Daybreak Monday 4/26/21

WELCOME TO THE WEEK, UPPER VALLEY!

Well, at least it'll be getting sunny. Colder air moved into the region late yesterday, and along with airflow coming in from the northwest it's going to keep temps down today—maybe low 50s at best. We'll also be seeing some decent winds throughout the day, with gusts getting up toward 30 mph, prompting the weather service in Gray, ME to issue a wildfire "red flag warning" for today for central and southern NH, including the Upper Valley. On the other hand, whatever clouds are around this morning should clear out, leaving the later afternoon especially clear. Mid 30s tonight.Three dawns. Each one very different...

Man rescued from Corinth mine shaft.

The man—about 30 years old, reports WCAX—fell 150 feet down a shaft of the Eureka copper mine on Saturday night, part of the Pike Hill superfund site. A team of firefighters and EMS crews from as far away as Hanover, Lebanon, and Bradford put together a rope rescue system and lowered two paramedics into the shaft. The man was lifted out, taken by ATV to a waiting UVM helicopter, and airlifted to DHMC. "Just nice when everything comes together," said Hanover fire chief Martin McMillan.

“We have hundreds of jobs to hand out to people. There’s no shortage of jobs available.” That's Ashlyn Coull, assistant account manager at a firm that recruits workers for Upper Valley manufacturers, talking to the Valley News's John Lippman about the fact that while there may be lots of jobs out there, there aren't lots of workers taking them. In fact, Lippman writes, contractors, gardening companies, farms, retailers, and others are all watching positions go unfilled and, as a result, being forced to turn down opportunities and lose sales.SPONSORED: Pandemic squashed your travel plans? See the world via the Hopkins Center’s virtual slate of foreign-language films. Ice climb in the Arctic's Svalbard with Women’s Adventure Film Tour. Experience love and friendship from France with Golden Globe nominee The Two of Us and buddy comedy Perfumes. Dive into Iranian society with Sundance Grand Jury Winner Yalda: A Night of Forgiveness and raise a glass (or three!) with Danish friends in Oscar nominee Another Round. Book tickets now—films end April 30! Sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts.Heads up: Sykes Mountain Ave. traffic change this week. It'll be down to one lane as the $6.8 million project to install two roundabouts draws to a close, reports the VN's Anna Merriman. In a press release last week, the project said the transition to using roundabouts will happen next Tuesday, May 4; expect "significant traffic delays" then. Construction will last through October.Cedar Circle hosts bid to revive cabbage-seed diversity. In 1903, writes Li Shen in Sidenote, there were 288 beet varieties, 544 cabbages, 307 sweet corn varieties, and hundreds of varieties of other fruits and vegetables. Today? 17 beet, 28 cabbage, 12 sweet corn, etc. So last year, E. Thetford's Cedar Circle Farm teamed up with the Upper Valley Seed Savers, growing a rare heirloom cabbage variety called Marner. The harvested cabbage heads went off to Willing Hands; the stems over-wintered in a Thetford root-cellar and are about to go into the ground and, ideally, produce a seed bonanza.

“I don’t really want to just be an observer to suffering.” Ostensibly, Lola Duffort's profile of Dartmouth researcher Anne Sosin in VTDigger is about the fact that Sosin—a pull-no-punches observer of state Covid policies in VT and NH—just got over a bout with Covid herself. But really it's about Sosin—documenting human rights abuses in Haiti, helping rebuild Rwanda's health system after the 1994 genocide, and now, bringing "global health home" as she and her colleagues look at the strengths of rural places like VT and NH, their vulnerabilities, and how public policy affects them.Thetford's Tucker Hill covered bridge damaged by truck. It happened on Friday, when a 13-foot-high box truck tried to cross the 11-foot-nine-inch Sayre Bridge in Thetford Center, reports Sidenote's Nick Clark. Both the truck and the bridge, which dates to about 1840, sustained cosmetic damage. The driver stayed until police arrived and was cited for "Failure to Obey Traffic Control Devices"—ie, the bright yellow sign that says 11'-9".

“The idea is we help people who are in crisis.” That was true 50 years ago, when a group of volunteers launched Headrest as a hotline for Dartmouth students who were in crisis or struggling with drugs, and it's true now, writes the VN's Liz Sauchelli in a profile of the organization. The group has grown: It's now got 25 employees, both residential and outpatient treatment programs, and programs to help people regain their footing. But the 24/7 hotline remains: “We were the people who woke up at 2 a.m. and talked two, three hours," says Gina Capossela, who spent a dozen years working at Headrest.Listen up! "If it doesn't smell like an onion, don't eat it." That word comes from VT health officials, but it holds good in NH as well. Last year, the Northern New England Poison Control Center dealt with 25 Vermonters who thought they'd foraged ramps (wild leeks) and instead, most likely, ate false hellebore. There's already been one case this year. Ramp leaves are flat, grow from the ground, are found in upland forests, and—this part is crucial—smell like onions. False hellebore leaves are pleated, grow out of a stalk, prefer swamps and marshes, and—this part is crucial—don't smell like onions.Looks like cats might get their day in NH. The state Senate last Thursday approved a bill to require drivers to report collisions with cats to the police or the pet's owner. They're already required to do so with dogs, or else face a $1,000 fine. The measure passed the House as “Arrow’s Law,” named for a family pet killed outside the home of the Salem Republican who sponsored it, but the Senate removed the title, reports the AP. It now goes back to the House. Gov. Chris Sununu has said he'll sign it if it reaches him.VT considers emerald ash borer strategies. Quarantine—especially barring firewood from out of state—clearly hasn't worked; the tree-killing insect (actually, it's the larvae that do the damage) has been found in 11 of the state's 14 counties. Last year, following Michigan's lead, VT released wasp-like parasitoids that prey on EAB larvae, and is about to introduce another that goes for their eggs. The overall approach now is to slow down the bugs' spread by trapping them, cutting down some healthy ash trees, and asking people not to move firewood beyond a 25-mile radius, writes VTDigger's Seamus McAvoy.Oh no! And Mother's Day is just around the corner! There is a global cut-flower shortage, and on NHPR's Outside/In, Taylor Quimby talked with Phebe Robinson-Higgins, who owns Grace Floral & Co in Nottingham, NH about what's going on. When demand fell off a cliff at the start of the pandemic, she says, "Millions of flowers just went away, like poof, overnight." Large flower farms around the world downsized. Now? The big players are rebuilding, but Robinson-Higgins says retail and events florists are growing their own and will rely more on local growers.

Time to catch up...

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Let's just ease into this week. As with pretty much everything Joni Mitchell wrote that touched on her life, there's some debate over "A Case of You": Was she thinking about Graham Nash, James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, a combination? But as with all debates about classic pieces of songwriting, does it matter an iota? Especially when a great artist covers it and makes it her own.

See you tomorrow.

Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.

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