WELCOME TO THE WEEK, UPPER VALLEY!
It's quiet up there in the skies. High pressure's building in over the next two days, but it's going to be colder than normal.... Mostly sunny today, clear tonight, highs bumping all the way into the mid-30s. If you're headed out tonight, definitely button up. New candy shop to open in White River Junction. Ava's Candy Corner is setting up inside Fletcher Creations, just opposite Northern Stage. Cotton candy, sours, moonpie bites, jawbreakers, chocolate seashells... Go ahead, dare you to stay away. It's been open limited hours, grand opening is April 5.Hanover Co-op back in the black, to issue first patronage refund since 2014. It won't be much -- the net profit was just $28K on sales of $74 million and the refunds will come out of $108,000 in pre-tax income. But the stores have been struggling the last few years, so this is bracing news. They'll go over the numbers in more detail at their annual meeting April 6.NYC First Lady talks drugs and mental health in Claremont, husband comes along for the ride. Chirlane McCray, who's married to NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio, is building a national network of mayors focused on mental-health issues. DeBlasio's yet another potential Democratic presidential candidate, and he did just happen to meet with Dems in Manchester on their way to Claremont. (VN, subscription reqd)Weekend catchup: Voters in Plainfield scrap new Meriden library. It got contentious at town meeting on Saturday, as townspeople debated whether to tear down the existing library -- which has issues with contamination, handicapped access, and space limits -- and build a new one. “A village without a library is decimated,” said one backer. The measure got a majority, but fell 44 votes short of the two-thirds it needed. (VN: that subscription thing again)More weekend catchup: Thetford takes state hoops championships. I know, I know, we don't usually do sports, but this is a bright little moment. First the girls won the D-III title a week ago, then the boys did it on Saturday. It's the first time both teams have pulled this off in the same year. And it's been a 15-year drought for the boys, despite several trips to the finals.Telecoms and Vermont put net-neutrality suit on hold, pending results of federal case. After the FCC last year repealed Obama-era net-neutrality rules, the state set up its own requirements that internet companies abide by the standards. Telecom companies sued. But there's also a federal suit against the FCC -- 22 states, including VT, along with a bunch of tech companies -- and the parties have agreed to wait until that's resolved. Meanwhile, the state won't enforce its standards.Remember last fall's Great Squirrel Massacre? Well they're back, they're hungry, and they're eating maple tubing. Syrup producers are contending with holes up and down their lines, as an abundance of squirrels -- can you say "mast year"? -- forget about trying to find acorns under the snow and just go for what's handy: tubing and spigots. VT writer Katherine Paterson wins lifetime achievement award from American Academy of Arts and Letters. This is a bit late -- the news broke a week ago -- but the author of Bridge to Terabithia and other much-loved kids' and YA books was on Vermont Edition a few days ago talking literature and writing. "I go back and visit the child within me," Paterson says, "because I know how deeply she felt."Vermont is a complicated place when it comes to issues of race, and Emily Bernard explores them. In a set of essays that's drawing national attention, the UVM prof digs into what it's like to be black in the second-whitest state in the union. “Incidents of racism that might be dismissed in cities with a higher percentage of African Americans are treated seriously here,” she notes, but also that VT has the country's third-highest incarceration rate for blacks. She'll be at the Norwich Bookstore March 27.AND NOW... MONDAY NIGHT... GOT PLANS?Well, you could finally go see Green Book. Such a complicated decision, no wonder you've dilly-dallied. Do you give in to the hype? Do you boycott it? Did it deserve its Oscar? Does it deserve all the criticism? Thanks to Pentangle Arts you get to decide for yourself, already. At Town Hall Theater in Woodstock.Or you could finally go figure out just what the heck these "B Corp" thingies are. We've got several around here: King Arthur, Mascoma Bank, Woodstock's Optimist Center.... Becca White, state rep. from Hartford and an outreach organizer with SunCommon, another B Corp, fills in the details about businesses aiming to be forces for good. At the library in Bethel.Now: Head up, back straight, go have a good week! See you tomorrow.
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