GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Pretty out, eh? It'll be cloudy today, with temps warming modestly to around 40 before falling below freezing again tonight. As moisture above moves in from the northwest, there's a chance of rain again starting late this afternoon, with a changeover to snow overnight. You'll want to be aware that black ice is possible on roadways tonight and tomorrow morning, once temps have dropped.Power's out in some spots this morning, mostly on the VT side. It's been restored to most of the 370 customers who were out in Hartford, but there are a few hundred more in Corinth, Cavendish, Plymouth, Norwich, and Hartland, and dozens each in Woodstock, Pomfret, and Strafford. NH utilities are reporting just a handful of outages in this region.After Rivendell board okays plan to close Fairlee school, lots of questions. As you'll remember, the district is facing rising costs and, after a pair of public forums last month, the school board opted to back a three-year plan that would phase out the Samuel Morey School in Fairlee and shift its students and teachers to a Rivendell Academy building in Orford. In the Valley News, Nicola Smith explores board members' reasoning and, as the board preps next year's budget—which voters will have to approve—talks to teachers about their concerns over how the plan would work in real life.Norwich police staffing challenges continue as town tries to reach collective bargaining agreement. The town and the New England Police Benevolent Association have been in contract talks for over a year and a half, the last contract expired at the end of June, and hiring for a vacant position, interim chief Matthew Romei tells the VN's Patrick Adrian, has been difficult. "We can actively recruit, but the first thing that a prospective officer wants to see is the (department’s compensation) agreement,” he says.Thanks to Noah Kahan, the Upper Valley is now on a fan base's map. This was a big weekend for the fast-rising singer-songwriter from Strafford and Hanover: He joined Emma Stone as a guest on Saturday Night Live, then got the full NYT treatment in Steven Kurutz's article yesterday (gift link). In it, Kahan reflects on the breakout fame that came with Stick Season; on the weirdness of having audiences in London sing along about roads in Strafford; on having his list of favorite spots make it onto iPhones—"The guys [at Gusanoz'] are, like, ‘Dude, we have people from Ohio coming up to eat here'"—and, above all, on why he returns home to Strafford to recharge.In Thetford, planning commission considers proposal to allow "pocket neighborhoods", ban chain businesses. They're part of a series of proposed changes to zoning bylaws, writes Nick Clark in Sidenote, that also include making it easier to get permits for so-called "accessory dwelling units" and prohibiting short-term rentals. Clark focuses especially on the pocket neighborhoods, a "novel type of housing development" that would be allowed on any paved road in town and include three to seven one- or two-bedroom houses around a central court. A public hearing's expected next month.In Norwich, "kids bridge" over Blood Brook becomes a reality. After months of planning and fundraising led by longtime resident Don McCabe, the bridge replaces an old footbridge that once spanned the brook, allowing people to get from neighborhoods on one side to Huntley Meadow on the other. Volunteers from the town's trails committee put it together over the week after Thanksgiving; this weekend, along with Graham Webster and his excavator, they moved concrete pads into place and then set the bridge up. For his About Norwich blog, Demo Sofronas was there to capture it all in photos.“We’re not a bunch of rich kids. We’re struggling financially while we’re here.” The question before the National Labor Relations Board seems fairly straightforward: Should the players on Dartmouth's men's basketball tam be considered employees or voluntary student-athletes? In the VN yesterday, columnist Jim Kenyon explored the players' decision to seek to unionize, and though he leans to one side, it's a thorough look at why they want to do so, how the move came about, and whether the team is in fact a money-loser, as the college told the NLRB. A first ruling is expected later this month, but however it comes down, it's likely to be appealed.NH House numbers shift again with Democratic rep's resignation ahead of move. Robin Vogt of Portsmouth stepped down Friday because he's moving out of his district, to Durham, writes Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin. That creates a fourth vacant seat in the 400-member House, which now has 198 Republicans, 195 Democrats, and three independents (two of whom are former Democrats). Vogt's move comes as a brouhaha continues over former Rep. Troy Merner, who for most of 2023 served in a district where he no longer lived; he resigned in September and was charged last week with voting illegally in his old town.Proposed NH energy efficiency plan moves forward after PUC majority say they won't rule on plan as a whole. If you've got a long memory, you'll recall that the Public Utilities Commission and its stance toward efficiency programs have been dogged by controversy ever since it rejected a plan put forward by NH's utilities back in 2021. Earlier this year, it issued a report that efficiency advocates contended was biased against the programs. Now, in the wake of a law passed last year to fund efficiency programs, two commissioners say they no longer have the authority to approve the plan, just changes from one to the next. NHPR's Mara Hoplamazian explains."There are so many farms going out in this state. I wanted to visit a place that is starting over. Also, I wanted to stand in an enormous barn of fresh-cut weed." And it's fair to say that Erica Heilman got her wish. In the latest episode of Rumble Strip, she visits John Rodgers, a former state rep who now grows cannabis in a bid to keep what was once his family's dairy farm alive. "A fierce defender of same-sex marriage," Heilman says, "he has more guns than anyone I've ever met, and he works harder than anyone I know." They talk the ins and outs of growing cannabis—including its "terroir".The Monday Vordle. With a word from Friday's Daybreak.
Heads Up
At 6 this evening, the Etna Library hosts local author Stephanie Lozito, reading from and talking about her 2022 novel, We Turn to Face the Sun. Written in the wake of Lozito's sister's death by suicide, it explores the complexities of sisters' bonds and lives together.
For the first time since they appeared together playing John Lennon and Paul McCartney in Northern Stage's production of Only Yesterday, Christopher Sears and Tommy Crawford will take the stage again this evening at 7—only this time, it'll be at Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover. Crawford, of course, is well known as a musician and performer to fans around the Upper Valley. Sears is a singer-songwriter in his own right, and they'll be playing both together and solo, originals and, of course, Beatles covers, with plenty of stories and banter throughout. Seating's limited.
Oh, sure, what the heck...
, with "Dial Drunk".
See you tomorrow.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Jonea Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Michael
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