Good morning!
Here is a rundown of today’s must-see, must-read news and opinion!
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As NH overdose deaths rise, a plea for funds for ‘Granite Hammer’
As the number of deaths from drug overdoses continues to climb, a Manchester police officer told a legislative committeeThursday that his department has no money to continue its crackdown on drug dealers. Capt. Mark Sanclemente appeared Thursday before the House Rules Committee concerning $1.5 million in proposed funding for the crackdown, known as Granite Hammer, in cities and towns across the state. The operations target high-crime areas at key times to arrest users and street-level dealers; the goal is to work up the supply chain and get major dealers.
Probe by New Hampshire AG zeroes in on OxyContin maker
The pharmaceutical company that makes OxyContin, a top selling prescription painkiller, is the target of a probe by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office into deceptive marketing practices. Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma is refusing to comply with a subpoena for documents about its opioid sales and marketing of chronic pain pills in New Hampshire. Purdue says it won’t release the documents as long as the AG’s office plans to share them with a private law firm hired to aide in the investigation. A judge ruled earlier this year that the AG’s office hadn’t sought the appropriate legislative approval to hire the outside firm.
Governor vetoes gun confiscation bill
Legislation that would make law enforcement, the National Guard or security officers subject to civil penalties and lawsuits for confiscating firearms, ammunition or firearms accessories was vetoed Wednesday. In announcing the veto, Gov. Maggie Hassan said there is no need for the bill because remedies are currently in law, including compensation to the person. Under House Bill 512, someone could be personally subject to a civil fine of up to $5,000 if he or she takes someone’s firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition.
AG’s office faces tough questions in NH’s top court
A former assistant county attorney for Rockingham County argued his right-to-know case before the state Supreme Courton Thursday, in an effort to prove that he and former County Attorney Jim Reams were illegally forced out of office by the state Attorney General. Attorney Thomas Reid, now in private practice, is asking the state Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling regarding documents in the Attorney General’s 2013 investigation that resulted in the removal of Reams from office.
State House committee approves police grant bill
State and Manchester police made the case for more money for drug interdiction programs Thursday before a House committee. Police and the state’s new drug czar testified in favor of $1.5 million for grants to state and local law enforcement for programs like Manchester’s Granite Hammer, which targets street-level dealers. The money was included in a bill that also addressed shortfalls in retired state employees’ health care coverage the House killed last week by one vote. The legislative leadership decided last week to hold a session Thursday to vote on just the $1.5 million appropriation for the grants to help law enforcement battle the drug crisis that claimed 438 lives last year.
CAMPAIGN 2016
Warren endorses Clinton: ‘She’s a fighter, a fighter with guts’
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) formally endorsed Hillary Clinton‘s presidential bid Thursday after months of remaining neutral in the Democratic primary. “I’m ready,” Warren told The Boston Globe Thursday. “I’m ready to jump in this fight and make sure that Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States and be sure that Donald Trump gets nowhere near the White House. ”Warren said she’s getting behind Clinton because “she’s a fighter, a fighter with guts. I am ready to get in this fight and work my heart out for Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States and make sure Donald Trump never gets any place close to the White House,” Warren said on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”Thursday night.
Obama endorses Clinton for president: ‘I’m with her’
President Obama formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in a video released just an hour after he met at the White House on Thursday with her rival, Bernie Sanders.
“I know how hard this job can be. That’s why I know Hillary will be so good at it. In fact, I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office,” he said in the video, which was posted on YouTube and the Clinton campaign website. The video was recorded on Tuesday, a day after The Associated Press announced that Clinton had won the delegates necessary to clinch the nomination.
Trump will speak at St. Anselm College, Great Bay CC on Monday
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for President, will return to New Hampshire for two events on Monday. Trump is scheduled to speak at Saint Anselm College auditorium in Goffstown at 2:30 p.m. The speech is labeled a “private event” on Trump’s campaign website, and tickets will not be available to the public.
O’Connor quits Democratic Party, to run as independent
Congressional hopeful Shawn O’Connor announced Thursday he will quit the Democratic Party and run for the 1st District as an independent. O’Connor, a businessman from Bedford, has been at loggerheads with the New Hampshire Democratic Party for more than two months, and threatened to sue the party. He’s alleged that former U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, a Democrat from Rochester, engaged in a “whisper campaign” alleging he was a “perpetrator of domestic violence,” rather than a victim, as he has said on the campaign trail and in press statements.
Jeanie Forrester, Mark Connolly file to run for governor
Jeanie Forrester, a state senator from Meredith, said Thursday she is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination because she wants to represent the “voices of the people who don’t get heard.” Forrester, 58, pledged not to seek higher office if she is elected governor, criticizing current Gov. Maggie Hassan for spending too much time fundraising and running for U.S. Senate while the state is in disarray. Forrester also criticized her fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Sununu for saying there had been no state or local leadership on the opioid crisis gripping New Hampshire. Manchester police and others also took Sununu to task for the comment.
Forrester Promises No Run for Congress, Takes Spending Cap
Republican Jeanie Forrester promises she won’t seek any higher office if elected governor. Her pledge is partly a swipe at Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who Forrester and other Republicans say has been an absentee governor since launching her U.S. Senate bid. Forrester, a three-term state senator, made the promise Thursday. She is also taking a voluntary spending cap that limits her at spending $625,000 in the primary contest. Democrat Steve Marchand is the only other gubernatorial candidate to agree to the cap.
Warren: I’m ready to be commander in chief
After endorsing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president on MSNBC, Elizabeth Warren asserted that she felt confident in her ability to serve as commander in chief.
Appearing on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Warren was pointedly asked about the mounting speculation over whether Clinton would choose her as her running mate. Warren said she hadn’t spoken with Clinton about the job. Maddow went a step further, however, asking the Massachusetts senator if she felt she’d be capable of stepping in to fill in the role of commander in chief.
OPINION
Chief Willard cosses a thin blue line (Union Leader)
Manchester Police Chief Nick Willard did the city a disservice this week by wading into a political fracas between two Republican gubernatorial candidates, Executive Councilor Chris Sununu and Mayor Ted Gatsas. While filing his campaign paperwork in Concord, Sununu took a thinly veiled shot at Gatsas, Gov. Maggie Hassan and Sen. Jeanie Forrester over how they’ve responded to the rash of drug overdose deaths in New Hampshire. “This is an absolute crisis across the state, and we have had no leadership in Concord and no leadership at the local level,” Sununu said.
The mind-altering arguments about legal pot (Boston Globe)
MARIJUANA MAY soon be coming to your neighborhood. You may smell its aroma wafting over from the deck next door or from a backyard party down the block. Why, it’s even possible that a cannabis cafe could open on Main Street. A question proposed for the fall ballot would make marijuana a legal recreational drug and regulate it like alcohol. Although that initiative petition faces a long-shot legal challenge and needs a second round of certified signatures, Massachusetts citizens will likely get to vote on the question in November. I’ve already read and heard any number of reasons about why it’s a bad idea. It’s a gateway drug, some say. It will entice our teens, others fear. Edibles will be everywhere, and some may be ingested inadvertently.
Editorial: Ayotte can’t dodge Trump forever (Concord Monitor)
Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s re-election strategy has been to distance herself from the presumptive GOP nominee for president, Donald Trump. His latest appalling behavior, a grossly biased attack on a respected federal judge, has GOP loyalists running around “with their hair on fire,” as the pundits say. In hardly a bold move, since as attorney general she was the state’s top law enforcement officer, Ayotte safely joined the GOP crowd and said Trump should retract his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, which she said were “offensive and wrong.” She and others demanded Trump apologize, which of course he didn’t.
IN OTHER NEWS
Judge asked to force pharmaceutical company to comply with subpoena
50 in Salem told their groundwater is contaminated
Jim Rivers
Director of Communications
Office of the Speaker
State House, Room 312
107 Main St.
Concord, NH, 03301