InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/tag/joe-kenney/page/3/)
High above the clouds at 6,288 feet, the Governor and Executive Council met for the first meeting in state history atop Mount Washington Wednesday and voted to approve a number of contracts.
For the fourth time, the current Republican-controlled Executive Council has rejected a series of contracts for health care at reproductive clinics throughout the state, impacting thousands of low-income women.
Councilor Cinde Warmington pressed Gov. Chris Sununu on what he plans to do to protect abortion providers and their out-of-state patients at Wednesday’s Executive Council meeting.
Gov. Chris Sununu gave the nod to a plan that would give bidders 60 days to come up with a sales proposal for the former Laconia State School property.
Three reproductive clinics that provide 80 percent of the state’s contraceptive services for more than 10,000 women, many of modest means, had their two-year contracts rejected by the state’s Executive Council along partisan lines Wednesday.
The Executive Council voted 4-1 to confirm Jared Chicoine as Commissioner of the new Department of Energy and approved funding for Gov. Chris Sununu’s plan to help hospitals that are stressed with the recent COVID-19 surge.
The Executive Council unanimously approved $15 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase Hampstead Hospital, calling it the quickest fix and the best deal to address the emergency room boarding crisis for children in need of residential mental health care.
Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, said the state now has four bids for a marketing company to work on the sale of the 220-acre former Laconia State School property.
The state is shifting its COVID-19 vaccine media focus and spokesmen away from political figures like Gov. Chris Sununu to citizens who have received the benefits of receiving the shots, the Executive Council was told on Wednesday.