Latest news with #NewHampshire
CBS News
5 hours ago
- Health
- CBS News
19-year-old suffers broken neck after diving into wave at Hampton Beach
A young man was seriously injured after an accident while swimming at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. Aiden Sloan, 19, is hospitalized in Boston after breaking his neck on a sand bar. The recovery has been devastating for Aiden and his mother, who says this could have happened to anyone. "This morning, I came in and I woke him up with a forehead rub like I usually do. He said 'good morning, Mom. What do you got in that bag?' I said, 'it's a chocolate chip muffin.' He said, 'I'd like a bite of that,'" said Melina Burton smiling, of her son in his hospital bed at Mass General. That simple request meant the world to Burton, who for days, has been desperate to do anything for her son Aiden: feed him, help him, make him smile. Aiden Sloan suffered a broken neck after diving into a wave at Hampton Beach. CBS Boston "He has fractures in his neck, his spine is bruised. He had a concussion. They've got his neck stabilized. Not being able to move his legs and his hands. It's getting to him," the mother explained. Everything changed on Monday, when the 19-year-old jumped in to cool off at Hampton Beach. "He went to the beach with his cousins. They were up to their mid-thigh. He went to dive through a wave and there was a sandbar on the other side of it. He hit it head on," she said. Overwhelmed by generosity After being flown to surgery at MGH in Boston, this mother and son family is bracing for the journey ahead at Spaulding Rehab. Burton said her passionate cook is overwhelmed by generosity from his restaurant friends and New Hampshire neighbors. "We set the goal for $8,000. Never in a million years did I think we'd be at $30,000 which is absolutely amazing and so overwhelming. I tell Aiden and he's like 'shoot I didn't know that many people liked me!'" That part, she understands. Nobody likes Aiden - loves Aiden - more than her. "Being his mom has been my greatest accomplishment," she said. "He is my everything. And I just need him to be OK."
The Independent
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
New Hampshire lawsuit seeks to stop politicization of youth center abuse victims' fund
Lawyers representing hundreds of men and woman who claim they were abused at New Hampshire's youth detention center filed a class action lawsuit Friday seeking to prevent the independent administrator of the state's settlement fund for victims from being replaced with a political appointee. Lawmakers created the settlement fund in 2022, pitching it as a 'victim-centered' and 'trauma-informed' alternative to litigation that would be run by a neutral administrator appointed by the state Supreme Court. But the Republican-led Legislature changed that process through last-minute additions to the state budget approved Thursday and signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte on Friday. Under the new provisions taking effect July 1, the governor will have the authority to hire and fire the fund's administrator, and the attorney general — also a political appointee — would have veto power over settlement awards. In affidavits filed with their complaint, the lead plaintiffs said the change amounts to a bait and switch that reignited the skepticism they initially felt about the settlement process but tried to put aside. 'I never would have shared the full story of what happened to me if I did not think I would be heard by someone impartial,' said a woman identified only as Jane Doe, who said she ran away from home to escape sexual abuse only to be further abused in state custody. 'I feel incredibly betrayed by the state's actions, but this is just the latest in a long list of betrayals by the state, so maybe I should not be surprised,' she said. 'This also makes me wonder whether the state will next betray the promise of confidentiality, because it seems like their word does not mean anything to them.' Another plaintiff, Andrew Foley, described being diagnosed with PTSD, not from his time as a combat soldier in Iraq but from the physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child. 'As I understand it, the State will now decide for itself how much my claim is worth. That is the opposite of a fair process,' his affidavit said. 'As I always believed, the state cannot be trusted.' Neither Ayotte nor Attorney General John Formella responded to requests for comment Friday. More than 1,300 people have sued since 2020 alleging that they were physically or sexually abused in state custody as children, most of them at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Only one case has gone to trial, resulting in a $38 million verdict, though the state is trying to slash it to $475,000. Two other cases have been settled for $10 million and $4.5 million. The state also has brought criminal charges against former workers, with two convictions and two mistrials so far. Many of the alleged victims put their lawsuits on hold and applied to the settlement fund, which caps payouts at $2.5 million. As of March 31, 296 cases had been settled, with an average award of $543,000, according to the most recently available statistics. The lawsuit filed Friday seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent the governor from firing the current administrator, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Man flown to Boston hospital after fiery crash on I-93 in New Hampshire
A man was flown to a Boston hospital with serious injuries after he was pulled from a burning car on Interstate 93 in New Hampshire late Thursday night, officials announced Friday. Troopers responding to a report of a car that had crashed into a tree on the southbound side of the highway in Londonderry around 11:15 p.m. found good Samaritans trying to pull a man out of a Mazda 3, which was engulfed in flames, according to New Hampshire State Police. Law enforcement took charge of the scene and successfully helped the driver to safety. The driver, identified as 27-year-old Georgios Nicolopoulos, of Windham, was taken to a local hospital before being flown to Boston for additional treatment. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Anyone who witnessed the crash or who has information is asked to contact Trooper Shane Mason at Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Fox News
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
ACLU sues Trump over birthright order as Supreme Court clears path for it to take effect
Hours after the Supreme Court delivered the Trump administration a major victory Friday by ruling lower courts may issue nationwide injunctions only in limited instances, a coalition of liberal legal groups filed a sweeping new class-action lawsuit in New Hampshire federal court. It takes aim at President Donald Trump's January executive order that redefines who qualifies for U.S. citizenship at birth. While the justices' 6-3 ruling leaves open the question of how the ruling will apply to the birthright citizenship order at the heart of the case, Friday's lawsuit accuses the administration of violating the Constitution by denying citizenship to children born on U.S. soil if their mothers are either unlawfully present or temporarily in the country and their fathers are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of New Hampshire, ACLU of Maine, ACLU of Massachusetts, Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus and Democracy Defenders Fund. It seeks to represent a proposed class of children born under the terms of the executive order and their parents. It is not the first legal challenge to the policy. The same group filed a separate suit in January 2025 in the same court on behalf of advocacy organizations with members expecting children who would be denied citizenship under the order. That case led to a ruling protecting members of those groups and is now pending before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, with oral arguments scheduled for Aug. 1. Friday's SCOTUS ruling states that lower courts can no longer block federal policies nationwide unless it's absolutely necessary to give full relief to the people suing. The decision does not say whether Trump's birthright citizenship order is legal, but it means the order could take effect in parts of the country while legal challenges continue. The court gave lower courts 30 days to review their existing rulings. "The applications do not raise — and thus we do not address — the question whether the Executive Order violates the Citizenship Clause or Nationality Act," Justice Amy Coney Barrett said, writing for the majority. "The issue before us is one of remedy: whether, under the Judiciary Act of 1789, federal courts have equitable authority to issue universal injunctions." "A universal injunction can be justified only as an exercise of equitable authority, yet Congress has granted federal courts no such power," she added. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her dissent, suggested plaintiffs could pursue class actions as an alternative. "Nevertheless, the parents of children covered by the Citizenship Order would be well advised to file promptly class action suits and to request temporary injunctive relief for the putative class pending class certification," Sotomayor wrote. "For suits challenging policies as blatantly unlawful and harmful as the Citizenship Order, moreover, lower courts would be wise to act swiftly on such requests for relief and to adjudicate the cases as quickly as they can so as to enable this Court's prompt review." The ACLU lawsuit calls birthright citizenship "America's most fundamental promise" and claims the executive order threatens to create "a permanent, multigenerational subclass" of children denied legal recognition. "The Supreme Court's decision did not remotely suggest otherwise, and we are fighting to make sure President Trump cannot trample on the citizenship rights of a single child," said Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project and lead attorney in the case. "This executive order directly opposes our Constitution, values, and history," added Devon Chaffee, executive director of the ACLU of New Hampshire. "No politician can ever decide who among those born in our country is worthy of citizenship." The lawsuit cites the 14th Amendment, which provides that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens." It also references the Supreme Court's 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which affirmed birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of noncitizens. The plaintiffs include individuals from Honduras, Taiwan and Brazil. One mother in New Hampshire is expecting her fourth child and fears the baby will be denied citizenship despite being born in the U.S. The case is Barbara et al. v. Trump et al., No. 1:25-cv-244, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire. "Trump's executive order directly opposes our Constitution, values, and history and it would create a permanent, multigenerational subclass of people born in the U.S. but who are denied full rights," said SangYeob Kim of the ACLU of New Hampshire in January. "Today's historic decision delivers a decisive rejection of the weaponized lawfare President Trump has endured from leftist activist judges who attempted to deny the president his constitutional authority," White House spokesperson Liz Huston wrote to Fox News Digital. "President Trump will continue to implement his America First agenda, and the Trump Administration looks forward to litigating the merits of the birthright citizenship issue to ensure we secure our borders and Make America Safe Again."
CBS News
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- CBS News
Mandatory annual car inspections to be eliminated in New Hampshire with new law
Lawmakers in New Hampshire have voted to eliminate mandatory yearly car inspections in the state. The bill now heads to Gov. Kelly Ayotte. who is expected to sign it into law. Those who were favor of the bill said inspections are costly for people and drivers should determine when their car needs to be seen by a technician. Deputy Speaker of the House Steven Smith, who spoke with WBZ-TV on the matter in April, said there's no real evidence that inspections are making the roads any safer. Instead, he believes the inspections are nothing more than a money grab for inspection station owners and the state, as drivers get caught paying for repairs that have nothing to do with safety. "We have all these other states where everybody didn't die when they got rid of their inspection provisions," Smith told WBZ-TV at the time. Some mechanics and the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers' Association were against the bill, saying car inspections save lives. The plan would be for police to keep an eye out for unsafe cars during their regular patrols but New Hampshire State Troopers have also testified against the bill saying they're already stretched too thin to also be looking for things an inspection would normally catch. Only 14 states require a safety inspection every year, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. There are only nine states that require statewide emissions testing. Some states only test emissions in the most congested counties. The law will go into effect in January 2026.
