Good News in New Hampshire Newsletter #1 - Guns to Gardens

Plus: electric schoolbuses, rail trails, community power, housing, global citizenship, and a banner year for fruit trees!

Hello! Welcome to the Good News in New Hampshire Newsletter, part of Granite Goodness.

We regularly round up and share positive news & media in and about New Hampshire.

My name is Andy DeMeo. I’ve lived in NH all my life. Granite Goodness is my love letter to our extraordinary state.

I created this project because I believe that being aware of positivity and progress leaves people more inspired to create their own. Optimism, kindness, and the will to solve complex problems are infectious qualities.

Also, being an optimist is just more fun.

As a general rule, this newsletter aims to include stories that fit the following criteria:

• The story is in or about New Hampshire

• The story is about something bigger than singular acts of kindness

• The story is about something good— people building, creating, or doing things that improve the world and reduce suffering

Just think- as long as it’s good and New Hampshire sized, it belongs here!

If you have any story tips, let us know at hello@granitegoodness.com.

For more personal stories about New Hampshire people making the world a better place, make sure to check our podcast, Granite Goodness, available anywhere.

Enjoy!

GRANITE GRID-BUILDING

Energy & Renewables

• Dover touts 'great success' of saving on electric bills through community power

  • “Residents and business owners in Dover's community power program have saved a combined $772,000-plus in five months, official says.” - Foster’s Daily Democrat

• NH Coal Plants will close by 2028

  • “Granite Shore Power says the two plants will become “renewable energy parks.” Schiller Station is set to host a battery storage system that can provide power to the grid when there’s a lot of demand, and could serve as storage for offshore wind power.” - NHPR

• Community Solar Coming to Jaffrey

  • “ReVision Energy has been approved to build a 1.3-megawatt array on the Jaffrey-owned capped landfill. Customers could purchase shares of the array, based on their energy consumption, and own a portion of the energy produced. The energy is fed into the electric grid, and owners receive a credit on their electric bill.” - Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

• Electric school buses are about to hit the road in Henniker and Weare

  • “Henniker is one of three districts in the state getting electric buses under the federal EPA Clean School Bus Program and apparently will be the first to put them on the road. Drivers and mechanics are being trained and the buses will go into operation before the end of the school year.” - The Concord Monitor

• Portsmouth moves towards easing solar panel rules

  • "Without a doubt this will be a victory for the homeowners looking to do what they can to mitigate climate change"- Portsmouth Herald

GRANITE GARDENING

Farming and Agriculture

• NH Farmers optimistic about 2024

  • “We had a fairly mild winter this year, and so most of our fruiting crops came through that in really good shape…we also had good weather during pollination, and so we have a really good fruit set overall ranging from small fruits through to tree fruit.”- NHPR

• NH Farmers Get Mental Health Support

  • “Because mental health is closely related to the business side of farming, Farm Strong NH goes beyond therapy and social work support. The program has offered legal assistance, conflict resolution services, tax and financial planning, and peer-to-peer networks, including a network specifically for queer farmers and a network for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities.” - UNH Magazine

GRANITE GOVERNING

Politics & Governance

• Sununu signs bill raising marriage age to 18

  • Gov. Chris Sununu signed a bill Friday that will bar those under 18 from getting marriage licenses in New Hampshire, adding the Granite State to a list of 11 other states that have fully banned marriage for minors. - New Hampshire Bulletin

• Governor signs bill into law limiting fees for rental applicants

  • New Hampshire House Bill 283 states that “Prior to collecting any fee as part of the rental application or renewal process, the landlord shall…disclose… to prospective tenants, the amount of the fee…If such fee is collected from an applicant, but the unit is not rented to that applicant, the landlord shall return any amount beyond the actual cost of the documented background check, credit check…to the applicant within 30 days of receipt.” - InDepthNH

• Governor signs bill into law strengthening employment protection for volunteer firefighters

  • New Hampshire House Bill 182 “…prohibits an employer from discharging or disciplining an employee who is a volunteer firefighter or emergency medical technician and whose failure to report for work was due to such employee responding to an emergency.” - InDepthNH

GRANITE GROWTH

Infrastructure & Economy

• Details shown for new housing at Portsmouth Church

  • “Redevelopment at 1035 Lafayette Road to include Haven HQ, a transitional housing unit, renovated day-care center, burial ground” - NH Business Review

• Affordable housing project at former Keene school site gets $1M boost

  • “New affordable apartments will be the first phase of this project, with 30 more slated for beginning of summer 2025” - NH Business Review

• New Hampshire Ball Bearings Construction Project on schedule, Concord opens voucher waitlist

  • “Two months after installation of a new permeable reactive barrier (PRB) wall at the Peterborough South Municipal Water Supply Well Superfund site began, New Hampshire Ball Bearings (NHBB) Marketing Manager Robyn Nattila said the project is on schedule for its expected completion in October.”

  • “Concord Housing and Redevelopment is reopening its waitlist for public housing vouchers for two-bedroom units. Once it receives 50 applicants, the list will close again.” - NH Business Review

• Exit 4A Infrastructure Happening On time and on budget

  • “On budget and on time, the $54 million first portion of the project is about 70% done in Londonderry, officials said. Next will come the tearing up of Folsom Road in Derry this fall.” Even better, the project “also includes multimodal improvements related to the Derry Rail Trail corridor connectivity, added sidewalks, and widened shoulders for bicycle use. This project also includes stormwater system improvements to protect local water resources.” - The Union Leader

GRANITE GADGETS

Science & Innovation

• NH-based Allegro MicroSystems joint venture lands up to $120M from CHIPS program

  • “Polar Semiconductor will receive up to $120 million in federal funds to expand and upgrade its Bloomington, Minnesota, facility.

  • The U.S. Department of Commerce and Polar signed a preliminary agreement for the money, which comes from the CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) and Science Act program. Polar's project will cost $525 million.” - The Union Leader

• NHTI Publishes Genomic Research

  • “When it comes to biological research, NHTI – Concord’s Community College is on the cusp of discovery: This spring, 7 former and 3 current NHTI students have published a paper in the online journal PubMed exploring the genetic makeup of a bacteriophage, a virus that acts as a parasite in a bacterium by infecting and reproducing inside it.”- The Concord Insider

• Keene Launches New Optics Lab

  • “As part of its ongoing efforts to meet local workforce demands, Keene State College has partnered with the American Center for Optics Manufacturing Inc., to expand opportunities for students, faculty and regional employers in the precision manufacturing industry, according to a news release from the college.”- The Keene Sentinel

• UNH Receives $8M NSF Grant to Advance New Hampshire’s Science and Technology Leadership

  • “New Hampshire will boost its research leadership as an innovator in science and technology and increase its STEM workforce with investments across the state’s institutions of higher education, thanks to an $8 million grant to the University of New Hampshire from the National Science Foundation. The cooperative agreement award, one of just three of its type in the nation, aims to increase research opportunities, mentoring, training and partnerships between New Hampshire’s community colleges, four-year colleges and universities and industry.” - UNH Today

GRANITE GREENERY

Environment & Nature

• New Project to Protect New Boston’s Great Meadow

  • “PLC has embarked on an ambitious new conservation project that will if successful complete the protection of New Boston’s Great Meadow, a 160-acre open water wetland that has been a preservation priority for PLC and the town since the 1980s.” - Piscataquog Land Conservancy

• Manchester building new rail trail

  • “The city of Manchester has updated its plans to build 0.68 miles of newly paved rail trail running northerly along the abandoned rail bed from where the South Manchester Rail Trail terminates at Queen City Avenue.”- NH Business Review

• Ronald and Nancy Bottom Forest in Hampton, Conserved Forever

  • “On April 25, SELT completed a conservation easement on the Kaifer property in Hampton. This special land consists of 21 acres of forest, prime wetland, and pollinator-rich open fields.”- Southeast Land Trust of NH (SELT)

• SELT Conserves 154 Acre Great Bay For Generations to Come

  • “After an epic conservation journey, SELT, the Town of Greenland, and the Smith family officially closed on an easement for the iconic Great Bay Farm in Greenland, NH on April 30. This incredible 154-acre property features expansive wildlife habitat, drinking water protection for the City of Portsmouth, and critical safeguarding of the Great Bay Estuary.”- Southeast Land Trust of NH (SELT)

GRANITE GIVING

Nonprofits & Philanthropy

• NH gives Effort Raises $3.2M For Nearly 650 New Hampshire Nonprofits-

  • CONCORD, NH — More than $3.28 million was raised for a record-breaking 649 participating New Hampshire nonprofits through NH Gives, an online giving event created by the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits. - Patch.com

• With the aim of reducing gun deaths, ‘Guns to Gardens’ gives unwanted firearms a new purpose -

  • “…GunSense NH and other members of the N.H. Gun Violence Prevention Coalition hosted the first-ever “Guns to Gardens’ event in New Hampshire to assist Granite Staters in safely disposing of their unwanted guns… volunteers chopped the firearms into pieces leaving only scrap metal and wood…the scrap metal have been transformed by Sword to Ploughshares Northeast and local artists into gardening tools, heart pendant necklaces, wooden bowls, wooden spoons, and a stunning necklace made from bits and pieces of the dismantled guns.” - The Concord Bulletin

GRANITE GREATNESS

Human Interest & Our Favorite Stories

• Two dozen NH residents become American citizens -

  • “Luanna Currie is originally from Brazil and has been living in the U.S. for five years. She described the U.S. as ‘a country that embraces immigrants.’

    ‘It feels amazing,’ she said of her new citizenship. ‘It feels like a dream.’” - NHPR

That’s it for this edition of the Good News in New Hampshire Newsletter. This newsletter is free and shareable to anyone anywhere. We also post on Instagram and Linkedin.

If you are hungry for good news beyond the borders of the Granite State, I encourage you to check out our friends at Fix the News or the Progress Network.

Thanks for reading!

-Andy