WELL NOW, THAT WAS A WEEK, EH?
But here we are, it's Friday, and we luck into a day much like yesterday. High pressure is firmly ensconced over the Northeast, giving us sunny skies and—whoa!—"anomalously warm temperatures." Which around here means upper 60s this afternoon. There'll be some clouds this morning left over from last night, but they'll drift off until late in the day. Low 40s tonight.Whatever else you want to say about Tuesday, it had amazing light. And toward sundown, Jim Block's wife Jann looked out the window and called, "Look at the sky!" He grabbed his camera and got this rare shot of a sun pillar, when light reflects off ice crystals floating just so. The pillar was away off over Vermont, north of Okemo. Bonus shot of sunset over Ascutney, as well.After the leaves have fallen and before the snow arrives for good. Jerry Bergen lives in Hartford's Jericho District and has been an amateur photographer for six decades. Recently, as he gets on in years, he's taken up flying a drone. "Aging has made traveling difficult to photograph what I admire so much," he writes. "The drone has allowed me to continue what I enjoy, and to be able to do it from my front porch." Here's his latest, posted yesterday, of Jericho in morning sunlight, leaves down, fields crisp, fog hugging the hollows.“Six people feed 360 families." That's Root 5 Farm's Danielle Allen, talking to VTDigger's Amanda Gokee about the pandemic-spurred doubling of CSA shares her farm in Fairlee has seen this year. Allen is optimistic it'll last. "If we can hold people for two years, we can retain them," she says. Meanwhile, at Sunrise Farm in Hartford, Chuck Wooster's clientele more than doubled. He says the farm is "on the brink of becoming a midsized operation," Gokee writes—a financially awkward place to be, especially because Wooster believes demand will shrink after people start eating out again.Hartland home invasion nets one suspect; other still at large. Yesterday morning at about 7, two armed men "forcibly entered the home of two female acquaintances, physically assaulted the victims, stole an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the scene," the VT State Police report. The women suffered minor injuries. Yesterday afternoon, Hartford police found Aaron Gobin, of Hartland, in Wilder and took him into custody. Police are still seeking Colby Bowen, 29, of Hartland, who is "believed to be armed and dangerous," and are asking anyone with information to get in touch.A decade and a half later, Dartmouth coaches reunite. In North Carolina. In the mid-2000s, Courtney Banghart and Chris Leazier were assistant coaches on Dartmouth's women's basketball team. They've both moved around since then—Leazier coached St. Anselm's and VTC's teams, Banghart was head coach at Princeton. Now, Banghart's women's head coach at UNC, and has just hired Leazier as director of scouting and video operations. "A brilliant basketball mind, a film geek of the best kind," she tweeted about her new hire.Dartmouth students sent home after Halloween parties. Remember those parties police in Leb and Hanover busted up last weekend? Lebanon's drew 20 people; the one in Hanover, according to The Dartmouth's Andrew Sasser, began with 30 invitees but somehow grew to over 70. One person who helped plan the Hanover party says "a number" of students IDed by the police have been sent home by the college—including, apparently, one student who says he didn't attend but whose name was falsely given to the police. The college would give no details other than to say it's investigating.GOP picks up two Upper Valley seats in the VT House. The Valley News' John Gregg rounds up local VT legislative results, including wins by Joe Parsons, a 36-year-old floor installer from Newbury and a second-place finish in a two-seat district by Orange resident Samantha Lefebvre, ahead of Democratic state Rep. Carl Demrow. Other newcomers include Democrat Heather Surprenant of Barnard and Democrat Elizabeth Burrows in Hartland/W. Windsor. Gregg reports that Bradford's Sarah Copeland Hanzas is eyeing a speakership race if Mitzi Johnson falls short in her recount bid.JAG plans virtual cabaret, real food. Its annual Juke Joint fundraiser will be "at home" on Nov. 14 this year, only West Indian-American chef Latoya Henry will prep food for pickup at Newberry Market in WRJ ahead of the online event. In addition to main courses, each dish will include a side of smoked collard greens, bourbon banana bread pudding, and the "Justice Allows Growth'" cocktail from Wolf Tree. (Just figured you needed to know that.) The cabaret itself will include a roster of previous JAG performers and actors from around the country.Voters show taste, go for "Danger" over "Hike-ity Hike Hike." Kaitie Eddington's fundraiser for the Upper Valley Land Trust has drawn to a close, and thanks to the online contest to give her a middle name, she's now got one: Danger. Or, at least, she will, once she pays a $150 fee and gets a probate judge to sign off. “I never thought in a million years that I would have to go before somebody and say that I’m changing my name to Danger,” she tells the VN's Alex Hanson. “I think I have a good case.”The East is a "geothermal dud." But it could happen around Conway, NH anyway. Geothermal energy is "poised for a big breakout," according to a recent article in Vox, and this gives David Brooks a chance to explain, on his Granite Geek blog, that while there may not be any magma close to the surface east of the Mississippi, as there is out West, NH's granite and related elements produce enough radioactivity deep below the surface to make geothermal energy feasible. Back in 2007, an MIT report tagged Conway as the likeliest spot in the East—though it would be the most expensive in the country.NH PAC focused on boosting people of color and LGBTQ candidates sees modest success. Though Republican gains in the legislature are the big story from this week, NHPR's Daniela Allee reports that Our Moment saw about half the 42 candidates it supported in the general election win seats, including several newcomers. Democratic State Rep. Manny Espitia, one of the PAC's co-founders, says it will focus on municipal races next. “A lot of change does happen at the local level,” he tells Allee. “We need good people there, too."Explaining New Hampshire to Vermonters. That's the chance Valley News news editor John Gregg got yesterday, talking to VPR's Mitch Wertlieb about the elections. They got into the differences between the two states on mask mandates, Chris Sununu's popularity (and harder edge than Phil Scott), Corky Messner's flub on the Kancamagus in a debate with Jeanne Shaheen, the Republicans' strong position for redistricting, and lower turnout than four years ago in Hanover and Durham. Is vote-by-mail here to stay in VT? It's up to the legislature, says Secy of State. In an interview with VPR's Henry Epp yesterday, Jim Condos said that voting this year went "extremely well," and that his office will be meeting with town clerks to debrief and hear recommendations for the future. They'll also talk over costs with the legislature. "A lot of people think that voting by mail is cheaper than having in-person voting," Condos said, "but it really isn't, because you're pre-paying the postage."VT housing prices climb. The median hit $348K last month compared to $281K the year before, a 23 percent jump, reports VTDigger's Anne Wallace Allen. Realtors point to an influx of newcomers, but hard data doesn't yet back that up. What is clear, Allen writes, is that VT is outpacing both NH and ME, where the median sales price has risen about 15 percent. And, says the director of the state Housing Finance Agency, “First-time homebuyers and people of modest means are really being left out of this market.”The Army yesterday broke ground on its new Mountain Warfare School in Jericho, VT. The $27 million facility is just up the road from the VT National Guard's Camp Ethan Allen Training Site, which has trained soldiers in cold-weather and mountain combat for over three decades. The new facility will include educational space, billeting for 174 personnel, a dining facility, and a four-story indoor climbing wall. Here's guessing they won't open it up to recreational climbers. "I'm a crow. I like to bring shiny things home." And what John Oren brought home one day in 1986 after a visit to a junkyard in Burlington was a box of discarded microscope lenses. He went back the next day to scrounge for the rest of the discarded metallurgical microscope they came from. These days, he sells refurbished high-end microscopes to "some of the world's most prestigious laboratories, hospitals, museums and research institutions," Seven Days' Ken Picard writes. His profile of Charlotte's self-taught microscope expert and how he got from there to here is niche, but highly engaging.Following? Herding...? I'm leaning herding. Young raccoon. Goats. You tell me.
Last numbers for the week.
NH reported 252 positive test results yesterday, its highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic (though 50 of them were recorded earlier in the week and their reporting was delayed). Its official total is now 11,808. There were 2 new deaths, which now stand at 486. The state's current caseload is at 1,546 (up 92). Grafton County now has 74 active cases (down 5). Sullivan County is at 25 active cases (up 1) and Merrimack at 190 (up 6). Lebanon has 13 active cases (up 1); Newport gained 1 and now has 10. There are 1-4 cases each in Lyme, Hanover, Plainfield, Claremont, Charlestown, Unity, Sunapee, New London, and Newbury. Goshen is off the list.
VT reported 35 new cases yesterday, its biggest one-day jump since early June. Its official total is now 2,303, with 357 of those still active (up 18). Deaths remain at 58 and 5 people with confirmed cases are hospitalized. Windsor County remains at 128 for the pandemic, with 11 of those in the past 14 days. Orange County is still at 40 cumulatively, 9 of them reported in the past 14 days.
News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
Today from 4-6 pm, the Hanover Improvement Society's switching up its regular Free Popcorn Friday. Instead of holding it on the terrace outside the Nugget, they're moving inside and opening up the concessions stand. So you can drop on by for free popcorn, plus make up for all that lost pandemic time with Skittles and Junior Mints and even ice cream bars, all at a discount, to take home for whatever you're watching tonight. And remember that with the theater shut down, they won't bat an eye if you offer a donation while you're there.
At 5 pm, NH Humanities is featuring Graziella Parati, professor of Italian Studies at Dartmouth, talking about the history of Italian immigrants to this country, Italian-American culture, the films it's inspired, and "the politics of Italian American-ness." As usual, you'll need to register.
At 6:30 pm, the W. Claremont Center for Music and the Arts is hosting a virtual concert by Ensemble Schumann—Sally Pinkas on piano, oboeist Tom Gallant, and Steve Larson on viola. They'll be doing Schumann, Bruch, Herz, and an adaptation written for them of Bach’s "Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring." Tickets by contribution.
And at 8, it's the second annual Indigenous People's Month fashion show, hosted by the Hood, Native Americans at Dartmouth, and the student-led organization, Hokupa'a.
Meanwhile, tomorrow there are two visual-arts possibilities. In Sharon, wood-sculptor Judi Lowell and her husband woodturner and bowl-maker Craig Meier are opening their new studio, workshop and gallery from 1-5. After that, it'll be by appointment. And far on the other side of the river, the Route 3 Art Trail kicks off with a driving tour from 10 am to 4 pm. It features artists and galleries along the Route 3 corridor between Concord, Penacook and Boscawen.
A departure today. Instead of music, let's head into the weekend in high spirits, even if it's vicariously: watching a bunch of very well-dressed French townspeople plunge joyfully into a snowball fight—in 1897. It was filmed in Lyon by pioneering filmmakers Auguste and Louis Lumière and shows, as Sam Anderson put it in the
NYT
yesterday, "a gaggle of antiquated French people hucking compacted snow at one another’s faces with terrifying ferocity." And having a great time.
, and here's
; it's almost like two different films.
(Thanks, RM!)
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Banner by Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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