Daybreak Friday 1/3/20

GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!

The mild weather continues. There are various disturbances and fronts and systems working their way in our direction, but they're being slow about it. So the upshot — for today at least — is cloudy skies with temps bumping up toward 40 or higher, about 15 degrees above normal. Tonight will be partly cloudy, low only around 30. Snow and maybe some rain move in tomorrow.Hanover may have trouble replacing assessor. Dave McMullen stepped down from the position last week, burned out by the yearlong public outcry over the town's 2018 revaluation. But Town Manager Julia Griffin tells the VN's Anna Merriman that finding someone to take up the post will not be easy. “The assessing community is getting grayer and grayer, and the next generation is not out there,” she says. "I’m looking at who’s waiting in the wings, and it’s disconcerting.”"Your article was glib and essentially unkind." A Thetford reader responds to yesterday's item about the resignation of selectboard chair Stuart Rogers and his replacement by Nick Clark. By highlighting Rogers's accusations against his colleagues and not giving space to the nuances of the situation, she argues, the item left the impression that "either the town manager was lacking and/or the three Board members were trying something illegal or sneaky." That was the farthest thing from my intention. You'll find John Gregg's much fuller exploration of what happened at the link. (VN)In case you missed Elizabeth Warren in Hanover... I can't find a full video of her town hall at the Hanover Inn yesterday, but here's eight minutes of it.And in case you're trying to keep track of who's coming...

NH's legislative office building is now safe for nursing (or pumping).  Senate President Donna Soucy and House Speaker Steve Shurtleff, both Democrats, announced yesterday that the building is getting a new "lactation pod" for use by nursing statehouse workers, elected officials, and visitors. It cost $17,527.50, plus $1,800 for shipping.Hey New Hampshirites, the next time you get a spoofed robocall, here's what you do... A new NH law that went into effect Wednesday imposes penalties of up to $5,000 for calls that pretend to be coming from a different number, like your next-door neighbor. True, the state can only prosecute calls that originate within New Hampshire, and how are you going to know? But they're trying to keep track: If you've gotten a spam call, spoofed or not, let the Consumer Protection Bureau know. The Monitor's David Brooks has the details.Former Seven Days political columnist joins the competition. VTDigger announced last night that John Walters, who wrote Seven Days' "Fair Game" column for 2 1/2 years, is going on staff to cover the Vermont legislature and state politics. Walters, known for his acerbic commentary, left his former perch after he "had trouble achieving the paper’s exacting standards for accuracy," as he himself put it at the time. Digger counted up 51 corrections in Walters' 396 pieces, but now, Walters tells Seven Days' Courtney Lamdin, "Apparently they weren't as turned off by their calculation of my accuracy.""How could you live in the the Northeast Kingdom, in the middle of all these stories, and have writer's block? You couldn't!" That was novelist Howard Frank Mosher talking to VPR's Jane Lindholm back in 2010. Mosher died of cancer two years ago, but on today's "Vermont Edition," Lindholm looks back at the much-admired author of Disappearances, Where the Rivers Flow North, and other books that explored the quirks and complex ties that bound together the loggers, wanderers, farmers, outcasts, and families of the region. On at noon and again at 7.A Mt. Ascutney for all seasons. For the second year in a row, Jennifer Hannux, a photographer and nurse who lives in Hartland, took a photo of Mt. Ascutney from the same spot on her porch every week throughout the year. Then she created a time-lapse of the mountain, through snow and sunsets and clouds and buds appearing and that magical tender green of spring and the full-on tropics of summer and the jaw-dropping palette of this past fall... It's well worth your two minutes.

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SO, GOT PLANS?

For starters, it's the year's first First Friday in WRJ.

It's a little lighter than usual, because some venues are resting up after the holidays. Still, you can catch singer-songwriter-loop-artist Julia Rose at Big Fatty's, Grantham guitarist Frank Kelecy at The Collection, Meadowlark at the Upper Valley Food Co-op, and Jakob Breitbach and Save Room for Pie at Café Renée.

Meanwhile, just down the street at the Engine Room, it's Revels redux.

Or, well, the visiting artists part of Christmas Revels. Who have some serious get-you-up-on-your-feet-and-moving experience among them. Percussionist Jane Boxall (who plays, among other things, marimba and vibes), guitarist Adam Broome (who also sings and plays bouzouki), accordionist/keyboardist Alex Cumming and fiddler Jaige Trudel will do a Trad Night concert starting at 7.

And up in Randolph, it's the second Vermont String Summit.

Fiddlers, mandolinists, guitarists, dulcimer players, banjo players... they'll be jamming roots music, Celtic, bluegrass, Latin, and whatever strikes their fancy. These are some extraordinary musicians: sibs Tristan and Tashina Clarridge, who've won a pile of Grand National Fiddle Championships between them; accomplished Old World (including Sephardic) singer and fiddler Lily Henley; banjo master and ethnomusicologist Ben Krakauer; and others. Upstairs at the Chandler at 7:30.

Have a lovely weekend. See you Monday.

Daybreak is written and published by Rob Gurwitt                     Banner by Tom HaushalterAbout Rob                                                                                   About Tom

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