Daybreak Monday 4/13/26

Warm, unsettled. As you may have heard on the roof during the night, we’re coming into a showery week, as waves of systems come through the region. After a warm front lifted north this morning, producing this lull we’re in right now, a cold front drifts back south later, bringing a renewed chance to likelihood of showers this afternoon. Highs today will get into the mid 60s, down to the mid 50s overnight. Winds today will be from the south, with things getting pretty gusty this afternoon.

Welcome to the week! Since we’re probably not getting anything like it the rest of this week, here’s sunrise the other morning in Thetford Center, from Tony Luckino.

Small plane incident at Leb Airport. On Friday morning, reports WCAX, the nose gear on a plane owned by the Upper Valley Flying Club collapsed as the plane was landing, shutting down the main runway (but not the auxiliary) as firefighters responded. The two people on board were unhurt. Airport manager Carl Gross told WCAX’s Adam Sullivan that local first responders train for events like that: “We recently met with the different mutual aid companies, provided some additional training for operating on the airport, and that also includes the Lebanon Police Department.”

Dartmouth Greek houses that were suspended after 2024 drowning can return to recruitment in the fall. Alpha Phi, a sorority, and fraternity Beta Alpha Omega were the hosts of the July, 2024 party at the college’s docks in the Connecticut River after which 20-year-old Won Jang was found drowned. The two houses were suspended days later, with terms including “the cessation of all organizational activities and loss of access to the respective chapter houses,” writes Marion Umpleby in the Valley News. Beta Alpha Omega remains suspended through this summer, she reports, but both houses will participate in the fall recruitment drive.

Windsor County state Senate race takes shape. The VT Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Alison Clarkson has drawn three candidates so far, reports the VN’s Clare Shanahan. Pomfret Selectboard Chair Ben Brickner plans to announce his candidacy formally today, running on a platform “connecting affordability, education, emergency services, land use and housing.” State Rep. Elizabeth Burrows of W. Windsor announced last month, and is seeking both the Democratic and Progressive nominations. Former state Rep. Heather Chase of Chester also began her campaign last month. Sens. Becca White and Joe Major are running for re-election.

SPONSORED: Join the Hood Museum for a special lecture and reception with Director John Stomberg. This Thursday, April 16, 5:00–6:00 pm, join us for a special lecture, “How Did We Get Here? Thoughts on American Painting in the United States.” Using the collections at the Hood Museum as his primary focus, Stomberg will share thoughts on the endlessly fascinating and frustratingly elusive idea of “American” painting. This lecture coincides with the Hood Museum’s presentation of twelve exhibitions inspired by the 250th anniversary of the United States. A reception will follow in Russo Atrium. Sponsored by the Hood Museum of Art.

Corinth author’s braided story collection, inspired by a Strafford mailman, debuts. The USPS driver, Catherine Tudish tells Alana Dutcher-Hirsch for UVM’s Community News Service, “looked out for people and would spread news from place to place…. I just had this feeling that he truly stitched our community together.” A version of him anchors the title story in Tudish’s third book of fiction, A Thousand Souls, which was published yesterday. It’s her first set in Vermont, revolving around the fictional town of Neptune. “The stories are so intimately connected, because it turned out that as I was writing one, the next one would sort of start coming to mind,” she says.

A network of xc ski trails, lunches on Johnny Cash—and stories about war zones. The trails on Chris and Jaqueline Wren’s property in the Five Corners area of Thetford were open to friends and neighbors; the lunches to which Chris Wren treated friends, he told them, were paid for by the royalty checks he received thanks to two songs he’d written for Cash. It was the wars, of course, that made Wren’s name as a correspondent for the NYT—though as Jim Kenyon writes in an appreciation in the VN, he also wrote about mountaineering and other subject. But locals, Kenyon writes, knew the couple as neighbors generous with the use of their land and time.

SPONSORED: Enjoy a free Earth Day showing of The Extraordinary Caterpillar film. Join the Hanover Garden Club and community partners on April 22, 6-8 p.m. at the Nugget Theaters for an up-close look at enchanting caterpillars. Register at the link for this free (limited capacity) event, suitable for ages 5+. Learn from local nature experts in a Q&A after the one-hour film, visit The Caterpillar Lab’s live exhibit, enter drawings, and pick up resources to take action in your own yard supporting caterpillar habitats. Sponsored by the Hanover Garden Club.

Brush fires break out in at least 10 NH communities yesterday. They included both Newport and Sunapee, reports WMUR’s Kendra Broddus, as dry conditions and plenty dry grass and dead leaves provided material. "We're hitting that spot right now where, you know, if it's brown and fine, it's very easy to cause fires if you're not paying attention," Concord Battalion Chief Alan Robidas tells her. "You've got leaves sitting there for six months of dry period, and all it takes is a small brush fire to get stuff like that going.” Sunapee Capt. Steven Marshall advises taking in anything that can catch fire, including clotheslines, awnings and canopies, and the like.

Three young hikers rescued from Mt. Monadnock. Friday night at about 8:20, NH Fish & Game was notified by the state police that the group needed help. A pair of conservation officers hiked up and found them shortly after 10 pm: “A group of three minor hikers from Massachusetts who were not dressed for the falling temperatures, did not have proper footwear or gear for the snow and ice, and no lights, stranded on the Red Spot Trail.” It’s a reminder, the agency notes, that “even though the weather is warming up, icy and winter like conditions can still exist on the summits of New Hampshires’ mountains.”

The Monday Jigsaw: Dublin Corner in Strafford. This week’s puzzle from the Norwich Historical Society’s Cam Cross features a colorized postcard from sometime around 1907 showing the intersection of Justin Morrill Highway and the Old City Falls Road. On his Curioustorian post about the neighborhood’s name, Cam cites an article by Strafford’s John Freitag in which he delves into its origins, discovering… well, it had nothing to do with Irish settlers there.

Today's Wordbreak. With a word from Friday’s Daybreak.

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HEADS UP

The Orford Social Library hosts endurance athlete and coach Alyssa Godesky. Godesky, who’s competed in over 37 full-distance Ironmans, has three FKTs: She held the women's speed record on the Long Trail from 2018-2025, and is the female record holder for NH’s 4000-footers and the Adirondack 46 High Peaks. Tonight, she’ll be talking about the Winter Spine Race this past January, an iconic ultramarathon held along the UK’s Pennine Way: 268 miles and 119 hours of cold, snow, and ice. 6:30 pm.

The Hop hosts Jordi Savall with Hespèrion XXI and La Capella Reial de Catalunya. You may have heard Savall some years back at the Hop, or his passionate, honeyed playing of the viola da gamba in the 1991 film Tous Les Matins du Monde. The musician and musical scholar’s latest project is Songs, Battles and Dances, which crosses the old and new worlds “through a vibrant collection of music spanning Medieval troubadours, Slave Songs from the African diaspora, indigenous melodies and Sephardic prayers.” Savall’s two ensembles share the Spaulding stage tonight at 7:30.

And you might be interested to know that the Netflix documentary, Noah Kahan: Out of Body premieres today, with more than just Kahan as the local tie-in: Asher Brown and Henry Allison of Brown Barn Studios, both Hanover High classmates of Kahan’s, are co-producers.

And to ease us slowly into the week...

Here’s a taste of the Mediterranean end of the work Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI have been doing.

See you tomorrow.

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