Distant Dome

Garry Rayno

Garry Rayno’s Distant Dome runs exclusively on Manchester Ink Link and InDepthNH.org, where Rayno will explore a broader perspective on State House – and state – happenings. Over his three-decade career Rayno has closely covered the NH State House for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Foster’s Daily Democrat, and his coverage spanned the news spectrum, from local planning, school and select boards, to national issues such as electric industry deregulation and Presidential primaries. He is former editor of The Hillsboro Messenger and Assistant Editor of The Argus-Champion. Rayno graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a BA in English Literature and lives with his wife Carolyn in New London.

Co-production between InDepthNH and Manchester In Link

Distant Dome

Death of Internet Sales-Tax Bill Stirs Real Animosity in Concord

The script was written. What happened?

Business & Economy

Collecting Other States’ Taxes Could Threaten NH Advantage

NH’s historical aversion to a broad-based tax makes collecting someone else’s sales tax near blasphemy.

Thank Your NH Lawmakers For What Got Cut and Who Got a Tax Break

The state has plenty of money to spend and has for the past four fiscal years, but lawmakers do not want to spend it. Instead they cut business taxes and filled the state’s saving account or rainy day fund.

Distant Dome

NH Politics: Forget Finding Common Ground, Attack Now

It is always easier to blame the messenger, but the attacks on the news media are dangerous both for those in the business and for our democracy which depends on an independent and fair fourth estate.

Distant Dome

Who’s Running Against Whom For What and Where in NH

When the filing period closed June 15, the Democrats had candidates running for all 24 seats and Republicans had 23 candidates filed and probably a write-in campaign will be in the works to find an opponent for District 4 incumbent David Watters of Dover in the general election.

Distant Dome

What Has 11 Democrats, 6 Republicans and 1 Libertarian?

The First Congressional District race to replace U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who is not seeking re-election. And another 7 Republicans and 2 Libertarians seeking their parties’ nominations for the Second Congressional District seat held by Democratic incumbent Ann McLane Kuster of Hopkinton.
Who has a million dollar campaign war chest?

Distant Dome

Dome Advice For Molly Robert, NH’s Gov. For A Day

The competition had 100 contestants and the winner is Molly Robert, senior class president of Kennett High School in Conway, plus a bit of the history of woman power in New Hampshire.

Did NH Supreme Court Miss ‘The Forest for the Trees’ In Eversource Gas Case?

The PUC’s October 2016 decision prevented Eversource from entering a 20-year agreement with Algonquin Gas that would have expanded an existing natural gas pipeline through the Access Northeast project. The PUC said the proposal violated the state’s electric deregulation statutes, but the court disagreed.

Voting Bill Heads to the Supreme Court As Lawmakers Head Home At Week’s End

You could ask how does a state budget go $100 million out of whack in a half-a-dozen months.

Lawmakers will grapple with that question this week in what are expected to be the final sessions of the 2017-18 legislature bar an adverse Supreme Court ruling on voting rights after lawmakers go home at the end of the week.

School Voucher Bill Revived By Some Bare-Knuckle NH Politics

While the shenanigans are routine this time of year, what happened with the voucher bill or Freedom Scholarships or Senate Bill 193 last week is an example of heavy-handed politics practiced with a sledge hammer.