DURHAM, N.H.

UNH professors upset over library throwing out books

Some professors at the University of New Hampshire say they are appalled that the school’s librarians are throwing away thousands of books to make way for a new collection.

Dimond Library administrators say the books being tossed into a dumpster outside the library haven’t been checked out in 20 years.

UNH collection management librarian Jennifer Carroll says they would like to keep every book forever, but have to make room for new bio-science and other collections.

Art history professor Patricia Emison tells WMUR-TV that the book dump is a travesty that she finds appalling.

Emison says the books are needed to a show the history of particular studies.

UNH is discarding 36,000 volumes and storing another 15,000.

Librarians said they are working under a tight timetable.

CONCORD, N.H.

House committee nixes bill for legalizing two casinos

A House panel is recommending killing a Senate bill that would legalize two casinos in New Hampshire.

The Ways and Means Committee voted 11-9 Tuesday to recommend that the House reject the bill, which includes $25 million in aid to communities as a sweetener. The House has never approved video slots legislation.

The Senate bill proposes legalizing two casinos sharing a total of 5,000 video slot machines and 240 table games. The House killed a bill a month ago that would have legalized one casino licensed to have 5,000 video slot machines. House gambling supporters had talked of adding the $25 million in aid to the House bill had it survived.

The House could vote on the bill as early as next Wednesday.

BOSTON

Fluffernutter gets initial nod of legislative approval

A bill that would make the fluffernutter Massachusetts’ official sandwich has been given initial approval by state lawmakers.

The measure was advanced Tuesday on a voice vote during an informal session of the House of Representatives.

The fluffernutter – peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff on bread – has remained a popular treat in New England for generations.

Marshmallow Fluff was invented in 1917 in Somerville and is made with just four ingredients – corn syrup, sugar syrup, dried egg whites and artificial vanilla flavoring. It’s still made in a small manufacturing plant in Lynn.

The bill still needs another vote of the House before going to the Senate. It was filed by former state Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein of Revere.

BOSTON

Jay Leno returning to deliver Emerson commencement

Comedian Jay Leno will return to his alma mater Emerson College to deliver the commencement address this spring.

The small liberal arts college located in Boston announced Tuesday that the 1973 grad will be speaking at the 134th commencement ceremony on May 11. Scott Simon, who hosts NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, will be addressing the graduate students.

Leno hosted NBC’s late-night talk show “The Tonight Show” for more than two decades retiring in February. He was replaced by former Saturday Night Live star Jimmy Fallon.

The 63-year-old who grew up in Andover is known for his clean, observational humor as well as his caricature-like facial features, which he references in his 1996 autobiography, “Leading With My Chin.”

The graduation will be streamed live from Agganis Arena at Boston University.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

Man pretends potato is a gun in attempted robberies

Providence police say a man used a potato to pretend he had a gun while attempting to rob two businesses.

WPRI-TV reports the man entered a convenience store Monday afternoon with a potato and shouted, “Give me the money.” A police report says the store manager chased him off with a baseball bat. He was described as being around 5-7 and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

Police reported a few minutes later to a laundromat where a female employee said a man fitting the same description came in carrying a potato and yelled, “I need the money.”

The station reports she gave him a $20 bill from a decoy cash register, and he left.

No arrests have been made.

PROVINCETOWN, Mass.

Scientists say cold-water whale has returned

Marine scientists say the bowhead whale spotted in Cape Cod Bay this month is the same one seen off the Cape Cod coast two years ago.

Researchers at the Provincetown-based Center for Coastal Studies announced Tuesday that pictures of scars on the tail of the whale spotted April 9 and 19 match the scars on the tail of the bowhead spotted in March 2012 off Orleans and in the Bay of Fundy in August of that year.

The sightings are the only two times a bowhead has been seen so far south in the Atlantic Ocean.

Bowheads typically inhabit the Arctic Ocean and northern reaches of the Atlantic and Pacific.

The center said the animal was not in danger. It was seen feeding alongside right whales, to which it is related.

– From news service reports