GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly sunny, still cool. But hey, warmer weather's headed our way Sunday... Meanwhile, we start the day out with mostly clear skies, though more clouds will move in as the afternoon wears on. Highs around 50, gusty winds from the northwest. Down to around freezing tonight.When you're hungry, any perch will do. An unusual trail cam video from Carol Ringelberg in Bradford. She can explain it best: "I found a coyote skull in the woods behind our house and wondered what would happen if I set it on a tree stump in front of a camera," she writes. "It turned out to be an attraction for curious deer, squirrels, coyotes—and in this clip an owl that decided it was a great place to perch while enjoying a midnight snack.""Were we there yet?" It's Lost Woods No. 74, in which Eddie builds a time machine and he and Auk launch themselves today into yesterday and come back tomorrow to today. Got that? As he does every week here, Lebanon writer and illustrator DB Johnson chronicles the doings in Lost Woods—and this week on his blog he talks about "meta-humor" that asks the reader to step out of the confines of the strip for a moment. Time travel will do that to you.Charges dropped against Dartmouth student in menorah vandalism case. Damien Fisher reports in InDepthNH that in an agreement with Grafton County prosecutors filed earlier this month, Carlos Wilcox, a former Dartmouth student and Dartmouth Review writer, says he bought the BB gun used to shoot out the Dartmouth Chabad menorah on the college green in 2020—but that he didn't do the actual shooting. He alleges another student, fellow Dartmouth Review writer Zachary Wang, pulled the trigger. Wang has not been charged "but Hanover Police confirm they are aware of the latest accusation," writes Fisher.Three Leb shopping plazas sold. John Lippman reports in the Valley News that the Davis Cos., a Boston real estate development firm that bought the Kmart (now TJ Maxx) and North Country plazas and half of the Miracle Mile Plaza in 2017, has sold them off. The firm "invested heavily" in upgrades to the first of these, Lippman writes, and sold it for $30.6 million to new owners based in California. The other two properties, which sold for less than Davis paid in 2017, have been bought by a group of investors headed by Hanover investor Robert Hawthorne.Facing workforce complaints, Norwich turns to HR consultant. At its meeting Wednesday, the town's Selectboard "entered into a contract" with the consultant in a bid to "improve the workplace culture for all staff," according to board chair Roger Arnold. The move follows turmoil in the public works dept. In an email to Daybreak responding to questions first raised by Norwich Observer blogger Chris Katucki, Arnold confirms that the problems are broader than one department. "Town government is not immune from the issues and problems workers everywhere have been drawing attention to," he writes.Campus tempest grows around Dartmouth response to conservative speaker event. It began in January, when College Republicans hosted journalist Andy Ngo for an in-person event that was switched to Zoom following threats of unrest. The college billed the group $3,600 for security, which the group has protested, saying administrators "unilaterally" made the Zoom decision. Last week, the group hosted Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, who joined them outside director of student life David Pack's office to film them questioning Pack about the fee—without his permission, prompting a college investigation. The Dartmouth's Arizbeth Rojas unpacks it all.Bradford's Sarah Copeland Hanzas announces run for VT secretary of state. She's been a state rep since 2005 and has chaired the House Government Operations Committee for the last three years—overseeing many of the same issues as the secretary of state's office, including public records laws, elections, and governmental ethics, notes VTDigger's Lola Duffort. Two other Democrats—Deputy Secretary of State Chris Winters and Montpelier City Clerk John Odum—have also announced for the post, which current Secretary of State Jim Condos has said he'll be leaving at the end of his term.And Monique Priestley announces for Copeland Hanzas's seat. No sooner had the news about Copeland Hanzas dropped than Priestley, who founded and runs the community-boosting Space on Main in Bradford and chairs the boards of Vital Communities and the Green Mountain Economic Development Corp., announced her bid. She's running as a Democrat, with the incumbent's support. "I have watched Monique embrace collaboration in her work among the towns in our region, Copeland Hanzas says in Priestley's press release. The district includes Bradford, Fairlee, and W. Fairlee.Weeds? Hardly! They're salad greens! "To go for a walk with John Brown is to see a landscape, his home for 40 years, nearly bursting with food," writes The Herald's Dylan Kelley. Once a week, the Randolph paper will make a current story available to Daybreak readers; this week it's Kelley's profile of East Randolph's Brown, who learned the craft of foraging from his parents and grandparents. Cowslip greens, cow parsnip, cat tail bulbs, artichokes, duck chestnuts... and an herb whose name he can't remember. “I need to go look in my flower book again," he tells Kelley.Hiking Close to Home: the Forest Discovery Trail in the White Mountain National Forest. This trail is a little far afield, but the Upper Valley Trails Alliance says that if you and your family venture out to the scenic Kancamagus Highway to watch the mountains blossom and want to stretch your legs, it's a fine stop. The 1.5-mile pair of loops is ADA-accessible, with a wide gravel surface and educational plaques along the way. It's just off the Kanc. Been paying attention this week? The News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, what's returning to downtown Lebanon? And what's the name of the company that bought the Valley News building? And how well do you know the Upper Valley's B Corps? You'll find those and others at the maroon link.WRIF returns next month. After a 2021 summer of outdoor showings around downtown WRJ, the White River Indie Films Festival is back to normal, with 10 feature films over two weekends and an array of shorts showing in-person at the Briggs, along with a free outdoor screening at Lyman Point Park. It kicks off May 20 with Stop-Zemlia, a 2020 Ukrainian film that looks at the lives of young people in Kyiv before the invasion—"the very people soon to be caught in the crossfire of a war that neither they nor the filmmakers could imagine at the time," WRIF writes.Quechee Club to expand, build housing for workers. With younger families moving to the region and the average age of its members dropping, the club has embarked on a set of facility upgrades and a bid to ensure housing for its employees, reports Nora Doyle-Burr in the VN. The work would include new racket sports space and expanded rec facilities, but, the club's general manager says, the “most important part of this entire plan is the employee housing concept. We can’t expand without team members. It’s hard to bring somebody in from outside the Upper Valley. (There) are no homes to buy.”
NH AG's office announces another NH couple was shot. On Wednesday, police responded to a home in Gorham, where they found the bodies of a 28-year-old woman and 42-year-old man. Yesterday, an autopsy confirmed that both had been shot to death. The investigation into their murders, of course, is the second high-profile case facing state law enforcement officials as they—along with the FBI—pursue leads into the shooting of a retired Concord couple on a hiking trail last week.“Ten years ago, this was heresy – putting a door between the product and the customer!” Hannaford has been installing glass doors on coolers in its NH stores (and in other states) as a way of saving electricity—as much as 70 percent. It's part of a three-pronged approach the company's taking to try to get to "net-zero" by 2040. As David Brooks writes on his Granite Geek blog, the goal is admirable but vague. So he visited a store in Manchester with the chain's sustainability manager to see what it'll actually take. Turns out, he writes, it requires myriad steps, both large and small.NH Senate axes bill to legalize possession of recreational cannabis. The measure had enjoyed strong support in the House, reports NHPR's Todd Bookman, but ran into a steadfast brick wall in the Senate. “This is not a harmless substance,” Warren GOP Sen. Bob Giuda said during the debate. “Legalizing this does no good for any segment of our population.” With retail pot sold legally in MA and ME and coming soon to VT, Granite Staters have plenty of choices for buying it legally—but face a $100 fine if they're caught in possession of small amounts of marijuana once they cross back into NH.VT high schoolers can get a community college degree for free. Not a gimmick. Students currently in grades 8-11 are eligible to have an associate’s degree fully paid for, thanks to a new program funded by the McClure Foundation. As Seven Days’ Alison Novak reports, the “Free Degree Promise” extends to high school seniors in CCV’s Early College Program, which offers classes that earn them college credits. Now that program includes an additional year of free education. CCV president Joyce Judy hopes it provides more kids with “the right skills for the jobs that are being created” in VT.Lots of ideas, no agreement on how VT should spend its education fund surplus. In all, reports Peter D'Auria in VTDigger, it comes to almost $100 million, and so far the legislature seems to want to spend about a third of it on a one-year free-meals pilot program in the schools to make up for the end of the federal pandemic aid that's been supporting breakfasts and lunches. But Gov. Phil Scott wants to see half the surplus returned to taxpayers and the other half go to career and technical education. And another vocal group wants to see PCBs cleaned up in school buildings. D'Auria lays out the argument.VT weighs whether to pay family caregivers of adults with disabilities. It's actually been doing it already under an emergency pandemic measure to keep families safe during the crisis, writes Seven Days' Colin Flanders. But now, he reports, the state is set to renew its plan for how disability services are delivered and families are pressing to continue the pandemic practice as a way to address a chronic shortage of caregivers. Advocates counter that the state should spend money on raising wages for professional caregivers or creating more group homes where people with disabilities can live independently.These international food photography winners are much more than food. Each image is inseparable from the culture in which it is made. Consider the overall winner: almost mystical, this Indian street food vendor basting his kebabs. Shrouded in smoke, his face says it all. And it may be the closest a photo has come to smelling delicious. The BBC highlights all the winners of the 2022 Pink Lady Food Photography contest: from the Matisse-like image of a South African girl peeling an orange to a Chinese family preparing traditional red dumplings to broccoli made to look like Central Park.The Friday Vordle. Good work this week, everyone! As always, today's word relates to an item in yesterday's Daybreak.
And the numbers...
The CDC now says that community Covid levels in Grafton and Sullivan counties are high—meaning it recommends wearing a mask indoors in public areas and on public transit. It puts the level in Windsor and Orange counties at medium.
NH cases continue to rise, with a 7-day average now of 354 new cases per day, versus 296 on Monday. The state reported 206 new cases Tuesday, 514 Wednesday, and 378 yesterday, bringing it to 309,552 in all. There were 4 deaths reported during that time; the total stands at 2,479. Under the state's rubric of reporting only people actively being treated for Covid in hospitals, it reports 22 hospitalizations (no change since Monday). The NH State Hospital Association reports 114 inpatients with confirmed or suspected cases (+29 since Monday) and another 37 Covid-recovering patients. Meanwhile, the state reports 308 cases in Grafton County (+83 since Monday), 122 in Sullivan (+23), and 200 (+20) in Merrimack. In town-by-town numbers, it says Hanover has 178 (+57); Lebanon 39 (+13); Claremont 37 (+12); Plainfield 20 (-1); Grantham 16 (+5); Newport 13 (+2); Enfield 13 (+4); Charlestown 13 (no change); Lyme 8 (+1); Sunapee 7 (+2); Newbury 6 (-1); New London 5 (-1); Canaan 5 (+at least 1); and Haverhill, Piermont, Orford, Rumney, Springfield, Cornish, Croydon, and Unity 1-4 each. Wilmot is off the list.
VT's case numbers continue to rise. The state reported 335 cases Tuesday, 422 Wednesday, and 399 yesterday, bringing it to 123,455 total and up to a 7-day daily average of 328 compared to 282 Monday. There were 5 deaths during that time; they stand at 634 all told. Hospitalizations are climbing: As of yesterday, 64 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (+12), with 8 in the ICU (+3). Windsor County has 243 cases reported over the past two weeks, for 9,252 overall, while Orange County gained 126 in the past two weeks and stands at 4,240 overall, the state says. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the Orange County total number is down more than 700 from a couple of days ago, while Windsor County's is over 200 higher. This is because on Wednesday, the state Health Department "ran an update that reallocated 4,000 historical cases statewide that had been assigned to an incorrect county," explains spokesman Ben Truman.
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Sustainable Woodstock is screening a new film online by Upper Valley native Ben Kalina, Shored Up, and today at 5:30 hosts a Q&A with Kalina to talk about it. His documentary looks at how rising sea levels will affect homes, businesses, and the communities being transformed by them, focusing in particular on Long Beach Island, NJ and the Outer Banks of NC, where surfers, politicians, scientists and residents are struggling to decide whether "beach engineering" can work or other approaches need exploring.
Tonight at 7:30, the Hop brings in global music superstar Angélique Kidjo—born into a family of performing artists in Benin, on stage with her mother's theater troupe by the time she was six, then launched into a singing career all over West Africa by her school band. Benin's political troubles sent her to Paris in the early 1980s, where she became a backup singer in local bands until her own breakout a few years later. It doesn't hurt her pan-African approach to music that she's fluent in five languages: English, French, Fon, Yoruba, and Gen. She'll be performing songs from recent albums, including Mother Nature, which was produced in quarantine and features collaborations with up-and-coming African stars, including Burna Boy, Sampa the Great and Yemi Alade.
Also at 7:30 but a ride down the highway, Livingston Taylor will be at Brattleboro's Latchis Theater. Singer, songwriter, "airplane-flying, motorcycle-riding singing storyteller," as his publicity puts it, as well as a longtime prof at the Berklee College of Music and, of course, younger brother of James and older brother to Kate. “My shows tend to be informational,” he says in a recent interview. “I love not only writing songs, I love playing the great songs of others and talking about why they’re great.”
Tomorrow is Independent Bookstore Day, and the Upper Valley's four small independents are observing it with the first Upper Valley Independent Bookstore Crawl. Stop in at the Norwich Bookstore (Norwich), Still North Books & Bar (Hanover), Left Bank Books (Hanover), or the Yankee Bookshop (Woodstock) to pick up an IBD passport (designed, by the way, by Still North staffer Névé Monroe-Anderson). Then, if you visit all four stores tomorrow and get it stamped, you get a chance at a raffle and a 20 percent discount in May at one of the stores. It's a lot of ground to cover in a day, but think of the quality time you'll get with great books. And each store will be celebrating with its own activities.
Tomorrow at 7 pm, the Claremont Opera House hosts "La Prairie des Talons," the "capstone" show featuring graduating members of the professional training program at Brattleboro's New England Center for Circus Arts. Acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, and movers create a show at the intersection of circus, dance, and theater.
Tomorrow at 7:30 pm and again on Sunday at 4 pm, the Bel Canto Singers celebrate spring with "Spring Into Spring" at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon. The concerts, which include music for choir, strings, timpani, and piano, will feature three works by Mozart, the world premiere of a piece composed by Upper Valley composer Travis Ramsey, and contemporary and gospel-style pieces. Masks required, along with proof of full vaccination or proof of a negative PCR test within 36 hours of the concert.
Also at 7:30 tomorrow, Court Street Arts in Haverhill hosts JigJam—call it "I-grass" or "CeltGrass," but whatever, the Irish bluegrass band (though it's now got a couple of members from Scotland, too) has a habit of getting audiences up on their feet with a tight, driving sound and plenty of harmonies. As usual, the Bailiff's Café will have pre-concert dinner choices.
And also at 7:30 tomorrow, but something of a trek, the Flynn Center in Burlington is hosting "From Bamako to Birmingham": Malian Afro-pop and blues stars Amadou & Mariam together with the Blind Boys of Alabama. "This union," the Flynn writes, "is about celebrating the connectivity between these cultures—and, as the title's directionality implies, reconsidering the historical context that brought West African traditions to the South, giving birth to all manner of musical styles often considered quintessentially American, the blues and gospel foremost among them."
Finally, on Sunday from 5-8 pm it's the continuing Sunday Music Series at East Coast Van Builds in Bradford to benefit the town's dog park. This week they host Bear's Tapestry, a Burlington-based trio that blends folk, indie rock, and jazz.
So hard to choose, so let's just throw caution to the winds and go with two today:
off Kidjo's most recent album,
Mother Nature
; and
—which works remarkably well sung by a bunch of Irish guys.
Have a lovely weekend! See you for CoffeeBreak on Monday.
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.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers and writers who want you to read. this. book. now!
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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