GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Make the most of whatever sliver of today you get out there. That Quebec high pressure has dipped south, but it might take a little to realize it, since we start with patchy, freezing fog this morning. Then we get clouds. Then, sometime this morning, the skies will clear and we get full-on sun. Highs today in the mid-50s, but clouds will move in tonight ahead of tomorrow's rain, so it won't get as cold—somewhere around 40. Chance of rain in the wee hours.Such red in the sky! Both dawn and dusk the last few days.
Here's the incredible sky west of Woodstock yesterday morning, by Brooke Beaird.
And yesterday's pinks and blues over Lake Morey, by Kyle Jones.
And Wednesday's liquid sunset looking west from just under Moose Mountain, by Peter Spiegel.
Speed reading! It's week 48 of Lost Woods, and Auk and Eddie get lost in the world of books. Though they're not nearly as bewildered as Henry. As he does every Friday, Lebanon author and illustrator DB Johnson (Henry Hikes to Fitchburg and other classics) chronicles the doings in his favorite patch of trees. Scroll right to move on to the next panel or left to catch up on previous weeks.After 25 years as Hanover town manager, Julia Griffin to step down next spring. “It’s been an amazing run,” longtime Hanover Selectboard Chair Peter Christie tells the Valley News's John Gregg. As Gregg writes, Griffin has been a significant force not just in Hanover, but regionwide and in pressing municipal concerns at the state level. She helped lead the effort to renovate Hanover High and build the Richmond School, to create the Mink Brook Preserve, and to place Hanover at the forefront of NH towns pushing for renewable energy. The Selectboard will hold a national search for a successor.SPONSORED: New England leads the nation in power outages, and the first Nor'Easter of the winter season has already struck. Are you ready for even more extreme weather? Because that's what climate change has in store for us. Solaflect solar Trackers are designed to shed snow, stand up to high winds, and can be coupled with home battery storage to keep the lights on when the grid goes down. And that’s just the beginning. Find out more at the maroon link or visit the Solaflect website. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.Enfield police decide not to charge driver in accident that killed horse. The Oct. 16 collision at dusk injured rider Shelby Jaffe and killed her horse, Waffles. “The investigation showed it came to just horrible circumstances of lack of visibility,” Enfield Police Chief Roy Holland tells the Valley News's Liz Sauchelli. “The road terrain and the rider or horse not having any proper safety gear, any flashlights or reflective vests or reflective horse tack led to the crash.” The VN has filed a public records request for the police report.November 7. That's when the new Target in West Leb is scheduled to open, reports The Dartmouth's Emily Fagell. That's according to Dan Zelson, founding principal of Charter Realty & Development, the plaza’s property manager, who tells her in an email that construction ended recently on the 87,000-square-foot property and that “it was important for [Target] to be open by the holiday season.” No word on whether the adjoining Sierra will open at the same time.Pressed by Covid, region's hospitals scramble for critical care beds. The pandemic has been “like a bomb going off in the middle of what was already a difficult situation,” Gifford CEO Dan Bennett tells the VN's Nora Doyle-Burr. These days, hospitals like Gifford have to send patients in need of a higher level of care as far away as Boston, Springfield, and Albany, Doyle-Burr writes. Workforce shortages, worsening heatlh due to delayed care during the pandemic, and the surging number of Covid patients are all contributing to the problem. Both states are working with hospitals to try to help ease the crunch."He’s friendly, considerate and has a nice smile, but he plays with an edge. He’s a vicious runner.” That's Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens on Nick Howard, his team's quarterback and "the Big Green version of a New Hampshire state snowplow," as Tris Wykes puts it on his Octopus Athletics blog. What hasn't been apparent on the field during the team's 5-1 run so far this season, though, is that last spring Howard "was simply a heartbroken young man grieving the loss of his mother, Mimi, after a 10-year battle with two types of cancer," Wykes writes. He profiles Howard's career and his struggles.Bradford man tries to set Leb police lobby on fire. Michael Fleming had just been released by the Lebanon police after an arrest on a theft charge, when, in the police headquarters lobby, he pulled out a lighter, lit a box of tissues on fire, then dumped hand sanitizer on the flames. Corp. Ryan Brewster pushed him out of the way and tried to extinguish the fire, catching his boot and pant leg on fire, according to a Leb police press release. Fleming then threw the bottle of hand sanitizer at Brewster and another officer. He was taken to DHMC then lodged at the Grafton County jail.Hiking Close to Home: Mink Brook Preserve. This popular Hanover tract offers a variety of terrains, says the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. Quinn Trail is accessible to strollers and wheelchairs and links up with the trails in the Tanzi Tract, a preserve of the Town of Hanover. On the south side of Mink Brook, wooded hiking trails link up with trails to preserved land in Lebanon. From Route 10 in Hanover, turn onto Brook Road. Parking is available by the trailhead. Please note that the log bridge that crosses Mink brook in the Preserve is closed to foot traffic at this time.Been paying attention this week? The guys at The News Quiz have some questions for you. Like, just what did meteorologists call portions of this week's nor'easter? And why are Upper Valley businesses cutting back on hours? And just how much did NH's Exec Council opt to accept from the feds for vaccines? You'll find those and more at the maroon link. Plus a raffle for a restaurant gift certificate. Meanwhile, you can also try your hand at the college-specific quiz questions pulled together by The Dartmouth.Rising heat fuel costs, falling temps spell trouble ahead. Forecasters anticipate an unusually cold winter this year, and it may be difficult for many in NH (and throughout the region) to afford to heat their homes. Amanda Gokee reports in NH Bulletin that oil is expected to be 43 percent more expensive than a year ago, and natural gas 20 percent higher, due in large part to a global supply crisis. To help those who will struggle to pay their utilities, NH offers a federally funded fuel assistance program—though the state is less committed to energy efficiency measures to lower household fuel demand.NH approves 1,600 students for "education freedom accounts." That's compared to the 29 it estimated in the spring would qualify, reports Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin. At Wednesday's Exec Council meeting, Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut said that, especially with Covid, "families have not been happy with the educational environment which they have been offered through their traditional system.” Amounts will range from $4000 to $8000, but the state has not disbursed the funds yet. In a tweet Wednesday, the NEA-NH called it a "property tax-busting program.”VT educators to legislators: Please! No more! Okay, a little over-dramatic maybe, but that was the clear message to the House Education Committee Wednesday, reports VTDigger's Peter D'Auria. They asked lawmakers not to pass any new measures this coming year that would add to what one superintendent called “the most difficult period in public education in my 23 years." Covid logistics, rising behavioral challenges, staffing shortages that have some principals mowing lawns and some custodians teaching classes... “This is not sustainable,” a superintendent said.“Part whimsical, part extreme gardening, part good ol’ backyard adventure!” Back in September, Middlebury photographer Josh Hummel joined forces with a few others to carve out a 600-pound pumpkin... and then launch it in Otter Creek with 5th-grade teacher Dane VanNosdeln at the paddle. He made it three-quarters of a mile. "Pumpkins are very buoyant,” Hummel tells the Addison Independent's John S. McCright. Inspired, Hummel says he has "other agricultural/adventure collaboration projects" in mind. (Thanks, LH!)Your eyes don’t deceive you with these optical illusions...or do they? If you’re sensitive to flashing lights or easily dizzied, you might leave this one alone. But if you like tricking your brain into seeing things it doesn’t, here’s a way to occupy yourself while it rains all day Saturday. German “vision scientist” Michael Bach seems downright gleeful about his collection of visual puzzles, playing on motion, color, contrast, and geometrics. Some of them are quick and a bit gimmicky, while others, like the warping Buddha, take only a few seconds to bend and contort everything you see.
The numbers...Daybreak reports Covid numbers on Tuesdays and Fridays.
NH is still struggling with its numbers issues, but reports that it's averaging 500-550 new cases a day. There have been 18 deaths since Monday, bringing the total to 1,563. Given that surging statewide growth, county and town numbers should be taken with a spoonful of salt: Yesterday the state reported 200 active cases in Grafton County (-93 since last Friday), 181 in Sullivan (-89) and 410 in Merrimack (-148). In town-by-town numbers, it tallies 83 cases in Claremont (-43); 38 in Newport (-6); 20 in Charlestown (-19); 15 in Lebanon (-6); 12 in Haverhill (-2); 11 in Hanover (-3); 11 in Newbury (-4); 8 in Canaan (no change); 8 in New London (-3); 7 in Grantham (-3); 6 in Sunapee (-8); 5 in Wilmot (-5); and 1-4 each in Piermont, Orford, Wentworth, Rumney, Enfield, Springfield, Plainfield, Cornish, and Croydon. Grafton and Unity are off the list.
VT reported 90 new cases on Tuesday, 174 Wednesday, and 316 yesterday. It now stands at 39,559 for the pandemic. There were 9 new deaths during that time; they now number 360. As of yesterday, 57 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (+10). Windsor County has seen 45 new cases reported since Monday, for a total of 2,754 for the pandemic, with 260 new cases over the past two weeks; Orange County gained 12 cases during the same time, with 147 over the past two weeks for a total of 1,325 for the pandemic.
Dartmouth is reporting 2 undergrad cases, 0 among grad and professional students, and 3 among faculty/staff. 3 students and 5 faculty/staff are in isolation.
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Today at 1 pm, OSHER at Dartmouth presents a public online talk by Strafford's Gus Speth, detailing the arguments in his new book, They Knew: The U.S. Federal Government’s Fifty-Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis. Speth—founder of the World Resources Institute, former administrator of the UN Development Programme, and former dean of the Yale Forestry School—uses the book to document the federal government's continuing support for the fossil-fuel industry from Carter through Trump, despite the growing evidence for the role of carbon emissions in climate change.
At various times today and tomorrow, the Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh VT is bringing back the 19th-century séance, staged by actors but inviting audience participation. The museum's education programs manager is Hanover High grad (and Northern Stage alum) Tucker Foltz; one of the actors is Madeleine Murray, who grew up in Bradford and also graced the Northern Stage stage. Here's Travis Weedon's write-up in Seven Days. As of yesterday there were a few slots left but they were going fast.
This evening at 6, Northshire Books presents two Vermont novelists online, talking about their latest. Brad Kessler's North intertwines the lives of a Vermont monk, a Somali refugee, and an Afghan war veteran; Peter Cameron's What Happens At Night places an American at a fading, grand European hotel "full of eccentric and sometimes unsettling patrons." A range of prices, including none.
And at 6:30, definitely in person, the Gory Daze festivities get underway at the Main Street Museum in WRJ. Things start off at the museum itself with the Western Terrestrials bringing their inimitable musical energy to get things revved up; at 8 the parade through town starts up, led as always by the Celebration Brass Band, masks required ("evil ones and otherwise"); and at 9 the MASK'erade Ball gets going outside behind the museum, with food, DJ, dancing, and scares promised.
If you're in the mood for a road trip to see another Hanover High grad, celebrated singer-songwriter Noah Kahan will be at Higher Ground in South Burlington starting at 8 pm, led off by Blake Rose and, no doubt, showing off the music on his second full-length album.
And tomorrow at 7:30 pm, the Hop presents Mali Obomsawin: Dartmouth grad, Lula Wiles bassist, composer, and Indigenous rights activist. She'll be leading her newly formed sextet on pieces including Sweet Tooth, a suite of compositions she began writing her senior year under the direction of Coast Jazz Orchestra leader Taylor Ho Bynum. And they'll be joined onstage by Bynum and the orchestra, performing "a spectrum of composed and improvised music ranging from Duke Ellington to Sun Ra."
Finally, Lebanon is throwing a Halloween "FunFest" around Colburn Park on Sunday, with an invitation to drop off a carved pumpkin to sit on one of the pillars surrounding the park. The fest itself will run from noon to 2 with stories, pumpkin bowling, horse & wagon rides, and more.
So yeah, l
off his new album, live on
The Today Show
a few weeks ago.
And what the heck, to swing us into the weekend
Have a fine weekend! See you Monday.
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
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