The Saga of Sarah Murnaghan seems to have come to a happy ending. Murnaghan was the ten year old Philadelphia girl denied access to an adult lung transplant list when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius refused to waive the requirement that children be twelve before they’re eligible to receive adult lungs, despite being on her death bed and despite her doctors’ emphatic statements that she was a proper candidate. Federal Judge Michael Baylson ordered her name be placed onto the list last week and yesterday, the dying little girl got a new lease on life as transplant match was found. She underwent the six hour surgery yesterday. Jenn Hobbs, the Goffstown woman who first brought this story to our attention last week sent us a note to let us know that, in addition to the transplant, the organization that oversees the list voted unanimously on Monday to allow transplants in children under twelve on a case by case basis. No longer will there be a blanket prohibition. Another child had been placed on the list as a result. She thanked our audience members who signed the petition at change dot org for their support. Our interview with Jenn is linked to this morning’s news read at the new and improved Girard at Large dot com.
Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas made a big, big announcement during his on air interview yesterday. He’s been working with state officials to use The Stark House, a large, unused facility at the Sununu Youth Development Center on North River Road, as an alternative school for at risk students. As the plan stands now, Gatsas said the city would lease the school from the state for a buck a year for three years and would begin by diverting elementary school kids struggling in the traditional system to the new school. The city would likely work with in house staff to develop its own program, as it did with the Manchester School of Technology, and evaluate the program before the end of the third year to determine whether or not it was worth continuing. The school would likely open in the two thousand fourteen, fifteen school year. We’ve linked yesterday’s interview with this write up for your convenience at Girard at Large dot com
The news continues after this.
State Senate President Peter Bragdon announced the senators who will serve on the Committee of Conference with the House of Representatives to hammer out the state budget. The state’s upper chamber will be represented by Finance Committee Chair Chuck Morse, Ways and Means Committee Chair Bob Odell, and senators Jeannie Forrester and Lou. D’Allesandro. In his statement announcing the appointments, which is available with this newscast’s write up at Girard at Large dot com, Bragdon cautioned the House against insisting on raising taxes or spending, which he said would force the state into funding government by continuing resolution at current spending levels. The committee will convene tomorrow morning at 10 and has until June 27th to get its work done.
Girard at Large has filed a Right to Know Request right to know request with Goffstown School Superintendent Stacy Buckley. Inasmuch as the law requires an attorney to be present to invoke an exception to the Right to Know Law to allow discussions with them or discussions of their advice to them to be kept in non-public, and inasmuch as their attorney was not present at the meeting of May 20 in question, that letter is now a public document and the minutes of their discussion must be unsealed. Buckley has yet to respond. We’ll keep you up to date.
St. Mary’s Bank announced it has awarded a grant to Family Promise of Greater Rockingham County. The group operates the Interfaith Hospitality Network, which provides a safe place for homeless families with children. The network serves the communities of Salem and Derry and fourteen surrounding towns offering food, shelter and social services. The funding from St. Mary’s Bank will cover the cost of a computer and software to allow the IHN to help clients and track their progress toward independence. The press release with the entire story is linked to this news read at Girard at Large dot com.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is just 30 seconds away.
