PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) – The New Hampshire Snowmobile Association says snowmobile enthusiasts pump roughly $600,000,000 into the state’s economy each year.

And when secondary spending like snowmobile trailers and vacation homes is factored in, the number is closer to $1.2 billion, according to association officials.

Snowmobile riding has become very popular in New England, with New Hampshire alone accounting for 65,000 registered machines. The association says the sport makes up 30 percent of all tourism dollars in New Hampshire.

With 6,800 miles of trails that wind through private and public land, the state has more snowmobile trails than paved state highways.

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State looking into nutritional law

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A trio of New Hampshire nutritionists want the state to pass a law requiring chain restaurants to include nutritional information on their menus.

Restaurants would have to display calories, saturated fat, carbohydrates and sodium content next to each item. Take-out and fast-food restaurants would have to put the number of calories next to each offering on behind-the-counter menus, under the proposal.

Nutrition information is usually available upon request, but not immediately offered at most chains, which are restaurants with 10 or more locations.

Food industry lobbyists oppose the bill, arguing it be too costly, confuse customers and be redundant for anyone health-conscious enough to research what they’re eating.

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Snowboarders Rescued

WARREN, N.H. (AP) – Two Massachusetts snowboarders were rescued from Mount Moosilauke in Warren late Sunday, after one of them became ill and the other injured his ankle.

The three were hiking up to snowboard down the mountain when one of the men became ill. All three had turned around and were scooting back down sitting on their snowboards when one of them hit a tree and injured his ankle.

As one snowboarder left on his own to get help, the condition of the man who became ill worsened. The Department of Fish and Game and other officials reached the men around four hours later and brought them down the mountain on sleds.

The man with the injured ankle, Ryan Kerney, 27, was taken to Speare Memorial hospital. Christian Castillo-Davis, 28, was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center with an undisclosed medical condition.

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Man loses 200 pounds on buffalo diet

CHICHESTER, N.H. (AP) – An employee of a small shop in Chichester says he lost 200 pounds by eating buffalo meat.

Gary Hugelman, 47, weighed 435 pounds two years ago, after failing multiple diets he started experimenting with in high school.

In the summer of 2001 he was employed at the Healthy Buffalo store off Route 4 in Chichester. Surrounded by the product and eating it every day, he started shedding 10 pounds a month.

According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, Buffalo has one quarter of the fat and two-thirds the calories of beef and one-third the fat of chicken.