HOLLIS, N.H. (AP) – Groups dedicated to protecting the area around the Nashua River in New Hampshire and Massachusetts have gotten a big boost from the government.

The Environmental Protection Agency has sent the Nashua River Watershed Association more than $770,000.

The group will use the grant to study and develop ways to preserve watersheds. That includes helping owners of large woodlots hold onto the land instead of selling it for development.

Woman, 74, may face new counts

HAMPTON, N.H. (AP) – Prosecutors are considering whether to file new charges against a 74-year-old Hampton woman accused of beating her 85-year-old sister.

Helen Garland is charged with three counts of first-degree assault in the death of Alice Keyho. But a new medical examiner’s report links Keyho’s death with blunt trauma, prosecutors said.

Garland hit her sister in the head and mouth and kicked her in the back on March 21, authorities said. She called for medical help two days later, after her sister had died, they added. Garland acknowledged kicking her sister, but has said she didn’t mean to kill her, according to court records.

N.H. approves new boat launch

NEWBURY, N.H. (AP) – The state plans to build a new public boat launch on New Hampshire’s Lake Sunapee, despite local opposition.

Critics have said the launch site at Mount Sunapee State Park should be redeveloped, instead. Nearby town officials and a lake protection group also said they’re concerned about safe roadway access and ecological damage.

New Hampshire Fish and Game officials said the state will take local concerns into account. The state bought land for the new boat launch in 1990.

Archaeologists study skeleton

EPPING, N.H. (AP) – Centuries-old human skeletons found this month at a construction site in Epping could be reburied there, state archaeologists said.

The bones were located in a proposed housing development. They could be placed in the back yard of a planned home if reburied where they were found, archaeologist Edna Feighner said. The developer has indicated the area could be set aside as a historical cemetery.

Archeologists say the bones could be 200 to 300 years old and belong to three settlers. They were sent to the University of Maine at Orono to be examined. The analysis isn’t complete.

Harassment Editorial

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – State Republican Chairwoman Jayne Millerick is calling on a member of New Hampshire’s Ballot Law Commission to resign after she criticized the governor.

Anne Coughlin labeled Gov. Craig Benson a hypocrite in a newspaper editorial on Monday. She said he urged former Attorney General Peter Heed to resign when sexual misconduct allegations surfaced. Benson was once was found guilty of sexual harassment, and an investigation later cleared Heed.

The ballot commission Coughlin serves on decides election disputes. Coughlin said she won’t resign, but plans to recuse herself from votes involving Benson. She said she would have recused herself from the votes even if she had not written the editorial.