- Details
- Written by Kat Roedell
- Category: Articles
During the winter months, many people on fixed incomes struggle with basic resources. One of these resources is proper heating for their residences. Bills that can be paid in normal months can sometimes quadruple in the winter months when extreme cold coupled with older homes can become problematic.
There are resources available in these situations, but if a family member doesn’t know where or how to look for the aid, it can be challenging. Heating relief can come in two ways, weatherization and fuel assistance – and you can apply for one or both on the same form. The program is managed through local Community Action Agencies, and there are 5 CAAs throughout the state of New Hampshire.
If you reside in Barrington or other places in Strafford County, your Community Action Agency (CAA) office is Community Action Partnership of Strafford County (CAPSC) Strafford County offices are located in Dover, Farmington, and Rochester. According to the fuel assistance website, if you are homebound and unable to visit a CAA office, telephone your local office to arrange a home or phone interview. The phone number for CAPSC is 603-435-2500.
Be certain when completing your application for aid to provide ALL of the requested information, and follow through with your appointments. If you rely on friends or family for transportation, make certain that the time and date of your appointment works for them as well. This will prevent processing delays.
Income Eligibility Guidelines: These guidelines are based on the gross household income by a number of people. For example, a family of four making $50,000 gross income (before taxes) would be eligible for fuel assistance, but not for the Weatherization Program.
Sometimes people are hesitant to apply for this aid, but over 29,000 households were certified for the fuel assistance program last year. The Fuel Assistance program is a Grant – which means the money received does not need to be repaid and it doesn’t count as income towards other government assistance.
More information about this program can be found here.
Additional Assistance may be found through the following services:
- 211 NH
Telephone: 211 or 866-444-4211 - NH Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services
Central Intake
Telephone: 800-949-0470
- Details
- Written by Ginna Schonwald
- Category: Articles
No one wants to think about the threat of nuclear war. However, the expiration of the Iran nuclear deal and the U.S. withdrawal from the INF treaty, in addition to increased tensions in the Middle East have caused renewed concern about the devastation that nuclear war would cause. And with more than 13,000 nuclear weapons stockpiled in nine countries, concerned citizens have come together to take action across the country including in New Hampshire.
In recent months, resolutions calling for steps to reduce the risk of nuclear war have been adopted by voters in Exeter, Lee, New London, Warner, Peterborough, and Alstead, plus by City Councils in Dover, Portsmouth, Durham, and Keene. Similar resolutions have been taken up by towns and cities throughout the U.S. as well as state legislatures in Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, and California. Now it’s Barrington’s turn.
A group of concerned Barrington citizens has petitioned to place a “Back from the Brink” warrant article on the Barrington Town ballot this March. The warrant article is a resolution calling on the U.S. elected officials to take the following steps to prevent nuclear war:
- Renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;
- Ending the sole, unchecked authority of the president to use nuclear weapons;
- Taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert;
- Canceling the plan to replace the entire U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal with enhanced weapons (at an estimated cost $1.7 trillion); and
- Actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.
Petition warrant articles have had proven results in impacting state and national issues. Petition warrant articles regarding large groundwater withdrawals helped to stop the USA Springs water bottling plant from withdrawing more than 350,000 gallons of water a day in Nottingham, NH. In addition, warrant articles in hundreds of NH, Massachusetts and Vermont towns put the nuclear weapons “freeze” movement on the national agenda in 1982.
Hundreds of health, environmental and religious organizations have joined to support the “Back from the Brink” movement including The Unitarian Universalist Association, the Presbyterian Church, Pax Christi USA, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club, Veterans for Peace, the American Friends Service Committee, and 350.org.
An information session on the proposed Barrington warrant article will be held on Thursday, January 23rd from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Barrington Public Library. In addition, the warrant article will be discussed at the Town Deliberative Session on Saturday, February 1st at the Barrington Middle School.
- Details
- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
CONCORD, N.H. – Representatives from the Ride for the Fallen 7 Foundation will present officials from the Department of Safety and Department of Transportation with a custom-made, wooden United States flag etched with the names of the Fallen 7. The flag will be permanently displayed in the Incident Planning and Operations Center; a state building that houses agencies from both the Department of Safety and the Department of Transportation.
WHO: Ride for the Fallen 7 Foundation President Brian DeSimone, Department of Safety Commissioner Robert Quinn, Department of Transportation Commissioner Victoria Sheehan, Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Jennifer Harper, NH State Police Colonel Christopher Wagner, DOT Director of Operations David Rodrigue, and other state agency officials.
WHERE: Incident Planning and Operations Center, 110 Smokey Bear Blvd, Concord, NH
WHAT: Ride for the Fallen 7 Foundation representatives will make a presentation to state agency leaders in gratitude for the collaborative effort in organizing the July 6, 2019 Ride for the Fallen 7.
WHEN: Thursday, January 23, 2020, 9 AM to 10 AM. Please arrive by 8:50 AM.
CONTACT: Paul D. Raymond, Jr., Community Outreach Coordinator, (603) 892-5804
- Details
- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Articles
Five Men Indicted for Operating an International Procurement Network to Export Goods from The United States to Pakistan’s Nuclear Program
CONCORD – Five men, all associated with the front company “Business World” in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and including Muhammad Kamran Wali (“Kamran”), 41, of Pakistan; Muhammad Ahsan Wali (“Ahsan”), 48, and Haji Wali Muhammad Sheikh (“Haji”), 82, both of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; Ashraf Khan Muhammad (“Khan”) of Hong Kong; and Ahmed Waheed (“Waheed”), 52, of Ilford, Essex, United Kingdom, was indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 and conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States, United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced. The grand jury returned the indictment on October 16, 2019, and it was unsealed today.
According to the indictment, between September 2014 and October 2019, the defendants operated an international procurement network of front companies that existed to acquire goods for the Advanced Engineering Research Organization (AERO) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), and to cause those goods to be exported from the United States to the entities without export licenses in violation of federal law. Both AERO and PAEC were on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which imposes export license requirements for organizations whose activities are found to be contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. PAEC was added to the Entity List in 1998. AERO was added to the Entity List in 2014, after the U.S. Government found that it had used intermediaries and front companies to procure items for use in Pakistan’s cruise missile and strategic UAV programs.
According to the indictment, the defendants attempted to conceal the true destinations in Pakistan of the U.S.-origin goods by using the conspirators’ network of front companies as the supposed purchasers and end users of the goods and as the apparent source of payments for the goods, even though the goods were ultimately received in Pakistan and paid for by AERO or PAEC. The defendants and their network of front companies were never the actual end-users of the goods exported from the U.S. The defendants caused the U.S. companies to file export documents that falsely identified the ultimate consignees of the shipments as entities other than AERO and PAEC. The defendants never applied for or obtained an export license from the Commerce Department authorizing the export of goods to AERO or PAEC in Pakistan.
The indictment identified 38 separate exports from the U.S. that the defendants caused, involving 29 different companies from around the country. Three of those companies are in New Hampshire. None of the U.S. companies is alleged to have been complicit in the illegal exports.
Each defendant is charged with two felony counts of conspiracy. Although arrest warrants are pending, none of the five defendants have thus far been apprehended.
“Federal export control laws are vital tools that help prevent items from being exported overseas where they could be used in ways that can jeopardize our national security,” said U.S Attorney Murray. “In order to protect the safety and security of the American people, we work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify those who violate these important laws. We will continue to be vigilant in our efforts to identify individuals whose actions may jeopardize the national security of the United States.”
“The defendants smuggled U.S. origin goods to entities that have been designated for years as threats to U.S. national security for their ties to Pakistan’s weapons programs,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “This indictment puts the world on notice not to do business with these defendants and demonstrates our commitment to holding them accountable. It also stands as an example of the kind of deceptive behavior U.S. businesses need to watch out for in designing appropriate export control and sanctions compliance programs.”
“The indictments unsealed today are a result of the ongoing coordination and collaborative counterproliferation efforts by the Office of Export Enforcement, the Justice Department, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and Homeland Security Investigations,” Special Agent in Charge William Higgins of the Office of Export Enforcement said. “The Boston Field Office of the Office of Export Enforcement will continue to vigorously pursue violators with all its partners to stem illicit trade that threatens U.S. national security and undermines U.S. foreign policy.”
"Stopping the illegal exportation of sensitive defense technology is a top priority for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and today's indictment is the result of a multi-agency effort," stated Special Agent in Charge Leigh-Alistair Barzey, DCIS Northeast Field Office. "The DCIS is committed to working with the USAO-NH, Homeland Security Investigations and the Office of Export Enforcement, to protect our nation's security by identifying, investigating and prosecuting criminal procurement networks."
“The alleged behavior of these five individuals presented more than a violation of U.S. export laws, it posed a potential threat to the national security interests of the United States and to the delicate balance of power among nations within the region.” said Jason Molina, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations. “HSI’s Counterproliferation group proactively works investigations into U.S. import-export licensing laws violations because of the threat it can pose to our national security.”
This matter was investigated by the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement; the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Davis and Trial Attorney Nicholas Hunter of DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, National Security Division.
The charges and allegations contained in an indictment are merely accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Page 42 of 77