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The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller’s, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
BOSTON – “Let’s not forget who assaulted democracy on January 6th – [Trump] did,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi in her speech at the Democratic National Convention.
But as part of their ongoing effort to shift blame for the Capitol riot away from Donald Trump, a Republican-headed oversight committee has released previously unaired video footage of the then-House Speaker, which was turned over to Congress by HBO and obtained by CBS News. It shows a livid Pelosi citing her “responsibility” to protect the House and bemoaning the absence of National Guard troops who might have kept the Capitol Police from being overwhelmed by the mob.
The Republicans claim that proves is was Pelosi who was negligent, not Trump. But former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a member of the bipartisan commission that investigated the events of that day, said that’s false: “The DC National Guard is controlled by one person – the President of the United States.”
Is Jan. 6 a topic that can work for Republicans this fall?
At their convention, Democrats featured multiple speeches about the riot, including Capitol police officers who tried to hold off the rioters. And in the days and weeks that followed, the top Republicans in Congress took turns blaming and denouncing Trump for sparking the siege.
But instead of changing the subject, Trump has made support for the rioters a part of his campaign, promising to pardon them if elected.
And an expert on New Hampshire politics said keeping Jan. 6 front and center won’t help Trump win wavering swing voters there.
“That’s not their politics, the politics of grievance,” said UNH professor Dante Scala. “Their politics, I think, is a lot more about the politics of normalcy. People who normally vote Republican, they don’t necessarily want to rehash January 6, they’d rather put January 6 down the memory hole. The thing is, the best way to do that is to vote for Harris. The best way to do that is to turn the page.”
Going after Pelosi will surely excite the core Trump base for whom she is a satanic figure.
But Trump already has those voters locked up.
The Harris campaign features the word “forward,” asking voters to move past the Trump era (and maybe the Biden era as well). But even as Trump urges voters to recall the “good old days” when he was president, Harris also wants swing voters in swing states like New Hampshire to remember days like January 6th, when Trump lived up to the nickname Niki Haley gave him during the primaries – “chaos agent.”
The Executive Council on Wednesday agreed to convert the toll plaza on F.E. Everett Turnpike in Bedford to all-electronic tolling, meaning vehicles won’t slow down to pay.
On a 3-2 vote, the councilors approved a nearly $16 million contract between the Department of Transportation and R.S. Audley Inc., a construction company based in Bow. They also OK’d a contingency of just under $800,000 for “unforeseen issues” during construction. The project is funded through the state Bureau of Turnpikes’ Capital Program and is expected to be completed by September 2027.
This project will replace the traditional toll plaza with an overhead, boothless system that doesn’t require vehicles to pump the brakes. That means people won’t be able to pay with cash as they pass through the toll, a point that split the council. Instead, E-ZPasses will be captured by the system, or travelers can pay online within seven days or through a mailed invoice.
A minimum of two lanes of traffic will run on both sides of the highway during construction, and there will be three lanes of traffic both ways once completed, according to documents DOT submitted to the council and governor.
DOT Commissioner William Cass said toll plazas have posed safety concerns, pointing to “horrific” accidents where people have driven into the barriers. Besides eliminating the accident risk posed by the barriers, it will also help “increase capacity” and “decrease emissions from idling cars,” according to DOT.
Gov. Chris Sununu said the all-electronic tolling should be considered on a “case-by-case basis, if it’s expanded at all.”
The outgoing Republican governor met with the Executive Council for his third-to-last time Wednesday. Come January, the long table on the second floor of the State House will be surrounded by some new faces, but it will have the same party makeup: 4 Republican councilors, one Democrat, and another Republican governor, Kelly Ayotte, at the helm.
In other news from the meeting:
Crime
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The judge who oversaw a landmark civil trial over abuse at New Hampshire’s youth detention center has issued a preliminary order slashing the $38 million verdict against the state to $475,000. Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman previously said reducing the amount awarded to plaintiff David Meehan by nearly 99% would be an “unconscionable miscarriage of justice,” He reiterated that belief in a Nov. 4 order, but “reluctantly” granted the state’s request to the cap the award and said he would enter a final judgement to that effect on Friday barring any last-minute requests from attorneys.
Meehan’s allegations of horrific sexual and physical abuse at the Youth Development Center in 1990s led to a broad criminal investigation resulting in multiple arrests. His civil lawsuit seeking to hold the state accountable was the first of more than 1,100 to go to trial. Although jurors sided with him in May after a monthlong trial, confusion arose over how much money they could award in damages.
The dispute involves part of the verdict form that asked jurors “How many incidents does the jury unanimously find the plaintiff has proven by a preponderance of the evidence?” Jurors were not informed that state law caps claims against the state at $475,000 per “incident.”
Some jurors later said they wrote “one” on the verdict form to reflect that they believed Meehan suffered a single case of post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from more than 100 episodes of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The state has interpreted the verdict to mean that jurors found it liable for only one “incident” of abuse at the Manchester facility, now called the Sununu Youth Services Center.
The judge has denied Meehan’s motions for a new trial focused only on determining the number of incidents or to set aside just the portion of the verdict in which jurors wrote one incident. He said an entirely new trial remains an option, but Meehan’s attorneys have not requested one.
“This is one more skirmish in a long war for David Meehan and all the victims of state child abuse,” attorneys Rus Rilee and David Vicinanzo said in a statement Tuesday. “This stain on the reputation of New Hampshire will remain until the state resolves these case fairly and apologizes.”
The pair said they have new motions to file this week and more trials coming next year.
Assistant Attorney General Brandon Chase, representing the state, declined to comment on the rulings other than to answer a procedural question.
Meehan, 42, went to police in 2017 and sued the state three years later. Since then, 11 former state workers have been arrested, though one has since died and charges against another were dropped after the man, now in his early 80s, was found incompetent to stand trial.
The only criminal case to go to trial so far ended in a mistrial in September after jurors deadlocked on whether the defendant, Victor Malavet, raped a girl at a separate state-run facility in Concord.
Bradley Asbury, who has pleaded not guilty to holding down a teenage boy while other staffers sexually assaulted him in Manchester, goes on trial next week.
Get breaking updates as they happen.
It all started millions of years ago during the Ice Age. That’s when the granite in New Hampshire started to form through compressions deep below the earth’s surface.
In the 1800’s people in New Hampshire began to quarry granite because it was so abundant in the region.
According to cowhampshireblog.com, the state was known to have granite fields across the state, but in 1825, while General Lafayette was enjoying a public dinner in Dover, one Colonel Philip Carrigain, an attorney, decided to sing a song he wrote.
The poem talks about “the Granite State to see”, penned by Colonel Carrigain. Carrigain mentions “the Granite State” again in his personal letters. The Concord Register published the lyrics to the song, and also the New Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette.
Months later the Haverhill Gazette & Patriot reported the term “granite state”, coined by Carrigain and so it caught on with the public as well. It all started with a song.
While most Granite Staters don’t know Carrigain’s name, he does have some prominent landmarks and waters named after him in the White Mountains.
If you study New Hampshire history you will know the Colonel’s name because he was not only a prominent attorney, but also Secretary of State for New Hampshire, and he was asked to publish a map of New Hampshire, which he did in 1816 or thereabouts.
According to swensongranite.com, the state’s largest company to quarry “Concord Gray” granite, it’s the only granite company to survive the Great Depression. Quarrying granite was popular in the 1800’s, but with global competition, quarrying in New Hampshire is not as popular today.
In fact, if you see that light gray granite curbing, it’s likely to have come from Concord’s Swenson Granite.
In New Hampshire, we live free and are proud of it! Just take a look at our license plates. However, we are only able to live free because of the brave. We are thankful to the brave men and women who are currently fighting/have fought for our country. Many of them own thriving businesses in New Hampshire today. If you get a chance to support one, do it! These hard working people exemplify what living in New Hampshire is all about.
Gallery Credit: Kira
Below are images of the plane that crashed into Mt. Success, in New Hampshire, in 1954. The plane remains at the crash site and is still in the woods. If you visit, please leave things the way they are and respect those who went through such a tragic event.
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