Man accused of killing grandmother at home

CONCORD (AP) – A New Hampshire man has been arrested on charges that he killed his grandmother, the state attorney general’s office said.

Patrick Irish, 42, is accused of second-degree murder in the death Wednesday of his grandmother, 88-year-old Aline Irish, at the Sandown home where they lived. An autopsy shows that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Patrick Irish is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday. It wasn’t immediately known if he has a lawyer who can speak on his behalf.

Police say anyone with information on the case is encouraged to contact state police.

Vape shop near school may be forced out

LACONIA (AP) – A New Hampshire vape shop that’s about a quarter of a mile down the road from a high school is at risk of being denied a license to continue operating.

Laconia City Manager Scott Myers said in a letter earlier this week that the City Council suggested the state Liquor Commission consider the community impact before issuing a license, the Laconia Daily Sun reported.

New state regulations require vape shops to be licensed, and feedback is solicited from the community, said Grace McInnis, a spokeswoman for the commission.

Laconia High School, merely steps from the vape shop, has installed detectors in its bathrooms to stop students from vaping. The principal has listed vaping as one of the top concerns for student health.

The owner of Raven Vapes, Tom Slawniak, said anyone under 18 years old is not allowed in his store. He said he asks customers if they are trying to end a cigarette habit when buying vaping products.

“If they say, ‘No, I just want to try,’ we try to talk them out of it and I’m not even kidding,” Slawniak said, adding that he’s confident he’ll get a license to continue to operate his business.

Beginning in January, sales of all of the state’s smoking products will be restricted to those 19 or older.

One of the ideas behind the new restriction was to make it harder for 18-year-old high schoolers to buy products for younger classmates.

New chairperson of parole board named

CONCORD (AP) – A former judge, prosecutor and public defender will head New Hampshire’s parole board, Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday.

Jennifer Sargent starts her new role as chairperson on Jan. 15. She joined the parole board in November.

Sargent succeeds Donna Sytek, who will remain on the board.

Sargent is a visiting Associate Professor of Writing at Dartmouth College. She previously was chief prosecutor for the state in attorney discipline cases. She also was a special justice in the district court system and worked in the New Hampshire Public Defenders Office.

Episcopal Church creates priest certification program

CHARLESTOWN (AP) – The Episcopal Church of New Hampshire is launching a new training program to make becoming a priest easier.

The diocese in New Hampshire will offer a certificate program that requires students to attend nine in-person weekend trainings, according to church officials. In addition to the training sessions, students will complete an online curriculum, provided by the Iona center.

Traditionally becoming a priest requires three years of training at seminary school, New Hampshire Public Radio reported Wednesday.

“This really makes it easier for people to answer that call, whether that call to ministry comes in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, we even have people doing this post-retirement,” said Tina Pickering, who works in ministry development for the church.

Man sentenced for sexual assaulting teenager

BOSTON (AP) – A Mississippi man convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old on a cruise ship traveling from Boston to Bermuda was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, prosecutors said.

Adam Christopher Boyd, 33, of Bay Springs, Mississippi, pleaded guilty in April to a charge of sexual abuse of a minor, records show. He was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Boston, The Boston Globe reported.

In a July sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Boyd assaulted a 15-year-old child while they were both aboard a cruise ship docked in the Bahamas. Boyd allegedly knew that the victim was underage and under the influence of alcohol.

In a separate filing, Boyd’s attorney, Charles P. McGinty, requested a lesser term of 18 months. Boyd had no prior criminal convictions and has a “record of hard work and employment,” he said.

Boyd’s lawyer did not immediately respond to the Globe’s request for comment.

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