ON TO THE WEEK, UPPER VALLEY!
Though it'll feel like this weekend out there. The friendly high that brought us those magnificent last few days is parked above us. It might be foggy and/or cloudy at first, but whatever's around will disappear by mid-morning, and then we have an open field of sunshine. Temps in the mid 70s or higher. Hanover sisters — and pianists — Maxine and Roxane Park are profiled in VPR's "Young at Art" series. The girls, 14 and 11, have already performed at Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, and Spaulding. Among other places, they practice in the Norwich Congregational Church The Steinway there, says Maxine, "has a really beautiful sound that really carries really nicely. It also is a church so it gives us kind of this peace of mind that’s really nice to have when we’re practicing for competitions that are pretty stressful.”Sometimes, you wonder how the VN's John Lippman finds the time. Here are three of his stories that ran yesterday. The usual VN subscription warning holds for all of them:
The story behind Stella's reopening in Lyme. And passing news of three other restaurant openings, either imminent or recent: the new Au Jus in Windsor, the upcoming Han Fusion where Hanover's Orient used to be, and something replacing Bentley's in Woodstock.
Another Hanover retailer bites the dust—That Little Spot of Red is closing; also, the story behind Picaboo's disappearance from the old Rosey Jekes spot.
Hanover property owners are petitioning the state for a redo of the town's 2018 tax assessments, which they say “did not follow the law or standard assessing practices."
If you want to catch up on Pete Buttigieg's visit to the area on Saturday, here's video of him in Cornish. I also tried to find complete video of Joe Biden in Hanover, but the web's just drowning in one-minute clips of his "what if Obama had been assassinated" moment. If you know of something that captures his whole speech, please let me know and I'll post a link tomorrow. There's a straight-ahead writeup in The Dartmouth.Three alums from the early days of coeducation at Dartmouth say the college needs to do much more than just settle the sexual misconduct lawsuit. In a Concord Monitor op-ed, Stan Colla of Hanover, Carol Muller of Palo Alto, and Veronica Wessels of Ottawa argue that it needs to take a close look not just at how the misconduct was allowed to continue for so long, but at "the insidiousness of male primacy on the Dartmouth campus, which has persisted for far too long."Just a head's up that Steven Bourgoin is scheduled for sentencing today. He's the man convicted in May of killing five teenagers, including a KUA student, in a wrong-way crash on I-89. Four of the five families are expected to make statements. Others may testify as well, and it's possible the hearing will run into tomorrow. WCAX lays out what to expect."Hi. My child only eats boarshead liverwurst. Where can I find this? 😳. I recognize this is odd." That's the plea on an Upper Valley group FB post last night. "This is my favourite thing I've ever seen on this page," one respondent wrote. Others offer actual advice: Mac's in Woodstock, Leo's in Claremont, the Co-op and Hannaford's. Just in case you need a fix.That was a tornado that touched down in Windham County last week. The Weather Service confirmed over the weekend that the funnel, which traveled a 3/4-mile path in Windham, was packing winds of 105-110 mph. The last confirmed tornado in the state was in 2012. Thanks for the tip, JF!NH wants to use federal grant to double number of charter schools in the state. You'll remember from last week that the feds are giving New Hampshire $46 million for charters over the next 5 years. NHPR details the state's plans. It currently has 28 charter schools operating, and wants to add 27 more. The money will go to helping groups with start-up costs.As budget impasse lingers, NH agencies, schools, and towns don't know how to plan. The legislature and governor have made some progress on coming up with a budget Sununu won't veto, but are still at loggerheads on business tax rates and education funding levels. Meanwhile, agencies are petitioning to exceed the three-month spending cap imposed after the veto — they need money for opioid response and for Medicaid — while school districts can't budget and towns have no clue how much revenue sharing money will be available.Speaking of schools, VTDigger's Lola Duffort lays out what it'll take to forge new interstate school compacts. Thanks to Dresden, the towns at the far northern end of the twin states, Canaan VT and Colebrook/Pittsburg NH, don't have to get congressional approval for an interstate compact, even though there are plenty of other details to work out. But the proposed merger of Stamford VT and Clarksburg MA will have to go the whole nine yards.State needs to boost Medicaid funding, VT regulators warn guv. Years of underfunding, the five members of the Green Mountain Care Board said in a letter Friday, have shifted a disproportionate share of overall health spending to the private insurance market. And that, in turn, is threatening the state's attempts to move health care away from the fee-for-service model. “If commercial rates continue to rise the way they did this year, people are going to drop their insurance,” the board's chair tells VPR. “And that’s going to put pressure onto the Medicaid program. It’s going to put pressure on the hospitals for free and uncompensated care.”River Roost's Rhythm of the Night (Batch 3) makes "5 Best Beers I tried on My Trip to Vermont" list. Gary Dzen, who's the Boston Globe's deputy digital sports editor and a weekly beer columnist, found himself in Vermont recently and did one of those "I'll take one for the team" jaunts that columnists apparently get to do from time to time. He checked out Hill Farmstead, The Alchemist, Foam in Burlington... and River Roost — "a tiny shop (think: garage)." Oh, also, he says "Vermont may be one of the most beautiful places in the world to drink beer." May be?If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
SSSHHH... YOU HEAR THAT STILLNESS?
It's the sound of summer coming to an end.
There's barely anything on the events schedule tonight. Which is
fantastic
, because it's going to be a stunning evening and you don't have to feel you're missing a thing if you just pack up some dinner and go sit somewhere beautiful. Maybe a spot along the river, or one of the islands on Grafton Pond, or out on any of the town greens we're lucky to have all around us, or even in the middle of your own backyard. If you find a spot that's so perfect you just have to share it with others, let me know.
And, of course, see you tomorrow.
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