GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly sunny. There’s high pressure moving eastward today, and though it’ll be cold out after this morning’s frosty start, with a high only in the mid 20s, we’ll also get a full-on sunny morning. Some clouds will start showing up around midday, but they won’t really begin building in until tonight ahead of the clipper that’s going to bring us tomorrow’s snow. But more on that then. Lows tonight either side of 20.
The season’s ‘bows. You don’t often get a chance to see rainbows once winter’s set in, but there they were on Friday (okay, it wasn’t technically winter on Friday, but hey, close enough).
Here’s one highlighting Dartmouth’s Baker Library, from Whit Mitchell.
And another, straight up Route 5 in Norwich, from David Watts.
Former Claremont Eagle Times publisher charged by feds in $50m fraud scheme. Jay Lucas, an NH businessman and prominent figure in state GOP circles, was arrested Thursday on an indictment from a New York grand jury, reports Damien Fisher in InDepthNH. “Jay Lucas promised investors he would use their hard-earned money to grow wellness businesses,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Instead, Lucas allegedly lied, frittered away investor money on personal vanity projects, and betrayed his obligations to his investors.” One of those alleged “vanity projects” was the Eagle Times, which closed earlier this year. Fisher details the charges.
Lebanon City Council approves budget, with some cuts. As Clare Shanahan reports in the Valley News, the city’s $46 million budget “is expected to result in a 0.7 percent increase on local property taxes next year,” disappointing residents who showed up to last week’s meeting urging no tax rate increase at all after a budget increase last year and jump in property assessments. Still, the council cut some $400K from City Manager Andrew Hosmer’s proposal, including $30K from the city’s support for LISTEN, money for fireworks and for contracted snowplowing, and $200K from the city’s paving allocation.
SPONSORED: As we celebrate Christmas, may peace and joy surround you and those you love. At St. Thomas, we welcome all into a caring, faith-filled community as we rejoice in the birth of the Prince of Peace. Join us at Christmas services or in the New Year and experience the joy of this holy season. Sponsored by St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Hanover.
James Garnett responds. Friday’s Daybreak linked to a letter to Gov. Phil Scott from Libby Moyer, a Vershire resident, about the plight of Vietnam vet James Garnett in the midst of the ongoing drought, and about gaps in the state’s ability to track and help people with wells that have gone dry. Over the weekend, Garnett responded, writing, “The State of Vermont cannot be responsible for private landholders’ issues”—and clarifying that his chief issue is with his insurance company, which has denied claims after the well’s pump and pressure tank were damaged once it ran dry. “Any suggestions or similar experiences might be enlightening,” he writes. More at the link.
You can bet these guys’ll be getting a bill from NH. Late Friday night, the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team and NH Fish & Game officers were called out to Mt. Monadnock to rescue two hikers who’d fallen into a brook. Amid high winds and dropping temps, they’d set out at 5:30 pm with no food, water, warm clothes, change of clothes, or cold weather gear. The pair—both 18-year-olds from Massachusetts—were found at about 11 pm, and while one was able to walk out, reports Fish & Game, the other “was unable to move and suffering from cold weather injuries.” He also turned out to be “heavily intoxicated.” They reached an ambulance around 2 am Saturday.
Where things stand on NH vehicle inspections. Earlier this year, state legislators voted to axe the mandatory inspection program for passenger vehicles, starting Jan. 31 next year. Then the KY-based company that manufactures the vehicle emissions testing equipment used by mechanics in the state sued. That case is in court and the company has asked for a temporary injunction blocking the end of inspections. For right now, reports NHPR’s Todd Bookman, you still have to get an inspection if your birthday is in Dec. or Jan.—and you can still be ticketed for a long list of infractions, including bald tires or broken taillights. He lays out the current state of play.
In the world of VT poetry, 2025 brought three big losses. Jim Schley remembers David Huddle, Ellen Bryant Voigt, and Baron Wormser. Schley studied writing with all three and hosted them at the Strafford Town House Forum series, at Bookstock, and when he ran the Frost Place in Franconia. “Their deaths came as one blow after another: David and Baron died on the same day, October 7. Ellen died on October 23,” he writes in Seven Days. He describes Huddle’s “weathered courtliness,” Voight’s voice—“honeyed but sharpened with ginger”— and Wormser’s poetry and prose, “fierce and satirical but also tender,” with pointers to notable work.
The Monday Jigsaw: The Orion Nebula. As the Norwich Historical Society’s Cam Cross writes, “This week’s puzzle stretches our concept of history a bit further than we've explored so far.” Not least because, as he adds on his Curioustorian blog, “Every human who has ever looked at the northern winter sky has seen what we can view every clear night.”
Today's Wordbreak. With a word from Friday’s Daybreak.
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And music for today...
From guitarist, visual artist, and Hanover High grad Jules Evens, who these days is studying music at CalArts and just released his first album, Jules. The link below takes you to “Command.” Here’s the whole album.
See you tomorrow.
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