GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Well, yuck. We've got cold air dropping by from the north and new precipitation passing through from the southwest, and the result is... well, a chance of a mess, depending on where you live. Except for higher elevations in VT, it's most likely to be a cold rain, mixing with snow later today. The farther east you get in NH, look for freezing rain as well. Mostly cloudy all day, with a high in the mid 30s at daybreak, dropping a few degrees over the course of the day and night. Chance of light rain, snow, freezing drizzle overnight.Some sky. Or, rather: Now that's some sky! The mix of dramatic clouds and dramatic lighting early in the morning just before the turn of the year was irresistible. Like...
In Norwich, from Jack Taylor;
In Woodstock, from Brooke Beaird;
And in Thetford, from Frank Bonnett.
Haverhill in tax Catch 22. In order to send out its tax bills, Alex Nuti-de Biasi writes in the Journal Opinion's newsletter, the town needs its tax rate certified by the NH Dept. of Revenue Authority. Which the state agency says it won't do, thanks to a case before the state supreme court involving an appeal by Woodsville Precinct of the DRA's invalidation of two warrant articles approved at town meeting last year. The town is asking the DRA to reconsider. Meanwhile, Nuti-de Biasi also details the arrests of two men in separate incidents at Valley Vista in Bradford on Tuesday.Chelsea elects new selectboard, can finally move forward on a budget. You remember all the 2022 excitement, of course: Four of the five members of the board resigned in November after road foreman Rick Ackerman walked out following a tense disagreement with board members. Ackerman's back on the job, and in a Tuesday special election, about a quarter of the town's registered voters turned out to put new board members in place, reports Ray Couture in the Valley News. First order of business (after organizing): a finalized budget in time for town meeting.Heating local: In NH, one New London farmer turns to wood in the age of high oil prices. Greg Berger runs Spring Ledge Farm—where, writes Amanda Gokee in NH Bulletin, he's retiring three oil-fired boilers and switching to wood to heat his greenhouses. “We’re trying to get our customers to buy local produce, buy local plants. So it makes sense if I’m buying a pretty substantial resource, I’d want it to be local and certainly regional,” he says. Gokee looks at the considerations that go into commercial-scale wood-burning, including cost and potential emissions.So, what are you having for dinner at Oakes & Evelyn? That's Susan Apel's question for Justin Dain, the former executive chef at Pine in Hanover, who in 2021 opened his "fine dining with a Vermont-casual vibe" restaurant on State Street in Montpelier—and brought along Pine's Amanda Champagne as his new executive chef. Together, Susan writes, they've put together a spot that highlights the "exceptional quality of the food on every plate that leaves the kitchen." As for what Dain would order, let's just say it's four courses and odds are good you won't be tackling any of them in your home kitchen.Need a pick-me-up? There was lots of good stuff that happened around the Upper Valley in 2022, from Colby-Sawyer's tuition slash to the Newport Heritage Mural to 13-year-old Alexander Collins of Norwich, who became the youngest champion in the history of the Vermont Open chess tournament. In the VN, Liz Sauchelli rounds up 20 highlights from around the region.This is the year community power finally gets going in NH. The statewide program, which got its kickstart in the Upper Valley, allows municipalities to buy power for their residents—and, as NHPR's Mara Hoplamazian notes, "Because they’re not regulated like a utility company, community power programs can take advantage of the open market, putting together a diverse portfolio and timing purchases of power" to residents' advantage. About a fifth of the state's residents live in towns that are part of the Community Power Coalition—including Hanover, Lebanon, Plainfield, Enfield, New London, and Wilmot. NH House says no to Dem efforts to allow remote voting, ban firearms from the chamber. There were actually two bids to make it easier for members to participate without being at the statehouse, writes Ethan DeWitt in NH Bulletin. One would have allowed members who are present to serve as proxies for members who are not; the other would have allowed committee hearings to be held over Zoom. Both failed, largely—though not entirely—because of GOP opposition. Members also voted down a Democratic bid to reinstate a rule banning firearms from the House chambers.Vermont legislature reconvenes with plenty on its plate. Topping the list, reports Vermont Public's Peter Hirschfeld, is housing, with some developers pressing to boost spending on affordable housing and some legislators—and Gov. Phil Scott—countering that easing the zoning and permitting rules on housing development will lower costs. Right behind housing come a host of knotty issues, including expanding child care and mental health programs, workforce development, tax reform, climate change, paid family and medical leave, gun control, and more.With rising hospitalizations, VT raises its Covid level from "low" to "medium." Yesterday, the state health department reported 67 new hospital admissions for Covid over the last week of December, compared to 33 the week before. As of yesterday, writes Erin Petenko in VTDigger, 49 people were hospitalized. Although actual case numbers have fallen a bit over the past two weeks, Petenko notes that "the positivity rate for PCR tests, which case data is mainly based on, has risen to 8.6% from 7.7% in the past week, suggesting that the case decline may be the result of lower testing."Wait, Vermont! Not so fast! Remember how a couple of days ago VT topped United Van Lines' list of people moving in versus people moving out in 2022? Well, now U-Haul is out with its list of what self-movers did, and VT isn't even close: It dropped from 12th in 2021 to 30th last year. NH, meanwhile, went from 25th to 38th. As VT Business Mag notes, the difference between the studies probably has to do with the demographic difference between do-it-yourselfers and people who can hire a contract mover. "In the United study, the plurality of movers into Vermont were in the higher income and older categories."“That was the beginning of my career as a professional useless machine builder.” Joseph Herscher’s machines aren’t really useless, though. Like, why snooze your phone alarm when you can send the thing on a journey around the room and out the window? Or lick a stamp if you can harness your (onion-induced) tears to do the job? It’s obvious why Herscher and his machines have been invited onto Jimmy Kimmel and Sesame Street. See how his (slightly warped) mind works in this video. “If you’ve got, like, asparagus flying through the air that’s been caught in my mouth, then that’s miraculous when it works.”The Thursday Vordle. Featuring a fine word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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Let's go with guitarist Andrea De Vitis and archlutist Simone Vallerotonda, who together form the Valle&Vitis Duo,
That background? The Villa Falconieri in Frascati, Italy, in the hills outside Rome.
See you tomorrow.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
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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