US Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders still has one more stop before he leaves New Hampshire today. He’ll be at the Littleton Opera House for an Ice Cream Social 1:00 this afternoon to wrap up his tour of New Hampshire where he’s a strong contender against Democratic frontrunner and former Vice President Joe Biden. He previously stopped by the North Conway Community Center and the White Mountain Chalet in Berlin. For the second time in a row it seems the Democratic primaries have become a contest between an established party leader and populist Progressives. Right now, the Real Clear Politics average of national polls places Sanders in third place for the Democratic primary, just behind another populist Progressive: Elizabeth Warren. Together they poll higher than Biden’s strong lead of 30% but splitting that percentage each one rests at roughly half making early wins like New Hampshire crucial for the Sanders and Warren campaigns to convince the other to bow out.

The Pequawket Foundation just pledged $5,000 to the North Conway Public Library’s capital campaign to renovate and expand their historic building in North Conway village. Built in 1911, the building was previously enlarged in 1917 and 1988. The library said in a press release they plan on expanding the size once again as well as the function and technology of the library. Board President for the library Neill Osgood says the library is going to have a new community room while also enlarging the children’s areas, adding an office for the library director and wants to make the library ADA compliant. He says the donation from the Pequawket Foundation helps with the renovation and the expansion but that more money is needed to install state-of-the-art infrastructure such as computers, lighting, furniture, and educational materials.

US Senators Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Susan Collins of Maine are teaming up to try and combat the rising cost of insulin. The Insulin Price Reduction Act is a bill being put together in the Senate to combat the rising costs for the drug which they say has quadrupled in out-of-pocket costs since 2007. The bill would prohibit rebates going to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) for insulin unless the pharmacy dropped their price for the drug to pre-2007 levels. It would also require that PBMs and insurers waive the deductible for any insulin product that meets the listed price reduction requirements each year. In announcing the bill Shaheen said, “Rebates have been a significant factor in what’s driving insulin prices higher, but we know we cannot simply restrict rebates with no strings attached for big pharma – there needs to be accountability.” Collins stated she was committed to making the cost of insulin more affordable and said she sees the bill as a necessary step towards that end.