DOVER, New Hampshire (Reuters) – Far from the glamorous receptions he once hosted as an ambassador, Jon Huntsman is braving hungry goats and hard-bitten voters in New Hampshire in a risky go-for-broke strategy that will decide the fate of his bid for the White House.

Huntsman has pinned almost all his hopes for the Republican presidential nomination on finishing first or second in the state’s January 10 primary.

BOSTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve should continue to act “aggressively” to try to bring down the stubbornly high U.S. jobless rate and boost lagging economic growth, a top Fed official said on Monday.

Eric Rosengren, President of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, said weak labor conditions would help keep inflation below 2 percent over the next several years.

BOSTON (Reuters) – A vast majority of Massachusetts residents want action to lower health care costs, and many see the state government as best positioned to do it, according to a new survey released on Friday.

The poll, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health for the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, showed 53 percent of residents see the high cost of health care as a major problem. Another 25 percent regard the issue as a crisis.

BOSTON (Reuters) – The chief executive of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc, Matthew Emmens, said on Thursday that adoption of its recently-launched hepatitis C drug, Incivek, has been “very very fast.”

The first full quarter of U.S. sales of Incivek will emerge when the biotechnology company reports its quarterly earnings later this month.

BOSTON (Reuters) – A concert DVD featuring Neil Young and a generation of music icons will launch this month with live screenings across the United States.

The movie and related CD collection showcases rare live, acoustic performances by many of music’s biggest names, all of whom have played over the past 25 years at the annual Bridge School benefit concerts organized by Young and wife Pegi.

BOSTON (Reuters) – After almost five years of researching, developing and testing recipes food writer Amy Traverso knows her apples. Thousands of apples peeled, cored, chopped, baked.

The result is “The Apple Lover’s Cookbook,” a 300-page near-encyclopedia about the fruit that surely holds a special place in the American psyche.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Anger at high tuition bills and a lack of jobs propelled U.S. college students into streets and quadrangles on Thursday in the latest offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement.

The “National Student Solidarity Protest” was organized by Los Angeles-based Occupy Colleges, which estimated it held events at about 140 campuses in at least 25 states.

By John Whitesides and Ros Krasny

HANOVER, N.H. (Reuters) – Republican front-runner Mitt Romney largely ignored his presidential rivals at a debate on Tuesday, casting himself as the candidate most suited to rescue the economy and lead the party back to the White House.

At an economic debate that featured harsh criticism of the federal government from his rivals, the former Massachusetts governor touted his real-world experience, defended corporate bailouts and rarely broke a sweat.

, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Ben Bernanke, if a
Republican wins the White House in 2012: you’re fired.

The Federal Reserve Chairman, architect of unconventional
policies to shore up the shaky U.S. economy, came under attack
at the Bloomberg/The Washington Post Republican Presidential
Debate at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire on Tuesday night.

HANOVER, New Hampshire (Reuters) – Republican presidential contenders blamed the federal government on Tuesday for the struggling economy and harshly criticized Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke during the early stages of a 2012 debate.

Several of the Republicans seeking the nomination to unseat President Barack Obama in 2012 said government policies had led to the economic slowdown and refused to place blame on Wall Street or corporations.