HELLO, FRIDAY!
Here we go again... Maybe some fog this morning, but it'll burn off and be bright and hot out there once again. Temps reaching the high 80s. At some point overnight, a Mesoscale Convective System (I know, right? And don't confuse it with a Mesoscale Convective Complex, either) is likely to ride into the area, and it may or may not bring rain and thunder in the early hours. Oops. Ten-foot mistake causes halt on huge Dartmouth project. The college has stopped work on its new $200 million engineering and computer science building -- that's the project you can't miss as you head into Hanover from the VT side -- after the construction company in charge discovered it had dug the foundation 10 feet too far to the south. Work has been suspended while the college figures out what to do. (VN, sub reqd)NH's wealthiest resident lives in Hanover. Forbes magazine is out with its survey of the richest person in each state. Andrea Reimann-Ciardelli tops the list for New Hampshire, with a net worth of $720 million, based originally on a stake in her family's Luxembourg-based investment firm, JAB (Peet's, Krispy Kreme, Panera). VT's is John Abele, who founded Boston Scientific and lives in Shelburne. The two states are among a small handful with no billionaires.Windsor to hold its first PRIDE celebration on Sunday. Its organizer, 28-year-old resident Amanda Smith, told the selectboard earlier this week that she's been disappointed the town hasn't more forcefully promoted it. Town manager Tom Marsh says the town is providing municipal services, but that expressions of support need to come from the selectboard, which took no action at its meeting. The event will be at the Windsor Fairgrounds.Don't dumb it down. That was a reader's response to yesterday's item about short-term rentals (STRs) in Woodstock. It's not a simple Airbnb vs. traditional lodging issue, Patrick Fultz says. It's about whether too many houses in Woodstock village are absentee-owned, rented out short-term, and leaving the town with fewer people who actually live and work there. The link is to a fact sheet he put together for the STR task force. It notes, among other things, that 59 percent of the town's houses are now seasonal/vacation.Hanover clamping down on Mink Brook rules. The town is acting to enforce ordinances limiting access after dark and banning alcohol, large gatherings, and amplified sound after residents complained about excessive noise, illegal parking, and trash. Dartmouth Dean Kathryn Lively has sent an email to undergrads asking them to respect the policies, and Hanover police have cut down rope swings and will lock the access gate from dusk to dawn.Rivendell school district sees extensive teacher turnover, especially in Fairlee and Vershire. Overall, 23 staff members are leaving or retiring, and 17 of them worked at the elementary schools in the two towns, according to the VN's David Corriveau. Some are retiring, a couple are going on maternity leave, others have taken positions at other schools. School board member Kathy Hooke says parents don't seem alarmed. (VN, sub still reqd)NHPR kicks off Route 4 road trip in Lebanon. Remember a while back when the station asked for listeners' suggestions for its summer road trip? Well, Rick Ganley and Mary McIntyre hopped in Ganley's Mustang convertible ("more fitting for the open road than the NHPR Subaru") and got some advice right off the bat in front of Leb City Hall. "You have to watch the speed limit. It changes so much," Faye Grearson told them. This is a synopsis; more depth to come over the summer.Well, it's all on Sununu's desk now. The NH House and Senate finished up their sessions yesterday with a whole set of bills, including one suspending the work requirement for the Medicaid expansion program and another to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour over the next two years. In addition, legislators approved a resolution to allow state agencies to continue operating for three months if, as expected, the governor vetoes the budget.NH might hold some lessons on publicizing hospital prices. Earlier this week, Pres. Trump signed an executive order requiring hospitals to publish prices they negotiate with insurers. NH's insurance department has been publishing price information since 2007, and for the most part few people have taken advantage of it. Though prices have dropped slightly. The link takes you to a synopsis--the original is behind a Wall St. Journal paywall.Vermont sues 3M, Dupont, other chemical companies. It's filed two lawsuits over damage it says was caused to groundwater, drinking water and other natural resources by per- and polyfluoroalkyls, which alter growth, increase risk of certain cancers, and have other health effects in humans. NH, NJ and NY have similar suits in play, and last year MN reached an $850 million settlement with 3M over the issue.
VT could be doing more to promote electric vehicles, says Public Utility Commission. The commission issued a report yesterday recommending that the state create new incentives for the purchase of EVs, and encouraging electric utilities to develop new rate structures to help boost both EV drivers and charging station operators. Transportation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the state.Wherever you go this summer, you can take Vermont with you. The Burlington Free Press is out with a summer-reading list of books "by, for and about people" in the Green Mtn. State. It's a loooong and intriguing list, from Jennifer McMahon's novel The Invited, about building a house on supposedly haunted land in VT, to a history of the storied 10th Mountain Division to a collection of the state's forests and parks commissioner's columns on "Woods Whys." Check it out.SO. FRIDAY. WHAT'CHA GOT?You could kick off fair season in Etna at the Hanover Center Old Timers Fair. There'll be a mini-horse pull and shows by the Valley Chords and Frydaddy, along with a book sale, auction, trinkets sales, home-baked goods, games, and, as they put it, "all the food and beverages you might expect from a small town fair." Runs from 5-10 tonight and starts up again tomorrow at 10 am. On the old parade ground.And if you head that way, you definitely want to make time for Martin Philip reading from 2017's Breaking Bread: A Baker's Journey Home in 75 Recipes. Philip's kind of a rock star in the baking world. He was an opera singer and did corporate finance before taking a job as an entry-level baker at King Arthur Flour in 2005. Now he's head baker there. "I am not casual," he writes. "I don't do things half-interested or part-time." 6 pm at the Old Timers Fair book sale.Or you could get into a West African groove with Barika in Woodstock. The Burlington-based band is fronted by Craig Myers -- who's also been in Phish bassist Mike Gordon's band -- playing the n'goni, a banjo ancestor. Seriously danceable West African funk/indie/jazz and synth. Part of Pentangle's Music by the River series, starts at 5:30 pm on the back lawn of the North Universalist Chapel.Or for a different vibe, there's the Newmont Military Band in Bradford, VT. The band started in Windsor in the 1990s as a "cornet" band à la the 1890s; when it added woodwinds a few years later it became a "military" band. Its brass instruments mostly date to the 19th century and they play what they might have played on town greens in that era: Civil War songs, love songs, marches, dances. 7 pm in front of Bradford Academy.Whatever you do, have a fine weekend. See you Monday.
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