GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunny, cooler. We’re still under high pressure, but a cold front came through last night that’s going to drop today’s highs into the low or mid 50s, with modest north winds. And then, with clear skies tonight, we’re looking at a hard frost: lows in the low or mid 20s. The weekend remains sunny—Saturday will be a degree or two warmer both day and night, and then things warm up even more on Sunday.
That was some sky, eh? There were very cool atmospherics going on Tuesday evening and Wednesday, and several readers caught the sundogs and sunbows and cloud iridescence that resulted. They’re all just so interesting and different from one another that I’ll stick them all on this week’s Daybreak Photos page, rather than picking and choosing. Thanks to Alice Glass, Sharon Wight, Corinne Alfeld, Jeff Hinman, and Cynthia Crawford. Have a fine time scrolling!
VSP detective explains the holdup on Noel Neely death. As you’ll remember, the former state legislator was found dead in her Norwich home on May 9; a police affidavit says that she’d died two days before. Mike Donoghue’s piece in the VT Standard provides details—the nitrogen gas, the towel blocking the threshold to the room where she was found—that the VN’s Alex Ebrahimi reported last week, but also adds that investigators are waiting on lab tests of DNA and handwriting samples before deciding whether the death was a homicide, suicide, or assisted suicide, according to Detective Capt. Karl Gardner. Donoghue walks through the affidavit’s death details.
Hartford school district struggles with unappealing choices on budget. The district has to cut $5 million from spending in order to avoid state-imposed tax penalties. Doing so, Sophie Levenson writes in the Valley News, would save about $1500 in taxes on a $300K home. But at Wednesday night’s school board meeting, Levenson reports, it became clear that residents and teachers are unhappy with two options district staff prepared, both of which involve closing one elementary school. Board members voted to ask the staff to find a way to make the cuts without closing any schools. Levenson outlines the discussion, the options, and the work ahead.
Mountain biker who died on trail was Timken engineer. John Borger III was found Sunday in Green Woodlands in Wentworth, and efforts to resuscitate him failed. He was 58 (not 55, as the NH Fish & Game press release reported). “John loved the outdoors, especially snowmobiling, hiking, skiing, fishing, boating, and biking,” says the family’s obit, published yesterday. “His favorite place on earth was on the water of Lake George near Ticonderoga, NY.” His wife, Liz, and children go on to say, “The family appreciates the outpouring of love and support as well as kind words and stories. They also appreciate the many people who came to John's aid at the Green Woodlands.”
Blue Moon’s shuttering leads to Frozen in Thyme. For some three decades, Blue Moon Sorbet turned out cold treats with a surprising array of flavors, first in Quechee, then in WRJ. That ended in the spring, writes Susan Apel in Artful, when Whole Foods axed its contract just as co-owner John Donaldson was turning 75. When Thyme restaurant owner Eileen McGuckin got her last delivery, it came with a question: Did she want the machine? She did. It now sits in the kitchen, with Mango and Three Berry on the menu and plans for retail. “A fond adieu to Blue Moon,” Susan writes. “And our story ends happily. Frozen in Thyme will continue to be, well . . . frozen in Thyme.”
SPONSORED: Thetford Academy Admissions Open House. On Sunday, Nov. 1 from 2-3:30pm, come visit Thetford Academy’s scenic campus and learn how we inspire every student to realize their unique potential. The afternoon’s exploration of academic programs and extracurricular offerings will feature presentations from our faculty and insight from current students. With exciting opportunities in the arts, athletics, outdoor leadership, and more, find your pathway at TA. We hope to see you there! Sponsored by Thetford Academy.
Dartmouth’s Shattuck Observatory, telescope to be restored. As WCAX’s Adam Sullivan reports, the 150-plus-year-old Clark refracting telescope is being taken to Massachusetts for restoration—much of it has already been dismantled, and the last piece is due to be removed today by crane. Meanwhile, the observatory itself will get renovations to its exterior and HVAC system. The project is expected to last 18 months.
Pressure on farms as VT tries to balance conservation and land development. At a “Dirt & Democracy” gathering last weekend at Vermont State-Randolph, reports Tim Calabro in The Herald, a panel of farmers, conservation officials, and others took on the question of whether VT can preserve its working landscape while boosting rural communities. “We have to decide as Vermonters if we actually believe that working lands and livelihoods supported by hands in the dirt are actually what we want or not,” said Corinth cattle farmer Neil Ryan. Issues include land prices that hinder young farmers, regulations that hamper farms’ attempts to survive… Calabro describes it.
Meanwhile, on WCAX, reporter Sophia Thomas is taking a multi-part look at the question. As she points out in one segment of her “Vanishing Vermont” series, “From fields of solar panels to retail stores, flat, cleared farmland can be a hot commodity for development.” In the various segments, she looks at a Lowell farmer who hoped to expand onto a neighbor’s land but was outbid by a solar developer; what the numbers say about farms’ disappearance in the state; and how farmers are fielding offers from renewable energy and housing developers. “The land is almost always worth more for an alternate purpose than it is for agricultural purposes,” says the Ag agency’s Steve Collier.
Haverhill Common church lands on NH Preservation Alliance’s “Seven to Save” list. The annual list of endangered landmarks, buildings, and more was announced Tuesday. In amongst the town halls in Bethlehem and Lisbon, the Park Street Bridge in Exeter, the South Weare Union Church, and others this year, you’ll find Haverhill’s First Congregational Church. Built in 1827, it’s now got a deteriorating (and leaning) steeple, along with a leaking roof, cracks in the ceilings and masonry, and woodwork badly in need of repair. The still-active congregation “has made rehabilitation a priority,” the Alliance writes.
Hiking Close to Home: Bedell Bridge State Historic Site, Haverhill, NH. This 74-acre park on the Connecticut River, writes the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, is the site of a historic covered bridge that was destroyed in a 1979 windstorm. It is open year-round and visitors can enjoy two easy walking trails designed by John Morton of Morton Trails that lead to wetlands and are perfect for birding, along with other activities and access to the river from the boat ramp. Hit the “Directions” tab at the link for how to find it and where to park.
Daybreak’s Upper Valley News Quiz. Were you paying attention this week? Because we’ve got questions! Like, when is it likely that Hanover’s Crosby Street will reopen, after many, many months of being closed? And why did Claremont’s public works department recently win a national “Build a Better Mousetrap” award? You’ll find those and more at the link. Meanwhile, here’s NHPR’s New Hampshire quiz, while Seven Days’ Vermont quiz is here.
US Supreme Court sides with NH’s AG on student IDs for voting. In an unsigned order late yesterday—accompanied by a two-page dissent from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson—the Court ruled that the state’s ban on using student IDs to prove identity for voting purposes can stay in place for the November elections. The move paused an Oct. 2 decision by a lower-court judge that in effect stayed the ban. In its short decision yesterday, the Court majority invoked a principle that “lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election.” SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe explains the case and the decision.
NH Exec Council approves funding aimed at spotted lanternfly. State officials were aghast when the invasive pest was sighted in Salem in August, and there’s fear the happily omnivorous flies, already common in MA, might be establishing a foothold—and, thus, threatening everything from farms to forests—in the Granite State. Wednesday, reports NH Bulletin’s Molly Rains, the Exec Council approved nearly $25,000 in federal funding for “emergency” public education, data gathering, and control measures. If you happen to see one (photo at the link), report it here.
VT’s Ag agency has also asked Vermonters to be on the lookout, though the state’s had no confirmed sightings. If you spot one, report it here.
A “true crime” podcast explores dementia. Jason Moon, the host of NHPR’s massively successful Bear Brook franchise, tells the Globe’s Steven Porter, “I always kind of cringe at the ‘true crime’ label”—which is understandable this time around. The third season debuted Wednesday, and it’s not even clear it involves a crime. What it does involve is the disappearance of an Epsom Christmas tree farmer with dementia who was last seen months before anyone reported him missing—and that person was not his wife. At its heart, Moon tells Porter, “it’s a story about dementia care and family estrangement and how we as a society take care of folks in this state.” You’ll find the first two episodes here.
It’s not just oil and gas prices: Electricity rates in VT are rocketing upwards, too. The bottom line, writes Kevin McCallum in Seven Days, is that “every power utility in the state is paying higher costs for expenses such as transformers, tree trimming and employees’ dental insurance, and they’ve been passing those costs on to ratepayers as never before.” Add in the cost of hardening the grid against this era’s stronger storms, and power costs have climbed across the board: “Vermonters using the same amount of electricity today as they did in 2019 are paying an annual average of $342 more for that power, or $28.50 per month,” one study found.
39 wild cats, one to go … Where, oh where, is the northern oncilla? When photographer Sebastian Kennerknecht realized he had taken pictures of 30 wild cats, he and partner Rachel Tobias set out to get the last 10. On Nice News, William Ormes Roder profiles the couple and their travels to 35 countries in sometimes less-than-ideal conditions. “They’ve seen elephants crush their expensive camera traps, insects get into them, and humidity fog up lenses.” Now they’re after the final cat: the petite and elusive South American northern oncilla. The photos aren’t just beautiful, they also “introduce the world to the 33 small wildcat species that are relatively unknown.” (Thanks, TL!)
Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday’s Daybreak.
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HEADS UP
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Let’s go out with a musical tonic. Malian kora master Ballaké Sissoko is known for his collaborations with other musicans, and of late he’s been teaming up with English-Italian poet, painter, and guitarist Piers Faccini. They were at UVM a few weeks ago, and as the Lane Series folks wrote then of their playing: “Just gorgeous music that is original, pure, and new. Ballaké and Piers create songs that blend West African rhythms and melodies with the traditional folk music of the British Isles. the songs they are creating together are an exquisite example of two disparate worlds coming together in a way that is moving and profound.” Here’s “When the Jeli Sings,” an homage to the great Malian singer Kassé Mady Diabaté.
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