Sept. 5: Rename Mount Washington?

As we all enjoy our Labor Day weekend, here are some news bits from the week.

The White House decision to rename Alaska’s majestic Mount McKinley as Denali precipitated discussion here about renaming Mount Washington. To what? Agiocochook.

According to the Concord Monitor, somebody has petitioned the White House electronically as part of the White House initiative “We the People.” The petition points out that George Washington owned 300 slaves, and said allowing “George Washington’s name on places is offensive to all U.S. residents of color.”  

It’s not likely that the petition will get very far. The entire Presidential Range of the White Mountains, after all, has Mount Washington at its centerpiece.

A superior court judge has ruled that portions of a body camera video showing a fatal shooting by police will be released. News organizations had sought the release of the video under the state’s right-to-know law. The estate of the victim, Hagen Esty-Lennon of Canterbury, had sought to block release citing privacy concerns. See a Union Leader story here.

As the state readies for medical marijuana dispensaries, local communities have been holding hearings on the siting not only of the dispensaries but on the cultivation centers that will grow the product.

There was a hearing on a proposed dispensary in Merrimack. See a WMUR story here. And a cultivation center is being considered in one of the old mill buildings in Rochester. See an NHPR story here.

One way that state officials hope to address the heroin addiction epidemic in the state is putting a tighter grip on how opioids are prescribed by doctors. Gov. Maggie Hassan this week called on the New Hampshire Board of Medicine to  adopt “stronger, more explicit and more up-to-date rules to prevent opioid abuse,” and asked that they appoint one board member to work with her office and the Department of Justice to take a harder look at opioid prescribing practices, according to a story in the Concord Monitor. See her complete statement here.

There were candlelight vigils and seminars this week on the addiction problem. Coverage of a rally in Manchester by NHPR is here.

This is a big weekend for the first-in-the-nation presidential campaign with both Republican and Democratic contenders making swings through the state.See a WMUR round-up here. A big event is Saturday, when U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen will endorse Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

It’s the first political endorsement by one of our U.S. senators. That Shaheen is endorsing Clinton isn’t a big surprise — the Shaheens and Clintons have been big supporters of each other for some time. The timing is interesting, as Clinton needs a lift because of the continuing negative publicity surrounding her emails as secretary of state and her falling polling numbers to Bernie Sanders. See a WMUR story here.

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