The Dummer Yard dilemma

Good morning, New Hampshire, and welcome to a new week. Today, Molly Rains reports on a derelict landfill in Berlin known as Dummer Yard and why concern is growing among city residents. Also, States Newsroom’s David Lightman looks at how a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has given political parties more power. And from Ariana Figueroa, a look at the violent outcomes of traffic stops related to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Thank you for reading, and enjoy the day. — Dana

By Molly Rains

According to Berlin Mayor Robert Cone, the fortune of the struggling former mill town once known as “Paper City” is on the upswing. “We’re slowly starting to stack some small wins,” he said last week. Recently, that has meant catching up on repairs and basic road maintenance, as well as securing federal funds to clean up a number of city-owned buildings and a massive, grant-funded effort to rebuild downtown infrastructure and streetscapes, a project Cone said the city is scheduled to break ground on next year. Yet that forward progress is not spread equally throughout the city. And one brownfield site, an unlined and derelict landfill known as Dummer Yard, is facing a particularly uncertain future after plans to build another landfill on the same parcel stalled this summer.

By David Lightman

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision makes it easier for political parties to put their stamp on the most important campaigns, just as the struggle heats up for control of Congress in the midterm elections. Simply put, the ruling “gives the parties more money to spend,” said David Kolker, senior counsel at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. In a 6-3 decision on June 30, the court struck down limits on how much political parties could spend in coordination with specific candidates. But will it make a difference?

By Ariana Figueroa

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on July 13 killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national with legal work authorization, in Maine, making him the 22nd person shot at by federal immigration officers during President Donald Trump’s second term. Nearly all of those 22 incidents – 19 – involved Department of Homeland Security officers shooting upon people in their vehicles during traffic stops, a crucial nexus, according to a States Newsroom review of news reports and documents. The encounters spanned the nation, from Colorado to Texas to Oregon to New Jersey.