HERE WE ARE, UPPER VALLEY: IT'S FRIDAY
Well would you look at that! It's rainy. Haven't seen that in a while.... This system barged in from the Great Lakes and is probably going to be around into the afternoon. There's even a very faint chance of some thunder later in the day. But eventually we should see drier air filtering in, setting us up for a mostly lovely day tomorrow. Highs today in the higher 60s by mid-afternoon. Ex-Ray School principal will change plea to guilty on school-fund theft. Matthew Laramie, who resigned as principal of Hanover's Bernice A. Ray School in 2016, had initially pleaded not guilty to four counts of "theft by deception" over nearly $34,000 in expenses he'd charged to his school-issued credit card. A plea agreement filed in Grafton Superior Court now has him pleading guilty to two counts next week. He'll serve 28 days in county jail on weekends over the next year. (VN, subscription reqd)Fired Mascoma school-lunch-server story goes national. Bonnie Kimball, who'd worked in the high-school cafeteria, was fired by food-services contractor Cafe Services for letting a student who had no money in his account get lunch anyway--with a promise that his parents would replenish the account later. The firing's been roiling the waters around Canaan this week, but it's now been picked up by, among others, The Washington Post. The school board has just renewed Cafe Services' contract.Use of mental health services at Dartmouth climbing noticeably. Per a story in The Dartmouth today, the college's counseling service now sees a quarter of the student body, a 60 percent climb over the last six years. Mental-health-related admissions to Dicks House (the college's health center) have grown 45 percent. Part of the blame, says the college's health director, lies with Dartmouth's quarter system, which amps up pressure and gives students less room to deal with strain and psychological issues.AVA retrenches, lays off staff. Last Friday, the gallery sent an email to members noting its efforts "to stabilize the organization and to develop a comprehensive business plan to strike a realistic balance between expenses and income" under interim director Hilde Ojibway and former director Bente Torjusen. The translation came in a VN story that ran yesterday: AVA had grown too quickly and outstripped its funding. It laid off three staffers last week and has made other cuts, and is boosting fundraising.Sausage collaboration: North Country Smokehouse joins forces with Harpoon and Vermont Farmstead Cheese. The Claremont-based smoked meat producer is out with two new lines aimed at taking advantage of consumers' liking for locally sourced food: an IPA bratwurst using Windsor-based Harpoon's beer, and a jalapeño cheddar sausage from South Woodstock's VT Farmstead, which also has a store right by Harpoon at Windsor's Artisan's Park. Wonder if Silo Distillery's feeling left out?Climate protesters disrupt VT House proceedings, Hartland Rep. Zach Ralph draws rebuke from speaker. The protesters interrupted debate yesterday morning demanding more action on climate change. Most ultimately left when Speaker Mitzi Johnson ordered the chamber cleared, though three were arrested for staying. Ralph and a fellow Progressive member also stayed on the floor. "I'm very disappointed that there are members that refused to leave the chamber to allow Statehouse police to do their job," said Johnson, adding that she won't punish them but was "very clear with the representatives that I was disappointed in them." Speaking of Johnson, she's now saying that VT's legislative session will go into overtime. It was due to adjourn for the year on Saturday, but with the budget still unfinished, a dozen conference committees still meeting, and the House and Senate still at odds over the minimum wage hike and paid family leave, today clearly won't be enough to wrap up. So the House and Senate will skip meeting tomorrow, and go into next week instead.Dems are frustrated by Scott's silence on key issues. Republican Gov. Phil Scott has stayed mum on his intentions on family leave, the minimum wage, clean-water funding, and other issues, keeping the spotlight on Democrats' disagreements. With the session winding down, both Johnson and Senate leader Tim Ashe say they need more engagement. “We’re looking for...a conversation and we’re able to say here’s what’s important to me, here’s what’s important to our side and how can we make that work,” says Johnson.NH House will try next week to override Sununu veto of death penalty repeal. Both houses of the NH legislature passed a death-penalty repeal with veto-proof margins in April; Republican Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed it May 3. House Speaker Steve Shurtleff has a "tentative" plan to schedule the override vote on May 23 -- months ahead of the traditional September override session. If the Democratic-controlled House succeeds, the vote would go to the Senate the following week. NH budget-writers want to replace Mt. Washington's overtaxed septic system. Sure, legislators have plenty of other pressing issues to deal with as they craft the state budget, but this is serious. Republican Sen. Jeb Bradley says the system that's up there now is in dire condition. "The capacity is around 4,000-5,000 visitors a day, and the number of people who go up there on a really nice day can be 7,000 or 8,000, and so it's really important that we upgrade that waste disposal system up there."Just in time for spring, VT Fish & Wildlife out with list of great wildlife-viewing spots. The Dead Creek watershed for snow geese, trout at Willoughby Falls, migrating hawks from Mt. Philo...I know we did a bear yesterday, but this is too good: Family of bears visits inn in Jackson, NH. They spent about a half hour checking out the Inn at Thorn Hill. Two Dem presidential candidates will be in the area on Sunday -- but of course, they're going to be here at the same time.
Pete Buttiegieg will be in Claremont. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace will host a one-hour town hall at Stevens High School with the South Bend mayor. Starts at 7 pm, but doors close at 6:30. You can register at the link.
Or you could go see Amy Klobuchar at Tuck. She'll be there Sunday evening at 6 pm, taking part in a discussion about the changing national economy moderated by Tuck Dean Matthew Slaughter. Students, faculty and staff get first dibs on seats.
Elizabeth Warren, Seth Moulton, and Jay Inslee will also be in NH this weekend, but over where there are more voters.
OKAY FRIDAY, WHAT'S IN YOUR LARDER TONIGHT?
. Verch is a fiddler, singer, step-dancer, and songwriter from the Ottawa Valley, the stretch of land along the Ottawa River as it runs through Ontario and Quebec. She and the rest of her trio range well beyond the traditional music of that region, though, into Americana, field songs, country, Swedish folk songs, and whatever else tickles their fancy. Starts at 7:30, tix at the door.
. Asbell's a genre-slipping guitarist, equally at home in jazz, blues, and Americana. This concert focuses on his new album, "Burmese Panther," about which
Seven Days
wrote, "Making jazz sound this effortless and spontaneous actually takes a lot of time and sweat....[E]very song evokes the feel of friends having a conversation — a couple thousand weeknight gigs past merely 'tight.'" They'll be at ArtisTree's Hay Loft, starting at 7:30.
Ten local musicians--voice, flute, guitar, bass, drums, harpsichord, piano and jazz piano, and two cellists--doing Astor Piazzolla, Puccini, Bach, Bizet, Fauré... and Claude Bolling's Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio. Starts at 7, donations at the door.
No, you'd go because they've got tool demos, Sashiko-style mending, paint and sculpture demos, battling robots, a light show, a one-month membership getting raffled off, and... and... oh right! A mind-controlled floating shark. Runs from 6-8 pm.
Hope your weekend's restful, rejuvenating, and sunny. See you Monday.
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