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Governor Ayotte pushes back on Republican plan to cut arts funding – The Boston Globe

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Governor Ayotte pushes back on Republican plan to cut arts funding – The Boston Globe


After Republicans on a House panel advanced a proposal to eliminate the state’s art division this week, some top Republicans are now signaling their opposition to the budget cuts.

Republican Governor Kelly A. Ayotte is among them.

“My budget had my priorities in it, and I funded the arts in my budget,” she said at a press conference Wednesday. “I did not make those reductions in my budget, so I don’t agree with them.”

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The cuts would save the state $1.7 million over the next two years, according to the Republican proposal to slash the New Hampshire Council for the Arts, which provides funding for arts programs around the state.

But Executive Councilor Janet Stevens, a Rye Republican, said cutting arts funding is shortsighted, as the arts are an economic driver in the state. In the greater Portsmouth area alone, arts and culture generated $70 million in 2022, according to a study by the national research and advocacy group, Americans for the Arts. Stevens said the state grants can be the difference between a small theater staying in business or shutting down.

“If that was gone — huge loss for the community,” she said.“I hope folks will reconsider it and look at the economic impact,” she said.

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Amid a difficult budget year given underperforming state revenues, Republicans have advanced a range of controversial proposals in recent days, including eliminating a watchdog child welfare agency, the Office of the Child Advocate, and defunding a program to allow pregnant and nursing mothers to purchase local food at farmers’ markets.

Ayotte said she hopes to see the child advocate position retained “because it provides value in terms of ideas about what more we could be doing to protect children.”

The proposals go before the full House Finance Committee before the House has an opportunity to vote on them as part of the state’s budget.


This article 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.


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Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.





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New Hampshire

2 killed, 1 seriously injured in NH crash

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2 killed, 1 seriously injured in NH crash


Two people are dead and another person has serious injuries following a crash Friday in Rumney, New Hampshire.

The Rumney Fire Department says it responded to Route 25 just after 1:30 p.m. for a motor vehicle crash with entrapment. Crews, including from Plymouth-Fire Rescue and the Wentworth Fire Department, arrived on scene to find two vehicles in the road that appeared to have been involved in a head-on collision.

The driver from one vehicle was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, the fire department said. The driver and a passenger in the second vehicle were both pronounced dead on scene.

The victims’ names have not been released at this time.

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Route 25 was closed for approximately five hours for an on-scene investigation and clean up, the fire department said.

It’s unclear what caused the fatal crash. The Rumney Police Department is investigating.



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Fireball spotted streaking over towns in southeast New Hampshire: video

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Fireball spotted streaking over towns in southeast New Hampshire: video


An eagle-eyed photographer captured the moment a shining fireball cut across the sky in southeast New Hampshire early Saturday evening.

Rob Wright, a professional photographer based in New Hampshire, shared dash camera footage of the suspected meteor — which he called a “bright green boldie” — blazing straight downwards while he was cruising through Portsmouth.

“That was one of the best I’ve seen and likely the best I’ve ever caught on camera,” Wright boasted on Facebook.

Dash camera footage captured a fireball beaming in the sky on Saturday. Rob Wright/Storyful

Wright was approaching a traffic circle in the coastal town when a pulsing yellow light appeared in the sky. It tracked downwards in a straight line and released a brighter spurt of light before disappearing entirely, all in the span of eight seconds, according to the video.

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Others in Nashua and Londonderry, both located southwest of Portsmouth and closer to the Massachusetts border, told WMUR that they also saw the suspected meteor.

The “bright green boldie” blazed over multiple towns in New Hampshire. Rob Wright/Storyful

Several other highlighted sightings around the same time in Dover, Bedford, Rindge, Hooksett and Jaffrey, which are all within a 90-mile radius of Portsmouth, according to the American Meteor Society.

Locals who follow Wright’s work reported seeing the fireball, too. One woman who also lives in Portsmouth commented that she “thought it must have been a firework.”

It’s unclear what exactly the fireball was.

It’s unclear what exactly the supposed fireball was. Rob Wright/Storyful

Meteorites present similarly to a fireball when they’re plummeting from orbit — but leave a more obvious impact.

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In August, a 3-foot meteor splintered in the air while it was flying over Georgia and left fragments scattered all over Newton County. The explosion caused a sonic boom equivalent to 20 tons of TNT exploding at once.

Pieces of the meteor were found all over the county, including one that crashed through the roof of a home.

Over the summer in 2024, a meteor disintegrated about 30 miles above Midtown Manhattan. The force shook parts of New York City, rattling midday commuters.



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Firefighters battle large blaze at home near NH’s Loon Mountain

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Firefighters battle large blaze at home near NH’s Loon Mountain


Firefighters from multiple northern New Hampshire communities helped battle a blaze at a home near Loon Mountain on Saturday night.

Campton-Thornton Fire Rescue said in a Facebook post Sunday morning that they responded to the fire on Crooked Mountain Road in Lincoln around 7 p.m. Several other area departments also responded and helped shuttle water to the scene from a site in nearby Woodstock.

No one was home at the time and no firefighters were injured battling the blaze. Fire crews cleared the scene around 4 a.m.

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