New Hampshire

Lucas: Healey goes for ‘meddle’ of honor over NH ICE move

Published

2 weeks ago

February 19, 2026

Press Room

Lucas: Healey goes for ‘meddle’ of honor over NH ICE move

New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte has a point.

Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, especially when it comes to criminal illegal immigration.

Or, as Republican Ayotte put it to Massachusetts Democrat Gov. Maura Healey — “Get your own house in order, Maura.”

The flap was over Healey’s “demand” that Ayotte reject a proposed Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) regional Granite State site to house detained illegal immigrants, criminal and otherwise.

The empty warehouse facility in Merrimack near the Massachusetts border would be converted into a 400-bed detention facility – one of several large-scale facilities the agency is planning to erect across the country.

“This is outrageous and absolutely the wrong move for New Hampshire,” Healey said. Healey, born in Maryland, grew up in Hampton Falls, N.H.

Ayotte in effect told Healey to mind her own business, which is to run Massachusetts, not New Hampshire.

Besides, many of the criminal illegal immigrants to be temporarily housed at the New Hampshire facility will likely be from Massachusetts, having been waved into the country by Joe Biden and into the state by Healey.

And while Massachusetts is not an official sanctuary state —although Boston is — under Healey, Massachusetts acts like one.

And the state’s generous benefits — originally designed for Massachusetts residents — have made the state a haven for illegal immigrants who flocked to the state seeking these freebies which, of course, cost Massachusetts taxpayers billions.

So It is no wonder that Healey is opposed to cutting the state income tax from from 5% to 4%, which will be on the 2026 ballot for voter consideration.

She needs the money to pay for those benefits.

Massachusetts has been a good deal for illegal immigrants. It is also why they have not descended on New Hampshire which, to say the least, is not as generous to illegal immigrants as is Massachusetts. New Hampshire has no sanctuary cities.

And, unlike Massachusetts, New Hampshire supports local police officials cooperating with ICE.

Illegal immigrants in Massachusetts are protected from ICE. If left-wing judges are not letting them evade ICE from the back door of courthouses, Healey is seeking to outright ban ICE from the courthouses.

She says ICE is made up of “rogue” agents who are breaking the law and causing “devastation” and “harm.” She has joined the chorus of Democrats calling for its defunding.

If Healey were so concerned about law enforcement officials breaking the law, she would also call for the defunding of the Massachusetts State Police. More state cops have been sent to prison under her watch than ICE agents.

All the while Healey has “demanded” that fellow Gov. Ayotte “do everything in her power to block a new ICE facility in New Hampshire.”

Of the demand, Ayotte told the Globe, “New England is in this position because Governor Healey and Massachusetts created a billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis in our region.”

There is no love lost between the two governors.

Healey went to extraordinary efforts to defeat Ayotte in the last gubernatorial election. She raised money and actively campaigned in New Hampshire for Ayotte’s progressive Democrat opponent Joyce Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, who lost.

Ayotte’s campaign slogan was: “Don’t MASS up New Hampshire.”

Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com.

New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

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New Hampshire

New Hampshire employment law in 2026 – NH Business Review

Published

3 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

New Hampshire employment law in 2026 – NH Business Review

What employers are getting wrong, and how to fix it before it becomes a claim

New Hampshire’s employment law landscape heading into 2026 may not be dramatically different from last year, but the real risks lie in implementation missteps. From the initial setting of wages, to calculating and distributing wages, employers will likely find a specific statute and/or labor regulation governing the transaction. Failure to follow these detailed wage and hour laws can result in significant back wages and other penalties being imposed by the state or federal Department of Labor following an audit. Fortunately, however, this area of employment law is relatively easy to master, once you are familiar with the basics.

Notice compliance

One of the most common pitfalls for employers in New Hampshire is misunderstanding the wage and hour notice requirements under RSA 275 and the related New Hampshire Department of Labor Administrative Rules.

At the time of hire, employers must notify employees in writing of their rate of pay and the day and place of payment. This notice is traditionally delivered to employees by way of an offer letter or some sort of “New Hire Rate of Pay” form. (A sample form is available from the New Hampshire Department of Labor website.) What surprises most employers, however, is that Lab. 803.03(f)(6) also requires employers to request and obtain their employees’ signatures on this written notification of wages, and employers must keep a copy of the signed written notification of wages on file. Further, employers must notify employees in writing during the course of employment of any changes to wages or day of pay prior to such changes taking effect, and the employer must obtain the employee’s signature on this subsequent notification as well. (See RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)

Employers are further required to notify employees in writing, or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to employees, of:

• employment practices and policies with regard to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits.

• deductions made from the employee’s payroll check, for each period such deductions are made.

• information regarding the deductions allowed from wage payments under state law. (RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)

Policies regarding vacation and sick leave should inform employees whether or not the employer will “cash out” unused time at year end or at the end of employment, and if so, under what terms. Again, if any changes are made to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits during the course of employment (all of which are considered “wages” under New Hampshire law), employers must request and obtain their employees’ signatures on the written notification of the change, and must keep a copy of the signed form on file. (Lab. 803.03.) Importantly, notification by way of pay stub alone is not sufficient, and, these requirements apply to both increases and decreases in pay.

Two-hour minimum (reporting pay)

Another frequently overlooked obligation is New Hampshire’s two-hour minimum reporting pay requirement. Under RSA 275:43-a, non-exempt employees who report to work but are sent home early must generally be paid for at least two hours. Weather-related closures, client cancellations or operational slowdown days can trigger this rule. Employers should also note that the New Hampshire Department of Labor currently applies this law to remote-based employees. Consequently, employees who “report to work” at an employer’s request from a home office may likewise have a right to two hours of pay, depending on the circumstances.

Salaried vs. hourly employees

Misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime remains a significant source of compliance exposure. The position’s job duties — not the titles or label such as “salaried” — determine whether an employee qualifies for an overtime exemption.

Employers, particularly in nonprofits, health care and small businesses, unintentionally misapply exempt classifications to roles such as administrative staff, office managers, executive assistants, program coordinators or hybrid jobs that involve significant non-exempt tasks. Over time, as organizational needs evolve and employees take on broader responsibilities, job duties can drift outside of an exemption’s scope.

Best practice is to periodically review job descriptions and actual job duties to ensure continued compliance with exemption criteria, particularly following any significant restructuring or job redesigns.

Peg O’Brien is chair of McLane Middleton’s Employment Law Practice Group. She can be reached at margaret.o’brien@mclane.com.

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New Hampshire

New photo released in unsolved 1997 homicide of a N.H. woman

Published

15 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

New photo released in unsolved 1997 homicide of a N.H. woman

Local News

“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” said the family of the victim.

A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.

“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”

Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.

Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.

The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.

As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.

Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.

The newly released photo of Rosalie Miller, 36, who was strangled to death nearly 30 years ago. – Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall

“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.

The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.