Daybreak Friday 6/26/20

A PLEASURE TO SEE YOU, UPPER VALLEY!

Don't mean to be boring or anything, but... Sunny, temps reaching around 80. There's a trough of lower pressure moving eastward high above us, but we won't really notice it except for maybe a few more clouds and a slight chance of sprinkles this afternoon. Calm winds out of the west. And another night of good sleeping weather. A fox kit saga. Let's just admit from the get-go that the cuteness score in Etna photographer Jim Block's latest post is about a 12 out of 10. Especially a series he shot of a young litter hanging out, tussling, practicing pouncing, and generally doing what pups do. But there's a story to go with the photos, well worth reading for what you learn about foxes... and nature photographers. And loons at eye level. Quechee photographer Lisa Lacasse has been working on a loon book project, getting out in her kayak as early each morning as possible, she writes, "when the water is calm, the reflections are sweet." She's doing her best to photograph loon behavior and capture how they act and live. There's a fantastic series at the link of an adult pair with chicks. 

Last numbers for the week.

Well, the weathervane's gone. And it didn't take long, either. Contractors early yesterday morning assembled a crane to reach the controversial weathervane 200 feet above the ground, atop Baker Tower, then sent up two workmen (wearing masks), who secured the 300-pound piece to the outside of their basket and were lowered back to the ground. It was crated, and will be stored at the Hood. Dartmouth News video and full report at the link.Hanover J. Crew store closing. It will shut its doors at the end of the month, leaving "the largest retail vacancy in downtown Hanover since the Dartmouth Bookstore closed in 2018," the VN's John Lippman reports. As Lippman notes, it's not really a surprise: The retailer filed for bankruptcy in May. On the other hand, FatFace, the clothing retailer based in the UK, intends to open its store on the other side of Main Street on July 9.D-H launches antibody testing. Telescoping a process that usually takes up to six weeks into nine days, a team at the hospital evaluated a pool of tests, narrowed them to two finalists, and "compared them head-to-head to identify the method that met all performance and logistical criteria," a DHMC press release says. There are plenty of caveats, in particular that the test—which can give results within an hour of DHMC lab techs receiving it—only measures whether there are antibodies present at that moment. “We don’t know at this point whether patients who have antibodies can get re-infected, nor how long the present antibodies last,” says D-H's Jacqueline Hubbard.SculptureFest opens tomorrow. For the last three decades, Charlet and Peter Davenport have hosted this free, self-guided, kid-friendly, multi-artist event on their farm in Woodstock. And as blogger Susan Apel writes, "What could be better in the claustrophobia of this pandemic than an encounter with art, outdoors and surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of precious summer in the Upper Valley?"Hop launches three-year partnership with Dance Theater of Harlem. "By creating career and training opportunities for dancers of color and celebrating African-American culture in their work, DTH has radically reshaped what ballet is and who it is for," the Hopkins Center says in its announcement. DTH will be in residency for each of the next three summers to collaborate on creative projects and teaching. This summer will focus on a newly commissioned work honoring the legacy of Hazel Scott, the Black piano virtuoso and Hollywood trailblazer.SPONSORED: On the heels of the summer solstice, some sun-related milestones... For the first time ever last month, the U.S. generated more renewable energy than coal-fired electricity, thanks to rapidly declining coal and rapidly increasing use of renewable energy, almost entirely from solar and wind. Here in New England, 180,000 small-scale solar installations packed the same punch as three Seabrook nuclear plants. Check out the charts and details on this progress at Solaflect Energy's link. The power is in our hands to make a difference! Sponsored by Solaflect Energy. Land trust rebuffed in effort to create easier access to Up on the Hill parcel. The Claremont City Council on Wednesday voted to deny the Upper Valley Land Trust permission to create a new parking lot for the 1,100-acre conservation area, which stretches from Charlestown to Unity, with a corner in Claremont. There's trail access in Charlestown right now, but the trust had hoped to make it easier for Claremont residents to hike. Neighbors near the proposed lot objected to it, worrying about traffic, illegal dumping, and people congregating there.Remember when Gov. Sununu said "we don't have snitch lines and all that"? Granite Staters seem to disagree. Thanks to a right-to-know request, NHPR's found more than 150 complaints to the state AG's office since May 21 reporting businesses in violation of state pandemic guidelines. First up on people's minds: masks and social distancing at restaurants. Next up: the use of short-term rentals by out-of-staters before those restrictions were lifted earlier this month. The AG's office has taken no formal action in any of these cases. NH police recruits need more diversity training, state police standards official says. Testifying to a new police accountability commission yesterday, John Scippa, who runs NH Police Standards and Training, noted that recruits get a two-hour block on diversity—compared to 6 hours on communications and de-escalation, 24 hours on mental illness, and 100 hours on use of force. He argued that diversity should become more of a "theme" and part of the culture of police training.NH creates new relief effort for self-employed. The Self-Employment Livelihood Fund will give up to $50,000 to qualifying self-employed individuals. But heads up: There's just a short window, July 6-17, to apply. It's open only to for-profit businesses where the owner is the sole employee, isn't in bankruptcy, isn't permanently closed, and can't have more than $1 million in gross recieipts.August NASCAR race at NH Motor Speedway will have actual fans. Social distancing etc, but Speedway officials said yesterday it's still expected to be "the largest fan event in New England since the onset of the pandemic." Says Gov. Sununu, "Holding New England’s premier NASCAR race this summer here in New Hampshire has always been a priority...While the stands will not be as full as they usually are, we are proud to be able to hold an in-person viewing experience for NASCAR fans.”Pandemic's impact on women detailed. VT's Commission on Women has just released a data dashboard report on how Covid-19 and the economic downturn in the state have "disproportionately" affected women and girls in the state. They make up 81 percent of tipped workers in the state, for instance—jobs that have mostly been shut down—and outpaced men in unemployment claims. At the same time, they make up the vast majority of health care and child care workers. They also have made up a slight majority of Covid cases. More at the link."It made them cry, to have something special like that delivered to their child.” Amazing what packages of homemade cookies can do to a parent. They were provided to the free lunch program in Derby Line by Thomas McCurdy, a pastry chef in Glover, VT who launched a baked-goods and prepared-meals delivery service using eggs, butter, produce and other things he buys from local farms. The Christian Science Monitor profiles Kingdom Direct, hatched by McCurdy and his husband, Bailey Hale, as a way of keeping the community knit during the pandemic. VTrans changes graffiti policy. This is interesting: Apparently political protest graffiti on roads, bridges and signs is now okay. Profanity and advocating illegal or violent acts are not, but in a memo, the agency's chief engineer writes, "We are in ever changing times and we must recognize that and adapt. So effective immediately, I ask you now to evaluate the content and situation of any mural or sign in the highway right of way before deciding to remove or paint over them." VTDigger has the back story... and the complexities.In the mood for some scenery? Jay Van Arman and his crew were out haying Parker's Meadow in Norwich this week, and Chad Finer sent his drone up to record what haying looks like from above. In case you've been itching to get even more off-planet—and really, who hasn't these days?... NASA is asking volunteers to sort through and label photos taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars. The labels will be part of a machine learning project to help Curiosity... well, as NASA puts it, "Don’t you think it would be nice if the Mars rover could identify dangerous terrain by herself?" So they're hoping volunteers will help "collectively create the Solar System's first public benchmark for Martian terrain classification." Dive in at the link.News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:

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Meanwhile, here's a quicker way to go far away for a few minutes: Sona Jobarteh is the first female Kora virtuoso from a West African Griot family (from the Gambia, though she was born in London). Traditionally, instruction in Kora (the 21-string African lute) was restricted to men, but fortunately for the world, first her brother and then her father ignored tradition.

along with Nigerian-born jazz guitarist Femi Temowo and Ghanaian percussionist Robert Fordjour.

See you Monday.

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