LOCAL & REGIONAL BRIEFS

Enrollment for free or low-cost health insurance ends Sunday

Individuals and families have a day left before the Jan. 15 deadline to sign up for free or low-cost health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. Insurance officials have been concerned that the public does not know more people qualify than in prior years due to significant changes to eligibility rules and that subsidies are larger.

The federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services reported Wednesday that as of last Saturday nearly 16 million people had enrolled nationwide, a 13% increase from last year. Andrew Demers, spokesperson for the state Department of Insurance, said their office has not received state-level enrollment numbers from the federal government. But First Choice Services, one of the two federally funded “navigators” that help people evaluate plan options and enroll, said CMS data shows that enrollments in the state are up 5.75%.

At this time last year, 51,058 Granite Staters had subsidized insurance through the Marketplace. CMS said 53,785 have enrolled so far this year.

Car crash disrupts communications in Lebanon

LEBANON — Utility outages caused by a Friday car accident on Bank Street may prevent the Emergency 911 System from working properly depending on individual landline and cellular phone carriers, according to a news release from the Lebanon fire chief.

People experiencing an emergency who cannot contact 911 should call Lebanon Dispatch directly at 603-448-1212, according to the release from Fire Chief Jim Wheatley.

The utility outages are not affecting the city’s public infrastructure systems, including water and wastewater treatment facilities.

As of about noon Friday, the city and utility companies were working to restore service connections and communications.

The Emergency 911 System was expected to be back online by 4 p.m., while the city’s primary fiber internet connectivity may not be fully restored until about midnight.

Actor Ezra Miller gets fine, probation after home break-in

Actor Ezra Miller pleaded guilty Friday to a charge stemming from a break-in and theft of alcohol at a neighbor's home in Vermont, one of a string of arrests and reports of erratic behavior last year that stretched from Hawaii to New England.

Miller, who appeared in several Justice League movies and stars in the upcoming film The Flash, agreed that by entering the plea and abiding by the conditions, they would avoid a three-month jail sentence for a misdemeanor charge of unlawful trespass, a $500 fine and a court fee, a year of probation, and conditions including continued mental health treatment.

Two other charges were dropped, including a felony burglary count that could have carried a sentence of 25 years in prison, but Vermont Superior Court Judge Kerry Ann McDonald- Cady told Miller the felony charge could be refiled if they fail to abide by the details of probation.

Ex-teacher gets 12 years for abusing Phillips Exeter student

CONCORD — A former math teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy who taught at the prestigious prep school for nearly three decades was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a student from 2014-2016.

Szczesny Jerzy Kaminski, 62, also must complete a sexual offender program, register as a sex offender upon release and is banned from any contact with the former student or her family.

He pleaded guilty in Rockingham County Superior Court to three felonies and one misdemeanor.

The student was 13 in 2013 when she enrolled at the New Hampshire school.

Kaminski was her math teacher for freshman and sophomore years, and he tutored her. Prosecutors said Kaminski began sexually abusing her in 2014.

— Staff and wire reports