GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
We seem to be in a favored spot... with snow continuing all morning, sometimes at an inch an hour, and probably through the afternoon. This is all the result of two systems converging, with one from the south packing early-spring-like amounts of moisture—but meeting our cold air. Temps today hanging right on either side of the freezing mark, down into the low 20s tonight as things clear out.What's it all add up to? The two Weather Service offices see somewhat different ranges, though they agree on totals higher toward the south. Burlington says 8-10 total in this stretch of Vermont, while the office in Gray, ME says 8-12 for this stretch of New Hampshire. If you have to be out, by the way, VTrans reported most road surfaces are snow-covered "with data reports of low grip values throughout."Speaking of storms... It's been a quarter-century since the huge ice storm of 1998—whose impact can still be seen in some stretches of forest out there. The Valley News's Geoff Hansen has a look back, with photos.Hartford police identify woman found at Casella facility. In a news release on Friday afternoon, Hartford police said Jessica Jo Morehouse "was more than likely sleeping in a dumpster” and may have died in it before the dumpster was picked up, reports Eric Francis for Daybreak. Her death, the HPD said, was likely accidental; police are awaiting toxicology results from the state. Morehouse, who was 34, had struggled with heroin use, Francis writes.DH looks to close $120M budget gap, plans hiring freeze, reviews of existing jobs. In the VN, Nora Doyle-Burr reports that the hospital system is putting in place a "performance improvement plan" that will require all open positions at DHMC and DH clinics to be subject to a hiring review; at least one satellite hospital, Mt. Ascutney, "does not have a hiring freeze and continues to actively recruit in many departments,” its CEO tells her. Recent financial losses, she writes, are largely due to staffing challenges; at the same time, DHMC is expecting new revenues from higher patient volumes. Doyle-Burr explains it all.Yo dude! Careful with your words! A Woodstock reader points out that Friday's item about the Economic Development Commission's child care subsidies could have been misconstrued. "The EDC is not paying [families] for child care," he writes. "The EDC grants to existing child care providers are one-time funding to grow their capacity to admit additional children into their programs. [The EDC] is investing public funds to solve a public problem: that families with children were choosing not to move to Woodstock, or choosing to leave Woodstock, due to a lack of child care options."Music all over. In Artful, Susan Apel takes a look at upcoming events around the Upper Valley. First: UV Baroque this coming weekend. Then on Feb. 4, a benefit concert for the new New England School of the Arts (on the Lebanon Mall, slated to open this fall); the event will feature video testimonials from the likes of the Indigo Girls' Emily Saliers and locals Noah Kahan and Hans Williams, plus a pile of local performers. And then there's the Junction Dance Festival coming this summer. Oh, and if you feel like heading to Montpelier, this year's regular Farmers Night concerts in the House chamber are under way.Judge awards ValleyNet $2 million. But collecting it? That's another matter. You may remember that last year, ValleyNet, which operates ECFiber and Lyme Fiber, disclosed a contract accountant had embezzled $561,000. Last week, reports the VN's John Lippman, a Washington County judge awarded the organization compensatory and punitive damages—but. says ValleyNet's lawyer, “Are we ever going to collect $2 million? Seems unlikely.” That's because the accountant, John Van Vught, has disappeared, though he leaves some assets, mostly real estate, behind. His wife is cooperating.High turnover in Calais town government may be harbinger for other Vermont towns. In all, writes Maggie Reynolds in VTDigger, five members of the selectboard and the clerk are stepping down; the treasurer and road foreman positions have been unfilled for a while. Officials have had several controversies to deal with, including one resident's free-roaming horses, but a retiring selectboard member tells Reynolds, “I think the problem we’re seeing is that Vermont, the ‘volunteer state,’ is increasingly unable to meet the needs of government as Vermont expects it to operate in 2023.”In Vershire, hopes for "a gathering place to enjoy for years to come.” Townspeople have launched a crowdfunding campaign aimed at raising $60,000 to build a timber-frame pavilion behind the Town Center building. The campaign is sponsored by the state's Better Places program; if the town can raise $20K by March 19, the state will kick in the remaining $40K needed. In a press release from the state program, town moderator David Hooke says the planned pavilion would "open a whole range of new opportunities for people to connect." The kickoff event was this past weekend.Our word for the day: zygodactyl. That's the unusual toe arrangement possessed by some birds—including woodpeckers, owls, and ospreys—in which two toes point forward and two backward. Writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog, "It enhances the ability of woodpeckers to hold onto limbs and climb up vertical tree trunks, while owls and ospreys can get a better grasp of slippery or wiggly prey."And our other word for the day: lenticular. Those are clouds that form parallel to the wind's direction and, as the name suggests, can resemble a lens. Or, as in Turkey last week, a flying saucer.The Monday Vordle. With a word from Friday's Daybreak.
And to start us off musically this week...A supremely annoying car alarm. Only, not for long. Because it went off outside Canadian pianist and composer (and Berklee grad) Tony Ann's apartment, and he turned it into something very much else. (Thanks, ML!)See you tomorrow.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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