WELL HEY, UPPER VALLEY!
The clouds are back. There's a weak front moving through, but not a lot of moisture over on our side for it to draw from, so whatever snow we do get today will be fairly light — could be up to an inch, most likely in the early afternoon. If you're hungry, there's more over the spine of the Greens. Temps in the high 20s, maybe even 30, winds shifting to come from the south this afternoon. Lows down to around 20 tonight. You may have noticed something different this morning. It's a small thing: Daybreak now comes from [email protected]. This is not to get all highfalutin', just that email providers' algorithms trust emails from domains like daybreak.news more than from, say, gmail. Here's hoping the change actually helps it get through to your inbox reliably. But just in case, if you have a second to add it to your contacts, that would be so cool. Let me know if you need a pointer.Sharon Trading Post sells to Maplefields. Rob and Cathy Romeo, who've owned and run the landmark general store by the corner of Routes 132 and 14 for 32 years, are selling to R.L. Vallee Inc. The company owns the Maplefields chain of convenience stores and gas stations. The VN's John Lippman reports that CEO Skip Vallee "sought to allay fears" the company would tear down the Trading Post's 19th-century building and replace it with, you know, a convenience store.
“I don’t know why he took his life that day, and I’ll never know. But I know that he wouldn’t have gotten to that point had he not gone through that experience with this lawsuit.” That's Norwich's Katie Bucci in The New York Times, on the devastating toll exacted by the Dartmouth sexual misconduct lawsuit on her husband, Dave Bucci, the brain sciences department chair who killed himself last October. The Times's Anemona Hartocollis is up with a searching exploration of the legal accusations that Bucci hadn't responded forcefully enough to students' abuse complaints, and his agonized response.
Hanover jumps into short-term rental debate. In forums on Jan. 21 and Jan. 25, the town will explore whether to lift its ban on homeowners renting out their digs on sites like Airbnb and VRBO. There's pressure from some residents who want to be able to offset taxes and mortgage costs by taking advantage, in particular, of visitors to Dartmouth. Others worry about the impact of investors “who come in, buy up homes and apartments and condos and rarely visit them,” as Town Manager Julia Griffin puts it. (VN)Want your poem up at one of Randolph's laundromats, or at the auto parts store or the barbershop or maybe even its riverfront trail? For the seventh year in a row, PoemTown Randolph organizers are looking for work by Vermont poets to display around town during National Poetry Month in April. Submissions are due Feb. 1. As Artful blogger Susan Apel says, if you've been agonizing over your poems, "just stop that (the agonizing, that is), tidy them up, and submit them."Thetford town manager resigns. Just catching up on last week's thread... On Friday night, the town's first town manager, Serena Bemis-Goodall, told the selectboard it was time for her to step down. “I knew when I arrived to no office, no cellphone and no computer that this was going to be an interesting start, but the hostility that I have endured I did not see coming,” she said in a letter she read to members. “My position as town manager was set up deliberately to fail." The board meets tonight at 7. (VN)Ledyard Bank expands in Concord. The Hanover-based community bank signaled its interest in moving beyond the Upper Valley's more limited market three years ago, when it opened a branch of its wealth management division in the state capital. Now it's announced an actual bank branch, on a small-commercial stretch of Main Street a few blocks south of the Capitol Center for the Arts. The branch will open in mid-2020.In case you missed them, here's...
Pete Buttigieg at his Stevens High event in Claremont on Saturday (the Fox News station that put it up says it's Claremont, IA, but don't be fooled);
And Tulsi Gabbard at her Saturday town hall in Grantham.
Just up, this is the Sentinel Pine Bridge over the Flume in Lincoln, NH, in full-on winter. As always with Reddit, you need to click on the image to get the full impact.
Gov. Chris Sununu's up for re-election and he's being challenged by, among others, Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes. Coming right up, says
InDepthNH
's Garry Rayno, is a House "red flag" bill to allow a court to take away firearms from people who pose a threat to themselves or others; the possibility of a veto-proof move to create an independent redistricting commission; a variety of tax measures, net metering expansion, and more.
They, too, have a pile of work left over from last year, plus some ambitious plans for this session. Paid family leave and boosting the minimum wage, of course. Formally joining the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative. Retail cannabis. Rewriting the state's landmark land-use law, Act 250. A measure allowing police to take guns from people against whom courts have issued an abuse protection order. And, as you may have guessed, more. VPR's Peter Hirschfeld has the rundown.
After the state denied the mental health and addiction treatment center a $2 million bailout it had sought, Retreat CEO Louis Josephson on Friday sent a letter to state officials saying it might have to close or sell the facility. Human Services Secy Mike Smith responded yesterday, "Make no mistake, any threat of closure is both the decision and the result of the Retreat's current leadership." Josephson later "appeared to walk back the threat," says
Seven Days.
First, take a surveyor's wheel with 800 rotations/mile. Then roll it over every rock, cliff, crevice, and stream on a trail in the Whites. Gene Daniell, who edited the 25th and 26th editions of the AMC White Mountain Hiking Guide and the first edition of the AMC Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide, died last month. In the Monitor, Jon Burroughs affectionately remembers their work together on the books. "We would go over the copy of each trail description and then debate for hours as to whether a trail was very steep, steep, rather steep, moderately steep or somewhat steep."
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SO ABOUT TONIGHT...
The Space on Main is hosting a series of entrepreneurs' stories on six Monday evenings as part of its efforts to boost business development in the area. Tonight, the people behind three popular Bradford food establishments — veteran restaurant Colatina Exit; drive-thru café Vittles Espresso & Eatery, which has been around since May; and cured/smoked meat food truck Smokey D's — talk about what it took to get up and running. 5:30 pm.
The Dartmouth Argentine Tango Society kicks off its winter series of classes tonight, which are open to community members and held every Monday from now through March 2. Technique at 7:30, social dance at 8:30, in Sarner Underground.
Lebanon Parks and Rec is offering telemark lessons at Storrs Hill — not the classic lunge type, but something more like a curtsy — starting tonight and running Mondays through Feb. 10. Also a separate series on Wednesdays. Runs 6:15-7:30 pm. At the link, scroll down to "Adult Programs."
Or heck, maybe you just want to go sit in the dark with Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven and see Frozen II in Woodstock.
Critics generally agree it doesn't quite match its mega-smithereens-blockbuster predecessor, but Richard Roeper calls it "one of the most beautifully animated films of the decade" — with more than a few "trippy, New Age-y detours along the way." You can go check them out yourself at Woodstock Town Hall Theater at 7:30.
And just to help us dive back in, here are virtuosi Alison Brown and Jake Shimabukuro
on Chuck Mangione's "Feels So Good."
Have a fine start to your week. See you tomorrow.
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