GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Warm, but cooler. Chance of showers, thunderstorms. After yesterday's cold front, low pressure today is bringing rain and possible thunderstorms, especially this afternoon. Highs today in the upper 70s (mid 70s tomorrow), down to around 60 overnight as showers continue. Calm winds.Yesterday, an adult gray fox. Today: fox kits up close. Plus loons, a young bald eagle, and a beaver. But the young foxes are the definite stars of photographer Ian Clark's latest blog post of wildlife around Newbury, VT. Sitting around, snoozing, wrestling: They command the camera whatever they do.Did you check out "Dear Daybreak" yesterday? If not, you missed Karen Sears Sheldon's story about the time she went in the wrong way at the Hanover Post Office drive-through; Jay Benson's update on the 1909 Quechee Library you read about last week; Doug Miller trekking poetically along the Ompompanoosuc; and Deb Clough on what it's like to actually stand at the end of a rainbow. Got a good story or anecdote about life in these parts? Dear Daybreak needs them! Here's where to send it in.Exit 17 on/off ramps on I-89 to close from time to time Sunday and Monday nights. NHDOT is prepping pavement work, and (weather permitting), will close the ramps periodically between 7:00 pm and 7:00 am. "These closures will occur sequentially, with only one ramp closed at a time to minimize disruptions," they write in their press release. Signboards will direct traffic down to Exit 16 or up to Exit 18 when needed.Rural school boards band together as VT considers changes. Late last month, the board of the White River Valley Supervisory Union voted unanimously to leave the VT School Boards Association, after board members decided the larger group was "working against [their] core needs and values," in the words of one member. As it happens, reports Isabel Dreher in The Herald, there's a new group, the Rural School Community Alliance, which has gained over 100 member districts since starting up in January, including the WRVSU board. Dreher looks at the issues galvanizing them.Newport, NH names new school superintendent. Forrest Ransdell, currently assistant superintendent for operations in the Manchester, NH district and a former superintendent in Springfield, VT, will take over from outgoing Supt. Donna Magoon July 1, reports Patrick O'Grady for the Valley News. “I really believe strongly that a small, tight-knit team can do wonders for kids and for their outcomes and I believe that is what exists in Newport,” Ransdell tells O'Grady. Magoon gave her resignation in April, citing "an ongoing challenge of working" with a member of the school board. King Arthur, Dan & Whit's, the Norwich Inn—WMUR's Chronicle visits Norwich, with a visit from a Thetfordite. Anchor Erin Fehlau hits most of the high points (well, not the Montshire or the Gile Mountain fire tower...), spending quality time touring the bakery, store, and a classroom with King Arthur bakery manager Carrie Brisson and instructor Elisabeth Berthasavage; visiting Dan & Whit's aisles with general manager Caroline Gollub; visiting what may be Dr. Seuss doodles at the Norwich Inn—and the brewery with brewmaster Patrick Dakin; talking to Thetford-based VT Bike & Brew's Jonas Cole.SPONSORED: Volunteer at LISTEN Community Services! Due to short staffing and an abundance of generous donations from our community, LISTEN needs volunteers at our Thrift Stores and our Food Pantry. If you have a few hours to spare, we would love to have your help. You can sign up at the burgundy link or here, or email our volunteer manager Marcy at [email protected]. Thank you in advance for your help! Sponsored by LISTEN Community Services.The stories behind the markers. As you may remember, VT's putting up new historic markers, and two are down the road from Woodstock: the Prosper Ski Hill and the Long Trail Lodge in Killington. In The Standard, Armita Mirkarimi goes deep into the history, telling the story of hill farmer Rupert Lewis, who created his ski tow in 1936 and then the ski area—he "had the ingenuity to realize that this would be a good winter crop,” his granddaughter tells Mirkarimi; at the Long Trail Lodge, she writes, the trail "ran directly through the building—hikers had to walk through the lodge to continue their journey."And while we're talking Woodstock, the White Cottage is setting up downtown. The snack bar west of town on Route 4 isn't moving, but this summer, reports Marion Umpleby in the VN, owner John Hurley is opening a trailer-style food truck next to the Woodstock Green. It'll carry a similar menu, with "hamburgers, fried foods, soft drinks and other casual lunch items," Umpleby writes—but not ice cream, since Hurley doesn't want to compete with Woodstock Scoops on Central St. The truck, once it's in place, will be open from 11 am to 3:30 pm Thursdays through Mondays. This week in the woods: Lepidoptera of many colors, and an indigo bunting whose feathers aren't blue. That's because, writes Northern Woodlands' Jack Saul, the birds’ color is the result of diffraction, “in which the feather’s microscopic structure scatters sunlight and reflects all colors except blue.” Red osier dogwoods are flowering now—they connect underground to stabilize riverbanks. Also out there: swallowtail butterflies (with tips on how to distinguish them); the last blooms of wild sarsaparilla and apple trees; and the very strange ways ants and aphids support each other. A songbird that "looks like a piece of loose bark." Naturalist Ted Levin is writing about a brown creeper he saw yesterday morning—a bird that, even if it doesn't have much to it, inspires near-poetry in his latest "Another Morning in Paradise" post: "Sounds like an errant hearing aid, high and thin, barely audible, in the vocal range of thought. Makes a kinglet or a Blackburnian warbler sound like Axl Rose. Louder than an ant’s footsteps, quieter than a mime. A loner, an unorthodox little bird that keeps to himself."
Hiking Close to Home: Downer State Forest, Sharon, VT. The forest offers 705 acres of quiet exploration across two parcels connected by a gravel forest road, ideal for walking, biking, or horseback riding. A 2-mile loop in the northern section links to the southern parcel via a 3-mile connector. Highlights include a 10-acre CCC-era pond, pine and hardwood stands, and softwood plantations. Don’t miss the scenic overlook and memorial bench honoring John Sears, a “community citizen and neighbor to all."Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because this week's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions. Like, what did the Hanover police find and eject from their station last weekend? And what's the name of that WRJ bar that's been closed for renovations? That and more at the link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know what Vermont lawmakers are considering reintroducing to the state (catamounts, billboards, or wolves)?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, why are local advocates focused on wastewater at the Mt. Sunapee resort?
The votes came yesterday on two bills, one the budget itself, the other on related policy measures. The Senate's budget tries to split the difference between the one proposed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the version passed by the House, which took a dim view of future tax revenues. The Senate restored several agencies axed by the House, reports
NH Bulletin'
s William Skipworth, including the Child Advocate, and reversed cuts to Medicaid reimbursement rates. Conference committees have two weeks to resolve things.
NH House passes strict ban on student cellphone use in schools. The measure, which "could become one of the strictest school cell phone bans in the country," writes Charlotte Matherly in the Monitor, passed overwhelmingly, 314-42. It would bar students from using any personal electronic device—cellphones, but also tablets, laptops, and smart watches—from start to finish during the school day. School districts and charter schools would write their own policies, with the state's restrictions setting the baseline. The Senate has to accept the House version before it goes to the governor's desk.
The NH House also passed a measure yesterday creating mandatory minimum sentences for manufacturing, selling, or possessing fentanyl with the intent to sell—but also reducing the penalty for people caught with psilocybin mushrooms. It's an amended version of a bill passed by the Senate in February, and now goes back to that chamber. NH Bulletin's William Skipworth details the debate and the issues.
That bell-to-bell cellphone ban? It's also being considered in VT, and legislators like what they see. Seven Days' Alison Novak went to Harwood Union in Duxbury to check out its experience with one. She writes, "
Social studies teacher Adam Sargent said it's transformed school culture in the most profound way he's seen in his 21 years as an educator. English teacher Eve Berinati said it's improved her relationships with students. And Harwood senior Lincoln Dice said going phone-free has provided more opportunities to connect with friends..." A ban is part of the big education bill still in the legislature.
Tenacity, a love of running, and lots of fans. But mostly, they’re just so darn cute. The newest litter of sled-dog pups at Denali is starring in its own webcam show, thanks to the National Park Service. Along with mom Merlyn, the pups, with weather-themed names, are (surprise!) adorable. Denali has the only sled dogs in the US that “help protect a national park and the wildlife, scenery, and wilderness therein.” The NPS prefers dogs to motorized transport because they don’t conk out in the cold or harm the environment, and navigate the wilderness well. The cam's on Alaska time; you've got time to get to work. The Friday Wordbreak. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak. And if you find yourself missing Wordbreak over the weekend, you just have to hit this link and you'll find brand new words tomorrow and Sunday—though not necessarily from Daybreak.
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They'll be performing in the New Books section starting at 3:30 pm.
First Friday in WRJ sets off at 4 pm today from the steps of the UV Food Coop
using iNaturalist and led by the coop team. Also on tap:
(spectators welcome), David Fairbanks Ford playing patriotic music at the Main Street Museum, JAM's Pride Prom, the Center for Cartoon Studies showing off the work of its graduating class, Kishka Gallery
of works by a slew of artists, Scavenger hosting a wine tasting, Two Rivers Printmaking opening an exhibition, and more.
with an opening reception on the lawn of the Woodstock Inn, then a comedy show (and piano bar) featuring Kendall Ferrell at the Woolen Mill and a dance party at the Little Theater. Much more tomorrow:
takes it to Elm St. at 9:30 am, events during the day, the
at Town Hall Theater at 7:30 pm, and more both tomorrow and Sunday.
around the region.
The rockin' Québecois traditional music group is on tour right now. They've got a rabid fan base—think of them as "famous to a few"—that pretty much spans the globe, which they cover regularly with their Celtic and French reels, ballads, and exhilarating harmonies. 7:30 pm in Alumni Hall.
The Brandon, VT-based singer and her band perform music with "plenty of earthy folk sounds, but also undertones of rock, country and punk." 8 pm.
Saturday
Crafts, games, reptile mythbusting, reptiles up close, turtles and snakes of Vermont, and plenty more all day long. Things get going at 10 am.
This December's show will be the last before Revels North shuts down for good. They're looking for chorus members, actors and dancers, and will hold group auditions for teens and adults (no audition required for kids) tomorrow starting at 11 am at 2 Mascoma St., Suite 3 in Lebanon.
The Hanover High senior's recital is a fundraiser for The Haven, with Jeanne Chambers on piano and Lucia Lotterhand on cello for works by JS Bach, Eric Ewazen, Astor Piazzolla, and Sergei Prokofiev. 3 pm at the Norwich Congregational Church.
Rachel Leader and Ariel Shapiro bring their music—klezmer, Yiddish folk song, prayers set to new melodies—to the reborn schoolhouse on Union Village Road. 4 pm.
The blues guitarist, actor, and two-time Grammy nominee had to cancel his December show, but now he's pulling into town—fresh off a show at Cambridge's legendary Club Passim. 7 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Society on Route 5 in Norwich.
It's a fundraiser for the Upper Valley Waldorf School, with White's menu featuring ingredients raised by the Feast & Field Collective and other area farms. Plus a silent auction. 7 pm.
Author Jo Knowles and
Someone's Gonna End Up Crying
.
in Woodstock at 11 am tomorrow (
) and a reading and comic-making workshop for both kids and adults
It's a quintet led by pianist and keyboardist Eugene Uman, who also directs the VT Jazz Center, formed to interpret Uman's compositions, with "an edge" of rock and inspiration from Colombian folkloric rhythms. 7 pm.
The choir, under the direction of Kevin Quigley, presents two concerts this weekend on the theme of encountering and overcoming fear in our lives. 7 pm tomorrow at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, then 4 pm Sunday at the First Congregational Church in Thetford.
The trio features Jeremiah McLane (accordion, piano), Alex Kehler (latmandola, nyckelharpa, violin, voice), and Timothy Cummings (pipes, whistle) playing traditional dance music of northwestern Europe: bourrées from central France, triple-time hornpipes from the Scottish Borders, Swedish slängpolska, Breton hanter dro, and more. It's a benefit for Music Helps, the local music education nonprofit. 7 pm, West Newbury Hall.
Sunday
First up, at 7 am, is an early morning jaunt led by expert birder and former National Park Service employee Kyle Jones, to look (and listen) for the birds that make their homes in the forest on the boundary of Sharon and Strafford. Then, at 2 pm, forest ecologist Elisabeth (“Tii”) McLane leads a walk to explore woodland interactions ofb irds, plants, insects and animals. Meet at the ACF parking area at the end of Nutting Road, and both are weather-dependent; check listservs for cancellations.
In a VT Humanities presentation, the VT historian will discuss the history-changing Burgoyne campaign, focusing on the dramatic battle of “Great Bennington,” which was a Vermont battle as well as a New York battle. He also reviews John Stark and Seth Warner, and the Vermont Constitution. 2 pm Sunday at the Bridgewater Grange Hall, 129 RT 100A, Bridgewater Corners.
And to start today, we go way back, but also only to yesterday.
Which marked the 50th anniversary of the date Talking Heads played their first show, when they opened for the Ramones at CBGB. And while they may never get back together, they can still create new work: To mark the occasion, they've put up a new video, a sort of mini-flick starring Saoirse Ronan as an office worker trying to make it through her days. Set, of course, to "Psycho Killer". "This video makes the song better – We LOVE what this video is NOT – it’s not literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious," the band said in a statement.
Have a lovely weekend, and see you Monday for CoffeeBreak.
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, writers, and librarians who think you should 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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