Daybreak Friday, 5/29/26

Mostly sunny, chance of showers late. Oh, and maybe snow on the summits. The first part of today is a lot like yesterday: partly to mostly sunny, temps getting into the mid 60s. But then, late in the day, an upper-level low pressure system moves in, bringing unusually (though hardly unheard-of) cold temps for the end of May. Below 3,500 feet, precipitation will fall as rain—a chance this afternoon, pretty much certain overnight. But it’ll be snow (though not much) up in the mountains. Lows tonight around 40, cool and showery tomorrow.

A spring morning. “I’ve done it myself—stepped onto a fallen tree and walked its length,” writes Ted Levin about the coyote on Erin Donahue’s trail cam. “Why would a coyote choose the rounded back of a log over the rustle of the forest floor? Dried leaves whisper; trunks keep their counsel. Perhaps the coyote indulges itself, pacing the curve of the wood as I once walked the curbs of suburbia, fending off the dullness of an ordinary day. Solitary play. Whatever the reason, it is spring, the world just waking. Red-eyed vireos and ovenbirds stitch the tender green air with song. And for reasons known only to the coyote, a fallen tree becomes a narrow road worth traveling.” Sound up.

Case against driver who killed Chelsea man ends in deferred sentence and fines. You may remember the incident: 82-year-old Robert Hutchinson, a handyman, gardener, regular at Will’s Store, and one of the town’s most recognizable residents, was struck and killed as he walked home in late 2024. Donna Kendall of Vershire, who left the scene, was eventually identified as the driver and charged. But prosecutors have opted to settle, and felony charges were dismissed, reports Darren Marcy in The Herald. “We determined we were not able to prove [guilt] beyond a reasonable doubt,” one prosecutor tells him. Marcy details the case, and the response in Chelsea.

With VT legislative committee vote, wake sports are banned on Lake Fairlee. As you may remember, staff at VT’s Agency of Natural Resources responded to pressure from lake users’ groups and revisited a 2024 regulation, narrowing the lakes on which wake sports would be allowed. Last week, reports Clare Shanahan in the Valley News, the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules okayed the new regs 5-3, meaning that wake sports will no longer be allowed on Lake Fairlee and 10 other lakes in the state where they’d been permitted. They can still occur on 18 other lakes, including Lake Morey. Shanahan details the continuing debate, statewide and on Fairlee.

Ryan Palmer says he won’t run again for Windsor County Sheriff. In an email to WPTZ, the station reported yesterday, the incumbent sheriff wrote simply, "At this time I don’t plan to seek reelection.” Since January, Palmer has been charged with lewd and lascivious conduct, soliciting prostitution, aggravated stalking, and obstruction of justice, to all of which he has pleaded not guilty. He also had his law enforcement certification pulled and stepped down from the Windsor selectboard. Acting Sheriff Claude Weyant has filed to run for the full-time position.

At VINS, "An all around fabulous story of conservation success.” In her latest “Stuck in Vermont” episode, video journalist Eva Sollberger climbs to the top of VINS’s Forest Canopy Walk to keep an eye on bald eagles Windsor, Dewey, and their eaglet V-2. “We had nothing to do with Windsor and Dewey deciding that this is the place, this particular bend in the Ottauqueechee River,” Alden Smith, executive director of VINS, tells Sollberger—who includes plenty of eagle-cam footage in her report. Despite the human and natural threats in the world around them, Smith tells her, “to see them so wild and healthy, living their lives, is a real joy.”

SPONSORED: Hear Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tunes live at Lebanon Opera House! Join us on Friday, June 5 at 7:30 PM for an evening with The Breakers. These rockers are shaking up the meaning of a tribute band with their no frills, no gimmicks performance — just talented musicians performing all your favorite Heartbreakers hits. Sponsored by Lebanon Opera House.

In Sharon, "a chorus of clicks, clanks and thuds" keeps clanking. At 75, Dave Potter can no longer toss heavy chunks of metal the way he once did, but like the horseshoe league he helped found, he's still at it after 50 years. In fact, he’s the last remaining founding member of the Sharon Horseshoe League, one of the oldest in Vermont. In a niche sport, the group—one of a few competitive leagues in the state—is flourishing, with a waiting list to get in. Seven Days' Colin Flanders catches a practice, the ringers, banter, and friendship, and delves into the minutiae of a sport with roots in Roman times that remains an important gathering point in some Vermont towns.

A tour on foot of West Leb’s Main Street. Most people just drive it, but the other day, Susan Apel and her husband—who live nearby—went exploring on foot. On her Artful Substack, she writes that their stroll “took us by many of the reasons we like it here so much,” including the Kilton, banks, VIP Tires, TukTuk, Country Cobbler, West Leb Feed & Supply, Shyrl’s… The walk, Susan writes, gave them a chance to enjoy to eyeball Main Street’s slow revitalization. But what really caught their attention were Main Street’s benches. “I am thankful and proud to live in a community that takes the need for benches seriously enough to provide them,” Susan writes.

SPONSORED: Get your hands dirty with Willing Hands and support food security! Come volunteer in our gardens, ensuring everyone has access to nutritious food. “The Willing Hands gardens are magical places that bring together people of all ages, abilities, and life experiences. Joining one of our five weekly sessions is a great way to create connection while sharing in the wonderfully dirty work of growing food for our communities”—Ehrin Lingeman, Willing Hands Farm Manager. Sponsored by Willing Hands.

Upper Valley nurses abound in NH Mag’s “Excellence in Nursing” awards. The annual feature highlights nurses and nursing teachers around the state who represent “the very best in nursing — those who go above and beyond to comfort, heal and teach.” Among them: APD’s chief nursing officer, Paula Seaman, who began her career as a candy striper; DHMC nurse practitioner Christina Martin; Rebecca Socci, director of clinical education at New London Hospital; and Colby-Sawyer’s director and chair of nursing, Joan Loftus—plus plenty of others with ties to DHMC, APD, and Colby-Sawyer. You’ll find profiles of each at the link. (Thanks, LL!)

Down in Saxton’s River, VT, a Lebanon grad and a Hanover grad prep for a WRJ performance about sex work, science, and the working life. In her new play, Body of Work, Rigel Harris dives into the dilemmas faced by an NYU doctoral student who does cancer research, works as an escort to pay the rent, and discovers that it’s the sex work where she feels like “she can truly connect with people,” writes Marion Umpleby in the VN. Harris, an actor and doula who grew up in Lebanon, is working with director Lulu Fairclough-Stewart—who grew up in Hanover—to ready the play for a two-night run at the Briggs Opera House June 5 and 6.

SPONSORED: Early Bird discount for UVMC’s second annual Colburn Park Traditional Music Festival, July 31-August 2! The weekend includes workshops, jams, concerts, dances, and more for ages 8+ with music from Scottish, Irish, French, Quebecois, English, and Appalachian traditions. The festival brings together some of the best traditional musicians in New England, including Upper Valley Music Center faculty and guests. Whether you’re a long-time trad enthusiast, a parent of a young musician, or want to try fiddle tunes for the first time, there’s a place for you! Register by June 1 for a 15% Early Bird Discount. Sponsored by Upper Valley Music Center.

Hiking Close to Home: Lower Grant Brook Trail, Lyme, NH. This gentle trail follows an old road along Grant Brook through property conserved by a consortium of conservation partners, says the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. The trail goes through a variety of habitats including pastures, meadows, and hemlock forest. There are plenty of historical structures along the way, including stone walls and old bridges. Note that the trail crosses private property that belongs to landowners who have granted public access: Make sure to close farm gates behind you.

Daybreak’s Upper Valley News Quiz. Were you paying attention this week? Because we’ve got questions! Like, what/who was that unexpected visitor Mount Lebanon Elementary School got the other day? You’ll find that and more at the link. Meanwhile, you’ll find NHPR’s New Hampshire quiz here, and Seven Days’ Vermont quiz here.

In property dispute, landowner blocks Northern Rail Trail in Andover, NH. Trail users are being forced to detour after the man, who the town says lives adjacent to the trail, installed concrete barriers across it, reports WMUR’s Alanna Flood. The town’s records show the parcels in question run alongside the trail, but the state owns the trail itself. "The question over who owns what is often something that people can battle over for quite some time," says Concord lawyer Todd Fahey. "What the law doesn't favor is taking something into your own hands when the rights are unclear." The state says it’s looking into the matter.

With VT House Speaker’s decision not to seek re-election, legislature will get two new leaders. Back in February, Senate leader Phil Baruth, a Chittendent County Democrat/Progressive, announced that he intends to leave the legislature after his term’s done. Yesterday, in a surprise announcement, Burlington Democrat Jill Krowinski told her colleagues that she, too, intends to give up her seat. VT Public’s Peter Hirschfeld reports that Krowinski said her decision “was driven in part by the loss of her mother and a close friend, and the arrival of two new grandchildren. ‘And I just think it’s time to start the next chapter of my life,’” Krowinski said.

Daniel Banyai found not guilty of assaulting Pawlet constable. After deliberating for 40 minutes yesterday, reports VTDigger’s Alan J. Keays, a Rutland County jury found the owner of Slate Ridge—the former paramilitary-style training facility in West Pawlet, VT—not guilty of assaulting Thomas Covino during a traffic stop in 2024. Prosecutors had argued that, in a scuffle with Covino after being pulled from the pickup in which he was riding, Banyai had committed assault. His public defender countered that Covino had used excessive force. “I’m very grateful,” Banyai told reporters outside the courtroom. “I finally won something here in Vermont.”

VT State Police re-up request for public’s help in finding missing Corvette. You’ve gotta feel for the guy: Two summers ago, Charles Hagar of Fletcher, VT, let a friend use his maroon 1993 Stingray. But, as the VSP writes in a press release, “that friend unexpectedly passed away and the whereabouts of the Corvette are currently unknown. At this point this incident is non-criminal and troopers are just asking for public assistance in locating and returning the Corvette to Mr. Hagar.” With pic…

Banana synth. Weird Al Yankovic is heading out on his "Bigger & Weirder" tour, and as he puts it in a kickoff video, “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than trying out my new banana synthesizer.” Yep: nine bananas (one’s needed to close the circuit) plugged into a little synthesizer kit, each one capable of playing a note. Gives new meaning to produce-ing music. Warning: Contains gratuitous banana violence.

Today's Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday’s Daybreak.

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And for today...

From Colorado singer-songwriter Emery Major, “Tick Season”. His satire of… oh, heck, you don’t need me to tell you.

Thanks, SVG!

See you Monday for CoffeeBreak.

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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt      Poetry editor: Michael Lipson    Associate Editors: Jonea Gurwitt, Sam Gurwitt