Daybreak Friday, 9/25/26

Patchy fog, then clouds and some sun. Temps will rise into the high 60s or low 70s under a mix of sun and clouds today as we remain under high pressure and that delightfully calm weather we’ve been enjoying. But. There’s a nor’easter moving up the coast, bringing big rain to the south and possible flooding to the NH coast over the weekend; around here it looks like we’ll just be on the periphery, with waves of showers, though that could change if the storm track changes. Lows tonight in the upper 40s.

On the blogs, a turn to late summer.

“I know there are for sure haters out there.” Edgewater Farm’s Jenny Sprague is talking about cilantro, and though she nods curtly to the super-tasters who can’t stand it, “I am a deep lover of this herb,” she writes on this week’s blog as she recounts this year’s cilantro saga: It gets seeded early, with the carrots, but “if we can’t get to the field regularly for weeding, these herbs get swallowed by all the most aggressive weeds out there—crab grass, lambsquarter, etc.” This week, Kitchen Sense blogger Mitchell Davis is looking at herbs: a recipe for potato sage gratin and another that’ll use up some of this moment’s bounty for pasta with baked cherry tomatoes, peppers, and feta.

Court once again overturns Swanson demotion in Woodstock. And Swanson himself retires. It was a packed day on Tuesday, reports Mike Donoghue in the Standard. First, VT Superior Court Judge Kerry A. McDonald-Cady ruled that Municipal Manager Eric Duffy and the Village trustees hadn’t afforded embattled police chief Joe Swanson due process when they moved to demote him (for a second time) to patrol officer. Then, Swanson submitted a retirement letter to Duffy, effective immediately—thereby circumventing a third effort to demote him—and retiring as chief. His separate civil lawsuit against town officials will continue. Much more at the link.

Third time’s a charm: Randolph votes to fund library. It’s been a saga, eh? Two earlier votes over nine months rejecting the Kimball Library’s budget. But this week, reports Wilder Grimes in The Standard, voters put an end to all the debate with a pair of votes to fund the library at the level it had originally asked for last December. The initial 652-548 vote backed the $491K budget approved by the selectboard. With a narrower 45-vote margin (622-577), voters then supported an additional $38K requested by its trustees. “Saying that we’re happy is an understatement,” library trustee Karen Lowry Reed told Grimes.

Speaking of sagas: Lebanon roundabout opens. Of course, that’s not how the city phrased its unduly dry public notice. After months of disrupted traffic through the point where Mechanic, High, and Mascoma streets meet, usually on gravel, the city on Wednesday announced, “Please be advised that base paving of the Mechanic St/High St/Mascoma St Roundabout has been completed.  All vehicular traffic will now transition to the new traffic pattern.” Slow down, the city says, and remember: “Vehicles already circulating within the roundabout have the right‑of‑way.”

SPONSORED: Limited tickets remain for this "Celtic music power couple" at Lebanon Opera House! Don’t miss your chance to see fiddle phenoms Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy live at LOH on Saturday, October 3 at 7:30 PM. The high-energy Canadian duo will be joined by two of their musically gifted children for a night of joyful musical magic. Sponsored by Lebanon Opera House.

Early-morning fire Thursday displaces Tuck students. The fire appears to have broken out just before 3 am yesterday on the porch of a duplex right by Campion Rink, along Route 10, on the Lebanon side of the Lebanon-Hanover line. Five students and two guests were asleep when they were alerted by the smoke alarm, reports Eric Francis for Daybreak, and got out safely. Tuck School officials have already arranged temporary housing, and fellow students have prepped care packages and organized meal trains. Eric’s story and photos of the aftermath at the link.

A small AI tempest at Dartmouth offers college a chance to debate its use. Early this month, President Sian Beilock published a piece in The Atlantic, “Why I Want More AI at Dartmouth.” This followed by about a week an article in Semafor looking at creeping AI use in high-profile op-eds in which a Washington Post op-ed by Dartmouth Provost Santiago Schnell about AI use on campus was labeled as “100% AI-written.” Then, earlier this week, The Dartmouth followed up, submitting Schnell’s 2026 output to the AI detector Pangram (which is not flawless), finding “a median ‘AI-written’ text percentage of 96%.” Dartmouth findings and Schnell’s responses at the link.

SPONSORED: Service Coordinator opening at the Haven. The Upper Valley Haven is hiring a Service Coordinator for its A Way Home permanent supportive housing program in White River Junction. The role supports a caseload of 15 households, helping tenants keep stable housing and reach personal goals. Master's degree, or bachelor's with considerable experience, required. Full-time, Monday through Friday, $54,000 to $57,000 a year, with benefits. To apply and see all job openings, visit our careers page. Sponsored by the Upper Valley Haven.

“Vermont tends to push what it has, which is beautiful scenery, small towns. New Hampshire tends to push what it doesn’t have, which is taxes.” That’s retired VT Law & Grad School prof Brian Porto, talking to Molly Hughes in the Valley News about his new book, Twin States, Different Paths, which came out this week. Writing that he wants to “lend a bit of academic rigor to a favorite topic of dinner-party conversation,” Porto traces the states’ political differences to the soil (in the end, we’re talking a billion years of geological history). Think individualism vs. community-mindedness, Porto tells Hughes in their intriguing interview.

Art in downtown Randolph. This afternoon at 5, the Chandler Gallery will throw an opening reception for “Water Music,” an exhibition of Marjorie Ryerson’s photography and the larger poetry, writing, and music project it inspired two decades ago. The exhibition, Tim Calabro writes in The Herald, traces the history and evolution of Ryerson’s book, which included not just a lot of photos of water—with a long stint canoeing on the Mississippi—but the participation of 66 musicians, including Pete Seeger, Emmanuel Ax, and Taj Mahal; the book’s intro was by Paul Winter (who’ll be performing in honor of the exhibit on Oct. 22). Lots more about it all at the link.

Art in downtown Hanover. In Artful, Susan Apel declares her “unabashed and abiding love” for Big Barn, a painting hanging at Kyle Timothy Fine Art on S. Main St. by Larry Horowitz, part of an exhibition of 25 of his works. And right nearby, there’s “The Neighbors,” an exhibition by the VT musician and studio art prof Chris Sollars, at Dartmouth’s Black Family Visual Arts Center. “My eyes,” Susan writes, “went mostly to four large screens that show videos of wildlife in every season on the land near the artist’s home in rural Vermont.” Also, she notes a suddenly revived EBA webpage, offering the defunct restaurant’s signature Dragon Juice bbq sauce from the sauce’s creator, Eddie Bogosian.

This week in the woods, some late-blooming flowers. Among other things, writes Northern Woodlands’ Jack Saul, there’s north wind bog orchid (with that name you’d expect it to flower in December, but nah: September); tall rattlesnake root, which can grow as high as eight feet; wood nettle; and the self-effacing beechdrops, which lacks any green because it parasitizes the roots of American beeches, so doesn’t need to photosynthesize. Also out there: wood turtles, which will soon be moving to stream bottoms, where they’ll be spending the winter

Hiking Close to Home: Brookside Park, Grantham, NH. From the trailhead at the parking lot, the trail starts as a gravel path until the handicapped-accessible bridge. Past the bridge, says the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, the trail continues on a crushed gravel and forest floor trail running 450 feet along the Skinner Brook to an overlook, with a bench and another picnic table. Interpretive signs along the way briefly explain various features of interest. Brookside Park is partially accessible by wheelchair. Click the "Show" button on the map in TrailFinder to see the accessible portion.

Daybreak’s Upper Valley News Quiz. Were you paying attention this week? Because we’ve got questions! Like, what does that little free “library” that Honor Hingston-Cox has in her front yard in downtown Lebanon contain? And what’s been going on with drought in the Northeast, according to Dartmouth researchers?You’ll find those and more at the link. Meanwhile, here’s NHPR’s New Hampshire quiz, while Seven Days’ Vermont quiz is here.

States hoping to rein in Flock cameras are looking to NH as a model. That’s because for the last decade, “the Granite State has had one of the strictest laws in the country regulating and limiting automated license plate readers,” writes Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin. So states around the country are paying attention to NH’s experience, since it regulates what the devices can be used for and how law officers can use them. The result, DeWitt writes: the state has far fewer of the cameras than many other states (though VT is similarly sparse). According to deflock.org, there are three of the devices in Hanover, four in WRJ (near the VA), one along I-91, and one in Claremont.

NH’s bald eagle population soars. “For the first time in nearly 40 years, 100 bald eagle chicks hatched and flew from their nests in New Hampshire this year,” NHPR reports. In a conversation with morning host Rick Ganley, NH Audubon’s Mickayla Johnston says it’s not just the ban on DDT that’s helped, but a widespread network of volunteers who can track nests, development, and other pressure on the birds during breeding season—and alert NH Fish & Game. They talk about Audubon’s research, what it’s like to band chicks, and more. The episode’s producer, by the way, is NHPR’s new Morning Edition producer, former Valley News reporter Clare Shanahan.

Just a cool look at an ordinary day in the Jurassic. We don’t actually know how an ordinary day played out, but if we could drop in, it might be as rich as Cinedaw’s animated short film “Noon of Night.” Set to Deep Throat Choir’s moody “In Berlin,” these twilight hours seem so peaceful, though a closer look shows otherwise. The scene is set in the Morrison Formation, in the western US, where, 163 to 145 million years ago, an array of dinosaurs roamed lush forest and shrubland. Beautifully rendered in watercolor, it’s filled with subtleties that all of us—dinosaur lovers especially—can appreciate. 

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

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HEADS UP

For starters, one event tomorrow that wasn’t in yesterday’s Weekend Heads Up: Two Rivers Printmaking Studio is throwing itself a party as it expands in the Tip Top Building in WRJ with a new workshop space. 5-8 pm.

For lots of other ways to fill up today, tomorrow, and Sunday, check out Daybreak’s Weekend Heads Up.

And for today...

Sisters RAYE, Amma, and Absolutely (or, to their parents, Rachel, Lauren, and Abby-Lynn Keen) are all talented solo singers and performers who, not infrequently, get together to perform. They’re just out with this gospel-inflected street-romp, “Joy”—aimed at producing exactly that.

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

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