.”
Weaver said the $34 million operating budget that her agency recently submitted for Hampstead Hospital in the coming biennium “would be greatly reduced” if this deal takes effect.
The proposal calls for Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital to buy Hampstead Hospital’s operational assets for $631,000, then lease the 89,000-square-foot facility from the state as part of a joint operating agreement. The rent would start at nearly $1.2 million per year and increase 2.5 percent per year thereafter.
The facility offers more than 40 beds for children and adolescents, including a 23-bed secure acute psychiatric unit, according to the state.
Following an initial seven-year lease period, Dartmouth Health would have the option to re-up for three five-year extensions, according to the terms of the proposed contract. Whenever the lease expires or is terminated, the state would have the right to re-purchase Hampstead Hospital’s operational assets to keep running the facility.
Not everyone was immediately on board with the Sununu-backed deal. State Representative Erica Layon, a Republican from Derry who is sponsoring legislation to establish permanent state jobs for Hampstead Hospital staff, said on social media that leaders “should have a vibrant discussion” about which operational model would be best for the facility. Layon urged the councilors to table the contract until their final meeting on Dec. 18.
A version of this story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter. Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
The New Hampshire Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at Saturday, July 4, 2026 results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 4 drawing
17-38-46-50-69, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from July 4 drawing
Day: 6-5-3
Evening: 8-0-6
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from July 4 drawing
Day: 9-8-1-3
Evening: 2-9-4-1
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Megabucks Plus numbers from July 4 drawing
06-10-19-22-33, Megaball: 04
Check Megabucks Plus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 4 drawing
17-20-37-40-43, Bonus: 04
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the New Hampshire Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Pick 3, 4: 1:10 p.m. and 6:55 p.m. daily.
- Mega Millions: 11:00 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Megabucks Plus: 7:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily.
- Gimme 5: 6:55 p.m. Monday through Friday.
- Millionaire for Life: 11:15 p.m. daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a New Hampshire managing editor. You can send feedback using this form.
250 years in, and America is still a work in progress. Many American poets have written hymns and howls, declarations and outcries for this country that brims with so many people, and so many hopes, from all over the world.
“I Hear America Singing,” Walt Whitman wrote, in the 1850s.
“…the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
…The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else…”
Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” was inscribed on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal in 1903. It’s a poem in praise of immigrants who were cast out from other lands and found safe harbor in America.
“Give me your tired, your poor,” wrote Emma Lazarus.
“… your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
But Langston Hughes’ 1949 poem, “Freedom,” reminds us that many Black American families did not sail to America under the flame of a welcoming lamp, but were captive, shackled, to be sold into bondage. After the Emancipation Proclamation, many still endured segregation, bigotry and the constant threat of racist violence.
“I tire so of hearing people say, let things take their course,” wrote Langston Hughes.
“Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.”
This week, as the U.S. Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, you might read Shirley Geok-lin Lim’s 2017 poem, “Learning to Love America,” about how immigrants make America their own as they start families here.
“…because to have a son is to have a country,” she writes.
“…because my son will bury me here
because countries are in our blood and we bleed them”
The America great poets see is imperfect, unsettled, and unfinished, even after 250 years. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote in 1958 these words that still ring out:
“…I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting for someone
to really discover America”
Copyright 2026 NPR
A Times Square Ball Drop, a rolling series of ball drops, timed to occur at midnight on July 3 in every U.S. time zone from Guam to American Samoa, is part of the “Giving 4th Broadcast Benefit Show,” creating a nearly 24-hour celebration of the 250th anniversary. It’s part of the broader “Giving 4th” initiative that aims to make and establish Independence Day the biggest annual day of giving.
A time capsule will be buried in Philadelphia to be opened in 2276 on July 4. It contains a carefully curated collection of letters and artifacts reflecting the leadership, institutions, and communities that shape the country today. It will include contributions from all three branches of the U.S. federal government and submissions from each of the 50 states, Washington D.C., and five territories.
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