WELL! NICE TO SEE YOU, UPPER VALLEY!
So you remember that heat wave a little bit ago? This one won't be as bad. There may be some valley fog and clouds to start, then hot and muggy today (and tomorrow), highs today around 89. Most uncomfortable hours will be between noon and 5; just don't move a muscle and you'll be okay. Lows tonight in the mid-60s. If WRJ is becoming the Brooklyn of the Upper Valley, says the VN's John Lippman, "then a red-hot real estate market may be turning Hanover into Manhattan." Assessments on commercial property in town are eye-popping: $1.9 million for Jewel of India's building, four times what it was five years ago. Some buildings on Main St. have merely doubled, into the $5 million range. The result: fewer local businesses, more financial firms, more chains. Business owners are not happy. (VN, sub reqd)Grafton County had the highest rate of oxycodone and hydrocodone prescriptions in the state. Remember last week's statewide numbers on painkiller distribution for NH from 2006-12? The Union Leader breaks them down. Of the 23.7 million pills supplied statewide, 4 million of them went to the DHMC pharmacy in Lebanon. D-H's Rick Adams says it's no surprise given all the surgeries performed there, and the hospital has new guidelines in place. The Boston Globe is up with an eye-catching piece on abuse and retaliation allegations at the WRJ VA. Five women employees there have filed whistleblower complaints against Dr. Fima Lenkovsky, chief of anesthesiology, who has since retired. One of the women, Dr. Jennifer Keller, has been fired — the hospital says for negligence, she and others say for speaking out. The chief nurse anesthetist had accused Lenkovsky of striking her during an operation.Thetford library board backs off replacing librarian Peter Blodgett. At least for now. Not because they've changed their mind, David Corriveau writes in the VN, but when the selectboard took library trustees off the town ballot in 2016, the library failed to change its bylaws, which require elected trustees. In other words, they haven't been legally entitled to act since 2017. There'll be some finagling required to get everything on the up and up. (VN, yadda yadda)VPR shuts down some programming, shifts staff to reporting. It's dropping two shows — VPR Café, its weekly show about food, and Dorothy’s List, a book club for children -- as well as its commentaries, which drew from a list of 50 contributors. Instead, commentary editor Betty Smith Mastaler, who works out of the studio in King Arthur's basement, will do more Upper Valley reporting; and producer Amy Noyes will focus on the future of colleges in VT. All part of an effort to beef up reporting as local newspapers retrench, says VTDigger.VT Agency of Education struggling to keep up with data and reporting requirements. Digger's Lola Duffort notes that school-by-school results from 2018 math and English testing have still not been published; the agency, which is working on a new comprehensive school dashboard, keeps saying, "Soon." The agency, says Senate education chair Phil Baruth, is "seriously understaffed.... It’s resulted in delays and errors and a general inability to do their jobs."Rebecca Holcombe scores Scott administration for its "vision" favoring school vouchers. When she launched her gubernatorial bid a couple of weeks ago, the former VT education secretary criticized Gov. Phil Scott for favoring a voucher program that would shift money from public schools. Writers at Seven Days and VTDigger argued this wasn't policy, just.... a vision. So Holcombe is amending her critique. "The governor's ‘vision’ for a statewide voucher program would pull millions from our community public schools, which sit at the heart of our communities and serve families that depend on them," she writes.Another bear euthanized. This one over in Jackson, NH, after it broke into a home this weekend -- while the residents were inside -- to get at some trash. Jackson police are telling people to put their trash away and, um, lock their doors. Okay, but it would have been soooo ace if it were true! Someone on Reddit posted a pic of the historical marker for the 1813 battle off Battery Park, Burlington: "On Aug. 3 a British gunboat and 2 sloops, 1 1/2 miles offshore, began a cannonade. This attack was repulsed in 20 minutes by the American battery and by 2 of Commodore Macdonough's armed cows." I know, right? Don't mess with Vermont! And then some killjoy posted a link to the real sign. Scows. Listen, we have to talk about this week and next. Just a head's up that Daybreak'll be taking a short break starting Thursday. Nothing alarming -- just two days this week and all of next. I know: This is a habit for many of you, and I do not mess with your morning lightly. But I'm looking forward to recharging, and am trusting you to manage okay for a bit. IT'S A SUMMER MONDAY NIGHT. GOT PLANS?You might want to see The Ancient Law at the HOP. "The only thing better than a restored silent classic is a restored silent classic that comes totally out of the blue," Michael Barrett wrote on PopMatters last year. Shtetl rabbi's son gets stagestruck: This 1923 film adroitly walks the line between comedy and tragedy, capturing Weimar-era life at a time when German and Austrian Jews thought their biggest challenge was reckoning with modernity. Live accompaniment by pianist Donald Sosin and Klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals, who composed the soundtrack. In Spaulding at 7:30 pm.The Hampstead Stage Company will be in Grantham performing "Stories in the Stars." The educational theater troupe, based in Center Barnstead, NH, tours throughout the lower 48, often with just two players taking on multiple roles. Tonight, it's the constellations and Greek myths about what they're doing up there in the sky. Starts at 6:30 at Grantham town hall. They'll be in Sunapee Wednesday in case you miss them.Or you could go hear The Moonlighters in Leb. The 15-16-piece Hartland-based big band does Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Ellington, and others. They'll be on the stage in Colburn Park starting at 7 pm.So hey, stay cool. See you tomorrow.
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