The Soapbox: New Hampshire deserves the truth — especially for Manchester and Nashua families

read more…: The Soapbox: New Hampshire deserves the truth — especially for Manchester and Nashua families

When Governor Kelly Ayotte says New Hampshire is “number one across the board,” the line travels faster than fact. It looks great in national talking points — but it doesn’t match what families, teachers, and taxpayers feel every day in Manchester, Nashua, and communities across our state. Here, the gap between headline and reality is not abstract. It shows up in school budgets, tax bills, and choices families are forced to make.

The Soapbox: Taxpayers should be outraged at what the Education Freedom Accounts have become

read more…: The Soapbox: Taxpayers should be outraged at what the Education Freedom Accounts have become

New Hampshire taxpayers have every right to be angry. While we are told the state “cannot afford” to meet its constitutional obligation to public education, tens of millions of dollars are quietly being drained from the Education Trust Fund to subsidize private, religious, and homeschooling families who were never in our public schools to begin with.

The Soapbox: Santa says shift to reusables like paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum and metal

read more…: The Soapbox: Santa says shift to reusables like paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum and metal

Plastic pollution begins with production. Our Manchester Coca-Cola Company is fueled by good intentions, its corporate purpose ‘to refresh the world’. It helps mitigate the impacts of climate change by ‘using 35% to 40% recycled material in our primary packaging, including increasing recycled plastic use to 30% or 35% globally, as well as collecting 70% to 75% of the number of bottles and cans introduced into the market annually’. Yet, harnessing 100,000 to 150,000 gallons of  water daily from the industry’s primary source, the Merrimack River, for the purpose of beverage production, would seemingly put the river at risk.

The Soapbox: Fur cruelty still exists

read more…: The Soapbox: Fur cruelty still exists

Fur-Free Friday, held each year nationwide on the day after Thanksgiving, began in the 1980s to shine a light on the cruelty of the fur trade. Major retailers and designers stopped selling fur, and many of us dared to hope that this industry of suffering was finally ending. But the truth is, the cruelty has not stopped.

The Soapbox: New Hampshire thrives when workers stand together — not alone

read more…: The Soapbox: New Hampshire thrives when workers stand together — not alone

Rep. Brian Labrie argues that the so-called “Public Employee Choice Act” is about freedom. But true workplace freedom has never meant forcing workers to negotiate alone against the power and resources of the state. In New Hampshire — a place where the middle class was built through solidarity, fairness, and collective voice — this proposal would undermine the very system that has delivered stability and economic mobility for tens of thousands of families.

The Soapbox: ‘I rely on the ACA tax credits’

read more…: The Soapbox: ‘I rely on the ACA tax credits’

If the ACA goes away I’ll have to pay an extra $230 a month. This isn’t feasible. I’m already paying out of pocket for doctor visits. It just feels like I’m being punished for coming from a background without having family support. I’m doing all the things I’m supposed to – I work, I go to school, I lead, and its just not enough.

The Soapbox: This American Education Week, remember – public dollars belong in public schools  

read more…: The Soapbox: This American Education Week, remember – public dollars belong in public schools  

As a former Manchester middle school counselor, a state representative, and a taxpayer, these  numbers scare me — and they should scare you too. Governor Kelly Ayotte’s private school  vouchers are draining funding from public schools, which serve over 160,000 students across  the state.  

The Soapbox: Manchester deserves planning, not political horse trading

read more…: The Soapbox: Manchester deserves planning, not political horse trading

New Hampshire’s transportation system does not run on back-room deals, campaign slogans, or eleventh-hour improvisation. It runs—when it runs well—on public process, engineering reality, and basic honesty with taxpayers. That is why the Executive Council’s latest clash over the Ten-Year Transportation Plan should concern every Granite Stater, and especially those of us in Manchester.

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