Black Friday NH News Briefs
Shovels and snowblowers will be hard at work today as Granite State residents clean up from an early season winter storm. Snow and rain moved through the state yesterday, and a few communities saw multiple inches of precipitation. Roads ended up being covered, triggering more than 150 crashes, but there were no serious injuries reported. State Police are urging drivers to take it easy while traveling today since conditions could still be icy.
Applications are going to start being accepted Sunday for people who want help keeping their homes warm this winter. The state’s getting about 29-million-dollars in funding that’ll be distributed to low-income individuals and seniors so they can pay their utility bills. Last year, over 28-thousand people received assistance and the average benefit was about 12-hundred bucks. More details can be found online at energy.nh.gov.
Drivers pulled over by state troopers anywhere on I-95 in New Hampshire between Seabrook and Portsmouth will be ticketed. The goal is to get impaired and distracted drivers off the road this long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Governor Chris Sununu said there will be zero tolerance. State Police in Maine and Massachusetts will also have increased holiday patrols through the weekend.
A 57-year-old inmate who escaped from Exeter Hospital Wednesday morning is back in custody. John Pownall was under a court order to remain at the hospital until medically able to go back to the Rockingham County Jail. Authorities said 36-year-old Ashley Gustafson helped Pownall escape. They were both arrested Wednesday night in Dover.
