GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Tonight: Rain. Also cold, though not much colder than during the day. That's pretty much all there is to say. Except ohhh, about yesterday's weather: This is kind of interesting. The Weather Service folks actually went to the trouble of explaining why it didn't get sunny in the morning, as they'd predicted. The fault lay with "a pesky mid-level inversion [that] hung tough" into the afternoon, keeping clouds around. Apparently mid-layer inversions don't get around to reading forecasts until late.
The team, made up of undergrads at the engineering school, was down at the Langley Research Center this week competing against four other teams. Their design took first for its innovations in food production and crop cultivation, as well as aspects of its mechanical and aerospace engineering. In addition to showing they could grow food on Mars, the students also proved they could cram the system into a small space, deploy it with minimal human effort, and then sustain it... well, on Mars.
Parker, who has been in prison since he and Robert Tulloch were convicted of the 2001 Etna murders, is going before a Grafton County judge next week. His term is due to end in 2024, but his lawyer argues that he's finished a master's degree and taken on a leadership role at the New Hampshire Prison for Men, working to "[make] the prison community a better and more humane place." The state AG's office has objected, saying Parker's sentence was already the minimum term for the crime.
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. Businesses in Bethel, Rochester, and Stockbridge have been targeted, as well as in Killington and West Rutland. The burglars have made away with cash, lottery tickets, cigarettes, tools, and a Chevy Silverado. The first incident was reported April 9, the most recent on Monday.
The council, which had named four men to the committee Tuesday night, got an earful from constituents. So it reconvened Wednesday, and voted to expand the committee to include the next two highest vote-getters, both women.This time, Councilor Abigail Kier and Mayor Charlene Lovett, who were both absent for the initial vote, were there.
Dartmouth arborist Brian Beaty's the guy responsible for staving off Dutch Elm Disease. The college, according to biology prof Matthew Ayres, has some of the biggest elms you can find anywhere in the country, since most of them fell to the disease long ago. Beaty typically finds four or five cases a year, and lops of the affected limbs. Another big challenge to the health of the college's canopy: all the construction going on.
A site called highspeedinternet.com looked at violent crime and cybercrime stats, STD rates, and sex & HIV education data to come up with its rankings. WV was second, NH third, ME fourth. Places you might not want to swipe right? Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi.
NPR highlights one of the features of NH's citizen legislature: conflicts of interest. Landlords vote on eviction regs, state retirees vote on changes to the state retirement system... You get the idea. Legislative leaders argue this is a strength, not a weakness. "The prevailing thinking at New Hampshire's Statehouse," says NHPR reporter Casey McDermott, "is that if you force lawmakers to sit out every time they have a conflict, pretty soon, you won't have anyone to participate."You remember VT's offer of 10 grand to people for relocating to the state? Turns out there's a constituency that doesn't like it: Vermonters. The guv's office says that the initiative has garnered the state a ton of free publicity, 3,000 inquiries, and about 50 people who've taken advantage of the offer. But there's also been a lot of flak from people who wonder if that money couldn't better be spent on improving Vermont itself. "It’s pretty bad when Vermont has to pay people to move here — it’s OUR tax dollars they are spending instead of fixing our roads,” goes one typical comment.Magic Hat, facing challenges in the millennial market, to roll out half-beer/half-wine. So this is interesting: Fast Company notes that while millennials have helped with the craft beer boom, overall they're abandoning beer for wine. Magic Hat's been finding it harder to sell its flagship No. 9, which accounts for 54 percent of the company's sales. Its "liquid Hail Mary"? A grape ale. Millennials, says Magic Hat general manager Mark Hegedus, "are into exploration, they want to be surprised, they’re willing to try everything.”And a head's up for down the road... Americana locals Jakob Breitbach and Jes Raymond are launching a twice-yearly roots-music series at the Briggs. They're calling it "Here in the Valley." They'll livestream it, in the format of radio shows like Austin City Limits and Mountain Stage... and hope it catches on. First show is May 12, with The Mammals.SO HERE WE ARE... FRIDAY NIGHT. GOT PLANS?If you're into acoustic music, there's just one place to be tonight: the Chandler, in Randolph, for Low Lily. The trio's made up of three wildly talented veterans: fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger, guitarist Liz Simmons, and guitar/mandolinist Flynn Cohen. They're mainstays of the New England folk scene -- Schneckenburger is a solo performer, Simmons has worked with Tom Chapin, Livingston Taylor, and others, and founded Low Lily's predecessor, Annalivia, with Cohen. They're sometimes joined by Schneckenburger's husband, double bassist Corey DiMario. They know how to sing, too. At 7:30.Or you could go see Arsenic and Old Lace, the first theatrical production by the newly formed White River Valley High School. The school, in South Royalton, was created by the merger of the Bethel and Royalton districts. The play's a classic, of course: you've got your charming homicidal maniac family and its one sane, well-meaning member, who happens to be a drama critic. You may remember him as Cary Grant in the film. Starts at 7.Or maybe you want to put your mind to work, in which case: Transit, at the HOP. I can't do this justice in a few lines. The film is set in modern-day France, only it's France under the Nazi occupation. Its hero is trying to get out, as are many others, and he's not only adopted the identity of a writer who committed suicide, he's fallen in love with the man's estranged wife, who doesn't know her husband is dead. Things get... complicated. Manohla Dargis in the NYT thinks it's brilliant; Vulture's David Edelstein thinks it's "confounding, but compelling." Once you settle into the film, though, he says, "it eats into the mind." Or heck, maybe you just want to go eat and drink. Norwich's Blue Sparrow Kitchen is teaming up with its next-door neighbor, Norwich Wines and Spirits, for a mud season wine tasting/food pairing. Five tapas-style courses, including gougères and Vietnamese beef skewers, and a suite of whites, reds, and a rose. $40 per person, starts at 6, [email protected] for reservations.Whatever you do, have a fine weekend. See you Monday.
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