Latest New Hampshire Headlines

All the headlines from our New Hampshire Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Lawsuits Prompt Push to Expand Ski Areas’ Legal Exemption in N.H.

Apr 18 2005 // Louis Cecere had been snowboarding for half his life by age 21. But the skills he honed over a decade wouldn’t be enough to keep him alive until 22.He was snowboarding on Jan. 3, 2004, with friends at Loon...

States Try Narrow and Broad Approaches to Curbing Driving Distractions

Apr 4 2005 // New Hampshire is the only state that doesn’t require adult motorists to wear seat belts, but it does ticket drivers for eating, drinking, talking on a cell phone or fussing with their makeup while behind the...

Commentary: The Inevitable Hour

Apr 4 2005 // Bidding Farewell to AIG’s Legendary Hank GreenbergIn America, nothing fails like success, wrote novelist Budd Schulberg. That thought, among others, was on my mind as reports swirled around that Hank Greenberg,...

Small Group Health Reforms Move Forward in N.H.

Apr 1 2005 // New Hampshire small businesses looking for relief from rising health insurance costs now have proposed changes approved by both the House and the Senate.The House this week approved a plan that would stop insurers from...

N.H. Weighs Single Judge Med-Mal Screening

Mar 31 2005 // New Hampshire state senators seem more interested in a House plan to address the cost of medical malpractice insurance than a bill from one of their own.The proposal before the Senate Judiciary Committee is based on a...

N.H. Advances Small Business Health Reform

Mar 28 2005 // New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch’s plan to help small businesses facing stiff health insurance costs passed its first hurdle last week in the Senate.The new plan steps back from reforms enacted just over a year ago...

N.H. Social Clubs Struggle to Meet Fire Code

Mar 16 2005 // Social clubs in New Hampshire say they are struggling to comply with orders to install automatic sprinkler systems.In response to a 2003 fire that killed 100 people at a nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., New Hampshire...

Liberty Mutual Expanding N.H. Operation

Mar 11 2005 // Liberty Mutual has announced a $40 million project to add 1,750 jobs as it expands its operation in the city.The Boston-based international insurance company, announced during a planning board meeting this week it plans to...

N.H. Safety Chief Opposes Mandatory Seat Belts

Feb 25 2005 // The chief of the New Hampshire Highway Safety Agency says a bill to make seat belt use mandatory for adults is intrusive and unnecessary.Peter Thomson said during a hearing on the bill this week that about two-thirds of...

AUTO RATES FALLING:

Feb 21 2005 // New Hampshire drivers are benefiting from increased competition among auto insurers. Seven of the 11 auto insurance companies that have filed rate change requests with the state so far this year have asked for decreases,...

N.H. Auto Insurance Rates Falling

Feb 8 2005 // New Hampshire drivers are benefiting from increased competition among auto insurers.Seven of the 11 auto insurance companies that have filed rate change requests with the state so far this year have asked for decreases,...

N.H. Jury Awards $2.6M in Car Crash Suit, Citing Engineers for Faulty Intersection Design

Feb 7 2005 // A New Hampshire jury has awarded nearly $2.6 million to the family of a man killed in a 1999 car crash, saying the firm that redesigned the intersection where it happened was partly at fault.David DeBenedetto was killed...

Pilgrim to Write Flood Insurance as Part of WYO Program in Mass., N.H. and Conn.

Feb 1 2005 // Pilgrim Insurance, a unit of The Plymouth Rock Group of Companies, in Boston, has been accepted by the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration to participate in the Write Your Own Flood Program (WYO). This program...

Insurer Votes Not to Renew N.H. Woman’s Umbrella Over Political Activity

Jan 24 2005 // Helen Johnston is an 80-year-old retired pediatrician who hardly considers herself much of a risk for being sued.That’s not how her insurance company sees it, however. Johnston is losing extra coverage she bought...

N.H. Police Switch, Now Back Mandatory Seat Belts

Jan 13 2005 // The New Hampshire state police chiefs’ association has switched sides in the debate over broadening New Hampshire’s seat-belt law.For the first time, the chiefs support making seat-belt use mandatory for all,...

Best Affirms Ratings of Swiss Re America Group

Dec 28 2004 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has affirmed the financial strength ratings of “A+” (Excellent) of Swiss Reinsurance America Corporation, headquartered in Armonk N.Y., and its P/C insurance subsidiaries, which...

Negligent Criminal Acts Excluded from Yacht Policy, Court Rules in Case of N.H. Boating Death

Dec 21 2004 // A New Hampshire boater sued for wrongful death by the wife of a victim in an accident he caused was not covered under his yacht policy, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled.The insured, Daniel...

COURT DENIES N.H. LOST WAGES:

Dec 20 2004 // Parents cannot sue to recover the wages they lost while caring for their disabled adult children, a federal judge has ruled. The order came in the case of Rhonda and Mark Smith of Swanzey, N.H., whose 19-year old son...

N.H. APPROVES COMP RATES:

Dec 20 2004 // The New Hampshire Insurance Department has approved a voluntary loss cost change with an average increase of 2.5 percent beginning Jan. 1, 2005. The increase is in line with that requested in a filing on behalf of...

From Maine to Virginia … What Happened in 2004

Dec 20 2004 // Leaving aside the insurance brokerage compensation investigations, the World Trade Center trial, the St. Paul-Travelers merger and the UnumProvident settlement, all of which have their roots in this region but grew to...