{"id":27561,"date":"2026-10-31T07:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/?p=27561"},"modified":"2026-10-30T19:58:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T23:58:59","slug":"october-31-2026-new-england-news-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/?p=27561","title":{"rendered":"October 31, 2026 New England News Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 dir=\"ltr\" aria-level=\"5\">New Hampshire<\/h3>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li><strong>Pappas and Sununu clash in the final Senate debate.<\/strong> The two met on WMUR Wednesday night and sparred over housing costs and Social Security. Pappas framed the race as \u201cTeam New Hampshire v. Team Trump,\u201d while Sununu stressed long-term energy stability and permitting reform. NH Journal reports Sununu hit Pappas on his record after eight years in office, while Pappas repeatedly linked Sununu to the president. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhpr.org\/nh-news\/2026-10-29\/sununu-pappas-wmur-debate-senate-race-nh-newhampshire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">nhpr<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/nhjournal.com\/pappas-sununu-come-out-swinging-in-wmur-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">nhjournal<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: NHPR (with NH Journal coverage): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhpr.org\/nh-news\/2026-10-29\/sununu-pappas-wmur-debate-senate-race-nh-newhampshire\">https:\/\/www.nhpr.org\/nh-news\/2026-10-29\/sununu-pappas-wmur-debate-senate-race-nh-newhampshire<\/a><\/li>\n<li>NH Journal: <a href=\"https:\/\/nhjournal.com\/pappas-sununu-come-out-swinging-in-wmur-debate\/\">https:\/\/nhjournal.com\/pappas-sununu-come-out-swinging-in-wmur-debate\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Disabled Granite Staters have mixed reactions to the Choices for Independence lawsuit settlement.<\/strong> A yearslong class action over the state\u2019s Medicaid program for people with disabilities was settled earlier this month, and recipients are divided on the outcome. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhpr.org\/nh-news\/2026-10-29\/disabled-react-lawsuit-settlement-newhampshire-choices-for-independence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">nhpr<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: New Hampshire Bulletin, via NHPR: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhpr.org\/nh-news\/2026-10-29\/disabled-react-lawsuit-settlement-newhampshire-choices-for-independence\">https:\/\/www.nhpr.org\/nh-news\/2026-10-29\/disabled-react-lawsuit-settlement-newhampshire-choices-for-independence<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bow families press their free speech case over pink wristbands.<\/strong> A federal appeals court found Bow school officials likely violated the First Amendment by punishing parents for wearing pink \u201cXX\u201d wristbands. Nearly two months later, the families are still waiting on a court order and have asked a judge to expedite a decision before the winter sports season. <a href=\"https:\/\/nhjournal.com\/pink-wristbands-silenced-parents-bow-families-press-free-speech-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">nhjournal<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: NH Journal: <a href=\"https:\/\/nhjournal.com\/pink-wristbands-silenced-parents-bow-families-press-free-speech-case\/\">https:\/\/nhjournal.com\/pink-wristbands-silenced-parents-bow-families-press-free-speech-case\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\" aria-level=\"5\">Maine<\/h3>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li><strong>Portland postpones its winter warming shelter vote.<\/strong> The delay followed a lengthy executive session on alternative locations after the city\u2019s initial plan fell through. WGME reports councilors will consider spending $900,000 in opioid settlement funds to operate the shelter. The Maine Wire also reported the delay amid safety concerns and location questions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/10\/26\/portland-council-postpones-vote-on-warming-shelter-plan\/?utm_source=bsky.app&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=newbot-pressherald.com_localstate-BlueSky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">pressherald<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/wgme.com\/news\/local\/maine-housing-crisis-portland-considers-using-opioid-settlement-money-to-operate-warming-shelter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">wgme<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: Portland Press Herald: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/10\/26\/portland-council-postpones-vote-on-warming-shelter-plan\/\">https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/10\/26\/portland-council-postpones-vote-on-warming-shelter-plan\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>WGME: <a href=\"https:\/\/wgme.com\/news\/local\/maine-housing-crisis-portland-considers-using-opioid-settlement-money-to-operate-warming-shelter\">https:\/\/wgme.com\/news\/local\/maine-housing-crisis-portland-considers-using-opioid-settlement-money-to-operate-warming-shelter<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Six arrested in a MaineCare home-care fraud case.<\/strong> Federal authorities arrested six people tied to Community Home Health Care, the state\u2019s largest home care biller, after a grand jury indictment. The company drew nearly $48 million in taxpayer funding from 2019 to 2025, and the state had suspended its MaineCare billing months after The Maine Wire visited its South Portland office. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themainewire.com\/2026\/10\/maines-highest-billing-home-healthcare-provider-indicted-for-fraud-following-a-visit-from-the-maine-wire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">themainewire<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: The Maine Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themainewire.com\/2026\/10\/maines-highest-billing-home-healthcare-provider-indicted-for-fraud-following-a-visit-from-the-maine-wire\/\">https:\/\/www.themainewire.com\/2026\/10\/maines-highest-billing-home-healthcare-provider-indicted-for-fraud-following-a-visit-from-the-maine-wire\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The governor\u2019s race tightens before Election Day.<\/strong> A Marist poll found Democrat Hannah Pingree and Republican Bobby Charles tied at 44 percent among likely voters, with Pingree ahead 51 to 40 among registered voters. Independent Rick Bennett and undecideds make up the rest of the likely-voter sample. <a href=\"https:\/\/fox23maine.com\/newsletter-daily\/maine-gubernatorial-candidates-confident-about-chances-as-election-day-draws-near-maine-democrat-republican-independent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">fox23maine<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: WGME: <a href=\"https:\/\/fox23maine.com\/newsletter-daily\/maine-gubernatorial-candidates-confident-about-chances-as-election-day-draws-near-maine-democrat-republican-independent\">https:\/\/fox23maine.com\/newsletter-daily\/maine-gubernatorial-candidates-confident-about-chances-as-election-day-draws-near-maine-democrat-republican-independent<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\" aria-level=\"5\">Vermont<\/h3>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li><strong>Gov. Phil Scott\u2019s coalition shows cracks in his bid for a sixth term.<\/strong> Vermont Public reports that affordability worries, national party politics and a stronger-than-expected challenger, Amanda Janoo, are straining the coalition that gave Scott 71% of the vote two years ago. Scott says he is running again because of \u201cunfinished business\u201d on education reform. <a href=\"https:\/\/vermontpublic.org\/local-news\/2026-10-28\/phil-scott-built-broad-coalition-now-showing-cracks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">vermontpublic<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: Vermont Public: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vermontpublic.org\/local-news\/2026-10-28\/phil-scott-built-broad-coalition-now-showing-cracks\">https:\/\/www.vermontpublic.org\/local-news\/2026-10-28\/phil-scott-built-broad-coalition-now-showing-cracks<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vermont is not prepared to manage disaster recovery as flooding rises and federal aid shrinks.<\/strong> FEMA denied Vermont\u2019s major disaster declaration for the July 2025 flooding, and the state\u2019s chief recovery officer says Vermont lacks the funds to prioritize disaster recovery. The story is part of VTDigger\u2019s yearlong \u201cThe Coming Storm\u201d investigation with FRONTLINE (PBS). <a href=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2026\/10\/28\/as-flooding-increases-and-federal-aid-shrinks-vermont-is-not-prepared-to-manage-disaster-recovery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">vtdigger<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: VTDigger: <a href=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2026\/10\/28\/as-flooding-increases-and-federal-aid-shrinks-vermont-is-not-prepared-to-manage-disaster-recovery\/\">https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2026\/10\/28\/as-flooding-increases-and-federal-aid-shrinks-vermont-is-not-prepared-to-manage-disaster-recovery\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vermont gets $4.5 million from General Motors after a data privacy investigation.<\/strong> Attorney General Charity Clark announced the settlement Thursday. GM told VTDigger it discontinued its \u201cSmart Driver\u201d program in 2024 and has since strengthened its privacy practices. <a href=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2026\/10\/29\/vermont-to-receive-4-5-settlement-from-general-motors-following-data-privacy-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span dir=\"auto\">vtdigger<\/span><\/a>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<li>Source: VTDigger: <a href=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2026\/10\/29\/vermont-to-receive-4-5-settlement-from-general-motors-following-data-privacy-investigation\/\">https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2026\/10\/29\/vermont-to-receive-4-5-settlement-from-general-motors-following-data-privacy-investigation\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Hampshire Pappas and Sununu clash in the final Senate debate. The two met on WMUR Wednesday night and sparred over housing costs and Social Security. Pappas framed the race as \u201cTeam New Hampshire v. Team Trump,\u201d while Sununu stressed long-term energy stability and permitting reform. NH Journal reports Sununu hit Pappas on his record [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":27542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/qtq80-3TWgku.jpeg?fit=1254%2C836&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27562,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27561\/revisions\/27562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhtalkradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}