GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Heads up: No Daybreak Monday. Back with CoffeeBreak Tuesday morning.
Showers likely. A cold front’s coming through, and with it occasional showers—and maybe some thunder—pretty much all day. When it’s not raining, it’ll be mostly cloudy and on the cool side, with highs today in the mid 60s. Chance of rain winds down this evening, lows tonight in the mid or upper 40s.
Mother and child union. From Erin Donahue, a ma bobcat alone, then with a kitten at dawn. Naturalist Ted Levin writes: “In the bobcat world (and possibly every other world), Mother knows best. Fathers are sperm donors, not much else. Although a male will allow a female on his home range, except for a late winter fling (or two) he's solitary as a one-man band. Males' home ranges are exclusive of other males. Females overlap. A kit weans in two months. Stays with Mom for eight (usually), but may remain within her range all winter. Kittens learn everything from their mother, their bulwark against the lean dowry of winter.”
Oops. If you’ve driven by Centerra recently, you know that the new Starbucks drive-through is open and operating. Signs just went up to guide drivers—only the one by the front entrance to the Co-op Food Store there sends them… well, the wrong direction. Eagle-eyed reader Pete Ericson sends in the photo.
Did you catch Dear Daybreak yesterday? If not, you missed Bettyanne McGuire on the wildlife passing in front of her kitchen window; Jennifer Rickards on an unusual twist on one of the inescapable features of late-summer life; Kelly Hawes on a very close encounter with a hummingbird, and Ashley Arsenal’s lovely photo of a Mascoma Lake sunset. Got a good story or anecdote about life in these parts? Dear Daybreak can use them! Here's where to send them in.
Windsor County Sheriff faces investigation about department spending. Details are scant in Mike Donoghue’s VT Standard story about a state police investigation into spending under Sheriff Ryan Palmer. That’s because the VSP isn’t talking—other than to confirm that it’s happening and say that it’s in its early stages; Palmer says that he hasn’t yet been interviewed by the VSP. “Issues about sheriffs’ spending have been an ongoing concern throughout the state through the years,” Donoghue notes. “[They’ve] surfaced in several Vermont counties because the state law is vague.” Two of Palmer’s top deputies resigned last month; unclear whether that’s connected.
In Strafford, new café closes after drama divides town. You may remember the buzz after the Occasional Rooster opened back in May, powered by retired lawyer Phoebe Mix. Well, it closed July 20, and now The Herald’s Darren Marcy digs into what happened. The story revolves around Mix and Nathan King, who before the coffee shop opened began renting an apartment upstairs. Turns out, King had a domestic violence protection order imposed on him in NH, which was extended this past February. Mix says he told her about it when he began renting, but there was unrest in town—and, Mix alleges, a boycott of the café. Marcy recounts events.
Dan & Whit’s and its predecessors: “the heart, the meeting place, the center of town.” In Artful, Susan Apel writes that she stopped by the Norwich Historical Society’s new exhibit on the landmark general store “hoping I would learn at least one thing I didn’t already know about the familiar and storied general store. Oh my . . . Too many nuggets of information to list. Go, and surprise yourself.” Spread over three rooms, the exhibition’s filled with stories, photos, and artifacts tracing the store’s 70 years—plus more going back to the 19th century, when it was Merrill’s. The exhibit runs through the end of the year.
Advance Transit launches search for a new director. The nonprofit local transit agency has been led since 2022 by Adams Carroll, but he’s just announced that he’s stepping down, AT says in a press release. During his tenure, Carroll—who took over from 35-year director Van Chesnut—worked on expanding routes, extending schedules, and building ridership. The AT board has begun a national search for a replacement.
One southbound lane of I-91 reopens between Bradford and Fairlee. That whole stretch has been closed for work on Fairlee Cliffs ledge stabilization since July 21, but on Wednesday, a single lane reopened to traffic. In the VN, photographer Alex Driehaus has a photo you shouldn’t miss of workers on the cliff face.
Claremont school supt. back in May: “We found the problem. We fixed it. We're working on it.” Only, as VN correspondent Patrick O’Grady makes clear to NHPR’s Julia Furukawa, Chris Pratt’s statement to the school board after the discovery of huge deficits from the 2020 and 2021 school years was, well, optimistic. Claremont is grappling with a major school funding crisis—though the schools did open on time. O’Grady and Furukawa talk over how the district got here—no one truly knows yet—and how parents and staff are reacting.
Meanwhile, on the first day of school yesterday a new interim superintendent was in place, after the school district placed Pratt on “non-disciplinary, paid administrative leave.” Patrick O’Hearn, the schools’ human resources director, has taken on the temporary role, and tells WMUR’s Maria Wilson, "We can confidently make it through March, and as soon as we know some more information, we're going to let the community know. But I am very confident we're going to make it through the school year.”
Red efts’ color? A warning about “the most poisonous non-protein substance known to science.” It’s a neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, and eastern newts share it with pufferfish, writes Northern Woodlands’ Jack Saul in this week’s “This Week in the Woods”. Also out there this last week of August: swamp milkweed leaf beetles, and white admiral, monarch, and viceroy butterflies (with photos of them all). The viceroy doesn’t migrate, Jack writes, but instead “will overwinter as a caterpillar, rolling itself up in a willow or poplar leaf, binding the leaf shut with a twig or silk strand, and entering a hibernatory state.”
Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because this week's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions. Like, what’s that community-spirited project Randy Leavitt’s been working on in E. Barnard? And where in NH is the Green Mountain Stage Race going to run its final bike race this weekend? Those and more at the link.
But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know how much will Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont raise premium rates for individual plans next year?
And NHPR’s got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—though as of first thing this morning, they hadn’t updated the quiz yet from last week. Maybe try mid-morning?
After motel evictions, VT towns feel the state’s homeless crisis “more than ever.” So writes Courtney Lamdin in Seven Days, as she takes a look at the problem summed up by Barre City manager Nicolas Storellicastro: The state “should be providing human services, and at this point, they’re not. We’re left holding the bag.” State aid to towns for emergency shelters can’t meet the need for beds, and as a result, more people—from Hartford to an island between Brattleboro and Hinsdale, NH—are living outdoors. Towns are trying to cope—and to insist that they can’t do it alone.
How do you photograph a jellyfish sprite that lasts for just 10 milliseconds? JJ Rao knows how. His photo of red sprites dancing over the tidal flats of Western Australia just won first place in the 2025 Capture the Dark photography contest hosted by DarkSky International. Photographers from more than 22 counties submitted some 2,200 entries, and the play of dark and light, colors and grays, is impressive. As you’d expect, most of the photos are focused on the heavens, but some—like Lucy Yunxi Hu’s “Celestial Dance Over Lupine Fields” and Oscar Leonard Chavez Torres’ “Scorpion and Scorpio”—show the brilliant world beneath.
Today's 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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HEADS UP
Exhibition reception for Vermont North By Hand in Haverhill. The northern Upper Valley collective of artists and artisans (which, despite its name has members from both sides of the river) will host an open studio tour in October. But this evening, from 5-8, Court Street Arts at Alumni Hall is hosting a preview reception, where artists will display some of their work, as a foretaste of the tour.
Dead Men Strumming at River Roost Brewery in WRJ. The Upper Valley’s Grateful Dead tribute duo of Corey Under and Dan Weintraub will start up today (and next Friday) at 5:30 pm.
Kommuna Lux in St. J. Tonight brings to an end St. Johnsbury’s summertime run of Final Fridays, when the town fills Railroad St. and Eastern Ave. with gallery strolls, lots of food and drink, activities all over, and music. Tonight, the Odessa, Ukraine-born Kommuna Lux brings their blend of klezmer, Balkan, “urban chanson,” and Ukrainian folk—all “powered by rocket fuel”—to the Railroad St. stage. 7 pm. (More below).
Saturday
Upper Valley Land Trust bird walk at Lake Runnemede. Co-hosted with Windsor’s Paradise Park Commission, it’s a 1.5-mile stroll through Paradise Park and along the lake, with “an excellent opportunity to see migrating warblers and other songbirds preparing for their journey south.” Meet at the Price Chopper at 2725 US-5 North, Windsor at 8 am. You’ll need to pre-register at the link.
Abenaki Three Sisters Garden open house in Quechee. It began as a vision that came to Earl Hatley, a Hartford resident who was raised on the Cherokee Reservation in Oklahoma. Now it’s a working garden with an emphasis on corn, beans, and squash on a portion of the polo field. Tomorrow from 10 am to noon, Hatley and others will show it off and talk about the centuries-old agricultural practices they use and the food they raise.
The Chelsea Arts Collective’s 6th annual Green Market & Festival. Art, food, and music on the North Common in Chelsea, VT. With over 40 artisans and artists displaying their work, and music over the course of the day from Tommy Crawford, the Sidewinders, Jim Rooney, and the Sleepy Weasels. Runs 10 am to 3 pm.
Mail Maïz at Star Mountain in Sharon. The Vermont-based trio “explores the psychedelic side of Latin music, weaving modern and traditional rhythms from Central and South America,” Seven Stars Arts writes, along with lyrics rooted in the myths and legends of Central America. 6 pm.
Sunday
In Randolph, the New World Festival. It’s the 33rd annual celebration of Celtic and Québecois music, which takes over downtown Randolph with concerts and jam sessions and dances from noon until 11 pm. It’s a chance to hear world-class musicians—Cantrip, Le Winston Band (zydeco from Montreal), the Nova Scotia duo Cassie and Maggie, Eric Wright and Tent Freeman (members of the Toronto group The Fretless), and lots more. Schedule at the link.
The Villalobos Brothers at Saint-Gaudens. The classically trained, sublimely talented fiddling trio will perform at the Cornish national memorial’s Little Studio at 2 pm.
Upper Valley Community Band Concert and BBQ. Three local groups—the Lebanon Elks, the Hanover Lions, and the Upper Valley Community Band under the direction of Mark Nelson—come together for this outdoor concert, followed by a barbecue to benefit Copper Cannon Camp and Camp Mayhew, tuition-free summer camps for underserved youth in New Hampshire. Starts at 4 pm at Lebanon Elks Field, 150 Heater Road.
Dawes at the Lake Morey Resort. The resort’s final outdoor concert of the summer brings in the LA rock band that now consists of its mainstays, brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, after the departure of bassist Wylie Gelber and keyboardist Lee Pardini. They’re on tour backing their latest album, Oh Brother. As usual, all sorts of food and drink start up at 6 pm, music at 8.
And for today...
Someone once described Kommuna Lux as “Odessa Gangsta Folk,” which captures some of the band’s energy—and hints at the gangsters who featured in Isaac Babel’s tales of the Black Sea melting-pot city. The band’s been through an uneasy time over the last three years, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine led most of its members to take to the road through Europe and North America to make a case for their home country, returning home only occasionally. They’re on a month-long US tour now, bringing their high-energy klezmer and folk chops to St. Johnsbury tonight (see above).
Have a fantastic long weekend! See you Tuesday for CoffeeBreak.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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