GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Snow continues, maybe mixing with rain late this afternoon. Today's storm is moving quickly southwest to northeast in the wake of colder air that moved in yesterday, with higher amounts falling to the south and maybe an inch or two around here. Temps will climb into the mid 30s by late afternoon, and everything should be winding down by the end of the day. Lows tonight in the upper 20s. Here are the expected snow total maps for:
It's unclear just what this raccoon was doing in Sharon, but when Mike Zwikelmeier went to check on it the next morning, it was gone.
Woodstock police chief hearing recap. The Valley News's John Lippman was there last week, and on Friday published a thoroughgoing account of the 14½-hour hearing over municipal manager Eric Duffy's move to demote Chief Joe Swanson. As you'll remember, early testimony unveiled a range of dissatisfaction from administrative staff and officers with Swanson's behavior; Swanson himself said "he was surprised by much of the negative criticism," Lippman reports, giving a full recap of the day and night of testimony. Village trustees will make a decision behind closed doors, Lippman writes.Bob Frisch, co-publisher of Here In Hanover and other magazines, dies at 74. He "passed away unexpectedly on the afternoon of March 12 in Hanover," according to an obituary just published by Rand-Wilson Funeral Home. He began his career in radio, eventually coming to own KIXX and several other stations before he and his wife, Cheryl, sold them in 2001 and founded Mountain View Publishing, which puts out Here in Hanover, Woodstock, and Image. "Bob’s warmth, humor, and ability to make lasting friendships defined him," the obit runs. There'll be a celebration of life April 12 at the Hanover Inn."Whether you were a Grammy-winner, or if you were a little kid doing your first show on the stage, his whole goal was to make you shine." That's the Lebanon Opera House's Joe Clifford talking about Duff Cummings, LOH's longtime stage manager, who died in February. In the VN, Marion Umpleby describes his "enthusiasm and attention to detail," as well as the less-well-known parts of Cummings' life, working for Hanover Police & Fire and then Dartmouth Safety & Security—where he raised money for a rescue pontoon boat that's still used—and became a caretaker for the trails at River Park.SPONSORED: Your voice matters! Register for the Upper Valley Community Health Improvement Summit. Please join us on Zoom from 6-7:30 pm on Tuesday, April 1 to discuss the priority health needs identified in the APD/DHMC 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment: Access to Care, Basic and Social Needs, and Support for Older Adults. What assets are making them better? Join us to share potential strategies that will directly inform our Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). Register at the burgundy link or here for Zoom. Sponsored by the Public Health Council and Dartmouth Health.Mario Puzo's typewriter, the first bible printed in America, and more at the Rauner. In an update of a 2016 guide to some of the more unusual items you can find at Dartmouth's special collections library, Dartmouth News's Bailey Stephen is out with a list of "10 (More) Incredible Items." In addition to novelist Puzo's papers (and 1965 Olympia typewriter), there's the bible created between 1661 and 1663 by Puritan minister John Eliot and Algonquin tribe member John Sassamon; a first edition of Frederick Douglass’ autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom; and more. Here are the original 10 items. When was the last time you saw an evening grosbeak at the feeder? In Sidenote, Li Shen asks that question as she dives into the steep decline in grosbeak numbers since the '90s, when it was common to see "big flocks passing through." Recent research suggests that the answer lies up north, with the clear-cutting of boreal coniferous forests—grosbeaks' breeding territory—along with strenuous efforts to control spruce budworm, which have deprived grosbeaks of larvae, "a critical source of protein that enable grosbeaks to lay eggs and feed their young." Oh, also: that clear-cutting? A lot's for toilet paper.MA man rescued from deep snow in the Pemi Wilderness. The 52-year-old "was prepared for a two day excursion and had a tent, sleeping bag, extra clothing, traction devices, food, water, the ten essentials and even a Hike Safe card," NH Fish & Game writes. But he didn't have snowshoes. And as he hiked toward Mt. Guyot on Friday the snow got deeper, but he kept going. He eventually lost the trail in waist-deep snow, finally calling 911 from a failing cellphone. Rescuers hiked in 6.5 miles to find him. Winter conditions persist up high, says Fish & Game, and "snowshoes are a must."Bipartisan NH Senate majority passes bill to override local zoning. The move, reports Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin, came amid a debate over whether to continue offering incentives to localities to make housing construction easier, or to turn to a "stick" approach. For the first time, the Senate opted for the latter, passing 13-10 a measure restricting the minimum lot sizes for single-family homes that towns and cities can impose. Supporters argued it would allow more land subdivision; opponents that it would take power away from municipalities. The Senate passed several other bills making it easier to build, and the House backed multi-family housing in commercial zones.US will limit access to border-straddling library from Canadian side. It was big international news over the weekend, after Haskell Free Library staff—the library sits partly in Derby Line, VT and partly in Stanstead, QC—announced last week they'd been told that starting today, only library-card-holding Canadians will be allowed to use the entrance, which is on the American side, and that in October all people entering from Canada will have to go through customs. The library and town of Stanstead decried the assault on "the spirit of cross-border collaboration." In a statement, a Homeland Security official wrote, “We are ending...exploitation by criminals and protecting Americans.”The Monday jigsaw. It's a pair of USGS maps and an aerial photo of the Route 12A area in Lebanon. They were inspired, writes the Norwich Historical Society's Cam Cross, by this aerial photo of what was then the Stearns-Wood Farm and is now Poverty Lane Orchards. In the puzzle, the left-most map is from 1906, the center is a current survey, and right is current aerial imagery. Here's the original. (Oh, and by the way: Last week's puzzle of the toga-clad cyclist was from 1923).
The Monday Wordbreak. With a word from Friday's Daybreak.
And to take us into the week...Odds are good you've heard Kenny White's work. He was the guy behind the music for ad campaigns like “The Unsinkable Taste of Cheerios” and Chevrolet’s “Heartbeat of America” series, as well as the soundtracks for four of John Sayles' films. A veteran NYC studio musician, he's also a singer-songwriter and pianist on his own account. Here he is in the studio with a string quartet and "The Olives and the Grapes," off his album Long List Of Priors.See you tomorrow.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Associate writer: Jonea Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Michael
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