Lebanon NH -On February 8, 2019, Lebanon Police received a call from a local business regarding individuals in the parking lot who appeared to be engaged in drug activity.

Lebanon Officers conducted an investigation and identified the individuals as: Jordan Orcutt, age 25 of South Burlington, VT, Burke Kay, age 24 of Bolton, VT, and Ty Baker, age 21 of St. Albans, VT.

The investigation resulted in the arrests of the three males. Orcutt was charged with Possession of Methamphetamine, and Kay was charged with Possession of Cocaine, both Felony offenses. Baker was found to have stolen clothing from a local business and was charged with Receiving Stolen Property, a Misdemeanor, as well as being charged with Possession of Methamphetamine and Crack Cocaine, both Felony offenses.

All parties were released on bail and will be arraigned on February 25, 2019 in the Grafton County Superior Court.

Concord NH New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald, New Hampshire State Police Colonel Christopher J. Wagner, and Lebanon Police Chief Richard R. Mello announce that an investigation is currently ongoing into a suspicious death of an adult female in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The individual died yesterday at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center where the individual was receiving medical attention. An autopsy will be performed this afternoon by the New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. Information about the results and the deceased’s identity will be released as soon as possible.

There is no evidence to suggest that there is a threat to the general public. Additional information will be released as it becomes available.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Sergeant Matthew Amatucci of the New Hampshire State Major Crime Unit at (603) 419-8291.

New Hampshire’s 2019 moose hunt lottery is now open. Enter today for your chance on the adventure of a lifetime — hunting moose in the rugged woods of the Granite State. The lottery entrance fee is $15 for New Hampshire residents and $25 for nonresidents.

To enter the New Hampshire moose hunt lottery, visit www.huntnh.com/hunting/moose.html where you can enter online or print out a mail-in application. You can also pick up an application at any Fish and Game license agent, NH Fish and Game Headquarters, or Fish and Game Regional offices.

Moose hunt lottery applications for 2019 must be postmarked or submitted online by midnight Eastern Time on May 31, 2019, or delivered to the Licensing Office at NH Fish and Game Headquarters at 11 Hazen Drive in Concord before 4:00 p.m. that day. Winners will be selected through a computerized random drawing on June 21 at the NH Fish and Game Department in Concord.

Applicants can enter the moose hunt lottery once per year. A bonus-point system improves the chances for unsuccessful applicants who apply in each consecutive year. Each point translates to a chance in the drawing. For example, last year the overall odds of a resident applicant being drawn were 1 in 76, while resident applicants with a total of 15 points had a 1 in 34 chance of being drawn. For nonresidents, the odds increased from 1 in 359 overall to 1 in 164 for applicants with 15 points.

In 2018, 6,142 people entered the lottery for the chance to win one of 51 permits. More than 1,200 people continued to accrue bonus points because they submitted an application for a point only in order to not lose their accrued points. Hunters from six other states won permits in the lottery.

While people travel from all over the country to take part in the New Hampshire moose hunt, the majority of permits, about 85%, are awarded to New Hampshire residents. The number of permits available to nonresidents is capped, based on the prior year’s sales of nonresident hunting licenses.

The number of moose hunt permits that will be offered for this fall’s hunt has not yet been determined as harvest and survey data are currently under review according to Wildlife Programs Supervisor Kent Gustafson. If changes are proposed, final numbers will be determined later this spring.

“While permit numbers may change in 2019, your chance of being drawn and offered a permit in the lottery will be improved if you rank all wildlife management units on your application,” Gustafson noted. “You will have the option to decline a permit if drawn for a unit you prefer not to hunt.”

New Hampshire applicants should note that the NH Division of Motor Vehicles started a new driver’s license number format in 2017. As a result, New Hampshire driver’s license numbers will be changing over the course of the next five years. Bonus points are tracked via your driver’s license number. Please pay particular attention when completing your application, and if your license number has changed, indicate this on your application.

New Hampshire’s nine-day moose hunt starts on the third Saturday in October. This year’s hunt runs from October 19-27.

New Hampshire has had an annual moose hunt since 1988, when 75 permits were issued for a three-day hunt in the North Country. The state’s current moose population is estimated at about 3,000 animals. The availability of moose hunting permits is made possible by careful monitoring of moose populations. The resulting annual harvest of moose provides valuable information on the physical condition and productivity of moose and provides a unique recreational opportunity. Learn more about moose hunting in New Hampshire at www.huntnh.com/hunting/moose.html.

Joanne Conroy MD and Joe Pepe MD

Lebanon & Manchester, NH (January 24, 2019) – Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH) and GraniteOne Health (GOH) today announced that they have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to combine their two organizations to better serve the health care needs of New Hampshire residents and communities.  The combined non-profit health care system, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health GraniteOne, will build on years of successful community engagement and clinical collaboration in order to meet the growing demand for seamlessly integrated primary, specialty, ambulatory and inpatient care, offering patients a high-quality, lower-cost, New Hampshire-based alternative choice to out-of-state providers.

The non-binding LOI is the first step in a well-defined and lengthy process that involves further due diligence, opportunities for public input, negotiation of final terms, approval by each organization’s Board of Trustees and the Bishop of Manchester, and review by federal and state regulators.  As a combined system, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health GraniteOne will seek to:

• Expand access to high-quality care for individuals and families throughout New Hampshire
• Respond to growing demand for inpatient, specialty and sub-specialty services, particularly in southern New Hampshire
• Extend and reinforce health care services in rural communities
• Coordinate and strengthen efforts to address behavioral health and substance use disorder
• Improve the health of populations suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and obesity, leading to better long term health and lowering long term healthcare costs
• Address social determinants of health such as nutrition and food security, access to preventative care, and educational opportunity

“As the health care landscape continues to evolve, it is important for health care systems to evaluate how we can best serve our patients and communities, and prepare for the future so we can continue to provide the high level of care that people expect,” said Joanne M. Conroy, MD, CEO and President of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health.  “By combining these two top health care organizations, we would create a patient-focused, unique and unparalleled option for New Hampshire that is responsive to community needs and patients’ desire for cost-effective, high-quality care.”

“For 15 years, our two organizations have worked closely together to improve the lives and health of our patients and their families,” said Joseph Pepe, MD, CEO of GraniteOne Health. “We have complementary visions for what health care in New Hampshire could be.  Combining systems would allow us to advance that vision, expanding access to primary and specialty care for all New Hampshire residents, including vulnerable patients and communities.”

The combined system will transform health care delivery in New Hampshire.  Catholic Medical Center, one of the members of GraniteOne Health, will continue to adhere to its Catholic model of care while D-HH will continue to serve its patients as it does today in all its existing health care facilities. All organizations within the combined system would also keep their current names, identities, and local leadership.

“I am impressed with the deliberate discussions that have taken place thus far and I believe that this combined system would strengthen Catholic Medical Center’s ability to care for the suffering and sick in our community, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of its Catholic identity,” said the Most Reverend Peter Libasci, Bishop of Manchester.  Bishop Libasci and the National Catholic Bioethics Center are actively engaged in this process. According to Dr. Pepe, their participation ensures that “CMC’s Catholic identity will be preserved and our mission will be as strong as ever under the proposed combination.”

“We respect and admire CMC’s historical and unique role in the Greater Manchester community and its Catholic health care mission,” said Dr. Conroy.  “Health care is a deeply personal experience and it is important to assure all our patients that they will continue to receive the health care services they want and need, at the place and time they want them.  We look forward to a thorough and thoughtful process informed by public input so we can create the kind of health care system that the people of New Hampshire deserve.”

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health is a non-profit, regional academic health system that provides primary and specialty care to patients in New Hampshire and Vermont.  Anchored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire’s only academic medical center providing ambulatory and inpatient hospital services to the region’s most acutely ill patients, D-HH is home to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of 49 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the country, and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD), New Hampshire’s only children’s hospital.  GraniteOne Health is a non-profit, community-based health care system that offers coordinated care and access to specialists for patients across New Hampshire.  It includes Catholic Medical Center (CMC) in Manchester, with its nationally renowned New England Heart & Vascular Institute, which has offered leading-edge heart and vascular care at locations state-wide for more than 30 years, as well as Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro and Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough.

More information and updates about this combination can be found at www.ForAHealthierNH.org

Hartford VT –  Hartford Police are investigating the robbery of the Holiday Inn Express located along the 100 block of Ballardvale Drive early this morning.

Just after 3am, a white male, approximately 6-4” tall, wearing a dark colored hoodie with his face covered by a black bandanna approached the hotel clerk with a black handgun and demanded money. The clerk complied and the man fled the hotel on foot towards North Hartland Road with an undisclosed amount of cash.