Taste of the Town announced

Taste of the Town announced

The Greater Derry Londonderry Chamber of Commerce is hosting its fourth annual Taste of the Town on Thursday, April twenty first.  The event will showcase food, beer, wine and spirits from more than forty area businesses  at the Castleton Banquet and Conference Center in Windham.  Last year, Taste of the Town attracted more than three hundred people.

Among those serving up the tasty treats are:  The 6 0 3 Brewery, Amphora Restaurant, Bellavance, Boston Beer Company, Cask and Vine, Chief Wok, Clam Haven, Common Man Restaurant, Crush Wines, DRAE – A Tapas Experience, East Derry General Store, Hilltop Restaurant, Horizon Beverage Co., J & F Farms, Jack Daniel’s, Jerome’s Deli & Catering, Jewell Towne Vineyards, Klemm’s Bakery, Kelsen Brewing, LaBelle Winery, La Carreta Mexican Restaurant, Lobster Q, Michele’s Sweet Shoppe, Milly’s Tavern, Moonlight Meadery, Orange Leaf, Parkland Medical Center (oh great, hospital food!), Perfecta Wines, Rockingham Brewing Company, Sabatino’s, Soleravino, Southern Wine & Spirits, Talia’s Breakfast & Eatery, The Coach Stop Restaurant, The Grind Rail Trail Cafe, The Halligan Tavern, The Imported Grape, Tidewater Catering, Tuscan Kitchen and Twins Smokeshop.

Tickets are forty dollars in advance and forty five dollars at the door.  A limited number of V I P tickets, which include a separate area with premium food, wine, beer and a premium “swag bag,” are available for seventy five dollars.  To get your tickets, visit g d l chamber dot org slash taste or call 4 3 2 8 2 0 5.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the chamber’s Kyle B. Ross Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Bike Manchester: Nice rack!

Bike Manchester: Nice rack!

Bike Manchester has launched a second round of its 50 / 50 Bike Rack Program.  For just two hundred bucks, which is half the regular cost, the group will install a permanent bike rack for eligible businesses and nonprofits on, or near, their property.  The purpose of the program is to increase the number of bike racks across the city to encourage more people to ride bicycles more often to more destinations.

In saying the group installed five racks last year, Bike Manchester co-­chair Will Stewart said they were looking forward to placing even more racks across the city this year.  They’re working with the city’s Department of Public Works to ensure that all proposed sidewalk locations meet their approval.  The application deadline is May fifteenth and supplies are limited.  For the application and additional details, visit bike m h t dot com forward slash application.

Shanahan: Not Nurse Ratchet

Shanahan: Not Nurse Ratchet

The Most Reverend Peter A. Libasci, D.D., Bishop of Manchester, will celebrate the annual White Mass for health care workers at St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester on the evening of Thursday, April 7th at six.  Following the Mass, the N H Guild of Catholic Healthcare Professionals will present Mrs. Carol Shanahan, R.N. with the two thousand sixteen St. Martin de Porres Award, which is given annually to a Catholic health care professional who exemplifies the virtues of Catholic health care.  Shanahan was graduated from St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1968 and spent the majority of her professional career focused on critical care as well as several years in telemetry, oncology and mentally health.  Shanahan is an active member of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Derry.  Those interested in attending the Mass or the reception are asked to R S V P to n h catholic health dot org or Fr. Marc Guillemette at 6 6 3 6 4 4 0.

News from our own backyard continues after this.

With the majority of Republican senators opposed, the Obamacare Expanded Medicaid program reauthorized by House Bill 1 6 9 6 was approved by the State Senate yesterday.  The bill offsets reductions in federal revenues to pay for the program by quote unquote “allowing” the state’s hospitals and insurance companies to pay the state’s share of the increased costs.

Sanborn: Blasts passage

Sanborn: Blasts passage

After passage, District Nine Senator Andy Sanborn, Republican from Bedford, issued a statement saying he was disappointed the senate continued quote “the single largest and most costly government program in our state.”  Sanborn asserted the program will cost the state one billion dollars over the next two years, said it has no safeguards or cost controls and that it allows able bodied men and women to access free health care without exercising any personal responsibility because it does not include meaningful work requirements.  Quote:

“This program is a prime example of how only in government can a plan be enacted that spends $450 million a year to save $1 million a year.  The cost for private health insurance has continued to rise since this program began and we’ve heard from insurers and hospitals that they will pass the state’s share of the cost of this program onto individual premiums…This is unacceptable because it gives individuals a hand-out and not a hand-up, which is not what government is designed to do.”

Morse: Supports "private insurance" paid for by public funds

Morse: Supports “private insurance” paid for by public funds

Senate President Chuck Morse, Republican from Salem, and Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, Republican from Wolfeboro and co-sponsor of the bill, praised the senate vote.

Morse disagreed with Sanborn’s assessment, saying there was a requirement for work or work training and said that the state’s neediest families will continue to receive private health insurance for the next two years…Memo to Chuck, if the taxpayers pay for it, it’s not “private.”  Anyway, Morse said the bill protects taxpayers by establishing a two year reauthorization requirement and preventing the use of any new or increased taxes or fees by using quote “voluntary contributions rather than general funds.”  Oh My HEAD!

Bradley: Extends program

Bradley: Extends program

Bradley said he was proud of the vote, bragging the bill will continue the program for the now forty eight thousand people hooked on it.  Playing the heroin card, Bradley said that forty percent of the funding for substance abuse treatment in the state now comes through the Expanded Medicaid program.

And, yes, I wish this were an April Fool’s story, but sadly, it’s all too real.

That’s news from our own backyard!  Girard at Large hour ___ is next!

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