CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -New Hampshire’s moose hunt begins this weekend.

The 17th annual hunt runs for nine days and will include 525 hunters who won a lottery, and their hunting partners. Each hunter is assigned to one of 22 wildlife management units in the state and most have spent the past several weeks or months scouting out potential hunting spots.

Hunters assigned to the northern part of the state generally have the best luck. Nine out of 10 of them bagged a moose last season.

More than 15,000 people applied for permits this year.

Candidates dip into their pockets

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -Gov. Craig Benson and Democrat John Lynch are dipping deep into their own wallets to help finance their gubernatorial campaigns.

New spending reports show the millionaires each lent their campaigns more than $1 million. Each also has spent more than $500,000 on campaign ads, mostly on television.

The reports show that for the primary and general election campaign, Benson lent his campaign $1.4 million.

Lynch has lent his campaign $1.3 million.

N.H. man charged in infant assault

DOVER, N.H. (AP) – A Farmington, N.H., man is being held on $50,000 bail on charges he assaulted an infant.

Authorities allege Richard Gray, 26, repeatedly struck an 11-month-old child.

Police records say the child was dropped off at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester on Sept. 1, bleeding from cuts and covered with bruises on his head and body.

Police said Gray is an acquaintance of the victim’s mother.

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Business Loans

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CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – New Hampshire’s office of the Small Business Administration registered a fourth consecutive record year.

The agency said it backed more than 2,000 business loans worth $304 million in the fiscal year that ended Oct. 1.

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Flu Clinics

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ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – More flu clinics are being canceled in New Hampshire because of the vaccine shortage.

Your VNA Home and Hospice has canceled 35 to 40 clinics across the Seacoast. The clinics were scheduled in Rochester and a half-dozen other communities.

The agency had expected 1,500 doses of flu shots, but says it will get none.

AP-ES-10-14-04 1711EDT