Mostly sunny and definitely warmer. Almost balmy, in fact, reaching toward 40 eventually, with winds from the south. Don't get too used to it, though — there's an arctic front moving through fast late today, which will set us up for cold temps again tonight (though they'll be in the teens, at least). There's a chance that front could bring some snow this evening, earlier in the west, later in the east, but its impact is most likely west of the Greens.Leb planning board OKs new apartment building for Mechanic St. The project, with 26 apartments and adjoining commercial space, would go into the former Blodgett's Sash & Door space, next to Carpet Mill. It's the brainchild of Ed Kerrigan, founder and former owner of Jake's Coffee Co. and the various Jake's markets. Meanwhile, the board put off making a decision on another apartment/commercial project on Spencer Street, back by the industrial buildings east of CCBA.Downtown revitalization gets under way in Springfield. Renovations started Wednesday on the historic, three-story Woolson Block, which had fallen into disrepair and was eventual put up in a tax sale. It's being turned into a mix of affordable and transitional housing, with street-level commercial space.You know all those high-profile speakers who show up on campus as guests of Dartmouth's Rockefeller Center? Well, for the last eight years they were the responsibility of Joanne Needham, who's retiring next month. The Dartmouth talks to her about what she learned and some of her favorite events. No, wish-cycling is not a good thing. “We find kiddie pools and snow fences in our plastic bins. People think, ‘It’s plastic, so it must be recyclable,’ but that's not the case.” That's Lebanon's solid-waste manager, Marc Morgan, in an NHPR piece on all the unhelpful stuff that shows up in recycling streams because people want to feel better about throwing it away. "People really do want to do the right thing and they throw shovels and skateboards and all these things that aren’t recyclable into recycling,” says New London state Rep. Karen Ebel. “It can really foul things up.”Just a moment's break for canopy majesty. A beautiful shot, looking straight up, at a circle of tall trees in the Whites when they had some color to them.Speaking of the outdoors, today's the day that REI opens its new store up in Williston, VT. It's the Seattle-based co-op's first beachhead in Vermont, and joins the store it just opened in North Conway, NH. REI and Burlington Beer Co. are partnering on a new IPA, "Gazing Over Green," with 10 percent of sales going to the Green Mountain Club. Sunspot activity, squirrels hoarding acorns... why, it's looking like a great snow year! Over at the Union Leader, Meghan McCarthy McPhaul digs into the Old Farmers Almanac, which is predicting major storms at Thanksgiving, at the end of January, and around the solstice in March. She also talks to Shannon Dunfey-Ball, the marketing manager for Ski NH, who says that thanks to her squirrel-obsessed dog, she's remembering her grandmother's saying, "Squirrels gathering nuts in a flurry will cause snow to gather in a hurry.” Okay, we'll take it.Passenger rail for New Hampshire faces another setback. There's this private commuter rail company, Boston Surface Railroad Company, that's been planning eventually to run rail service to MA and RI from Concord and Manchester Airport. But it's just filed for bankruptcy, a strategic move, says its CEO, related to a legal fracas with RI. Meanwhile, NH has approved funding to study extending MBTA service from Boston. So yeah, any day now...What to look for when you see a state presidential poll. You know by now that Daybreak is a national-politics-free zone unless it directly relates to the Upper Valley. But this Vox post by Matthew Yglesias is so clear-eyed that you should see it. The long and short: Read the fine print of any state-level poll, and if it doesn't weight results for educational attainment, ignore it — it underplays Pres. Trump's strength. Yglesias explains it all masterfully. Northeast Kingdom drug bust nets 16. A federal and state operation focused on St. J and Newport yielded 16 arrests — plus a lot of fentanyl, heroine and crack — the US Attorney's office announced yesterday. This is the second enforcement "surge" this year, after a similar effort in April around Brattleboro. So the feds have hit to the south of us, to the north of us... October set a record for tick-related hospital visits in VT. Historically, VTDigger reports, emergency-room and urgent care visits for tick-related ailments have averaged a bit above 0.5 percent of all visits. In October, it was 1.5 percent. In the fall, these are most likely to stem from anaplasmosis (unlike the spring, when Lyme is prevalent). This recent freeze has been helpful, but when temps climb above freezing again, take care.Take that, TJ! VT guv says no fees for photographing documents. In a memo to state officials yesterday, Administration Secretary Susanne Young announced that all executive agencies "shall refrain from charging for costs associated with preparing a public record for inspection," including people photographing them with their cellphones. This comes, of course, in the wake of a decision by Atty Genl TJ Donovan that people taking pics of public documents should be charged copying fees. "No dainty servings on plates decorated with wisps of parsley or other fluff greenery here!" That's retired Logan, OH farmer Jeff Crisler, writing about visiting Ricker Pond State Park and, in particular, dining at the Upper Valley Grill & General Store, by routes 302 and 232 in Groton, VT. He was impressed, especially by the maple cream pie. And raspberry pie. And, in fact, the whole VT experience — though as he notes at the end of his column, "I find I have mentioned nothing about our hiking and camping adventures."Meanwhile, over at Forbes, travel writer Julie Tremaine has a guide to spending a late fall weekend in the Whites. Which I mostly bring to your attention for these lines: "New Hampshire doesn’t always get the credit it’s due. People looking for a northern New England experience tend to go to the left or the right: east to Maine to eat their way through Portland and its environs, or west to Vermont, especially in the winter, for the craft beers and excellent skiing." Maybe someone should invite her to the Common Man during primary season.If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
OK FRIDAY, WHAT'CHA GOT?
Yeah, sure it's a drive, but the guy's been winning Grammys for over 30 years, and he and the band have seven of them in their collective pocket. Mandolinist Skaggs, steeped in decades of bluegrass and country, may be the main attraction, but he's surrounded himself with an effervescent band of master musicians. It'll be a night. At Stannard Gymnasium on Northern Vermont U's Lyndon campus. 7 pm.
Hubbard grew up in Enfield, but now lives in Nashville, where he put together his band and recorded his latest album, "American Story," which was produced by former Jackson Browne band member Val McCallum. Hubbard's ringing tenor fronts a hard-driving country/Americana/folk/rock sound. Starts at 9 pm.
You may know him from Season 8 of "The Voice," where he was a top-three finalist, but he'd been performing — with Arlo Guthrie, Greg Brown, Abigail Washburn and other folk icons — for a while. “The music that moves me is imperfect, honest and raw," he says. "Those qualities are what turned me on to Delta blues, to punk rock, to old soul and traditional music from all over the globe. It’s all about feel. It’s ragged but right.” 7:30 pm, upstairs.
The play is based on Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's hugely popular prequel to
Peter Pan
, and it's got sailors and n'er-do-wells and lost boys and starcatchers and adventure and flying and friendship and love. And a heck of a set. 7 tonight and tomorrow, 2 on Sunday.
This is writer-director Trey Edward Shults's third film and was a sensation at Telluride earlier this year. We get to see it now because it's part of the Hop's Film & Media Alumni Fest. An astounding ensemble cast of four characters anchor the film, about an upper-class African-American family in South Florida that plunges apart and then works to piece itself back together. At 7:30 at the Loew.
I defy you to walk out of the house without an extra bop in your step this morning.
Have a fine weekend, and see you Monday.
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