GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Snow tapering off, temps dropping. We're basically sandwiched between two bands of snow, one to our south and another, more "impressive" per the weather folks, to our north. We're well into the period of heaviest snowfall, and it'll probably keep going but diminish into the afternoon. Right now they're thinking 2-5, less to the south, more to the north. High in the low 30s around 9 am, then headed down to the low single digits by the same time tomorrow.Dartmouth student diagnosed with tuberculosis. In an email to the campus community, College Health Service director Mark Reed said the student is being treated off campus and will not return until cleared by the state. In a community forum yesterday afternoon, Geisel prof and deputy state epidemiologist Elizabeth Talbot told attendees it's likely some community members were exposed. The investigation, The Dartmouth reports, could take weeks or months and will look as far back as the fall term.This whole Corbin Park thing gets more interesting. You'll remember there's a bill that would require special state hunting licenses for the 30 members of the huge, exclusive game preserve that touches on towns including Croydon, Grantham, and Plainfield. Turns out that elk and wild boar are considered the club's private property, not game animals, so requiring licenses may be unconstitutional. Oh, and if they escape? You need the club's permission to shoot them unless they're causing damage. Black-footed ferrets "may very well be the rarest mammal on the continent . . . and an animal that's nobody's pet." That's writer and naturalist Ted Levin checking in about yesterday's ferret item, which cited a New Hampshire ferret-fancier saying that hunting is done with black-footed ferrets. "Nobody hunts with black-footed ferrets in NH (or anywhere else)," Levin writes. More at the link.And while we're setting the record aright... Yesterday's list of locals on the new list of best companies to work for in Vermont should have included Woodstock's Wild Apple, which has made the list for 10 years running. It creates art, design and pattern collections for home decor manufacturers and e-tailers. "Everybody in the system... we struggle with not knowing how someone is going to do with a longer leash until they get out." That's Dartmouth Prof. Jennifer Sargent, who took over yesterday as chair of NH's Adult Parole Board. NHPR's Peter Biello talks to her about the board's efforts to improve its technology and information for decision-making, and about parolees' 47 percent recidivism rate within three years. "I actually thought that the number would have been higher," Sargent says, since much of it is driven by addiction and relapse.SPONSORED: Metaphorical mountains. Colorado’s Mountainfilm festival made its reputation by curating heart-stopping adventures in higher altitudes featuring plenty of GoPro footage. The films coming to the Hop on Saturday, however, scale other sorts of peaks, bringing us such profiles in courage as women firefighters, a blind white-water kayaker, Arizona prisoners turned wild-horse trainers, a Nepalese female alpine guide, and a queer indigenous couple bravely dancing in Powwow. Sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts.A look ahead at Lear. Northern Stage's production of King Lear goes up next week, and Artful's Susan Apel has a preview. Among other things, it takes place in "an invented" time period, and two key characters, Gloucester and Kent, will be women. Lear, she writes, "is massive, with big ideas and a seventeen-person cast. [It] contains sub-plots that are not necessarily so sub-, like a good, long doorstop of a multi-character novel."100 years after Prohibition began, Tunbridge and Vershire are still "dry for liquor." Bet you didn't mark your calendar, but the 18th Amendment banning intoxicating liquors went into effect 100 years ago tomorrow. The Burlington Free Press notes its impact is still felt around Vermont, partly in the state's status as the only legal importer of spirits, and partly in towns' autonomy to set their own rules. Tunbridge and Vershire are among the 10 that allow beer and wine only. Three ban all alcohol. I know. World's Fair. Can you imagine?Vermont's first-in-the-nation AI task force calls for code of ethics, incentives for establishing AI industry in state. The task force, which included Dartmouth engineering prof Eugene Santos Jr. and state Rep. Brian Cina, a Dartmouth grad, issued its final report yesterday. It found "that this technology presents tremendous opportunities for economic growth and improved quality of life, but also presents substantial risks of loss of some jobs and invasions of privacy and other impacts to civil liberties," and recommended a new permanent commission to support AI's responsible development.
Brattleboro Retreat problems alarm hospital administrators throughout VT. Any cuts in psychiatric services there, they say, will have "serious and potentially dangerous ripple effects in hospitals across Vermont," reports VPR's Nina Keck. Hospital emergency rooms with patients seeking mental health care rely on the Retreat, and it's the only inpatient psychiatric and Level I facility in the state for children and adolescents — at a time when the numbers of kids and families in crisis is growing rapidly.VPR lands $118K gift for live classical performances. The money's in memory of former Shelburne residents Ray and Patricia Harwick, and it endows four live performances a year. The first is today at 11 am, with Britain's Heath Quartet, which is in residence this year at Middlebury.Vermont DMV settles with Migrant Justice over cooperation with ICE. The immigration reform organization's suit, handled by the ACLU, came after DMV employees processing applications for state "driver's privilege cards," which were created specifically to allow undocumented residents to drive legally, forwarded their information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency agreed to a "net of protections" to stop information-sharing with ICE. Seven Days has the details.Those cows never looked happy to begin with! That's Ben & Jerry's interesting argument in federal court this week on why an activist's suit that the company's marketing is misleading should be dismissed. Not only has it removed the phrase "happy cows" from packaging, it says, but the cows themselves are expressionless. And even if it had kept the phrase, the company argues, “Happiness cannot be measured objectively, and [the plaintiff] could not take a cow’s deposition to ask how it feels.” So there.If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
A BUSY EVENING OUT THERE...
Amb. Emily Haber has had a long career in her country's foreign service, and oversaw security and migration at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe. She was also the first woman to serve as political director and, later, state secretary at the Foreign Office. She'll be talking with the Dickey Center's Daniel Benjamin about "Germany & America, Europe & the World: Navigating a New Era in International Affairs." Starts at 4:30 in 105 Dartmouth Hall.
"We're in the midst of a civics education emergency," says Orford's Ron Smith, who will be leading the non-partisan session at the Orford Social Library. "Most of us know less about our government than we need to know in order to make our democracy thrive." He'll cover the foundations, principles, and structure of the US Constitution, its origins, and "why the rights that it guarantees are necessary for a fully functioning democracy and a prosperous society." 7 pm.
Every third Thursday, writers and listeners gather at North Common Arts/Café, the gallery and community gathering space on the green in Chelsea, to eat soup, share their work, and find out what the region's deep pool of literary talent is working on. Starts at 6:30.
Composer-violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain, spoken-word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and flex dance pioneer Drew Dollaz collaborate on this multi-dimensional exploration of racial profiling, the prison-industrial complex, and the experiences of incarcerated youth and their families. It's played Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and now, with Dartmouth Gospel Choir guest soloist Stephanie Goldsmith, the Hop. At 7:30.
Assuming today's snow was enough, Whaleback's Upper Valley Uphill Rally Series kicks off tonight. You skin (or if you're a boarder, run) uphill, then ski/board down, then go gather in the lodge for après-race cheer. Headlamps, helmets, and metal edges required, and a watch if you want to time yourself. Registration opens at 6, mass start at 7. Go get 'em!
Even if you don't feel the need to climb a mountain on a pair of boards, enjoy the snow. See you tomorrow.
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