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Boston Globe
17 hours ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Governor Ayotte signs New Hampshire's $15.9b budget into law
That sparked a flurry of last-minute negotiations on Thursday, narrowly salvaging a budget deal on the two-year spending plan. 'I said from day one in office that I would work each day to deliver an even brighter future for all of New Hampshire — and we have kept that promise,' said Ayotte in a statement Friday afternoon before signing the trio of bills that made up the budget, which she touted as fiscally responsible. 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 Some New Hampshire Republicans shared her optimism. Advertisement 'From standing up for our first responders, to strengthening our Northern Border, to protecting Granite Staters in need, this budget keeps the promises Republicans made with no new taxes,' said Jim MacEachern, NHGOP chairman. 'This hard work will show at the ballot box in November,' he predicted. Democrats disagreed, criticizing what they called a chaotic process and the final product. 'The end result is a state budget that raises costs and threatens the health, safety, and well-being of our communities,' said Ray Buckley in a statement, chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Advertisement The final budget, which every Democratic lawmaker voted against, features several controversial cost-saving measures, including significant funding cuts for the University System of New Hampshire and the Department of Corrections, plus a move to charge premiums for certain Medicaid beneficiaries who earn more than the federal poverty level. 'The budget they forced through is nothing short of catastrophic, ripping health care away from low-income families, defunding public education, slashing child protection services, and funneling millions to out-of-state casino operators and private schools,' said Representative Alexis Simpson of Exeter, the House Democratic minority leader. Simpson said the chaos and deal-making that complicated this process demonstrated 'a crisis of leadership' and resulted in a budget that will 'forever leave a stain on this state.' Republicans, however, celebrated. House Majority Leader Jason Osborne of Auburn said 'principled leadership' had produced a budget that defends the interests of taxpayers, provides additional funding to local schools, and more. Deputy Majority Leader Joseph F. Sweeney of Salem said the budget will work for all Granite Staters. 'Whether you care about property taxes, public safety, or educational freedom, this budget reflects the priorities of New Hampshire families,' he said. 'We can all be proud of that.' While citing constrained revenue estimates as necessitating cuts from certain programs they disfavor, Republican lawmakers relied on an expected increase in gambling revenues from newly legalized slot machines to help fund expanded investments in certain programs they favor. The primary sticking point that Ayotte cited when she threatened last week to veto the Legislature's version of the budget revolved around retirement spending for certain public safety personnel whose benefits were reduced in 2011 amid an earlier budget crunch. Ayotte had campaigned on restoring much of those benefits, but some GOP lawmakers objected to the price tag. Advertisement On Wednesday evening she 'There is no doubt in my mind that our citizens respect politicians who keep their word and fight for change,' said Michael Geha, president of the New Hampshire Police Association. 'That is what Kelly Ayotte did, and the entire state is better off and safer for it.' To adopt the late compromise, senators revived and amended Steven Porter can be reached at
New York Post
19 hours ago
- Business
- New York Post
Australian masseuse bans men after receiving ‘inappropriate' requests
An Australian masseuse has banned male clients from her studio after repeated inappropriate requests and comments from current and prospective male clients. Kessley Ham, 39, the owner of Eternal Energy Healing and Wellness in South Perth, told that moving forward, her business will only serve women, including trans women and non-binary clients. Advertisement It all started earlier this week when she was venting to two of her team members about the 'relentless' stream of inappropriate booking requests she had received online. She said requests for 'sensual' or nude massages were common, despite it being clear on the studio's website and Instagram that it's not that kind of business. 4 Kessley Ham, 39, the owner of Eternal Energy Healing and Wellness in Australia, said that her business will only serve women, including trans women and non-binary clients. Instagram / @eternal_energy_healing 'To my shock, both staff then shared their own experiences of inappropriate behavior from clients in our studio,' she said. Advertisement The decision to ban male clients Some of these incidents included a male client groaning on the massage table and 'writhing' around, 'orgasm-style,' and another person who wanted to discuss their sex life with the masseuse. Another involved a male client repeatedly commenting that his underwear was 'uncomfortable and twisted' during the massage. 'That was the moment I knew I had to take action. My team's safety is non-negotiable. No one should feel unsafe or uncomfortable in their workplace — especially in a space dedicated to healing,' she said. Advertisement 4 Ham announced this after repeated inappropriate requests and comments from current and prospective male clients. Instagram / @eternal_energy_healing The need for women-only spaces She chose not to pursue other approaches to combat the lewd behavior, as 'this wasn't about business strategy' or retaining clients, but a pressing safety issue. 'Women deserve spaces where they can fully relax, physically, emotionally, and energetically, without being on high alert,' Ham said. Advertisement Start and end your day informed with our newsletters Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters 'Unfortunately, the reality is that the biggest threat to a woman's safety continues to be men. That's not an opinion, it's a fact. Women-only spaces offer something rare: a full nervous system exhale.' Overwhelming support After sharing the news on her Instagram account, Ham said the response has been overwhelmingly positive from women. 'I feel so sad for your staff … how unfortunate they had to encounter this. Well done for looking after them,' read one comment on the post. 4 'Women deserve spaces where they can fully relax, physically, emotionally, and energetically, without being on high alert,' Ham said. Instagram / @eternal_energy_healing 'This is shocking to read,' said another. 'Power to you.' However, there have been a few predictable reactions from men who take issue with the change. Advertisement Some women have even used the 'not all men' argument, suggesting Ham should run her business on a 'recommendation' policy so the 'good men' can still come. 4 After sharing the news on her Instagram account, Ham said the response has been overwhelmingly positive from women. Instagram / @eternal_energy_healing Media 'redirecting' the narrative One media outlet apparently derailed an interview with Ham about her decision by suggesting that this issue highlights 'how hard it is for men to find a massage that doesn't offer sexual services.' Advertisement But Ham emphasises that this isn't the issue here. 'The issue is the inappropriate and unsafe behavior directed at women — including myself and my staff — in what should be a professional, therapeutic setting,' she noted. 'Redirecting the narrative to men's discomfort only highlights the need for women-only spaces even more.'
The Hill
a day ago
- Business
- The Hill
Trump presses Senate to quickly deliver budget bill
Morning Report is The Hill's a.m. newsletter. Click here to sign up or subscribe below: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here President Trump on Thursday amped up pressure on senators to pass his signature domestic policy bill by July 4, calling it 'the ultimate codification of our agenda.' The 'big, beautiful bill' is on life support in the Senate, with Republicans scrambling to save the megabill following a major setback delivered by the chamber's rules enforcer this week. 'We don't need grandstanders,' Trump said of the Senate GOP holdouts during an event at the White House, telling members of the public to call their senators and representatives. 'We have to get this vote.' Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has said several of the bill's major provisions could not be included in their current form as Republicans aim to shield the megabill from a Democratic filibuster. Senate Democrats estimate the parliamentarian rejected approximately $250 billion in spending cuts from the Republican bill, giving GOP leaders a huge task in finding new ways to offset the cost of Trump's tax cuts. The White House on Thursday dug in on the July 4 deadline, saying the president expects to have the legislation finished and on his desk for a signature despite the rulings from the Senate parliamentarian. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said the parliamentarian's ruling against a key spending cut in the bill is going to be a major problem for Senate conservatives. 'I don't anticipate now us voting on the motion to proceed tomorrow. I think my colleagues who view the bill more as a spending reduction bill than an extend-the-tax-cuts bill are probably going to be screaming like they're part of a prison riot because this substantially reduces savings,' he said. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had hoped to hold a vote today to start debate on the bill, but several Republicans said the initial vote may be pushed to Saturday. Thune reportedly met with Trump on Thursday at the White House, saying the pair discussed a 'number of issues' tied to the bill and the president insisted on having the bill passed by the Senate, and then again the House, by Independence Day. ▪ The Hill: Senate parliamentarian's no-go list: 15 pieces struck from Trump's megabill. ▪ The Wall Street Journal: Who is the parliamentarian and what is her power in the Senate? ▪ The Hill: Trump economic advisor warns of recession if 'big, beautiful bill' is delayed MacDonough advised Thursday that major pieces of the GOP megabill's Medicaid policy can't pass with a simple majority. Much of the savings in the bill come from Medicaid cuts, and the ruling impacts several of the largest and most controversial ones, including a plan to slash states' use of health care provider taxes as well as several measures related to health care for immigrants. Thune told reporters his leadership team has 'contingency plans' to keep the bill moving forward, even though the key piece may now fall out of the bill. 'We have contingency plans, plan B, plan C,' he said as he walked into a Republican lunch meeting. Senators will need to rewrite the provision to satisfy the complex legislative rules that will allow them to bypass the filibuster and advance their bill on a party-line vote — or scrap it altogether and find another way to earn the savings. Republicans had already been struggling to reach a consensus on the provider tax provision, as GOP senators including Josh Hawley (Mo.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Jerry Moran (Kan.) said they were worried about the impact it would have on rural hospitals. 'We have no idea what's going to happen here, we got to work on some kind of a fix,' Hawley said. 'Hopefully their fix will involve protecting rural hospitals.' ▪ The Hill: House GOP hard-liners fume at Senate parliamentarian's Medicaid rulings. ▪ The New York Times: MacDonough has not yet ruled on all parts of the bill. The tax changes at the centerpiece of Trump's agenda are still under review. ▪ The Hill: These House Republicans are a 'no' on the Senate megabill amid a public land sales push. Thune said Thursday the Senate would not move to overrule the parliamentarian even as multiple conservative Republicans called on the Senate to sideline MacDonough. Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) called for MacDonough's removal. 'No, that would not be a good option for getting a bill done,' Thune told reporters at the Capitol. Other senators said they would find a way to move forward without taking drastic action. 'We're doing the usual process of trying to figure out how to achieve the same goal without having to go there,' said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who added he still expected to vote on the megabill before next week. With the megabill's timing and content up in the air, Kennedy questioned whether Republican lawmakers would stay in town if there's no certain timeline for voting. 'I'm prepared to stay the whole week but as a practical matter a lot of people are running for an election, a lot of people have plans. One of John's challenges is going to be … keeping people here,' he said of Thune. 'People say, 'Well, when you're ready, call me. I'm going home.'' SMART TAKE with BLAKE BURMAN One of the biggest questions in Washington is if Republicans can pass the 'one, big beautiful bill' before July 4, which President Trump wants. I asked White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran if the real deadline is actually later in the year when the debt ceiling needs to be raised. 'If you push out the deadline, the economy, markets, companies, CEOs, start to wonder, 'Are you really going to do it? Are you going to get it passed?'' Miran told me. 'If that confidence starts to ebb, that will seep into the economy.' That will be part of a White House push to congressional Republicans to get the bill done and soon, even though the Senate parliamentarian just made the July 4 timeframe more challenging for them. Burman hosts 'The Hill' weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. SUPREME COURT: For months, suspense has been building about how nine justices would rule on Trump's novel executive push to revise birthright citizenship, as spelled out in the Constitution. On this blockbuster day of final opinions for the term, the question appears to have shifted to whether federal judges can block a president's authority nationwide. It's a pending ruling with potentially far-reaching sway over the power of federal judges. Trump issued his birthright citizenship executive order in January, seeking to restrict citizenship for children born on U.S. soil who don't have at least one parent with permanent legal status. The order was challenged immediately. On the penultimate day of Supreme Court opinions, justices ruled 6 to 3 Thursday that states can deny Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, which could effectively defund its operations in many parts of the country. The conservative majority on the high court ruled that Planned Parenthood and one of its patients may not sue South Carolina to challenge its effort to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood, reasoning that the relevant federal statute does not authorize such lawsuits. The question for the justices was whether Medicaid beneficiaries may sue to receive services under a law that lets them choose any qualified provider. Planned Parenthood serves clients with reproductive health care services in addition to abortion. In other legal news, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a third country not including El Salvador. The Maryland resident, who the administration has alleged to be a member of the MS-13 gang, was sent to a megaprison in El Salvador earlier this year despite an existing court order. He was brought back to the U.S. and charged by the Justice Department this month. ▪ The Associated Press: A federal judge ordered the Labor Department to keep the Job Corps operating while a lawsuit plays out. EMPIRE STATE POLITICS: 👉The Hill's Julia Manchester scooped that Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) plans to run for governor next year in what may be a crowded competition to try to defeat Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who is seeking reelection. Stefanik for months has used her role in the House to criticize New York leadership coming out of Albany. Also in New York, mayoral candidate and political juggernaut Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who knocked former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) out of contention on Tuesday, is now a political weapon for Republicans, including Trump. Eager to target vulnerable Democrats as extremists heading into 2026, some Republicans are using Mamdani's Muslim faith and policy positions against him and arguing he should be ejected from the United States. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) turned to social media platform X to flag a letter he wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi urging the administration to deport 'Zohran 'little muhammad' Mamdani' as 'an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. … I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings.' Mamdani, during a CNN interview Thursday, detailed how he proposes to pay for his New York affordability proposals — which he calls 'Trump-proofing' the city — to freeze rents, launch a pilot program to put city-run grocery stores in the boroughs, raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, cover universal child care and make bus rides free. IRAN'S NUCLEAR PAST AND FUTURE: Senators on Thursday split along party lines following a classified briefing about the impact of U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, The Hill's Al Weaver and Rebecca Beitsch report. Many cautioned the impact of the bombings could fall short of the 'obliteration' Trump has described, sparking questions about the future. The administration says it remains 'on a diplomatic path with Iran' through special envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump on Wednesday said the U.S. would talk with Iran next week but suggested he did not believe a formal diplomatic accord would be necessary. CNN reports the administration has discussed the possibility of helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program, easing sanctions and freeing up billions of dollars in restricted Iranian funds as options to try to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed senators Thursday about its intelligence assessments. The president's team today will repeat their classified presentation for all House members. The briefers repeated that the U.S. bombings at three Iranian nuclear facilities were successful in damaging Iran's nuclear program, according to senators from both parties. 'Certainly, this mission was successful insofar as it extensively destroyed and perhaps severely damaged and set back the Iranian nuclear arms program,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). 'But how long and how much really remains to be determined by the intelligence community itself,' he added. Some Democrats said Trump's team sidestepped questions or, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) put it, raised more questions during the discussion than were answered. He said he would press the Trump team for additional information. Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said the U.S. bombings resulted in 'catastrophic damage to Iran's nuclear program,' adding, 'That's not to say they won't reconstitute it at some time.' The senator, speaking to reporters, broadened the focus to include the combined strikes by Israel and the United States over 12 days, referring to the assassinations of some Iranian nuclear scientists and the targeting of Iranian infrastructure such as centrifuges manufactured for its nuclear program. 'We've had an extraordinary success,' he added. Asked if he knew the whereabouts of Iran's near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, Cotton declined to comment. 'It was not part of the mission to destroy all their enriched uranium or to seize it, or anything else,' he said. 'It's not a 'Mission Impossible' movie.' Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the damage to Iran's program by U.S. and Israeli military strikes is clear, but that in his view, the setback for Tehran amounts to 'a handful of months' rather than the obliteration Trump claims. 'I just do not think the president was telling the truth,' he added. A NEW NUCLEAR DEAL? Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a physicist who helped negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 as part of former President Obama's Cabinet, this week said if the ceasefire holds between Israel and Iran, the U.S. could shift to discussing a future nuclear program. 'I would argue that there may be really an opportunity to think about a regional initiative, including the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Iranians, to have a kind of a unified approach to the development of nuclear power,' he said during a Q&A with WBUR. ▪ Bloomberg's 'Big Take' podcast with Moniz: 'It's time' for a new nuclear deal. ▪ The Washington Post: New questions about Iran's leader — and a successor. ▪ The Hill: Trump's messaging playbook amid a 12-day war and its aftermath puts news outlets on the back foot. UKRAINE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky formally approved plans to set up a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine — targeting senior leaders for the 'crime of aggression' underpinning Moscow's war crimes. The special tribunal will be created through an agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights body. Zelensky visited the Strasbourg-based organization as part of the announcement. Existing international courts, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague, lack jurisdiction to prosecute Russian nationals for that specific offense. ▪ The Moscow Times: U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy is leaving her post after two and a half years in Moscow. The Trump administration has not announced her replacement. ▪ The New York Times: Why Ukraine fell down the agenda at the NATO summit. ▪ The Washington Post: With no end to the war in sight, Ukraine's economy teeters on the edge. GAZA: Israel stopped aid from entering northern Gaza but is still allowing it to enter from the south, claiming Hamas was stealing the supplies. The announcement came after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks who Gazan clan leaders said were protecting aid, not Hamas stealing it. Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month near aid hubs set up under a new Israel-backed system, according to Gaza health officials. ▪ The Washington Post: The ceasefire in Iran has given rise to new calls for a deal to end the Gaza war. And finally … 👏👏👏 Congratulations to this week's Morning Report Quiz winners who delivered four correct puzzle answers tied to seasonal hazards. ☀️ Here's who triumphed by guessing or Googling details about summertime risks: Richard E. Baznik, Lynn Gardner, Michael McGinnis, Sari Wisch, Harry Strulovici, Jess Elger, Stan Wasser, Robert Bradley, Laura Rettaliata, Ned Sauthhoff, William D. Moore, Joe Atchue, Jenessa Wagner, John van Santen, Patrick Clark, Steve James, Savannah Petracca, Jose Ramos, Carmine Petracca, Pam Manges and Linda L. Field. They knew that Africanized honeybees, known as 'killer bees,' appeared in U.S. headlines this week because a man mowing his property died after a killer bee attack, bees spooked by a lawn mower swarmed and killed three horses, and 13 states report the presence of killer bees, which are spreading north. The answer we looked for was 'all of the above.' This year's abundance in New York state of summertime blood-sucking, potentially Lyme disease-carrying ticks has been blamed by experts on a 2023 bumper crop of acorns. With the recent anniversary of the 1975 film 'Jaws,' the news media this month pointed to stats in Florida, home to a beach (in New Smyrna) known as the 'shark bite capital of the world.' Mosquitoes are swarming in states' news headlines because of updated lab evidence that the biting pests are carrying West Nile virus. Thanks for reading! Check out other newsletters from The Hill here. See you next time.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Climate
- Otago Daily Times
Evacuations ordered as heavy rain lashes top of South Island
Hydrology teams have been working through the night to monitor Marlborough's Wairau River, because of fears a small town could be flooded. A state of emergency is in place for the area around the town of Spring Creek, and people in about 60 homes must evacuate by 9am today. Emergency management controller Richard MacNamara told Morning Report a floodbank damaged by the Kaikōura earthquake may not hold as the river's level rises in heavy rain. But he said the latest modelling from the MetService from around 11pm last night was showing a lessening of the rainfall, which meant the flow in the river would be less. "Currently our own hydrologist are talking around 3000 cumecs, the biggest flood we've had here in recent years has been around 6000," he said. "But the hydrologists are concerned if we get anything over 4000 and rising then that stopbank beside the township of Spring Creek will come under threat." At this stage the evacuations are still going ahead, but further decisions will be made once it's daylight and the latest information becomes available from MetService and hydrologists, he said. Emergency management has people on the ground at the moment to ensure that the 60 households which are under a compulsory evacuation order are moving, he said. "We've got the support of our local iwi with the marae being opened up, we've got support from Base Woodbourne, NZDF have been fantastic in having some support crews having unimogs etc available if we need them." But at this stage the Wairau River bank was still holding, he said. "It's starting to suggest that we may not reach those threatening levels - which is a good thing." The peak problem was likely to be somewhere between midday and mid-afternoon, he said. There is surface flooding in town and in the urban districts, as well as on State Highway 63 and various feeder roads coming into Blenheim, he said. The damage to the stopbanks occurred during the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, but it didn't come to light until floods in 2021, he said. "The council has secured funding with the government to secure funding for that." In the meantime the left bank of the river has been opened up to allow flood waters to flow out, but it still leaves townships on the right bank vulnerable, he said. "It's a big job with over 1km of stopbank and they've got to dig it all the way out, so they need the right conditions, they need the right gear, they need sufficient funding to do that job. That's all in place, but in the meantime we still have to deal with this constant threat to that community."
Scoop
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
New Law To Give Victims Final Say Over Sex Offenders' Name Suppressions
Parliament has unanimously passed legislation that will ensure the courts cannot issue a permanent name suppression order for an adult convicted of a sexual offence, unless the victim agrees to it. The Victims of Sexual Violence Bill had its third reading late on Wednesday night. It also amends the law so that children under the age of 12 will not be able to be questioned about whether they consented to sex. The Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said this made it crystal clear children could not consent to abuse. New Zealand was now moving into line with many other countries in outlawing it. "It was well overdue and needed to be done." The law further closes what Goldsmith said was a legislative gap, by ensuring the victims of all sexual crimes, including intimate visual recordings offences, were automatically given name suppression. "These changes will help ensure victims of sexual violence and their needs are returned to the heart of the justice system. We've been clear from day one that victims are our priority as we work to restore law and order," Goldsmith said in a media release. He said at present victims' views on suppression only had to be taken into account by the courts. Long battles over name suppression retraumatised victims, as did the inability to discuss what happened to them and to warn others. Goldsmith told Morning Report he was concerned about people who had gone through the court process and then found there was a permanent name suppression for an offender and there was no opportunity to talk about their experience and most importantly, warn others. "We're talking about people who have been convicted of sexual crimes and they need to be named and held to account." While the legal profession had expressed some concern around reducing the powers of judges, he said it was a significant change focused on the needs of victims and a chance to do things differently. Police Minister Mark Mitchell spoke on behalf of the Justice Minister during the third reading. "It is abhorrent that the law allows questions about whether children enjoyed or agreed to sexual activity. We're fixing that. "It is unconscionable that victims feel silenced by our laws especially when they've braved the scrutiny of the court process to prove their case. We're fixing that too." Mitchell said victims had been clear that name suppression settings had disempowered victims, prevented them from speaking out about their experiences and warning others. New Zealanders also believed the way children were questioned in court was unacceptable, Mitchell said. MP Kahurangi Carter spoke in favour of the bill on behalf of the Green Party. "I know that we all feel this really heavily for victims under 12. It seems so obvious. "I'm glad today we're bringing our legislation, our laws into line with what is right." Goldsmith recognised some victims would not want to make the decision about name suppression themselves. In those cases, the decision would rest with the courts. He believed the changes would assist in ensuring 20,000 fewer victims of violent crime by 2029. While the bill was passed unanimously, there were no Te Pāti Māori MPs in the House at the time.
