Local voices chime in on a variety of topics.
Heading off to college is a major landmark, and a major financial commitment. Some Granite Staters forced out of work by the pandemic may think that college has been pushed out of reach. But there are options available to help make sure COVID-19 does not derail students’ paths to bright futures.
No one could have imagined the many challenges that New Hampshire public schools would face this year due to the COVID-19 crisis. Despite these hardships charter school teachers, students and administrators rallied across the state to help others in this time of need. There are many examples of these exceptional efforts, please allow me to share just a few.
Marcus Ponce de Leon is a Candidate for State Representative in Hillsborough District 12 in Manchester (Ward 5), and a Community Advocate working with local organizations Progressive Manchester and the Manchester Housing Alliance on advancing issues surrounding safe, stable and adequate housing in the Queen City.
Wine is being served by the wine steward and his helpers, so pictorially I plan to locate this activity in the foreground. The wedding couple and their parents along with important guests are also planned for the foreground and the dozens of other guests will be spread across the background. Jesus will be centered among these guests because he will be performing a miracle.
As the President and CEO of Amoskeag Health, I am writing today to share how telehealth has been instrumental in expanding access to care in our community and improving the financial health of our health center.
If it were a city, it would be a big one – like New York. Its Times Square would be the spot where the ground floors of the James and the Burns buildings intersect. It is from a tiny, windowless office in that precise location that Selma Naccach-Hoff has chaired Central’s English department for roughly half of her 45-year career as a teacher and mentor to thousands of Manchester kids. It is from this perspective that she has watched the rich pageant of four generations of American high school students march by day after day.
I wish to say that while he is a Republican and I am a Democrat, and we have different political views, when I lived in Manchester for four years, I always voted for him. The reason I supported him is because his heart was always in the right place.
Three weeks ago, Alderman Michael Porter made some very disparaging remarks about Manchester teachers on a public Facebook group Manchester (NH) School Chat. I confronted him as I thought it very inappropriate for a public official to be offering unedited opinions in a public venue. He was quite dismissive of my feedback, insisting he had every right to express any opinion he chose
Many citizens do not realize that our city can not spend money given to it by the state without overriding the spending portion of the tax cap. Yet it is craziness to refuse to cash a check sent to us by the state.
This is the confounding situation we find ourselves in right now. Manchester schools have received a check for $7.5 million from the state that can’t be cashed unless the Aldermen vote to override the incoming revenue portion of the tax cap. This one-time override requires a supermajority (10 of 15) Aldermen to understand and agree to this technicality and vote to override the cap so that Manchester schools can use the funds allocated to them by the State.
There is a long road ahead for all of us, but our country has prevailed through challenging times before, and we will do so again. One day, I hope that you look back at the way you grappled with these unprecedented times and remember your resilience.
As the nation rages tonight, as the President threatens Martial Law, as a mother mourns a son and a virus eats away at a population with 40 million unemployed, rest easy, my friends, because you are in good hands.
The governor has two choices right now, and only one of them leads us back to the liberty we once celebrated on July 4 every year: 1) Allow the emergency orders and the State of Emergency to expire, apologize for his overstep, and let everyone slowly get back to normal, or 2) Continue down the road of injustice and face the necessary consequences of that path. There is no in-between.
Getting your absentee ballot early just may be the best way to safeguard your vote in case a surge happens around election time.
Why is it that these women-led countries have fared better than others around the world? Is it really because of gender? Do women and men act differently in times of crisis? Do women have a different style of leadership? They do face sex-based obstacles and have more to prove, being in a position of power?
While we’ll miss gathering with our veterans, their families, and our community, we’ll be honoring our fallen heroes with a citywide moment of silence tomorrow, Monday, May 25 at 9 a.m. It’s a time for us to pay respect and to reflect on the sacrifices that our veterans and fallen service members have made and how we can honor them during this unique time in our nation’s history.
I know a number of folks may have had reoccurrences (relapses) during this time. Please, please, please don’t let this keep you from coming. You’re in recovery when you say you are, and letting shame or remorse keep you from doing something healthy is doubly, triply, quadruply self-defeating.
Well, I’m no Mother Teresa or anything, but when I can buy a homeless soul a cup of coffee I usually ante up. And it happened at the time I had a load of coins weighing heavily in a pocket. I sorted through the pennies and nickels and came up with four quarters and a dime — enough at the nearby convenience store to buy a 99 cent cup of coffee plus eight or nine cents to pay the state of New Hampshire for the privilege of buying a cup of coffee in the “Live Free or Die” state. I handed it all over to him.
