In the News
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) introduced legislation on Monday that would prohibit all U.S. federal courts from allowing use of the LGBTQ panic defense, a legal tactic that has been banned in 16 states and D.C.
In criminal trials involving violent crimes against LGBTQ people, the so-called “gay panic,” “trans-panic,” or more broadly, “LGBTQ panic” defense is raised to argue for more lenient sentencing or otherwise in an attempt to lessen the defendant’s culpability in the eyes of a judge or jury.
Amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the country, Congressional Democrats have reintroduced the Equality Act.
The bill would update existing federal civil rights legislation to explicitly ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in a number of areas, including employment, education, access to credit, housing, and public accommodations.
At a Wednesday news conference, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) (one of the bill’s lead sponsors) noted the timing of the Equality Act’s reintroduction.
Veterans will get a cost-of-living boost on their benefit payments next year equal to the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment now that President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill into law Wednesday requiring the raise.
Dignitaries took to Market Square Thursday to commemorate the start of Pride Month in June, honoring the LGBTQ+ community and the 1969 Stonewall riots, and raising a rainbow flag to embrace diversity and acceptance.
Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern raised up a Pride flag as a crowd of LGBTQ+ advocates, elected officials and community members assembled, many dressed in vibrant colored clothing to welcome in Pride Month.
U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-New Hampshire and state Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, were among those in attendance.
On Tuesday, U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and U.S.
Permanently placing all fentanyl analogs on the federal drug schedule would help law enforcement deal with growing opioid deaths in New Hampshire, according to Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H.
The U.S. House approved the Halt Fentanyl Act late last week on a bipartisan vote of 289-133.
A federal grant of $400,000 is directed to New Hampshire manufacturers to help them build a supply chain that relies more on local and national suppliers and less on foreigners companies.
The grant will be administered by the NH Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NHMEP), which its president, Zenagui Brahim, described as a nonprofit organization with a mandate “to work with small and medium-sized manufacturers that need assistance in any way. The purpose behind that is to keep businesses here and to keep jobs in the United States.”
U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) joined Representatives Annie Kuster (D-NH-02) and Chris Pappas (D-NH-01) to applaud $3 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) headed to expand the nursing program at Elliot Hospital in Manchester.
Congressman Chris Pappas has introduced federal legislation that would spare future PFAS rebate recipients across the country from what his constituents in New Hampshire experienced this tax season.
Congressional lawmakers are calling for more federal funding to fix aging outfalls that spew sewage into the Merrimack River and other waterways.
In a letter to legislative budget writers, Massachusetts Reps. Lori Trahan and Seth Moulton joined New Hampshire Reps. Chris Pappas and Ann Kuster in calling for $280 million for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program.