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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Concerns about transparency swirl around Nashua performing arts center
Thursday's decision arises from one of more than a dozen lawsuits resident Laurie A. Ortolano has filed against Nashua in the past five years under the RTK law. It clarifies that a 2008 change to the law didn't narrow the scope of entities bound by it. Legislators added language specifying that government-owned nonprofit corporations are public bodies subject to the RTK law, but that doesn't mean all for-profit corporations are exempt, the court ruled. Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up To determine whether an entity constitutes a public body under the RTK law, judges still must conduct a 'government function' test, just as they were required to do before the 2008 change to the law. The lower court failed to do that in this case. Advertisement In response to Thursday's decision, Ortolano said it seems fairly clear that NPAC Corp. is using public money to perform a government function, especially considering how involved city officials have been in the entity's financing and administration. Advertisement Ortolano said officials had long reassured the public that the performing arts center would be operated transparently, but then they established the for-profit entity. 'All of the records went dark, and you could not really track accountability of the money any longer,' she said. Ortolano's lawsuit alleges the city owns a nonprofit entity that owns the for-profit corporation, but city attorney Steven A. Bolton disputed that. Nashua doesn't own any of the entities in question, he said. (That said, the city's Board of Alderman approves mayoral appointees to lead the nonprofits.) Bolton said he was pleased that the Supreme Court agreed with the trial court's decision to dismiss the city as a defendant in this case, and he expressed confidence that the money raised for this project was spent appropriately on construction, furnishings, and perhaps initial operating costs. Attorneys for the remaining defendant, NPAC Corp., didn't respond Thursday to requests for comment. The corporation maintains it is a private entity exempt from the RTK law, even though its members are listed on Gregory V. Sullivan, an attorney who practices in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and who serves as president of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said he suspects the superior court will conclude that NPAC Corp. is subject to the RTK law. He commended Ortolano as 'a right-to-know warrior' and criticized leaders who resist transparency. 'The city of Nashua has historically, in my opinion, not been cooperative with requests to disclose the public's records as opposed to other cities and towns in New Hampshire,' he said. 'We the people are the government, own the government, and they're our records.' Advertisement This article first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you'd like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, Steven Porter can be reached at
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
New Hampshire governor rejects hearing for Pamela Smart, sentenced to life for husband's 1990 death
Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up On Wednesday, Smart wrote to Ayotte and the governor's Executive Council asking for a hearing on commuting her sentence. But Ayotte, a Republican elected in November, said she has reviewed the case and decided it is not deserving of a hearing before the five-member panel. Advertisement 'People who commit violent crimes must be held accountable to the law,' said Ayotte, a former state attorney general. 'I take very seriously the action of granting a pardon hearing and believe this process should only be used in exceptional circumstances.' In her letter, Smart said she has spent the last 35 years 'becoming a person who can and will be a contributing member of society.' Calling herself 'what rehabilitation looks like,' she noted that she has taken responsibility for her husband's death. Advertisement 'I have apologized to Gregg's family and my own for the life taken and for my life denied to my parents and family for all these long years,' she wrote. Smart's trial was a media circus and one of America's first high-profile cases about a sexual affair between a school staff member and a student. The student, William Flynn, testified that Smart told him she needed her husband killed because she feared she would lose everything if they divorced. Flynn and three other teens cooperated with prosecutors and all have since been released. The case inspired Joyce Maynard's 1992 book 'To Die For' and the 1995 film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.
Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Boston Globe
New Hampshire settles wrongful death lawsuit from Harmony Montgomery's mom for $2.25 million
Advertisement Montgomery ultimately beat the 5-year-old girl to death while they were living in a car with his wife and two other children in December 2019. But he hid her body, and her disappearance went largely unnoticed by authorities for two years, until Sorey grew frantic in late 2021 and came to Manchester to find her missing child. Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up Montgomery was The horrific crime revealed dangerous lapses in child protection services not only in New Hampshire but also in Massachusetts, where the Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that a recording of the closed-door hearing that led to Montgomery winning custody of his daughter Advertisement Sorey's attorney, C. Kevin Leonard, did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment about the settlement. A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Justice declined to comment. Sorey will receive half of the $2.25 million settlement, according to a redacted copy of the agreement the DOJ released Friday to The Boston Globe. The other half will be divided equally to establish trusts for four individuals who are identified in the agreement by their initials only. The state hasn't admitted to any wrongdoing, and Sorey must cover her own legal fees, according to the agreement. This lawsuit is at least the third that New Hampshire officials have settled within the past year regarding the deaths of children known to the state's Division of Children, Youth, and Families. The state reached a $5.75 million settlement in July with Danielle Vaughan over the 2019 death of her 5-year-old son, Dennis Vaughan, and the state reached a $2.25 million settlement in December with Dennis Vaughan's grandmother, Sherry Connor, These civil settlements — which were Advertisement Governor Kelly A. Ayotte, a Republican, has said she Steven Porter can be reached at
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Protestors station ‘genital observation police' outside N.H. State House restrooms as lawmakers OK bathroom bill
Advertisement To drive their point home, the protestors distributed small cards telling people they would need to allow a GOP lawmaker to inspect their private parts before they could use the restrooms, which are located just a few steps from each legislative chamber. Some passersby scoffed at the demonstration as immature, while others chuckled. Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up Brennan, who is affiliated with the 'A lot of these legislators are using this for points,' she said. 'They don't want to talk transgender people. They don't want to understand where they're coming from. They demonize them. And they demonize those of us who support them.' Advertisement Tiffany Blessing-Gagnon, a protestor, distributes "genital inspection" cards outside the second-floor women's restroom at the New Hampshire State House on Thursday. Steven Porter/Globe Staff While opponents of HB 148 say it will place transgender people and others at risk, proponents say they aim to protect women and girls. The legislation would identify certain situations as appropriate for classifying people on the basis of biological sex, rather than gender identity. Those situations include jails and other detention facilities; athletic or sporting events in which males are generally recognized as enjoying a physical advantage; locker rooms and multi-person bathrooms. The legislation would allow, but not require, public and private entities statewide to separate such facilities and events by sex rather than gender. Kamren Munz, a trans nonbinary person who has been using the men's room for the past five years, said they have faced restroom-related discrimination, including being told to leave a facility based on perceptions of their gender, and HB 148 would make matters worse. 'It's encouraging the general public to basically ask very invasive questions,' they said. Munz — a former public school teacher who Despite the protest, HB 148 was approved in a party-line vote later Thursday by the Republicans who hold a supermajority in the 24-member New Hampshire Senate. The measure had already passed the 400-member House in March with approval from 198 Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent. Advertisement During debate, Republican Senator William M. Gannon said his support for the legislation was based partly on his daughter's experience competing on an athletic field against a transgender opponent who was much taller and stronger than her. Gannon also said single-sex detention facilities are important for the safety of those detained. Republican Senator Regina M. Birdsell said lawmakers need to protect privacy and the fairness of athletic competition for women and girls, who face blowback if they speak out about their discomfort when transgender people are allowed in single-sex spaces. 'Women are being marginalized in this environment,' she said, 'and as far as I'm concerned, this has to stop.' In a This legislation is very similar to a bill that Republican former governor Christopher T. Sununu Sununu had signed legislation in 2018 and 2019 to add gender identity to the state's nondiscrimination law and apply those protections to school settings. He said some of the carve-outs that lawmakers wanted to add in 2024 tried 'to solve problems that have not presented themselves in New Hampshire.' The legislation would invite 'unnecessary discord,' he said. Advertisement It's not yet clear whether Republican Governor Kelly A. Ayotte, who took office in January, will sign HB 148 into law. Steven Porter can be reached at
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Sanctuary city ban to become law in N.H., as local police join in federal immigration enforcement
Advertisement 'It will prevent localities from putting in a sanctuary city policy in their communities, and that was what I supported,' she said Wednesday during a press event. Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up Ayotte said her office has reviewed the bills and found that they are compatible. 'They can complement each other,' she said. Immigrants' rights advocates have opposed efforts to ban sanctuary cities, warning that local police should not use local resources to enforce federal law. They argue blurring these lines will undermine immigrants' trust in local law enforcement, which could make them more hesitant to report crimes or turn to the police for help. And civil liberties advocates, including attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, said the measures will erode due process. Advertisement 'These bills would require police to aid in federal immigration enforcement by executing ICE detainers in many instances — which are not signed by a judge and do not go through due process,' Amanda Azad, policy director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, said in a statement. HB 511 requires local and state law enforcement to comply with immigration detainers of inmates and bans sanctuary policies that would hinder enforcement of federal immigration law. It also stops law enforcement from withholding inmate immigration information. It includes exceptions for some people who have witnessed or been the victim of a crime, and it prohibits law enforcement from investigating an inmate's citizenship status in some cases. The measure is slated to take effect at the beginning of 2026. Similarly, SB 62 bars local governments from getting in the way of state or federal law enforcement carrying out immigration law, and it allows the attorney general to sue jurisdictions found in violation. The bill also allows county corrections departments to hold individuals for up to 48 hours after state charges are resolved to deliver them to ICE custody. In addition, SB 62 seeks to protect the state and local communities' ability to partner more closely with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement through agreements that deputize state or local officers as federal immigration agents. SB 62 would prevent communities from prohibiting such arrangements with ICE under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Ayotte has actively encouraged state and local law enforcement agencies to partner with ICE on federal immigration enforcement. She wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February urging the Trump administration to reactivate and bolster 287(g) programs, so police could take a more active role in this area. Advertisement The Trump administration then reestablished a 'task force model' that had been shuttered years earlier amid a slew of racial bias accusations. With the governor's The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which serves the state's most populous county, signed an ICE agreement last week for a task force model. It was the fourth to do so in New Hampshire, joining the Rockingham, Belknap, and Grafton county sheriff's offices, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff Brian J. Newcomb did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment about his decision to pursue the ICE agreement. New Hampshire is a regional outlier. The only other police force in New England that has signed a task force model agreement is the municipal department in Wells, Maine, according to ICE's website. When it comes to state-level sanctuary policies, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are identified as 'sanctuary' states, while Maine has taken 'no position' on the matter, according to the National Congress of State Legislatures in Denver. There aren't any towns in the state that have officially adopted a sanctuary designation, although cities such as Advertisement Meanwhile, states in the South and Western United States such as Amanda Gokee can be reached at
