A fan favorite, Phil Sletten (Research Director at New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute), is back! Liz and Phil talk about what even are property taxes? Who actually pays them? Why is New Hampshire so dang reliant on them? And is there ANYONE who can do ANYTHING about them? Spoiler alert: yep.

But first! A flashback to the Interest and Dividends Tax discussion from last summer's episode. Because context.

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Links:

• Property Taxes in New Hampshire: How They Work and How They Compare (NHFPI report)
• Could NH eliminate the property tax? Some lawmakers want businesses to foot the state’s bills. (Concord Monitor)
• New Hampshire lost a fortune with a tax repeal, but I bet the wealthy spent it on lots of cool stuff (NH Bulletin)
• The Impact of State Downshifting on Local Property Tax Burdens in New Hampshire (2015–2025) (New Hampshire Municipal Association)
• October Revenues Set Back by Interest and Dividends Tax Repeal (NHFPI)
• NH DHHS slashes programs to meet $51M budget reduction mandate (NHPR)
• Concord School District grapples with $17 million budget shortfall (Concord Monitor)
• Results: Claremont voters reject school budget cap (Valley News)
• Hold on to your wallets, new property tax rates are in (Keene Sentinel)
• Some Rochester residents see dramatic rise in property tax bills (WMUR)
• Households with High Incomes Disproportionately Benefit from Interest and Dividends Tax Repeal (NHFPI)

Have an idea for an episode? Email Liz

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New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!

Hop in a canoe and join Liz and Adrienne Lennon as they talk about what is and is not ... water, actually.

We always talk about New Hampshire's issues, but as a special treat, this episode features how one of New Hampshire's issues paved the way for federal law: the Clean Water Act. What is the Clean Water Act? What was supposed to happen with pollutants by the mid 1980s? Did we do it?

Is anyone coming to save us? Turns out, not even Batman...

Previous episode referenced: Towns, Property Taxes, and a Street Sweeper (maybe) with Niko Papakonstantis

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Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email Liz: newhampshirehasissues@gmail.com

Links:

• Summary of the Clean Water Act (EPA)
• Water Quality Standards Regulations: New Hampshire (EPA)
• Environmental Challenges for the Merrimack River (EPA)
• NHDES PFAS Response Website
• NHPR Presents: Safe to Drink
• Legislation to protect parts of Nashua River (Nashua Telegraph)

Support the show

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!

This episode might not be what you expect: yes, Liz talks with Christina and Pat from AARP New Hampshire about seniors, but the issues they face (housing! broadband! transportation! the terrifying and rapid evolution of technology!) apply to everyone. Come for the potential discounted trips to Europe, stay for the three critical tips on how not to fall for cryptocurrency scams.

Whether you're 50 plus or 50 minus, this episode is for you.

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Have an idea for an episode? Email Liz: newhampshirehasissues@gmail.com

Links:

• AARP New Hampshire
• AgeWellNH and New Hampshire Commission on Aging
• Fraud Watch Network
• Community Challenge Grants
• Small homes, big impact: Bringing back an American tradition as a NH housing solution (written by Christina!)
• Opinion: Crypto ATM scams are surging — NH can’t afford to ignore them (written by Pat!)
• NH Senate bill aims to protect Granite Staters from cryptocurrency scams (WMUR)

Previous episodes referenced: "Where have all the (affordable) houses gone? with Nick Taylor" and "Community, Care, Compassion (and CrossFit) with Meg Trombley."

Support the show

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!

What exactly happens at a New Hampshire town meeting? Hopkinton Town Moderator Sara Persechino breaks down how town meeting (day? night?) works, what a moderator does, and why local democracy matters.

Liz regrets not making the joke, "it's like 10,000 brooms when all you need is a street sweeper." The show notes will have to do.

New episodes on Tuesdays.

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Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email Liz: newhampshirehasissues@gmail.com

This episode pairs well with these previous episodes: "Towns, Property Taxes, and a Street Sweeper (maybe) with Niko Papakonstantis" and "Voting with McKenzie Taylor"

Links:

• New Hampshire Campaign for Voting Rights
• Check your voter registration status (NH Secretary of State)
• Do you want to vote but are confused about town meeting? Here’s how it works (Concord Monitor)
• Deliberative sessions, SB2 and more: Your guide to New Hampshire town meetings (NHPR)
• Town meeting or ballot vote? In typical New Hampshire fashion, it depends on the community (Granite State News Collaborative)
• Hopkinton 2026 Town Meeting Information
• New Hampshire Town Meeting Guide: A Voter's Guide (NH Secretary of State)
• Australian Ballot (Brittanica)

Support the show

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!

Holy smokes, everything feels pretty dang stressful right now. How do we take care of ourselves?

This is *not* a commercial for CrossFit, but it IS a conversation with the Head Coach of Dauntless Academy, Meg Trombley, about how she supports members of the gym (like Liz!) in showing up for themselves and one another.

Liz and Meg talk about being athletes and not athletes in their younger years, how one comment made to a teenager can affect their trajectory, and, well...aging.

This episode was recorded 45 minutes after Liz worked out. Can you tell?

Links:

• Dauntless Academy (come work out with Liz??)
• Tickets to Granite Goodness: LIVE! Local Podcasters Night - Friday, 2/20 at 3S Artspace.
• Become a monthly subscriber of NH Has Issues through Patreon
• Idea for an episode?

Support the show

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!

Maybe we shouldn't bring back polio? Question mark?

Liz talks with Rep. David Nagel (a physician! a Republican!) about vaccines, public health, and why he is no longer on a New Hampshire House standing committee. Spoiler alert: not his choice.

This episode was recorded on December 22, 2025. Pairs well with the Medicaid: It's Health Insurance! episode with Kristine Stoddard.

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Links:

• Nagel says choosing principles over party got him booted from health committee (The Laconia Daily Sun)
• GOP House member says party leaders tried to intimidate him before booting him off committee (NH Bulletin)
• House Health and Human Services Committee advances bill to repeal NH Vaccine Association (WMUR)
• Hearing scheduled for bill that would end mandatory school vaccinations in New Hampshire (Concord Monitor)
• Lawmaker wants to end hepatitis B vaccine requirement to align NH with Kennedy’s CDC (NH Bulletin)
• Reps. Sherman Packard & Alexis Simpson: Holocaust denialism has no place in the NH Legislature (Union Leader)
• Following leaked messages, House Republican education chair says she favors politically segregated schools (Concord Monitor)
• Op-Eds about the NH Vaccine Association

Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email Liz: newhampshirehasissues@gmail.com

Support the show

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!

This is all Liz can think about right now. Maybe you feel the same. Liz talks with Al, a former Granite Stater who now lives in Minneapolis.

Looking for places to donate? Here are some recommendations from Granite Staters and Mainers:

• Maine Needs
• Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project Maine
• NH UCC Immigrant and Refugee Support
• New Hampshire Legal Assistance
• Black Lives Matter NH Mutual Aid Fund

Links:

• Merrimack leaders say they oppose ICE facility in letter to state, federal officials (NHPR)
• Dover activist leads effort to help local immigrants facing ICE fears (Seacoast Online)
• How we try to separate fact from fiction when reporting on ICE activity in New Hampshire (NHPR)
• CNN video analysis sheds new light on killing of Alex Pretti (CNN)
• Detention of 5-Year-Old by Federal Agents Incenses Minneapolis (NY Times)

Support the show

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!

What 1,000 facts do we need to know to figure out why health care costs so much?

Liz asks Sabrina (Brinie) Dunlap who should be blamed for the cost of health care. The answer is complicated.

This episode was recorded on November 4, 2025. Pairs well with the Medicaid: It's Health Insurance! episode with Kristine Stoddard.

• Glossary of Health Coverage and Medical Terms (HealthCare.gov)
• Risk Pooling: How Health Insurance in the Individual Market Works (American Academy of Actuaries)
• Ask an Expert: Enhanced Premium Tax Credit (PTC) Expiration (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
• 1.4 million fewer people enrolled in ACA plans as premiums spike, tax credits expire (ABC News)
• Higher Premium Payments or Higher Deductibles: The Tradeoffs ACA Enrollees Face (Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker)
• Labor and Delivery Unit Closures in Rural New Hampshire (Urban Institute)
• Critical Condition: How Medicaid Cuts Would Reshape Rural Health Care Landscapes (National Rural Health Association)
• In the News: Labor and delivery units face uncertainty after federal cuts (Monadnock Community Hospital)

Support the show

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!