Daybreak Monday 2/14/22

GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!

Sunny, brisk. Okay, okay... Cold. We've got winds from the north today ushering in Arctic air, and the current low double digits will climb all the way to, oh, the very slightly less low double digits this afternoon. The skies will be clearing, though, and we'll see some decent sunshine as the day goes on. Down into the low minuses overnight.Cornice fever! That's how one reader put it. Though another begs to differ: Strictly speaking, he writes, snow cornices are created by the wind on mountains. "This is more like lubricated migrating snow plastification." But can you put that in a headline? I think not. Thank you to everyone who responded with your cornice photo. Who knew overhanging snow could come in so many shapes and sizes? (Feel free to send in more—they'll go in the album.)VT prosecutor traces criminal justice reform beliefs to 10th grade at Hartford High. Sarah George grew up in Quechee and is the top prosecutor in Chittenden County, VT's largest. There, writes Diane Derby in a profile for the Valley News, she has won both admirers and detractors for using the position to "call out what she believes is wrong with Vermont’s criminal justice system." She traces her concern back to high school. "It was really clear that there were kids with really tough home lives, and they were coming to school and acting out and the school was just suspending them,” she tells Derby.No wall, no spotlights, no loud music...and no reason to turn around. "I feel like I'm flying." In The Washington Post travel section, Anne Kenderdine writes about her visit to Lake Morey with her daughter to get a few days of skating on natural ice. She was taken by the whole scene: the morning skaters and hockey players, the hot air balloon, the seaplanes that touched down, the moments of solitude with the lake spread out before them. (Thanks, AC!)"Imagine yourself running up 10 flights of stairs and then trying to thread a needle." Can't believe I missed this last week! VPR's Josh Crane spent time hanging out with former Olympic biathlete, coach, and celebrated trail designer John Morton in Thetford. They talk about the Olympics, VT as a training ground, cross-country skiing, biathlon's future... And, as Morton loses his composure talking about what it's like to walk in the opening ceremonies, the deeply felt emotions that come with competing.SPONSORED: Need your booster, or a first or second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine? Throughout the month of February, the old JC Penney site in the West Lebanon plaza will be open every Tuesday and Friday for free, easy access to all vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J) for everyone age five and up. All residents welcome – New Hampshire, Vermont, and beyond. Drop by any Tuesday 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM or Friday 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Sponsored by Community Health, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health.No rules other than "what was interesting for me to hear." As you probably know, electronic music pioneer and longtime Dartmouth prof Jon Appleton died last month. VPR's Liam Elder-Connors today went up with an appreciation of Appleton and his work, from his experiments with mixing sound to his invention of—and showmanship with—the Synclavier.Potting and re-potting. Shaking out mulch. Loading a grocery cart. Hitting "send." In Artful, Susan Apel muses on an essay about the ageism in how older people's hands are portrayed—think, holding a cane—in the media, versus what they actually spend their time doing. In particular, she points to a webinar next week hosted by the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock on "Aging Gardens, Aging Gardeners."NH's school funding gaps aren't going away. The state's transfixed by all sorts of other issues: mask policies, teaching about racism, vouchers. But, Ethan DeWitt writes in NH Bulletin, it's not like funding disparities have disappeared. In Claremont, he points out, residents pay $19.64 in local education taxes per $1K in assessed property value; in Hanover, it's $9.01. He lays out the state of play on the problem, and the various bills aimed at it. NH mallards test positive for strain of bird flu. In particular, NH Fish & Game announced on Friday, they were found to be carrying  Eurasian H5, a type of influenza that's considered low risk to humans, doesn't seem to produce much sickness or death among wild birds, but "could be a potential danger to the poultry industry and other domestic birds." The first case in the US since 2016 was found last month in a wild American wigeon in South Carolina.HelioSwarm. Cool name, interesting concept: UNH's Space Science Center has just been announced as the project lead in a $250 million NASA effort to understand turbulence in the solar wind and how it affects the near-Earth environment. It will ultimately involve nine spacecraft taking a three-dimensional look at what's known as "plasma turbulence" and how it varies.Most VT towns opt for mail-in ballots, remote info sessions for town meeting. In all, writes VTDigger's Kevin O'Connor, 174 communities, including all 28 cities and towns with more than 5,000 residents, are taking advantage of the pandemic-era law that allows them to do so. About 40 others will hold in-person meetings—though many of those will just be for formality and to decide on a later in-person date—while another 30 are just waiting until spring.As restaurants emerge from Omicron, the challenges aren't going away. “I would say the last two months have felt like the hardest and scariest part of the pandemic,” Cara Tobin, who owns Honey Road in Burlington, tells VTDigger's Fred Thys. “For restaurants, it’s like rebuilding from the ashes right now and it feels intense.” They face everything from rising food prices to finding ways to keep staff feeling safe to, in one case, buying cars for staff to get to work.<Palm to forehead>... Remember Friday's iced-over tree caused by an exploding "Canadian fire hydrant"? My internet sleuthing skills clearly pale in comparison to several readers', who quickly pointed out that it's actually a work of winter art created by a family in Utah. "The true story might even be more interesting," says one. (Thanks, AM, SD, and HQ!)

A black bear cub napping in a tree, watched over by a juvenile bald eagle. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year, which is run by London's Natural History Museum, has just announced its "People's Choice" awards and posted the top five vote-getters. Striking images, all of them.

Heads Up

Hmmm... You've seen Nataly Dawn in this space before—she's the arresting lead singer for Pomplamoose. Here she is, though, with the Americana duo of Ross Garren and John Schroeder, who perform as Sheriffs of Schroedingham,

—Lindsey Buckingham's bubbly take on his breakup with fellow Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks.

See you tomorrow.

Written and published by Rob Gurwitt   Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter   Poetry editor: Michael Lipson  About Rob                                                    About Tom                                 About Michael

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