GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly sunny, cold, kinda blustery. Just a few days ago, temps were well above normal. Now the pendulum's swung the other way—we're looking at colder-than-usual temps this week, though at least there's high pressure today and tomorrow. It'll get sunnier as the day goes on, but with winds from the northwest we probably won't get out of the 30s. Down into the upper teens tonight. If you're outside, what with the winds, you'll want to layer up.Normally, Lebanon police average 8-10 DWI arrests a month. In October, there were 18. That's just one of the reasons the force has launched saturation traffic patrols on the 12A and 120 corridors, reports John Lippman in the Valley News, amid an overall increase in aggressive and reckless driving. The LPD started last Thursday along 12A, and by the end of the day had stopped 99 cars for such infractions as using a cellphone while driving or stopped at a light, tailgating, and speeding. Drivers mostly got off with warnings, but this week officers will not be "as forgiving," Chief Phil Roberts tells Lippman.“I can’t say that I produce the best of the best. But I strive to be up there producing some of the best.” That's Springfield VT's Sheila Patinkin talking to Howard Weiss-Tisman for his Vermont Public story on her Wagyu beef farm, Vermont Wagyu. Patinkin, who grew up in Springfield, went on to raise four kids, have a career in marketing, then spend two decades as a pediatrician before moving back to VT. She started with 150 acres of grassland and an early fascination with "the genetics of the Wagyu, with the animals themselves." These days, 80 percent of sales are direct to customers, often in big cities.Chelsea without a road crew—or a selectboard—as snow approaches. Last week was a memorable one in town. First, longtime road foreman Rick Ackerman resigned after an argument with the selectboard over its attempts to manage the department. Then, writes Dominic Minadeo on VTDigger, two other members of the road crew resigned. Then, after a heated meeting on Thursday night, all but one member of the selectboard resigned, according to reports on the Chelsea, VT Community FB Group. As one commenter wrote, "It may be a long time before business can be conducted and anyone hired."Meanwhile, the Norwich Selectboard deals with its town-manager aftermath. Last Wednesday was the board's first business meeting since Rod Francis stepped down as town manager a week ago, writes the VN's Patrick Adrian, and its agenda showed the stresses. For one thing, it's been unable to get a bead on an interim manager—“We are really not in a good position of having a pool of candidates, or even one that we know about,” said Vice Chair Mary Layton. The board is advising residents to be in touch with either Police Chief Wade Cochran or Fire Chief Alex Northern in an emergency.“While I cannot compete with Amazon on price, Amazon is never going to have tables for you to sit down at and meet people." That's Ian Struckhoff, owner of the new Hanover games and comics spot The Fourth Place, talking to Heya Shah in The Dartmouth. Struckhoff's long-term goal, Shah writes, is to go national, but for the moment he's aiming to build a broad base of customers, from high school kids to Dartmouth students to young professionals, adults, and families. “I want to make sure that everybody can come in and see someone that looks like them," he says.Hanover artist lands much-sought-after residency at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center. To be precise, Lia Rothstein will be the 2023 Climate Change Artist in Residence, reports Susan Apel in Artful. She was chosen from among 83 applicants worldwide, based on her work in bioplastics—which "struck us as incredibly creative, interesting, and hopeful," BMAC's exhibition director says. Bioplastics are made from renewable sources—cassava or tapioca, say—and break down over time. Rothstein tells Susan she wants to create art "that causes the viewer to feel something in the moment they see it and, hopefully, to think about what is permanent or transitory in our lives."Constabulary notes from all over. In this case, Concord, where yesterday afternoon a 40-year-old homeless man hopped into an Amazon truck while the driver was making a delivery and led a growing parade of law enforcement vehicles down I-93 to Hooksett, where police failed to get him to stop, then to Manchester, and finally to a dead-end road on the city's north side. There he fled, but was caught by State Police K-9 Ragnar. He was taken to Concord Hospital and faces a long list of state and local charges.NH child care providers, state at odds over background checks. Not the fact of them, but the process. Last Thursday, reports Annmarie Timmins in NH Bulletin, they received word that after Dec. 15, the state will no longer allow them to put new staff to work before a background check is completed—a process advocates say can take weeks. Until now, the state has granted centers a waiver from federal requirements, as long as the new employee is not left alone with children. But the state is facing a $700K penalty from the feds if it doesn't come into compliance, a Health and Human Services spokesman says.Dems can't dent Sununu's popularity. And after the NH governor's fourth victory at the polls last week (he was first elected in 2016), there are plenty of theories as to why, Ethan DeWitt writes in NH Bulletin. They range from his skills as a politician to the state's strong economy, business tax cuts, and flush coffers, to his family's political legacy. Plus, Democrats' difficulty finding a top-tier challenger. As for Sununu himself, he's got some advice: "Trying to tell people I’m an extremist or I’m this or I’m that—that’s all a false narrative,” he tells DeWitt. “And people know that because they know me.” In VT, state Senate Dems name a new leader. Though it was never really a mystery, since Chittenden County Sen. Phil Baruth was the only person running for president pro tem. The UVM English prof and former political commentator replaces Becca Balint, who's moving on to Congress. In prepared remarks, reports Seven Days' Kevin McCallum, Baruth told his colleagues not to take their super-majority for granted. “I hope all of us will have a little humility,” he said. "Because we only have it when we're truly all together.” Dems also reelected Windsor Sen. Alison Clarkson as majority leader."The Bike Thieves of Burlington, Vermont." On Saturday, The New York Times dropped a little bombshell of an article with that title by business reporter Michael Corkery. It begins as a story about a plague of bicycle thefts and locals' effort—via this Facebook group—to report and, maybe, find them. But it quickly becomes a foray into Burlington's progressive politics, 2020 cuts to its police force, police morale, progressive Chittenden County prosecutor Sarah George, broader concerns about violence, and residents taking matters into their own hands. Not surprisingly, it's aroused both scorn and praise, especially on the BTV Stolen Bike Report and Recovery FB group. (Gift link, no paywall.)
The Monday Vordle. With a word from Friday's Daybreak.
Heads Up
Today at 4:30, both in-person and online, Dartmouth's Dickey Center hosts former BBC, Economist, and Times of London correspondent Philip Short for a talk on "Explaining Putin: The Man Behind the War in Ukraine." Short, who is author most recently of a biography of Putin, will talk about how history, geography, and personality led to the current conflict—and ask whether, "In light of the setbacks Russia has suffered in the face of stubborn Ukrainian resistance, signs of growing discontent at home, and an economy facing long term debilitation, might an alternate title be 'Putin—A Comeuppance Long in the Making?'"
And at 7 pm, the Norwich Bookstore brings in poet and editor Susan Barba and watercolorist and illustrator Leanne Shapton to talk about their new book, American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide. It's a collection of poems, essays, and letters from the 1700s to now, focused on wildflowers and their place in our culture and the natural world, organized by species and botanical family and illustrated by Shapton throughout.
And to start the week...Well, sure, okay. Springsteen did just go up with another of his soul covers: "Turn Back the Hands of Time," Tyrone Davis's 1970 hit, which reached the top of Billboard's R&B singles chart that year.I wanna turn back the hands of timeI’m gonna turn back the hands of timeSee you yesterday.If only.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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