New Hampshire things to know: Budgeting, Dartmouth
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The state continued to wrestle with budget issues as Gov. Maggie Hassan surprised observers by predicting a $1 million surplus in the current budget cycle, not the deficit some have feared. Meanwhile, Dartmouth College is set to release a report into how it will address sexual assault, high-risk drinking and a lack of inclusion. Here are things to know in New Hampshire:
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DEFICIT, WHAT DEFICIT?
Even as one of the state's mostly costly departments, Health and Human Services, said it was running $58 million over budget, Gov. Maggie Hassan's office was reassuring everyone that she had a plan that would leave the state $1 million to the good by the end of the fiscal year in June. The plan relies on budget cuts and legislative actions that haven't happened yet and her announcement follows a prediction by the legislative budget assistant that the state faces a $30 million hole. There will be plenty of wrangling in the months ahead. Lawmakers will learn more in February when Hassan releases her proposal for the next two-year budget.
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HOME ALONE
Police in Manchester charged a 25-year-old man with endangering the welfare of a child after he left his twin 9-year-old nephews home alone for days at a time. Giobari Atura was watching the boys after his brother traveled to Nigeria in July with his wife and three of the couple's other children. After school officials contacted state child welfare workers, police in November found no edible food in the refrigerator and only ramen noodles in a cabinet. There was no working phone. The parents, who were supposed to return in August but got delayed by passport issues and illness, returned when they heard from police. They won't be charged.
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DON'T FEED THE BEARS
Game experts in New Hampshire want hunters to stop using chocolate to attract bears after four of the animals were found dead and a necropsy determined they had overdosed on the sweet stuff. The bears - two female adults and two cubs - were found dead within 50 feet of where a hunter had put down 90 pounds of chocolate and doughnuts in September. Hunters are allowed to use bait to attract bears as part of the state's management plan for the animal. Some at a Fish and Game Department meeting were skeptical that chocolate had killed the bears and wondered if poison, perhaps from antifreeze, was to blame.
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CYCLISTS KILLED PLEA
The unlicensed New Hampshire driver charged with plowing into a group of bicyclists, killing two Massachusetts women, is scheduled to plead guilty to some of the charges against her. Darriean Hess was charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault along with negligent homicide in connection with the Sept. 21, 2013 deaths. She's set to plead guilty Monday to manslaughter and assault. Police say the 20-year-old Seabrook woman was ticketed for speeding on the same road just hours before she ran into the cyclists in Hampton.
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DARTMOUTH REPORT DUE
On Thursday, Dartmouth President Philip Hanlon will release a report on three critical issues - sexual assault, high-risk drinking and a lack of inclusion - he says compromise the school's core mission. Hanlon created the committee in April after saying such harmful behaviors are hijacking Dartmouth's promise. The Ivy League school is one of 55 colleges and universities being investigated by the federal Education Department over how it handles sexual harassment and assault complaints. In June, the college implemented a new system for handling sexual assaults that includes harsher sanctions.