GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
"Should be a mess." The weather folks yesterday were playing with a lot of different variables—cold air moving in, warmer air above, icing, glazing, rain, snow, high winds, flooding, locusts...—but they summed it up nicely. We may see some sleet and snow first thing as the rain winds down, and temps will be falling all day with gusty winds from the northwest. But we'll also see the sun at some point. Reaching the low teens or single digits overnight.Coyotes flirting. On Thetford nature enthusiast Erin Donahue's trail cam this week. Naturalist Ted Levin writes: "Nothing stops coyotes. No amount of persecution. Since the mid-nineteenth century, when coyotes began to spread out of the Desert Southwest and the Great Plains, they've reached the Atlantic, the Gulf Coast, central Alaska, and are poised on the rim of South America. First recorded in Vermont in the 1940s, coyotes now breed in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City. If they had thumbs and could build boats, they'd be in Hawaii. These coyotes are courting. Late February is their time.""You'll be surprised at how climbing to a remote place can actually make you feel more connected to the world." That's Henry talking to himself as he climbs... only it's not quite as remote as he expected when he gets there. As he does every Friday in this spot, Lebanon author and illustrator DB Johnson is chronicling the doings in Lost Woods. Hit the back arrow to catch up on previous weeks or to head back to the beginning if you're a newcomer.There won't be a juvenile detention facility in Windsor. On Wednesday, a VT Senate committee rejected a bill that would have turned the town's former prison site into a secure juvenile facility, reports VTDigger's Alan J. Keays. “They’ve done their part over the years, I think,” said Sen. Dick Mazza, referring to the state prison that first opened in 1809. The state has been seeking a replacement for the closed Woodside detention facility. Mazza also expressed doubt about moving ahead with the state's proposed Newbury site.Federal court rejects Ed Brown's case for early release. He was originally sentenced to 37 years in prison on charges related to his 2007 armed standoff in Plainfield, but two years ago he was resentenced to 25 years. On Wednesday, the 1st Circuit US Court of Appeals rejected his argument that his sentence violated the due process and double jeopardy clauses of the Constitution, reports the AP. Brown's wife, Elaine Brown, was released in 2020 after serving 12 years in prison.Schools start pulling back on masking requirements. The Claremont School Board on Wednesday made masks optional for all students and visitors—though students who test positive for Covid will have to wear a mask for five days after returning to school, reports Patrick O'Grady in the Valley News. Meanwhile, writes Nora Doyle-Burr, Sharon Academy has easily hit VT's new 80 percent vaccination threshold to drop masking requirements and will make masks optional starting March 7. Other schools in the White River Valley haven't gotten there yet, Doyle-Burr reports.SPONSORED: Think renewables are to blame for rising energy bills? Think again! Solar is now the cheapest electricity in history (and wind isn’t far behind). Energy prices are rising...but it's driven by gasoline, natural gas, and oil. In fact, at $3.50 per gallon, gasoline costs twice as much as electricity to move a vehicle a mile, while powering it with solar makes it absolutely free! For more on energy prices, click on the maroon link, and for more on how you can lock in ultra-low energy prices for decades to come, visit the Solaflect Energy website, email us, or call (802) 649-3700. Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.Gone...but for the debris. The 1880s home in WRJ that for years housed the Parker Insurance Agency—and whose land is now under contract to Northern Stage—was demolished yesterday, and VN photographer James Patterson was there with his camera. Hiking Not-So-Close to Home: Frost in the Frost. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance recommends taking some time for this easy, beautiful Vermont hike. The Robert Frost Interpretive Trail starts just off Route 125 over Middlebury Gap, and with the right clothes and footwear is a lovely, contemplative walk in any season. You'll combine healthy doses of nature, exercise, and reflection thanks to some of the great poet’s words posted thoughtfully along the route. There are longer nearby hikes, including the 4-mile Norske trail down the road. Frost Trail parking is two miles east of Ripton on the south side of 125. Been paying attention this week? The guys who run The News Quiz have some questions for you. Like, how much did a share of the Tunbridge Fair just go for at auction? And what kind of animal in NH has been found to harbor a strain of avian flu? And why was a VT principal placed on leave? You'll find those and others at the maroon link.“What if we acknowledge that the world is unpredictable, but instead of looking at that instability with fear, we see possibility?” Sarah Elizabeth Warnsley directed Heisenberg, the two-person drama, romance, and comedy rolled into one that opens officially at Northern Stage tomorrow night. The Times Argus/Rutland Herald's Jim Lowe talks to Warnsley about why a play about uncertainty and instability is right for this pandemic moment and details the production itself, which also features an original score for piano and cello by composer, actor, and singer-songwriter Tom Crawford.Lurch? Anne Droid? R2clean2? Alice Peck Day has a new ultraviolet robot for cleaning and disinfecting, and the hospital's just launched a contest to name it, writes Susan Apel on Artful. Voting runs until the end of March. This is hardly outlandish, Susan writes. Schoolkids all over Vermont just named the state's snowplows, And, she writes, it turns out that people name their Roombas. NH House adds exceptions to 24-week abortion ban. In a close vote yesterday that also overruled a committee recommendation, legislators passed a measure making exceptions for rape, incest, and fatal fetal anomalies in the blanket ban in last year's law, reports NH Bulletin's Annmarie Timmins. The bill had been stripped of its exception language when it was in committee. It now goes before the House Finance Committee before it gets a second floor vote.VT school boards get caught in national culture wars. From the Rutland debate over the Raiders mascot to battles over whether and how race and racism should be taught in the schools, polarizing issues are impelling candidates on both sides to run, writes Alison Novak in Seven Days. She looks closely at Springfield and other towns where candidates this year are bringing national politics home. And quotes former Randolph principal Elijah Hawkes: "I can think of no group of people better positioned than educators to be committed to dialogue no matter what people believe. Our doors are open..."Volcanic fire and ice. Sicily's Mt. Etna erupted last week, creating a "volcanic storm" that generated its own lightning. The photos "look like something from Lord of the Rings" Gizmodo writes, and for once a headline writer trawling for clicks isn't exaggerating. Meanwhile, far to the west, AccuWeather's Zachary Rosenthal writes about the "Juhyo," misshapen snow creatures that form on the flanks of Japan's volcanic Mt. Zao when winds repeatedly blow snow onto rime ice that then binds to trees. Some very cool drone footage. (Thanks, DM!)
And the numbers...
Dartmouth has dropped to 79 total active cases (from 94 Monday). The college's dashboard yesterday reported 67 active undergrad cases (-9), 3 among grad and professional students (-1), and 9 among faculty/staff (-5). There have been 137 combined new cases among students over the previous seven days, as well as 32 among faculty/staff. 57 students are isolating on campus, 13 are isolating off-campus, and 10 faculty/staff are in isolation.
NH's new cases continue to fall overall, with a 7-day average now of 329 new cases a day, compared to 505 on Tuesday. The state reported 750 new cases Tuesday, 224 Wednesday, and 86 yesterday, bringing its total to 292,187. There have been 14 deaths reported since Tuesday; the total now stands at 2,326. Hospitalizations continue to trend downward: 115 people are currently hospitalized (-36 since Tuesday). The state reports 3,015 active cases statewide(-427) and 274 (-25) active cases in Grafton County, 154 (-22) in Sullivan, and 275 (-54) in Merrimack. In town-by-town numbers, the state says Claremont has 75 (-15), Hanover has 65 (+2), Lebanon has 25 (-4), Newport has 24 (-3), Haverhill has 20 (-1), Enfield has 16 (-8), Charlestown has 13 (-5), Grantham has 13 (+1), New London has 12 (no change), Plainfield has 8 (no change), Canaan has 6 (-2), Sunapee has 6 (+1), Wilmot has 5 (-3), and Piermont, Orford, Rumney, Lyme, Dorchester, Grafton, Cornish, Croydon, Springfield, and Newbury have 1-4 each.
VT's muddling along, reporting 163 new cases Tuesday, 378 Wednesday, and 243 yesterday, to bring it to 110,417 total. There were 5 new deaths over that time, with 579 over the course of the pandemic. Hospitalizations continue to drop: As of yesterday, 57 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (-9 since Monday), with 15 of them (no change) in the ICU. Windsor County has seen 44 new cases since Monday, with 7,134 for the pandemic and 147 new cases over the previous two weeks; Orange County gained 25 cases during that time for a total of 3,171, with 64 over the previous two weeks.
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The ever-vibrant and expanding Bethel University is revving up to get going in March, and has just opened its classes (some of which will be by Zoom, some outdoors in Bethel) for registration. The free community pop-up's sessions are taught by volunteers from all over the state, and you can learn everything from how to ice skate to handwriting analysis to reading Robert Frost. Plus a whole lot more: catalog at the link.
This evening at 6, VINS hosts an online talk about Snowflake Bentley by his granddaughter, Sue Richardson. She'll not only show and talk about the Jericho, VT farmer's pathbreaking photomicrographs of snowflakes starting in the late 1800s, but detail his work to perfect his process and win acceptance from the scientific community, using photos, family stories, and his writings to tell his story. No charge, but you'll need to register.
At 7:30 this evening, it's the last night of previews for Northern Stage's production of Simon Stephens' Heisenberg, whose official opening night is tomorrow. A meditation on uncertainty, unpredictability, and alternate paths disguised as a romantic comedy, the two-person play features Northern Stage veteran Jamie Horton and Chicago theater veteran Monica Orozco. Runs through March 6.
And at 8, Dartmouth's theater department launches its production of RENT, which runs this weekend and next (tonight's show may be sold out) in the Hop's Moore Theater. The iconic, Pulitzer-winning musical by Jonathan Larson is based loosely on Puccini's La Bohème and follows "a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. An exuberant and passionate story about falling in love, finding your voice and living for today," as the Hop's promo material puts it.
Tomorrow starting at 10 am, it's VINS' Winter Wildlife Celebration, with birding tours, winter games, chickadees, reindeer, sled dogs, the canopy walk, and more throughout the day.
And if you're in the mood for films, at 3 and 5:30 pm tomorrow, Billings is showing Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President, Mary Wharton's 2020 rockumentary about Carter's ties to Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels, and others on the campaign trail, and to the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughn once he was in office. Meanwhile, at 7 pm, Hop Film has Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth, starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.
At 7:30 tomorrow evening, the Dartmouth Wind Ensemble takes the stage in Spaulding Auditorium for an evening of selections from the 2020 Wind Ensemble Composition Competition, including two world premieres: Quinn Mason's Journeys III (with Mason joining the ensemble), and Eduardo Aguilar's Cerro y Nube.
In honor of Heisenberg, let's go into the weekend with the Seattle-born indie band Fleet Foxes' 2020 ode to uncertainty, "Can I Believe You," with dancers Jade-Lorna Sullivan and Jean Charles giving stylish visual heft to the challenges of trust, faith, and connection.Have a fine weekend, whatever it's doing out there. See you Monday for CoffeeBreak.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
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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